Late Cretateous Mega Vozhik Wishes You a Happy Dinovember Thanksgiving

If you are anything like the Greater Vozhik, the largest mammalian predator of the late Cretaceous period, a distant ancestor of the hedgehog which reached a height and length of nearly 10 meters, you should have no problem enjoying the bounty of the land and settling in for a nice Thanksgiving Feast.

Happy Dinovember Thanksgiving from the Greater Vohzik!

Land of the Lost: Prehistoric Pulp Hunting Parties So Far

Slow, steady progress for the Prehistoric Pulp project continues, much like the glaciers that will eventually cover most of their world. Luckily the '200 club' at The Warhammer Forum is a year-long project, because I don't have a lot of time for my creative projects, but it is nice to know I have it and the goal to finish.

This month I only finished the raptors but with the year one fourth finished since the 200 club started, it was thought a good idea to get a group shot. Since my project isn't a single army, but an entire setting for the skirmish game, I took some action shots in the prehistoric lands.

It's been dark & rainy, so photos are not the best but there could have been a lot of volcanic smoke in the air

Click for larger:

A Caveman tribe's defense against the encroachment of the Planta is interrupted by a hunting Raptor pack!
This has woken the formidable Gigantogorillini. The confusion distracts all from awareness of an even greater threat in the distance.

Lots more of this project in the year to come... more cavemen, neanderthals, great apes, great hominids, saurinids, and more.  

Rapacious Raptors : Prehistoric Pulp's Pernicious Predators

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, where tradition in America holds that one gorges on Turkey until a semi-catatonic state is induced, thus storing up the needed energy for the following day to join the herd and trample the less-fit to death under their hooves as they stampede into stores to save money on merchandise to increase their success and chances of survival.  The irony is that a country with such a high percentage of people who do not believe in evolution manage to illustrate the concept so perfectly.

Another such indication of Darwinism at work, is that the turkey so focused on is a descendant of dinosaurs.
Yes, that fat, dim-witted, feast-on-feet, is what is left of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptor and Pterodactyl.
How the mighty have fallen.  And tasty too. The Rex is dead, long live the King: pass me some mashed potatoes too while you're at it.

But things were not always this way.  Oh no.  And in the neverwas of Prehistory, Mankind was more likely to be dinner than get a turkey-ancestor to his own table!

In addition to making 'player-tribes' for the Prehistoric Pulp setting, I've always planned to make non-player dangers.  This is one of the more deadly: Raptor Pack.

click for larger:

Raptors are smart, fast & strong: triple threat. The apex pack hunters, and a real threat to the sentient tribes.

Since we in our time can't know what they looked like, for coloring I chose to make them tiger-like.
Tigers evolved their coloring to help conceal them while hunting, so Raptors could have had a similar look.
Plus it was fun to paint :)

Gar here has little time to think on their coloring, if he wants to avoid becoming dinner. 

So this Thanksgiving, take a moment to thank the turkey, for evolving into such a successful meal, leaving us free from becoming his meal. 

King of the Prehistoric Woodlands

For the Prehistoric Pulp setting, I'm planning for the game to be more than just faction vs faction.
That is how most games work: you bring your army your opponent brings theirs and your two armies clash.

This works fine for most historical and quasi-historical combat, where humans are at the top of the heap and safe from anything other than rival human groups.  But Prehistory is much more dangerous than that.
Not only are there many species in evolution-fueled struggle for dominance, but none have such advanced technology and culture that they are not still tucked within the food chain, rather than high above it.

So this game will have threats beyond your opponent: ones that view you both the same: invaders into their territory, or perhaps as lunch.

So here is one of the creatures to be feared by everyone: the king of the woodlands, Gigantogorillini.

These, the largest of the primates, are solitary lords of the woodlands, though, secure in the safety of their great size, it is not uncommon to see them venture out into the grasslands.  Larger even than members of the Yheti tribe and Gigantopithecus tribe, these massive creatures are hard to mistake.  Perhaps the only thing preventing this species from becoming a greater dominating force is the fact that they are few in number and live solitary lives, only coming together to mate. Youths do band together, but these avoid conflict when possible.  The same can not be said for the adult males.  Nearly twice the size of females, and formidable at heights up to 4 meters and arm span even greater, they are left alone by all but the largest of the ancient predators.  Smaller creatures, even the sentient tribes hold deep respect for these giant primates, and healthy fear, for they are omnivorous.  Some tribes have even been known to worship them as gods. 

Great Big Ape! Gigantopithecus? At home in Prehistoric Pulp

I am still madly churning ideas for Prehistoric Pulp- in the dim hours & in the back of my mind as I work on other things, and this guy is one of my favorites: the Arkansas/Georgia Swamp Monster from Pontoonier Miniatures.

This is one big ape! That is a 40mm round base he is on. 

The miniature comes on an integrated base, with his forward hand touching the ground. 

That had to go. 

The span would make the base so long that if I wanted a round base it would have needed to be at least 60mm round, which makes it unwieldy in a skirmish game, or to add another 25 or 30mm base under his hand, but I felt that looked a bit odd.  So instead I removed the base, put him as far back on the 40mm base that I could and have the extended fist elevated like he's in the process of hurdling forward. 

He is too big to be a 'great ape' for the ape faction, and more ape-ish than the Yeti faction and for the 'Robustipithicus' faction, so he may end up being used as a 'wandering monster' type, or perhaps (for lack of a better term) a 'Mercenary' that a few factions could influence over.  However it must be I will find a place for this great fellow! 

The Planta for Prehistoric Pulp: Why Gathering is just as dangerous as Hunting

For nearly 95% of our species' time on this plant we were Hunter-Gatherers. Nomadic or Semi-nomadic small groups, surviving off the land.  The popular image of humans for this time focuses on the hunting: toe to toe with a mammoth or woolly rhino.  But we also had salad with our mammoth: lots of gathering of plants for our food, in fact if we hadn't become so good at it, and learned to understand those plants so well then agriculture (and therefore civilization) would never have been developed.

But picking berries doesn't make for as dramatic and exciting images as hunting the mega-mammals, but Prehistoric Pulp is here to re-balance the scales!  Venturing among the plants is every bit as dangerous as hunting beasts, for the plants have their own protectors...

The Plants are a sentient species that are unique in the setting:  the only race that are not animals.
Because of this, they are the most alien and the most unrecognized by the other tribes.

Descendants of the first flowering plants the Planta have evolved a means of locomotion: they are not rooted to one spot as other plants are.  With limbs like creeping vines, and by controlling the flow of water between their cells, they mimic the effects of muscles:they are quite strong for their size!

The Planta have other dangerous attributes beyond their strength: they can release a cloud of spores which can debilitate, and sometimes even kill animals.  They do not make or use tools, but they are intelligent.
The see and communicate by subtle vibrations, giving them the advantage of silent communication as well as 'seeing' in the dark and through concealment. When in vegetation, such as brush and woods they can be move nearly silently and remain unnoticed to all but the most careful observer, making them very dangerous foes.

...................................

The miniatures are from Hydra Miniatures and were a lot of fun to paint!
There are only 2 poses in a set (8 miniatures) but they are very easy to bend around to get different poses out of them.  They are fairly short, so they'd also make great large plant creatures for a 15mm scale!

Enjoy!

Dinosaurians : W.I.P. Troops & Small Conversion

Slow steady progress on the Prehistoric Pulp project, in the scant moments of free time.

One of the factions for the setting, I'm calling the Styraco at the moment, a bipedal dino people related to the armored-horned dinosaurs, like the iconic Triceratops. These minis are from Hydra Miniatures, and I think they are awesome.  The only problem I could see is that all three of the model types are armed with spears- which on the one hand makes perfect sense - attacking with a spear would come very naturally to a people related to horned dinosaurs- but I wanted a mini that could be identified as a chieftain for the tribe.

So I did a bit of converting on one.

Cutting the spear, change the angle on the hands, add a shield and make a stone axe= chieftain!

Here he is next to one of the others of his original pose.

The shield should help keep him alive longer, so he can direct his hunting party.

And here is his hunting party, ready to be primed and painted.

in the Prehistoric Pulp setting, the Styraco are a moderately peaceful tribe.  They are herbivores, but fiercely territorial.  Unlike some other herbivores they are quick to take offense and see any encroachment on their territory as an attack.  They excel at defensive fighting, but also actively defend their lands with hunting parties: not looking for meat, but to kill or drive away any potential predators. 

Prehistoric Terrain!

On thinking of the Prehistoric Pulp project I knew I'd want to expand my terrain.  I do have the 'Mordor Crags' which I used in the Dinosaur Safari game and the Pirate Teddy Bear pictures -very useful terrain. and some big primitive artichoke palms, but the weekend before last was a holiday, and that means sales.

I had a coupon for one of the pet stores, so I went in for cat food and liter, and like every time, my first stop is the aquarium isle.  I don't have an aquarium, but I am a wargamer, so this isle is my isle. It is a treasure trove for terrain! And this time it did not disappoint!

It isn't the cheapest, but on sale, with a coupon, for trouble-free nice looking terrain, it's a bargain.

Here's the haul:

Added to what I already had, and I may pick up some of the nice huts from Gale Force 9, and should be a very fun terrain board to play on! 

Planning the Prehistoric Pulp Project

I've jumped into the 'Club 200' 12 month build-an-army-support-group on The Warhammer Forum. 

I was tempted to start my Goblin Army, very tempted. But it's not the best timing for it.  
This Club 200 will last for 12 months- most of the goblin minis other than lots & lots of infantry I won't get until half through 2013- so wouldn't have much variety in updates for most of the time, and I won't have a ton of time for the project for a month or two.

This is a skirmish project, but a big one. And one I've been hoping to get going for almost a year now.  
So, though this project isn't exactly 'standard fare' on TWF, the support club seemed pretty open ended, and I've never been one to pay much heed to boundaries. 

So if I get an aspect or two finished each month, I might be able to both meet that and still have time for the other hobby projects that will need time too (our Group might be restarting VSF in November (? or something else? not confirmed yet), and I have Blood Bowl teams to paint for me and a friend for the N.American Team Championship, and I'm sure the Dreadball teams will yell & bawl if I don't do some when they arrive). 

So on to the project! 

A Long Time Ago, Not Very Far Away At All....

"What's this?"

Before the Birth of Civilization, at the Dawn of Man, the world was very different, and what we think we know about it is only the smallest fraction of reality. 

Prehistory was a time of great danger, impossible challenges and the toughest fight of all: the fight for survival of species. 

Viva l'Evolution! 

Early man was not the only tribe striving to dominate the planet, we had stiff competition! 

There was our cousin, the Neanderthal: stronger and equally as smart. 
There were the dark hominids: Gorlox, savage and cruel
Other primates had their shot at it too: The Great Apes, and the even larger and more powerful Yeti.

But primates are new comers to a much older world, and these tribes would not give ground lightly:

They were also stiff competition on the cave dance floor!

The Styraco: Noble armored herbivores with a rich culture
The Rhabd: A sophisticated small saurian people, expert hunters and tool crafters. 
The Grak: Crocodilian tribe: a low, vicious cunning. 
The Planta: Carnivorous plant people: expert stalkers: small but dangerous. 
and the highly adaptive Occu, in many forms- odd but with an impressive culture with great potential. 

and of course there are many dangers at every turn in this world: Dinosaurs, Mega-mammals and carnivores of all variety. 

So what is all this? 

The setting for a skirmish game & campaign I've been wanting to make, loosely called 'Prehistoric Pulp'. 
I grew up loving films and books like 1 Million B.C., Journey to the Center of the Earth, Mysterious island, Caveman, Quest for Fire, the Pelucidar novels, the original Land of the Lost tv series.
I was also a dinosaur fanatic when I was a kid (what boy wasn't?) and one of my majors in uni was physical anthropology, so blend it all together and this is what happens. 

Instead of 1 big army my project is an entire genre setting, for skirmish gaming. I've also been writing some rules for the game as well. But to really advance that, I should make some minis for it all!

So each month I will do one or two 'segments' of the setting, which might be a hunting party, or animals or terrain. 

The game will likely center on hunting parties between 4 - 12 or more miniatures (depending on the formidable level of the individuals). 

Here is the first hunting party, a Caveman group, that I painted earlier this year. They will have a dog or two added to them: one advantage Cavemen has is dogs. 

(You might remember these from earlier this year, the LPL on Lead Adventure Forum)

This doesn't include the other homo sapien sapien cavemen groups, but is most of the other hunting parties (not including dangerous beasts):

Close ups:

I feel the desire to do the whole setting, (I am plagued with 'opposing faction syndrome', maybe to run games at a con, or supply the minis for big games at the local store for our group, have what would be needed for a mini campaign, etc.. plus I'm a bit unhinged  

so it's a bit different, but hopefully some might find it interesting 

Enjoy!

A Look at the Occulites: Review of Darwin Games' Palaudis Tribe

Back in April I did an overview of Darwin Games range of Occulites. I'm a big fan of characterful & quirky miniatures, so they had easily caught my eye.  Now that I have had some in my possession I thought it'd be nice and possibly useful to have a review of the miniatures.

The miniatures of this review are the Palaudis Tribe of Occulites: those who live in the swamps & wetlands.
There are four other tribes of Occulites, each from a different environment, as well as a diminutive race called the Luftles.

You can find out much more about all of these at Darwin Games, as well as in my overview from April, linked at the top.

On opening the package of Palaudis Occulites I find five single-cast metal miniatures.
My first impression is one of impressive solidity.  These are not frail scanty miniatures.
They have a lot of weight and metal to them. The set of five are unique miniatures: no repeats.

Note: This includes a Luftle (smaller miniature in the foreground) which is not part of the Palaudis set.

Taking a close look at the miniatures I was very impressed with the cleanness of the cast.
I found no casting flaws.
Flash was almost non-existent and the mold lines were few and easy to clean up.
They have textured, integrated bases, which are pretty thin so they'll be fine for gluing them to other bases.
The minis are also quite '3-D' for being single-casting, not the flat 2-D so common in many.
So all in all for casting: nicely sculpted, good variety and very clean. Any novice would have no problem at all getting these minis ready for gaming.

Here is detail from the back of the chieftain miniature.  Some nice detail here!

One thing I noticed is that not all of the Occulites are the same size:

Look at these two.  Similar, but a noticeable size difference.  I like this!  Size variation is something most miniatures don't take into account, mostly because variation is obtained by swapping heads on the same standard bodies, or from plastic kits with the same size parts.  The one on the right to me looks like a young adult of the species, or perhaps a female? Or for that matter, perhaps a male in a female-dominant species? 

Whether from sexual dimorphism or age difference, it's nice to see some variety.  

So once the miniatures are inspected & cleaned up, you have to decide how to base them, if you're going to.

You could of course decide not to base them, just using the integrated textured bases, like old style RPG minis. They're plenty sturdy enough if you want to go this route, but most people prefer to base miniatures for added protection and a uniform look.  

Therefore, let's take a look at some common bases for options:

The standard 25mm round slotta base. 

The integrated base would need to be trimmed, and it'd be a close fit, but workable.

A round 25mm plastic base without bevels. 

A better fit than the beveled base. Some might need slight trimming, the mini does overhang some still.

A 30mm round mdf base without bevels. 

No base trimming needed and only the most extreme parts of the minis overhang the base. 

A 30mm round-lip base. 

Some integrated base trimming will be needed.  Less area for ground-work than the base above. 

I didn't photo with square bases, but you can estimate from the pictures.  A 25mm square base does give more room to work with than a 25mm round base and would probably be the base size to chose for square. 

Whatever your base size preference for what you commonly game, you can probably use fine for these minis

For me, I chose the 30mm mdf bases. Reason being, I like the base size to give some room around the miniature for groundwork, so that it isn't too tight on the base.  Also, a 30mm base gives it the right footprint for Hordes, and I could image using these as proxies for Bog Trogs.  Also, I have in mind to use these for the Pulp Prehistory rules I'm writing and for those minis I've been using 25mm, 30mm & 40mm round bases without bevels or lips, so they'll fit well with the rest of them. 

Here are the minis after basing:

With some texture and stray rocks they're ready to go.  The smaller Luftle is on a 25mm base. 

Here's a comparison shot of an Occulite with a Copplestone Cave Man:

I'm sure I'll want to try out the Rise of the Occulite game, but from this I can see they'll also make a fun and unusual addition to the world of the Paleolithic! 

Price:

The Darwin Games site sells them for $7.95 each for most and $10.95 for the chief, Australian dollars, or $40 AUS for the set of 5.  Splintered Light also sells some, maybe more convenient for those in North America, but availability might be more limited than it was in April when I last looked.  

So how do I rate them? 

Rating: 

Casting: 10/10

Cleverness of Design: 9/10

Aesthetics: 10/10

I'm quite impressed with these quirky miniatures.  I can't fault them on the cleverness of design category, since they are well designed within the limits of single casting.  It might have been nice to have some multi-part options, which could then give potential for more variety, but considering that there are 5 unique miniatures in a set of 5 it wouldn't be much of an issue unless getting 3 or more packs.  Since there are several other tribes to chose from I don't find this to be a significant issue.  Aesthetics is of course up to personal taste, so speaking for myself they appeal to me. 

As I said in April, in addition to their intended Game, I could see these easily fitting in with Fantasy, Science Fiction, Pulp and Horror settings.  Never a bad thing to have multiple options for your miniatures. 

In the near future I'll paint these and give you a look at how they turn out.

Thanks for reading!

Surrender Yer Doubloons or Walk the Plank Out the Airlock!

It has been a very busy year. I have yet to get around to painting the prize-booty of the Class III & IV Space Pirates I won in the Hydra Miniatures contest.  Drat. But they are on the list!

Class II Space Pirate.  Void Hawk clan. 

In the meantime, Hydra has a sale going right now, ending August 7th.
It's 20% off everything except the new releases.

I have 2 fleets painted, but 3 as yet unpainted...but I'm tempted to pick up a few more ships to round them out, as well as some of the Retro Raygun 28mm minis- I have an idea of a multi-scale game I could run at a Con in the future.. and the new Ugg spearmen would be a very fun addition to the 'Pulp Prehistory' rules I'm writing. Oh so many projects!

Speaking of anthropomorphic dino-aliens awhile back... 

Hydra also has a FREE pdf of new rules for the Space Pirate fleet for War Rocket.

Not only is my humble offering of the Void Hawks background within this pdf, but the rules for the Space Pirates Customization, found on page 7, where written by yours truly as well.

In weeks to come I'll do a full review of the Space Pirate miniatures (to supplement the initial review I did) , though before that I'll be adding a review of the Galacteer fleet, to add to the Zenithian, Imperial & Valkeeri I've already done.

In the meantime, go check out Hydra's sale and new minis- lots of fun stuff!

I should say, I'm just a fan- despite having some material in the latest pdf I'm not part of the company nor get any profit or material gain, I just appreciate cool independent minis when I find them. 

Aliens vs. Dinosaurs: Which Side Are You On?

Two of my favorite things going back as far as I can remember: Dinosaurs & Aliens.
What's not to like?
Apparently, each other!

I ran across this recently and it sounds awesome:  Aliens vs. Dinosaurs.

Follow that link for more details, but the pedigree looks impressive and the idea has a lot of meat to it.
Despite the name, which sounds like a low-budget movie for the Sci Fi channel (which changed to 'SyFy' in solidarity with Illiterates United), it is a lot more than aliens blasting dinos who in turn rip aliens in half.

The premise is more of an exodus than an invasion.  An alien race on the edge of extinction with no choice left but to make a life on Earth, 65 million years ago, must either eliminate the dinosaurs or be eliminated themselves.  I assume it will be explained why there couldn't have been coexistence. The dinosaurs in the story are more than what we believe: they have a higher intelligence than we would expect and have a rudimentary culture.

This opens up a lot of moral grey-areas that is pretty rare in the genre for movies.  Already it is a lot more philosophically complex than the likes of Avatar. It also opens up the door to question assumptions we have about the long past of our planet.  A billion years plus is a very long time for complex life, and it is a guarantee that we don't know the extent of the species that existed and everything that happened.
Makes for some interesting questions.

When I was in 5th grade, I remember we had an assignment, to write and illustrate a children's book, which would be given to one of the first grade classes.  The book I wrote was about an alien in a spaceship who came to Earth at the time of the Dinosaurs. Lost & not knowing how to get back, he had to make friends with a dinosaur, which wasn't easy since they terrified him.  Not the exact plot, but I think someone should cut me a royalty check.

Apparently there will be a series of movies as well as graphic novels.
The first of the graphic novels is already available. Amazon has it here.

Of course this got my gaming-mind going into overdrive.  

This is rich for the tabletop and mixing genres of miniatures.  

Check out the first episode of the animated movie below.

Enjoy!

(Sorry about the dang ad- Yahoo's fault- but the version on YouTube doesn't have the credits and art at the end, so I figured it was worth it, just tune out for the first 11 seconds)

So Aliens vs. Dinosaurs:Which Side Are You On?  Which Side Are You On?

Paleolithic People: LPL Round 6 Results

I knew it was too good to last.
I had 5 solid wins in the  Lead Painter's League painting challenge, but got spanked in the 6th.

On the bright side, the person who beat me in round 6 is the current leader of the pack, so if you can't be king, there is pride in being beaten by the king.

I got a lot of nice feedback in the thread, with many saying it was the closest match of the round, very hard to chose, etc. Too bad it wasn't reflected in the votes, where I got about 1/5 ;) But if 2/3 of the people thought it was very close but even if mine fell short by just a bit, that adds up ;) Isn't that how Vegas does things?  As long as they have 51% chance, that's good enough to win big & send people home without their mortgage ;)

My cavemen's mini opponents were really good and an amazing terrain scene, he has a well deserved win.

For mine, I'm actually quite happy with the minis in my entry.  What I need to improve most is the scenic composition of the photo.  The terrain I have is alright, but it lacks the full high budget movie environment that many of the entrants can pull off. I know that would help.  Well, maybe something to do for next year.

My entry was a party of Paleolithic People, a.k.a: Cavemen.

I went for a slightly different approach to these than what I usually do.
Probably my favorite fantasy artist is Frank Frazetta. I just love his work.
When I was growing up, and was into D&D probably the most famous & popular fantasy artist was Boris Vallejo.  He's extremely talented, don't get me wrong.  But he has an 'airbrushed perfection' to his art where Frazetta has a bit more of an atmospheric impression feeling to his work, and I just prefer Frazetta.

I feel the same about 'beauty'... I'm not attracted to the 'model' look of a lot of make up, glamour, or the photo-touched perfection that advertisers use: makes women look like mannequins to me, and mannequins are creepy! Reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode.. anyway, there is more realism and feeling in an image that isn't 'perfect' which I think Frazetta captures, and I tried to bring some of that style into these minis.

 

I tried to capture the feel of his art in the way I painted these minis, going for a bit more contrast in the skin than I normally do, a bit less smooth and more 'sketchy', to experiment. I usually try to go for a smoother transition for skin tones, with less contrast, since I try to steer well clear of a technique that is very common for flesh in historical minis, a tradition that marks out muscles and shades in thick dark lines- I suppose it helps it look ok across the table when there are 500 or more minis packed together, but it reminds me of the 'beef cut lines' diagrams of cows for butchers... talk about creepy.  I didn't go to that style extreme here, I was shooting for a Frazetta-level of sketch & impression. I'll play with it more and see what I come up with, but so far I'm enjoying it.

I have 2 more sets of Paleolithic Humans, Homo Sapien sapien, to be precise: us. 

and 2 or 3 Neanderthal sets, all aiming for about 6-8 minis.  And some sets of non-human primates too.

I've been writing some 'Paleolithic Pulp' skirmish rules, collecting ideas on and off for awhile, so this was the first faction team for that project.  I have some ideas that I think will be pretty fun, so we'll see where it goes. 

For this week's Lead Painter's League I have painted a guarded caravan in ambush from World of Twilight. 

One of my top favorite miniatures companies.  

I'm up against a talented forum favorite with a nice set of minis: nicely painted and a favored genre in the forum. Wish me luck! ;)  You can see the match-up here. 

Enjoy this great fun nonsense :)