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!