First Wave Special Characters Part 1 (continued)

Making preparations for the next Kickstarter has monopolized all of my hobby time for the last several months. I've been working on mounted versions of the Dwarf Musketeers, a couple of mounted Special characters, and some other surprises. John Pickford is doing the sculpting, of course, and the greens I've seen and the precasts I finally have in hand look fantastic. There are still a few bits to sculpt and some long-bearded conversions to complete, but progress is good. I want to have all of the precasts in hand before the Kickstarter -- and, with luck, some painted precasts as well. That way, everything can go immediately into production and backers won't have to wait for their premiums.

In the meantime, I received more painted figures from Terry Matheny of Sword and Palette, whose remarkable talents continue to bring the figures to life.

The Dwarf in the Iron Mask has become the de facto mascot for Iron Mask Miniatures. Terry assembled this model with a swept-hilt rapier and trident dagger. The iron mask is inspired by the Sutton Hoo face mask. The worn cloak, with broad surfaces broken by patches and tears, is a reminder of his diminished state.

The Dwarf Cardinal is arguably the most popular of this group of special characters. He is dressed appropriately for a churchman whose political power needs no overt demonstration. The fingers crossed behind his back make dubious the blessing he is bestowing with his right hand.

Where the Cardinal is modestly dressed, the Dwarf King displays the height of fashion. The cane is supplied as a separate hand. If you prefer your royalty more engaged, he could be modeled with a sword, pistol, or even a goblet from one of the other hand sets.

The evil M Roquefort, the cardinal's cheesy and vaguely rat-like agent, is a human. He is supplied with two separate hands, one with a wine glass and one with a sword:

The following shows the Cardinal with some of his minions so you can see the relative sizes of human, dwarf, and ogre.

First Wave Special Characters: Part 1

The first four Special Characters are sculpted and on their way for casting. I've mentioned some of these before, but here's your chance to review all of them together.

The Dwarf in the Iron Mask

His iron mask is inspired by the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon helmet with face mask. He will have a right-hand hand crossbow and a left-hand 17th Century style lamp. His hands will be compatible with the dwarf duelist hands, so he will also be supplied with a sword and main gauche dagger pair from the main range, as well as an extra right-hand dagger.

The Dwarf Cardinal

His Eminence is unarmed, of course. He has minions to do all of the wet work while he sees to affairs of state and bestows the occasional blessing.

The Dwarf King

Sorry I don't have a better shot of His Majesty, but you may be able to tell from this that he is clearly a fashion trendsetter.

In addition to his lavish cape and extravagant plumes, he sports a cane (supplied as a separate hand). The other two hands you see in this picture are the greens for the lamp and hand crossbow, both of which come with the Dwarf in the Iron Mask.

The Vaguely-Ratlike M Roquefort

M Roquefort is, to date, the only human in the range. He is one of the Cardinal's principal agents and seems to have an affinity for obtaining the services of some demonstrably rat-like minions.

He comes with two right-arm options, one with a sword and one holding a goblet. The glue point for the arms is under the cape. I have a doughty band of 5th and 6th edition Games Workshop Skaven ready to serve as his minions.

*****

There are six more Special Characters in the queue. The next pair should be ready by February, along with a number of new dwarf hands holding things like hat, bottle, handkerchief, torch, etc.

Not easy being greens...

This posting highlights the greens of the first two of ten special personality figures that will complete the Three Musketeers theme of the First Wave. The first, of course, is the Dwarf in the Iron Mask. Here is the concept art by Colin Upton:

The sculptor John Pickford developed an exquisite model from this sketch. As you can see from the following slide show, he is coming along nicely:



He is dressed in common fashion with a ragged blanket for a cloak. He wears the Sutton Hoo style helmet and face mask, which will be fixed in place by a 17th C padlock at the back of the head. He will be released with a a rapier and main gauche dagger and, for additional modeling options, a crossbow, a lantern, and a couple of empty hands.

This figure has become the unofficial logo for Iron Mask Miniatures. He will be limited to a production run of 200, most of which will go out to my Kickstarter backers. Along with the figure, my Kickstarter friends will get a card-sized reproduction of the concept art signed and numbered by Colin Upton. After the Kickstarter obligations are fulfilled, the remaining 80 or so figures will be available for sale (but without the signed art card).

Another icon of the Three Musketeers legend is the Cardinal. Here is the concept art for the dwarf version of Richelieu:

He is dressed in Cardinal's robes, naturally, and bestows a blessing with his left hand while with his right he crosses his fingers behind his back. John, as usual, did a remarkable job translating from a 2-D sketch to a 3-D model:



The Cardinal will be a one-piece casting and, as soon as the Kickstarter obligations are fulfilled, will be added to the figures for sale.

I will soon have shots of the greens of the King and the vaguely rat-like M Roquefort. Until then...

-g

There's a lot more to ogres...

[This posting’s slide show features examples of Iron Mask ogres painted by Terry Matheny of Sword and Palette. Clearly, the Cardinal's Guard is not the only unit to recruit ogres.]
 

The Kickstarter campaign has kept me busy since late July. Not only was there a lot of preparation involved, but it required steady attention throughout its 30-day run, posting updates, responding to comments, tweaking the premium and add-on list, and replying to the messages sent by backers. After the first Iron Mask Miniatures project was successfully funded, the real work began.
 

Overseeing the layout and organization of the production molds from a distance has been a challenge, but I’ve now set up an inventory and order system for the 132 individual bodies, heads, and hands for the First Wave release. I’m in a position now to get figures from the caster pretty much as needed with only a week’s lead time, so I am currently starting to ship fulfillment packages to my Kickstarter backers.

Over the least several weeks I received a number of queries about purchasing Iron Mask figures. I am, of course, happy to sell them. I’ve set up a page on this blog with a price list. (See the left margin.) After looking over the list and deciding what you want, send me an email at ironmaskminiatures@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you with a total including postage. After I receive your payment via PayPal, I’ll ship your figures to you.

 

The Ogre does what ogres can...

[With just over a week to go, I'm halfway toward my  Kickstarter funding goal. For a cottage business like mine, Kickstarter is a convenient presales tool. With the finished figures in hand, the crowd funding provides the money to put them into production, while the premiums for the backers helps me gauge the size of the first production run. Iron Mask Miniatures will not go away if the crowd funding fails, but the enterprise will be greatly expedited if it succeeds. If you haven't pledged already, consider doing so this coming week.]

 

Last Saturday I received a small batch of Cardinal’s Guard Ogre precasts, fresh from the master mold. I am really pleased with how they turned out.

 

The bodies:

 

and the heads:

The ogres use the same multipart system as the dwarves, so virtually any hand-and-arm activity can be represented depending on the hand you choose and how you rotate the wrist. When I was planning these figures, however, I was resigned to the fact that, given the classic ogre posture and the lamentable absence of neck, there would not be much articulation of the head. But John Pickford's talent for sculpting multipart figures apparently knows no bounds. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that with each of the four poses in combination with any of the four heads, a great many head positions were possible.

In scale Cardinal’s Guard Ogres match the classic ogres of the 80s and 90s:

 

 

And here next to an Iron Mask Miniatures Dwarf Musketeer:

 

 

The following examples are white-primered to enhance the detail, assembled with Blue-Tac (gluing would provide a much tighter fit, of course), and based on 40mm lipped, round bases. The bodies are shown in the same order left to right, with the heads and arms swapped around to show the variety of poses possible:

 

 

 

 

 

Following is a study of the stooping ogre. This is by far the most restrictive pose, but the placement of the head and positioning of the hands can direct the figure’s action to the left, to the right, or to the front:

 

 

Currently one other ogre is planned. This will be Jussac, the ogre captain, who will look something like this:

 

 

Jussac is one of eleven special figures that will eventually complete the Three Musketeers theme.

 

To Build an Ogre

 [This posting's slide show illustrates the birth of an ogre -- sculptor John Pickford working his magic.]

The Kickstarter campaign has been submitted for review. Hopefully, it can launch this week.

Meanwhile, the Iron Mask project carries on as the greens for the Cardinal’s Guard Ogres make their debut. When I conceived this phase of the project, I faced the same dilemma I faced with the dwarves: there really wasn’t anything like them on the market. Ogres from modern manufacturers are larger and more exaggerated than what I wanted, tending toward the grotesque if not outright silly or gross.

I knew that I wanted the ogres to pay homage to the classic figures of the ‘80s, so the height and overall heft of the figures was a given. But even the best of the best ogres, the old Citadel and especially the Marauder ogres, were posed in ways that were too static for ogre duelists. The solution, of course, was to use the same separate hand and head system that I used for the dwarves. This has advantages for casting (fewer undercuts) as well as more variety and versatility for the modeler.

For the concept art, I turned to Colin Upton, an extremely talented artist and illustrator whose drawings have frequently brought him into contact with the world of wargaming. Colin works quickly and efficiently, but most importantly to me he was quick to grasp what I wanted and more than accommodating when it came to making changes and fine-tuning a concept. While he was adept at interpreting the briefs, guidelines, and image references I gave him as my ideas developed, some of the things you will see in the coming months sprang from his imagination as much as mine.

Here are the concept drawings for the Cardinal’s Guard Ogres:

The third piece shows the ogre sentry, a relatively static pose, I admit, but separate hands would allow considerable depth and versatility. I love this face, especially with the moustache wrapped around his fang.

For the final pose, I wanted a hulking figure bending low to engage a (possibly?) shorter opponent. No concept art for this one, alas.

Eventually, I decided to drop the beards. Ogres have more-than-prominent chins -- in the cosmic scheme of things, I think more chin makes up for less neck. As John rendered the concept art into real, 3-D portraits, it occurred to me that the beards forced the weight of the heads too far forward, so he resculpted the chins.

Here are the results:

The above is holding a dragon, a short-form blunderbuss pistol.

　

...and to give you an idea of the size, compared to the dwarves:

Now these are definitely old-school.

The completed kit, which does not show the daggers still to be converted from the rapiers, looks like this:

The greens are in the hands of Steve Phillips, who does my casting. Hopefully, by the beginning of next week I’ll have actual samples in hand and can show you some assembled samples.

And Colors Bright and True...

[This posting's slide show presents the long-awaited painted figures. These dwarf Musketeer duelists were brought to life under the brush of master painter Terry Matheny of Sword and Palette. I could go on all day about how great his work is, but the figures speak for themselves.]

Getting the figures painted is a big step toward initiating the Kickstarter program. I want to be able to show prospective funders that I have the dwarf duelists on hand and ready to go into production. The figures above were assembled using four bodies, eight heads, and an assortment of hands with rapier, dagger, and pistol. Most of the daggers were converted from rapiers. Empty hands were used to give the figures greater animation and attitude.

The Cardinal's Guard ogres are on the sculptor's workbench and should be completed in a matter of weeks (give or take), so I will soon have useful shots of the greens to use for Kickstarter. In the meantime, to take up the slack left by the absent ogres, here are some duelists I painted as Cardinal's Guard:



These are four of the eight conversions with integral heads sporting long hair and beards. Note that three of the figures defer to 17th Century fashion by wearing long wigs, and as in some portraits from the period, the usually black wigs did not always match the color of the beard. Fashion is fashion, I guess.

The bases are 30mm lipped, slotted bases. I plan to release these bases with the figures (the ogres will have 40mm lipped, slotted bases). In the photos above, I used wood filler to create the cobblestone texture, added paint and a couple of washes, then finished off each base with a small weed or two growing in the gaps in the cobblestone.