Here are my latest characters for In Her Majesty's Name and other such games. They even have some backstory (see below).
They were finished off yesterday but I was worried about varnishing them because it had been raining all week so far and I was worried about the humidity. However, it was dry in the evening and I decided to varnish them and see the damage in the morning. Luckily, there was no fogging, which was a relief!
These are also from Ironclad Miniatures and are probably the most obviously steampunk of all the figures I've done so far.
The chap on the left in the picture is former bare-knuckle pugilist Gentleman Jack Spratt. A dissolute and brutal man, he had both arms broken in a bizarre Hansom Cab accident which was probably caused by one of his Underworld enemies. A shadowy figure was seen leaving the scene of the accident and the cab driver was nowhere to be found. Jack's mangled body was found in the wreckage, his career in the ring finished.
A Mad Inventor (whom we shall meet in a future post) offered Jack to "mend" his useless arms if Jack agreed to work for him.
The results can be seen here. Jack's arms have been augmented by electrically-powered mechanical prostheses and he wears a small generator on his back, which also doubles as an Arc Generator.
As a result, Jack is now a feared member of the London Criminal Underworld where his powerful augmentations provide all manner of assistance to a wide range of illegal activities.
Jack's companion is the beneficiary of another of the ingenious creations of the Mad Inventor. His name is Grigori Blok, a merchant seaman who was the only survivor of a boiler explosion on a Russian steamship docked in London. His body suffered terrible burns and internal injuries and it looked to the staff of the hospital in Limehouse as though he might not survive. However, the Mad Inventor used him for another one of his experiments and had him encased in a specially constructed armoured metal suit, powered by an Arc Generator. Taken together with a number of obscure drugs, the electricity generated keeps Grigori's heart beating and allows his damaged nervous system to function normally. The human cost of this is that Grigori can never take off the armour. To do so would cause his death within hours of it being removed. Like Jack, Grigori has found useful employment in numerous nefarious enterprises where his strength and near invulnerability to many weapons makes him a useful weapon. Never a great intellect, Grigori's powers of thought were badly-weakened in the explosion. The life-preserving drugs are therefore also useful in keeping Grigori under the control of the Mad Inventor.
Well done Carole, unusual and beautiful figures!
ReplyDeleteThanks. They are such nice minis that painting them was a joy, and I think that they really deserved a good gothic/steampunk backstory.
ReplyDeleteVery nice - both the minis and the fluff!
ReplyDeleteThe background fluff means a lot. A narrative element always makes gaming a much more three-dimensional experience for me. Also, it gives me the chance to let my imagination run riot. Hence my love of my imagined countries of Syldavia and Borduria, originally created by Hergé.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, Caroline, both the painting and the back ground story, you've done great job on both. I am curious to see the Mad Inventor though....Are you playing IHMN solo, then, in these times of isolation?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Not playing at all yet, mainly because I have no 28mm scenic stuff. I am just painting to fill the endless hours. Also, please not Caroline. Whoever she is, she isn't me.
DeleteHahaha! Apologies, Carol, I'll have a word with that Caroline, the impostor,never you fret 😉
ReplyDelete