Resin scenic stuff for Horror and Pulp games

Having started to paint my Pulp figures up, I decided that I really ought to give them some scenic items to explore and fight over.

These items are all from Fenris Games. They are very much suited to Cthulhu-themed Eldritch Horror games, but might also serve in other settings. The Outer Gods and Great Old Ones may well have had a presence in Felstad, for example.

First, here are two monoliths and a dais or altar with a statue (or is it?) of some unknown undersea horror, together with an intrepid 28mm Copplestone archaeologist to give a sense of scale. I've given the monolith on the left a green tinge to represent the remains of paint that once covered the carvings.

Here is another view of the strange altar, which has clearly emerged from the depths, seeing as it is covered in limpets. Of course, it might also be inside a coastal cave somewhere near the cursed seaport of Innsmouth and only revealed at low tide.

Next, here is a Summoning Circle, again featuring the intrepid archaeologist. This is definitely the sort of thing that might be hidden in the woods on top of a hill somewhere in the wild country inland from Arkham, where the whipporwills call on those nights when the Moon is full and hooded figures chant in unknown languages to certain constellations in the night skies.

Here it is from above;

I've tried to give the impression that the central circle is made from some rare mineral, probably from a meteorite from outside our solar system. It is surrounded by blood-stained basins cut into the rocks and the skulls of sacrificial victims.

More Saga: Age of Magic - my Unstable Portal

An Otherworld faction warband takes an Unstable Portal as its Sacred Ground.

I spent some time looking for an actual portal to use, but nothing I saw really excited me much. However, I am a huge fan of H.P Lovecraft, as I have mentioned before, so a portal might just be an eldritch stone with strange otherworldly angles and mystical geometries, so this beautiful piece "The Living Icon" from Fenris Games was exactly what I was looking for. A stone monolith with actual eyes and carved tentacles? I mean, who could resist it? Certainly not me, for sure.

I can thank my lovely partner for this piece, she bought it for me as a present. Also, I can thank Fenris Games for posting it out so quickly, which meant it came in the post on Thursday. Of course, it immediately went straight onto my painting table.

Each face of the Icon is different, so I simply had to photograph each one;

I've added in a female wizard to give an idea of the size of the piece. In this final shot, I think she might be getting a bit too close. What is that book she is holding? Surely not a copy of the accursed Necronomicon? Who knows what will happen when she finishes her incantation? 

This was an absolute joy to paint. It is a single solid piece of resin with no cleaning up required. I undercoated it in Halford's grey primer and when it was dry, gave it a wash all over with diluted Windsor and Newton Indian Ink (black, of course). Then I did a progressive series of dry-brushings in paler and paler grey. Finally, I finished off by painting the eyes, which were finished with a wash of Windsor and Newton Brilliant Green Ink.

The base was a simple and uncluttered case of varying sizes of sand ballast, with some cork rocks, finished with some murky dark green flock, which I also allowed to creep up onto the lower surfaces of the monolith. 

Once it had been spray varnished with matt varnish, I went over the eyes with gloss varnish, using a brush.

To say that I am happy with this piece is an understatement. I absolutely love it. I can see it being used for more that just Saga AoM. It cries out for a Cthulhu game setting, maybe using 7TV's forthcoming Pulp rules? Who knows?

Guess the next project

Here are a few photos of the start of my next project. Any guesses what it might be?

The terrain is made from blue dense polystyrene foam, mounted on 2mm MDF and the removable resin statue (from Copplestone Castings) is approximately 4.5cm tall. The statue is clearly of some kind of Lovecraftian Elder God.

The stone alignments are also made from blue foam. I cut into the foam to get the effect of stratified layers and cave entrances and also cut out the rough steps up to the main plateau. This was given a sparse layer of fine railway ballast and spray-painted in varying shades. The grey spray actually began to eat into the foam, but the effect of this looked pretty good, creating a weathered and aged effect. I then painted everything with washes of Vallejo acrylics, drybrushing to bring up the details and then flocked the rocky outcrop in a number of places.

I think that this looks pretty cool.

....and now for something completely different.

In a break from my usual 15mm figures, and also from my ongoing projects, I bought some 28mm figures from Bad Squiddo Games, which is owned and run by Annie Norman, a.k.a. The Dice Bag Lady. 

In her own words "Bad Squiddo Games provides gamers and painters around the world with the largest selection of female miniatures out there. As well as manufacturing my own line, I carefully hand pick stock from over 50 different manufacturers."

She goes on to say that "The number one aim for Bad Squiddo Games is to create and supply the miniatures that would have made the hobby far far better for my 10 year old self. To welcome more young girls and women into wargaming and miniature painting, as well as providing diverse options to the entire gaming community. And yeah – cool toys!"

I think that a look at her catalogue on the website shows that she is definitely achieving her main aim. Lots of lovely shiny stuff to tempt all sorts of gamers.

Anyway, I am a huge fan of the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and when I found out that my club would be putting on a Cthulhu Mythos-themed game, I started looking at the kind of figures that were around. We were all invited to submit a named character for the forthcoming game, which I have done, and this made me look around to see what was available in case  I might want to have a particular miniature to represent her in the future. 

I decided on the set of Four Female Archaeologists by Copplestone Miniatures.

Here they are, as I painted them;

From left to right they are; Dr Laura Carter Ward, Prof. Jacqueline Thomas, Dr Marie-Claude de St. Aubin and Miss Catherine Broadbury.

Archaeologist biographies

Dr Marie-Claude de St. Aubin
Research Fellow in Transdimensional Architecture
Faculty of Metaphysical History
École Nationale des Sciences Arcanes
Bordeaux, France

Originally a mathematics graduate and amateur archaeologist, Dr de St Aubin first developed an interest in prehistoric megalithic sites and the geometry of such sites while undertaking her Mathematics DPhil at Oxford. Her research, published some years after completing her doctoral thesis, was entitled “The night sky and sacred geometries of pre-historic sites in south-western France” and attracted the attention of Professor Markus Mazur of the University of Krakow., an expert in prehistoric alignments and obscure cult practices. This led to Dr de St Aubin taking up a post of research assistant to Prof. Mazur. Developing her interest in archaeology, Dr de St. Aubin returned to France and studied the subject at the Sorbonne.

Dr de St. Aubin is known for her archaeological studies at a number of ancient sites in Anatolia, the Caucasus and the Levant. Her work on early Bronze Age ritual sites found near Carchemish in Syria, which identified them as being sacred to a number of obscure and arcane deities, although unknown to the general public, is widely considered in Arcane Studies circles to be the definitive study of the cults of a number of previously unknown deities, two who have tentatively been identified as Azathoth and Nyarlathotep, in the Bronze Age Middle East. A noted polymath and linguist, Dr de St Aubin has spent the last three or four years translating a copy of The Necronomicon from Mediaeval Occitan into modern French.

A keen horsewoman, Dr de St. Aubin has represented France internationally. She is also a former national pistol champion and Olympic-standard modern pentathlete.

Dr Laura Carter Ward `

Senior Reader in Advanced Arcane Studies

Faculty of Social Sciences

Miskatonic University

Arkham, Massachusetts, USA

Originally forming her doctoral thesis, and later expanded into a three-volume study, Dr Ward’s groundbreaking work on the subject of prehistoric chthonic cult survivals in the Graeco-Roman world is widely considered to be the authoritative text on the subject. Her work on the relationship between the Pnakotic Manuscripts (Koine Greek translation) and the Enochian texts of Dr John Dee is considered to be a classic example of Arcane Anthropology.

First joining the staff of Miskatonic U as a research assistant to the late Professor Ferdinand Ashley, Dr Ward was later Curator of Arcane Incunabula and Manuscripts before taking up her present duties. She has undertaken lengthy fieldwork in the Andes, Polynesia and Tibet. Dr Ward is currently combining her academic duties with field research into the Witch Cults of 17^th century New England and their links to similar cults in Europe.

Dr Ward is a former champion fencer and a keen amateur photographer.

Professor Jacqueline Thomas

Head of Archaeological Sciences

University of Brichester

Brichester

Gloucestershire, UK

A History graduate of Cambridge University, Prof. Thomas undertook post-graduate research at the University of Göttingen and later completed her doctorate in Archaeology at UCL. Professor Thomas is considered to be the world’s leading authority in the subject area of pre-Druidic cult practices in the British Isles and has published a number of works on this subject. She is a visiting lecturer in Arcane Archaeology at both Miskatonic University and the École Nationale des Sciences Arcanes, where her Summer Schools are always well-attended. Her most recent publication is “Pre-Bronze Age West Semitic Cult Survivals in Mediaeval Palestine and the Crusader States”. She is also known for her archaeological investigations at Megiddo and elsewhere in the Middle East. Her recent identification of a site 75km north-west of Sakaka in Saudi Arabia as a candidate for Irem of the Pillars has been controversial, but some authorities who have examined cult objects and inscriptions excavated from the site are supportive of her claim.

Miss Catherine Broadbury

Parapsychological Investigator

Broadbury Manor

Upper Melchett

Somerset, UK

Although not a professional anthropologist or archaeologist, Miss Broadbury is well-known in specialist circles because of her work as an assistant to her late great-uncle Professor Sir Henry Exham, the famous Egyptologist and Professor of Hittite Studies at Brichester University.. A graduate of St Hilda’s College Oxford with a Master’s in Classics and Ancient History, Miss Broadbury is fluent in many languages and has written a number of books on popular history, archaeology and the paranormal. A prominent debunker of fraudulent psychic practitioners, Miss Broadbury is widely-respected in the field of Arcane Studies for her breadth of knowledge and familiarity with obscure cultic practices. She has carried out unspecified investigative work for certain agencies of the British government.

Miss Broadbury is an accomplished pianist and horsewoman and has represented the UK internationally at the long jump and 110 metres hurdles.