Hunting pirates #5 – The Scholar and the Beastmaster
June 5, 2021Another two – or actually four – miniatures completed for this mini project! Two different manufacturers represented this time, Black Scorpion and Freebooter. As has probably come across on this blog, both make excellent pirate miniatures.
Of the two new entries, the first is the Scholar. He’s the cold, calculating brains, he handles the finances, never drinks to excess, and is happy to calmly use one of his pistols to settle disputes. In a very rational manner, obviously. I gave this Black Scorpion privateer expensive looking clothes. I even tried to freehand some patterns on the cloth, and the less said about that, the better – they are now resting under a coat of red paint. Practice will continue one day. I made the wig powdery white, and painted the details on the jacket white as well to contrast with the dark skin. I think it works pretty well.
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The rest of the minis come from Freebooter’s Fate. The model is called Tipo Duros (“tipo duro” is Spanish for tough guy or bad-ass, if Google is to be believed) and he has two attack dogs with him. The dogs were a pain to put together, as parts fit terribly even aften a lot of sanding and filing. I had to slap on a fair bit of filler, and at the painting stage I realised I’d still managed to leave in some misalignment. The tipo duro I am, I chose to live with it. The dogs and Tipo himself were all great fun to paint, and they make a cool trio. I’ve always been a big fan of fighting dogs and their handlers in popular culture, despite some of their ugly real-life history, so this set really appealed to me. The dogs might also make an appearance in the Ghost Archipelago, as you can add warhounds to your crew! Painting was fairly straightforward, and I went for my usual palette of reds, greens and browns.
Click for a larger version
Click for a larger version
This post stayed in a draft state for so long – it was started way back in November 2020 – that I’ve actually finished this mini project by now! I did change one mini from my original plans, and to keep you coming back, I will reveal it in a future post. Exciting, no?
Dawn of the Lead 
More excellent looking swashbucklers there. 🙂 The dogs are great too. I know exactly what you mean about fighting dogs, as miniatures they’re really cool but in real life it was all a bit grim and unpleasant. Mind you, you could say the same thing about pirates!
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Thanks Wudu! This hobby does sometimes force you to delve into some pretty unpleasant stuff, especially the historical side. It’s also really interesting (and also a little horrible), that once enough time passes, even awful things can turn into cool pop culture tropes. Inquisitors, witch hunters, slave traders…oh my.
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I don’t know that GW started it, but through them was some of my first experiences with the really darker side. They seemed to revel in it, but also mixing in some humor so that you didn’t end up thoroughly depressed by the reality of it.
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Very nice! 🙂
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Thanks John!
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Nice work on those miniatures, Mikko!
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Cheers Dave! They were a pleasure to paint, but apparently a chore to photograph, seeing as I took such a long time to do it 😀
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Both minis came out great and will look awesome alongside your other pirate minis. Seeing a cool sculpt from Black Scorpion reminds me that I want to give painting their cowboys a go one of these days so thank you for that as well 🙂
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Thanks Kuribo! I actually have some Black Scorpion cowboys that I bought when I started my pirate project in 2015. I was intending to do two mini projects, pirates and cowboys, maybe 10-20 miniatures each. I never painted a single cowboy, and the pirate project is still going…
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These are great mate – so much character! The Scholar looks like a really cool customer 😎
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Thanks Alex! In general, Black Scorpion minis have bags of character, so they lend themselves really nicely to painting 🙂
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Cool paint jobs there.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Hopefully we’ll get to see some freehand from you some day, keep on practicing! That being said, the red coat on the Scholar is gorgeous!
I actually had to go and google if muscular dogs actually look like that. To me the muscles seemed to be a bit excessive :D, but lo and behold, the models look pretty realistic.
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Pit Bulls and Mastiffs can look like a roided out weight lifter. Could be their owners put something in their diet though, or maybe genetic breeding.
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Nice looking minis! Though the two are quite different, I really like them pretty equally. Nice colors and interesting characters. You got me curious about their cowboys too.
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Really nice painting Mikko, enjoying seeing your project progress. I did cover war dogs on my blog, they were absolutely brutal.
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Thanks Mark! I think I picked up the link from your blog, or at least ended up in that article through you, so thanks for that as well 🙂
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