Posts Tagged ‘Black Scorpion’

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From the painting desk #78 – A ship of sorts

August 15, 2021

During the summer holidays, I mostly worked on a new(ish) side project – undead pirates. Having painted a bunch of crewmen, that I’m sure to post at some point during the next few years, I realized that obviously my crew needs a ship. None of the offerings on the market really struck a chord though, as they were a little too over the top for me. Cool as ships built of huge bones are, I was more in search of a traditional Flying Dutchman look, or something resembling the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean. In other words, a pretty regular ship, but tattered, like a zombie of a ship. In fact, the search for such a ship still continues!

During my search, I came across something that I had eyed in the past, a wonderfully crazy model of a small ship carried on back of a huge monstrous crab, produced by Print Your Monsters. The model is pretty much a definition of “over the top”, but who cares, I wanted it! I bought the STL files for it, printed it out and got to work.

Now, in all honesty, resin 3d prints are shit challenging in terms of multi-part kits. Resin printing can be surprisingly inaccurate, which leads to all sorts of alignment issues and so on. Very much so with this pretty complex kit as well. Out came some Green Putty though, and I had a decent looking completed model. There’s still a small visible gap that I missed, but on a model like this, I don’t mind all that much. I decided to save resin and printed the base on my FDM printer, using thinned down putty to mostly eliminate visible layer lines on the rocks.

Painting a large model like this is pretty daunting. It’s a centrepiece, so has to look pretty nice, but on the other hand there’s a ton of stuff to paint. The undead theme helped here! I’ve painted my zombies and the like pretty weathered, dark, and muted, so went for it here as well. I settled on a dark green and fleshy purple combination, and I think it works pretty well! The underside of the crab, not really all that visible, has a nasty, pale, pink-white look. The model was very much a drybrush/Contrast paint/wash affair, cutting down on time and resulting in exactly the look I wanted. It also helped hide some rough putty work!

Click for a larger version

The model was bedecked with skulls, which posed a narrative challenge: were these actual skulls or decorations? I settled for painting the skulls on the ship a weathered bronze colour, while the skulls on the shell I painted as bone. They pop nicely, making the model more interesting. The crab’s limbs have a lot of flat coral, which I painted in muted yellows and reds, giving them very pale edges as I think that’s a very recognizable look!

Click for a larger version

For the base, I went with my usual look for my nautical undead, black decorative sand with tea leaves and pizza seasoning. As it’s a large base, in addition to the sculpted-on detail I added some shipwreck-y planks and barrel halves from Renedra, and a brass model ship cannon barrel that I had kicking about. I had stuck a metal pin on the highest rock to support the model – otherwise only connected to the base by the small tips of the legs – and mostly hid that with some suitably underwater looking vegetation. As with my other undead, the idea here is of a kind of otherworldly sea bottom that they carry with them. Of course the black bases also provide a striking contrast with the bright sandy bases of my pirates and civilians, and are generic enough.

The banner was the thing I finished last. I sort of wanted some sort of cool pirate flag design on it, but after a single try, I realized that my freehand skills were not up to it. On a straight hanging flag maybe, but with the folds and the flag billowing to one side…nope. I decided to go for a simple black flag, which I think looks menacing enough.

Click for a larger version

The monstrous ship actually only has space for four miniatures, but I don’t really mind. Rather than a proper ship, this is more a command vessel, likely for an undead pirate lord going “MWHAHAHAHAHAA!” While I’d love to show it off in full, the model is a nightmare to photograph, but hopefully the pictures at least give an idea of it – I hope to post some more in the future! I posed a Black Scorpion skeleton pirate and some Pariah Miniatures zombies on the model for a bit of added fun.

With this thing finally finished, I want something a lot less work-intensive. While it’s fun to do a big piece every now and then, I’m in no rush to start the next one!

Posted in 18th century, 3d printing, Giant monsters, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , , | 24 Comments »

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Hunting pirates #6 – All done!

July 8, 2021

It’s summer holiday time, and that means I finally have the time and energy to get to blogging, a little bit at least! This post is a special one though, as I rarely get to make one – it actually marks the end of a project, and this is because of actual completion, not dried-up interest.

With most of my projects usually being very much open-ended, it was a delight to actually take one to a clear, pre-defined finish. So here they are, my pirate hunters! A group of tropey types defined in my initial post, the bit of extra character made all the difference when painting them. For me, a little fantasy – thinking about the characters and their back stories – is a really good motivator, so I’ll have to do even more of that in the future.

In the end, I made one change in the cast, as I wasn’t completely happy with the Hero Forge duelist I’d made. However, as I drew inspiration for him from The Three Musketeers’ Comte de Rochefort, I realised that I actually had the good count as a miniature already. The model I have is by Redoubt Enterprises, and is actually a really nice piece. I think I originally skipped him as there was a fair bit of flash on the model and the sword was a little bent – the kind of things you “can’t be bothered with right now”. The model is very tall especially compared to my Foundry pirates, which also left him sitting in a box for years. Once cleaned up, painted, and based, he fit the crew just fine!

Group shot of pirate hunter miniatures

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So, from left to right, front row:  the second-in-command, one of the twins, the leader, the other twin, the sniper. Back row: the beastmaster and his dogs, the scholar, the veteran, the unhinged, and the heavy.

They’ve been based in a way that combines elements from my pirates and my civilians, so they can easily serve as either, should I ever actually play a game. At the same time it makes them a faction of their own. They may get a small ship of their own some day in the future, but for now I’m happy just to have the crew. While they’re pirate hunters, they would actually make for a super cool 18th century vampire/monster hunter team as well, à la John Carpenter’s (or rather, John Steakley’s) Vampires. New sub-subproject, maybe?

For the previous posts in this project featuring many of the individual characters, check out the Pirate hunters tag.

Posted in 18th century, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments »

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Hunting pirates #5 – The Scholar and the Beastmaster

June 5, 2021

Another 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.

Black Scorpion Privateer

Click for a larger version

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.

Freebooter's Fate Tipo Duros

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Freebooter's Fate Tipo Duros

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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?

Posted in 18th century, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , , | 17 Comments »

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From the painting desk #75 – Pirate ladies

January 31, 2021

Another showcase of things I’ve painted fairly recently. I’m building an all-woman pirate crew for our upcoming Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago thing, so here’s a selection! Click on any photo for a larger version.

L to R: Bridge Games, Lovecraft Design x 2

The model on the left is actually a scifi mini from the Cobalt-1 range currently owned by Bridge Miniatures, and I think I got her from Alex over at Leadballoony. I assume she’s some sort of alien: the model did not have heels at all and I sculpted them on with putty. For some reason, her face reminded me of a young Pam Grier, so I decided to paint the model with dark skin. The two other models are printed pieces from Iain Lovecraft’s Pirates vs. Cthulhu kickstarter. I should’ve printed the middle mini a little smaller, but couldn’t be bothered as the size won’t be noticed anyway. On the right we have an excellent miniature rendition of Anne Bonny as she’s depicted in Black Sails.

L to R: Black Scorpion x 2, Reaper

Here, the first two miniatures are from Black Scorpion, and I really like them! They’re very characterful, but in different ways, the first one with a murderous intent and the second being wonderfully flamboyant. Extra bonus points for a body shape sadly very, very, very uncommon in woman miniatures which very much tend to be of the “sixpack and breast implants” variety. It’s one of the nicest pieces I’ve seen in a while! The thid mini is from Reaper Miniatures, and a good example of how fantasy miniature ranges can provide some excellent minis for pirate gaming.

L to R: Dead Earth Games x 2, Vae Victis

The third batch of three consists of two minis from Dead Earth Games’ Pirates of the Dread Sea range, and a very pirate-like vampire hunter from Vae Victis. For the pirate carrying the multi-barreled nock gun I went for some tattoos which I’m fairly happy with! They make her look pretty bad ass. The mini with the hook hand had an Indian look about her, so I used a fairly bright orange for the dress. It made me realise it’s a colour that I almost never use, but I quite liked the end result.

All together now!

There are miniatures here from no fewer than six different manufacturers, and I think the group shot is a nice example of how a uniform painting and basing style can really bring different lines together. At this stage and especially combined with my existing pirate women, I have all the minis I need for my crew. However, I’m quite motivated to paint at least a few more! It’s bringing some much needed variety to my pirates: before these minis the gender balance was something like 38 men to 8 women. It’s not a big thing in the overall scheme of things, but nevertheless makes me happy. It might be worth noting that this crew is distinctly lacking in pirates of the pin-up variety. As some of those can be nice sculpts, there are some cases where I’ve painted bare legs as tight pants, which is a nice enough compromise to me.

Work on the Ghost Archipelago project carries on, comments welcome as always!

Posted in 18th century, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , , , , , , | 19 Comments »

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Hunting pirates #3 – Goldilocks and the two sisters

August 16, 2020

This project keeps chugging forward, with not one, or even two, but three new finished pieces! With four models completed and eight more left, that means the project is already 1/3 finished, and I fully intend to close it out. I started painting these three while visiting my late dad’s birthplace, a 19th century farmhouse in North Karelia. Pretty fancy surroundings for a bit of painting!

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On the left and right are the sisters. I was originally going to paint them with a stark black and white contrast, intending the lapels of the jackets to be black. It didn’t look nice enough, however, so on Emmi’s advice (which I happily misinterpreted) I went with a golden yellow instead, and was positively surprised by the end result. The vests, trousers, and boots were intentionally painted in my usual muted colours to further highlight the jackets. I used the same colours on both to tie them together. All in all, I think it resulted in a nice matched pair, much like I intended. The sisters Winter are ready to kick all kinds of 18th century pirate stern.

Click for a larger version

The model in the middle, that I pretty much ended up painting during the course of one evening, I dubbed Goldilocks on account of his lush blonde mane and matching moustache – somewhat reminiscent of Lord Flashheart. His role is that of the veteran of the group, and nothing says that better than brown. So, a lot of brown was applied to him in various shades. I did go with cream lapels, cuffs and pockets for a bit of a pop, and I like the combination. Painting the model was pretty smooth sailing, apart from him being one of these cases where I thought I’d cleaned him up before priming. There’s nothing quite like taking a file and some sandpaper to painted sections of the mini…

All three minis are from Black Scorpion, one of my favourite manufacturers of pirate minis. The sisters are resin, while Goldilocks is from the time that Black Scorpion still sold their minis in metal.

Posted in 18th century, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , | 8 Comments »

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Hunting pirates #1 – The Cast

June 8, 2020

My pirate project has been running since 2015. Surprisingly, I haven’t tired of it yet, far from it.  However, at times I feel like I want to do something else – yet related to the project. Inspired greatly by IRO and Wudugast, I’ve decided to start a sub-project for my pirates: pirate hunters! A small group of special characters to pit against my pirates.

Now, I’m a huge fan of the Badass Crew trope. Whether it’s The Bloodpack from Blade 2, Dutch’s team from Predator, the Seven Samurai or countless other examples, I love it! In case you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s a case of rather than a leading character and some generic mooks, the group consists of individual personalities. As I’ve already got plenty of pirate characters, I wanted a group of memorable antagonists. I find it much more enjoyable to paint characters with some story to them, or even just a defined concept. While these tiny people will likely have their own crew of unnamed backup, as well as a ship of their own, I wanted to start small to make sure I can complete the project. I believe the final spark of inspiration came from stumbling across John Carpenter’s Vampires on Netflix one night.

So, let me introduce you to these characters! On a spectrum of strictly historical to Hollywood, this part of the project is definitely at the latter end. The pictures are an eclectic mixture of stuff lifted from manufacturers’ sites, screencaps of STL files and some photos. I’m sure you’ll recognize some of the archetypes:

There’s The Leader. He is merciless, aloof and holds a grudge against pirates – his lost arm is likely the cause. The model is Lord Wilmore from the 1775 Join or Die Kickstarter. Whether he’s the person financing everything, or if there’s a shadowy eminence behind him, remains a mystery for now.

Click for a larger version

Next, The Second-in-command. I’ve dubbed him The Marquis in my head, and he’s like a cross between Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride and Comte de Rochefort from The Three Musketeers. A brilliant, but cruel swordsman. He might murder his boss one day and take over the operation. The model is a custom Hero Forge piece.

Click for a larger version

Then there’s The Sniper. He’s a quiet type, and very good at hitting things from afar. The model is a marksman from Warlord Games’ Pike & Shotte range.

Photo © Warlord Games

The Twins are two British aristocrats, one proficient with a blade and the other with pistols. Obviously they form a deadly duo, perfectly complementing each other’s fighting styles. Much like The Gemini Twins in The Man with the Iron Fists (note: spoilers, if you haven’t seen the film). The miniatures are a privateer and a navy officer from Black Scorpion.

The next one I’ve dubbed The Scholar. Not as physical as some of the other members of the crew, but definitely the brains. He will use his pistols, but that’s not what he’s there for. The mini is another Black Scorpion privateer.

Every crew obviously needs The Veteran. While not as super-elite as some of the others, they’re a tough-as-nails, reliable sort, and have seen more than most. Think Davos Seaworth in Game of Thrones, Sgt. Zim in Starship Troopers, Sgt. Apone in Aliens…and most video game tutorial instructors, you know the type. This is again from Black Scorpion, this time a pirate.

Click for a larger version

A somewhat shadier character, The Unhinged in this case is a redcoat wielding a couple of knives with brass knuckles. I see him as someone who will go to any lengths when fighting pirates, as well as him being possibly the leader’s bodyguard and attack dog. Another mini from 1775 Join or Die, this one called Joe Beckett.

Click for a larger version

Speaking of attack dogs, I have The Beastmaster. Now, fighting dogs aren’t really all that great if you’re at sea, but I love the model and that’s what counts! It’s a mini from Freebooter’s Fate called Tipo Duros. He has two big mastiffs at his command, and mastiffs are the best so there.

Photo © Freebooter Miniatures

Last, but very literally not least, is The Heavy. It’s Jesse Ventura’s Blaine in Predator, The Mountain in Game of Thrones and countless other examples. The hulking, partizan-wielding Zachary Sallow from 1775 Join or Die fits the bill perfectly.

Click for a larger version

There you have it, a group of specialists! I’m happy to add to it in the future, also for some more diversity. To make it both visually and narratively more interesting, I want to bring in some more non-white (as well as non-male) characters, but its something of a challenge to do that without succumbing to some pretty tired stereotypes. You know how it often goes in this genre, there’s that one character whose speciality is “woman”, kind of like in early Dungeons & Dragons Elf and Dwarf were classes, like Wizard or Fighter. The 17th-18th centuries, which I ground my project in, were very much racist and sexist, but there’s really no need to recreate that in miniature, especially as historical accuracy really isn’t at the core of the project.

Comments, suggestions for character types to include etc. welcome as always!

Posted in 18th century, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments »

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From the painting desk #72 – A little bit of everything

April 16, 2020

While I had originally planned to make posts of these minis piecemeal, I figured that it would simply lead to most of them never getting displayed. As a result, this post features a pretty mixed selection of miniatures, but I’m sure that just makes it more entertaining!

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Up first is a pair of pirates, consisting of a barber surgeon from Black Cat Bases and Esmerelda, a pirate lady from Black Scorpion. While stylistically very different, both were enjoyable to paint and make for nice additions to my pirate crews. I’m especially happy with the surgeon, who I think looks a bit like an annoyed Billy Connolly. As with some other Black Scorpion female minis, I painted the legs to suggest very tight pants instead of the cool pirate lady wearing a loincloth and boots. For some reason I never have to do this with male miniatures, who knew!

Click for a larger version

Onto the monkeys! A fair few miniature manufacturers make monkey miniatures as part of their pirate lines, and I’m happy to collect them. The monkey wearing a bicorne is another Black Scorpion sculpt that I picked up at Salute last year. The monkey sitting on a barrel is another 3d print from Depths of Savage Atoll. As one of my early test prints, the quality isn’t perfect and I already considered throwing the mini way. I didn’t have the heart to do it though, and after a bit of paint I think it turned out fine. Both of these were simple sculpts and easy to paint, and I’m really pleased with the end results. As for how I’ll use them, no idea whatsoever.

Click for a larger version

Rounding out this post are two very characterful pirates. The first one is a custom Hero Forge piece I printed, who I’m calling Smith of Bristol. Now, to anyone not familiar with the Dubliners song of the same name, it tells the story of a daring pirate who goes around a-plunderin’ and a-robbin’, before finally being killed by a Spanish bullet. The twist of the song follows this, with the lines “he was only ninety-seven/but his soul had gone to heaven”, which I’ve always found hilarious. So, long story short, here’s a sprightly old pirate! If you want to listen to the song, I’ve embedded it below.

The second miniature is another one with some story behind him. He’s Tijl Uilenspiegel, an exclusive miniature from the Crisis wargaming show in Antwerp. Originally Tijl, known in English as Till Owlglass, is a 16th (or possibly 15th or even earlier) century trickster figure. As Wikipedia informs us:

Many of Till’s pranks are scatological in nature, and involve tricking people into touching, smelling, or even eating Till’s excrement. Scatological stories abound, beginning with Till’s early childhood (in which he rides behind his father and exposes his rear-end to the townspeople) and persisting until his death bed (where he tricks a priest into soiling his hands with feces).

An excellent character, in other words! While I don’t think my pirate version of him is quite this feces-focused, the sculpt is great. Paul Hicks has sculpted a wonderful expression on the mini, and I tried to reflect this when painting the eyes. I think he does look a bit…trickstery.

While all of these would technically qualify for Ann’s “Paint the crap you already own!” challenge, Tijl Uilenspiegel is the one mini I had in mind when I decided to participate in the challenge. He’s a sad case of “Oooh I really want that, what a cool mini, better let him sit in a box for a year or two” so I’m happy that he’s finished!

With all this painted stuff, I’m at 12/100 for my painting goal of 100 pieces this year. With a third of the year gone – not great, not terrible. Still, with a bunch of easy to paint terrain pieces and the like in the near future, I’m still optimistic!

Posted in 18th century, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments »

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Fembruary 2020: Emilia

February 22, 2020

Alex over on Leadballoony is currently running the Fembruary challenge. This excellent initiative is running for the third year in a row now, with Alex describing it as follows:

the deal is ‘Paint at least one Female miniature’ – it’s that simple! I’m not bothered what genre, game, manufacturer, painting style or material you go with. It can be a squad, a single mini, a diorama, or whatever takes your fancy… I’m just looking for awesome portrayals of the feminine in miniature form, as part of an ongoing conversation about how women are presented within our hobby.

I’m definitely up for that! As my Fembruary effort I decided to paint the governor’s daughter from Black Scorpion. I’ve had the mini sitting half-finished for years now, so I figured that I’d remedy this too. Two birds, one stone, etc.

Click for a larger version

Click for a larger version

As you’ve no doubt noticed from the post title, the young lady is named Emilia. While you might assume that this is a reference to my amazing wife, I actually painted the miniature to depict the character Emilia Rothschild (as played by Angela Dotchin) from the excellent, dumb, feel-good show Jack of All Trades.

The main characters of Jack of All Trades: Jack (Bruce Campbell) and Emilia (Angela Dotchin)

Here’s Emilia posing with The Daring Dragoon, Jack’s alter ego. I don’t think I’ve shown him before, although he has featured in a Halloween battle report some years back!

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This brings my painting tally for the year up to 2. Only 98 more things to paint to reach my goal! Then again, I’m super happy to have managed to participate in Fembruary – thanks Alex!

Posted in 18th century, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , | 17 Comments »

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From the painting desk #68 – Another motley crew

December 23, 2019

Fighting the urge to present them as mötley crëw, here’s another batch of pirates – they never end, do they? This time it’s a mix of custom printed Heroforge pieces and miniatures I bought as physical objects. It’s funny how that has become a meaningful separation with the printer!

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First up are the brothers Mulligan. They are Heroforge creations, as you can probably see. The thing I love about Heroforge (and I might have to make a separate post on this) is that you can create your own pieces and tell your own stories. In this case, we have the good brothers. While I’ve never given them first names, I imagine them as this Irish duo, a classic combination where one is a huge, burly brawler and the other a fast-talking gunslinger. To tie them together visually I painted both with pale skin and red hair, and I think it works pretty well.

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Next we have the big swords. The woman on the left is another Heroforge piece, while the man is from Black Scorpion. While placing them side by side like this reveals the softer details of Heroforge pieces – especially compared to super crisp resin – I’m happy with both. Another thing in Heroforge’s favour is the control it gives you in customizing your minis. In this case I wanted a bit more diversity, so I wanted to create a female pirate who wasn’t whipcord-thin and abnormally busty. Instead I made a pirate that to my eye looks strong, with the heavy blade adding to the effect. I also gave her black African features.

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The final pair of this post are a pirate lord from Reaper miniatures (sculpted by Bob Ridolfi) and a drunk pirate (sculpted by Evgenii Tkachenko) I found for free on Thingiverse. The pirate lord is especially lovely, a really characterful piece with his expensive clothing and flowing locks! I gave him a blue and yellow colour scheme, which made me instantly think of Sweden. Who knows, maybe he is a Swedish pirate lord. Painting Reaper miniatures always reminds me that I should paint more Reaper miniatures. The drunk pirate, despite the sculpt’s simplicity, manages to have character as well. There’s something about the pose that I really like, he looks very much like a henchman.

I’m usually not a huge fan of how my minis look in these portrait-style pictures, so I figured I might start setting them up in some more scenic shots in addition to the close-ups. So here you go, here’s the pirate lord addressing his motley crew. I think they look like a wonderfully interesting group. To me, this is what I want to achieve: tiny little narratives with colourful characters. I don’t really game with my minis, so these little stories are what makes stuff interesting for me.

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As I’m writing this, my new printer – this time an FDM one for printing larger pieces – is on its way. Man oh man, this hobby never ceases to surprise me.

Posted in 18th century, 3d printing, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments »

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From the painting desk #64 – An eclectic mix

May 11, 2019

I’ve been on a bit of a painting kick lately, so I’ve got a grand total of five new minis to show you! Funnily enough they’re from five different companies too, which goes to show that I don’t mind mixing ranges and manufacturers in my project. It’s been good having some painting mojo back – painting has felt really fun and I’m pleased with the results I’m getting. As for the minis, here we go!

Black Cat Bases African lady

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First up is an African lady by CP Models that I picked up in a Bad Squiddo sale. I kept the palette super simple and tried a tone I hadn’t really used before in the pale green. I think it turned out really nice and I’ll be sure to use that tone later on as well. A neat, simple model, she’ll work well as a generic civilian in the West Indies.

Black Cat Bases pirate queen

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Next up is a pirate queen from Black Cat Bases. Nice and characterful, she was a joy to paint. To go for much bolder colours, I drew inspiration from one of my favourite pro wrestlers, the pirate princess Kairi Sane, and went with an almost white overcoat with blue cuffs, and a blue tricorne with gold trim and a white feather. While I tried to keep it from going too over the top, I think the end result is a suitably ostentatious pirate lady.

Freebooter's Fate Tiradora

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The next mini I completed is a recent Salute purchase, a Freebooter’s Fate mini by the name of Tiradora (which is just Spanish for “female shooter”, so not really a name at all). This was the first Freebooter’s Fate mini I’ve painted, and I’m quite impressed! Crisp detail and nice smooth surfaces made this a joy to paint. While the catalogue mini was painted white, to me the mini looked obviously African, so I went with a dark brown skintone. Another mini I’m happy with!

Citadel townsfolk brawler

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Sometimes you end up painting old stuff, and that makes me feel warm inside. This model is an old Citadel one from the 1987 Travelling Players set. When this model was released, I was five years old and Emmi wasn’t even born yet. There’s something really cool about that. I’ve actually had this mini for a while, as he used to be a part of my WHFB Empire army. One day I just figured that he might fit in well with my pirates, so I stripped him of his old paintjob and did a quick repaint. As his facial features sort of suggested it and I had been painting brown-skinned minis, I figured I’d paint him with darker skin too, and I think it looks good! You may notice that his basing with the flowers suggests that he isn’t a part of the pirates or the maroons faction, but rather a member of my townsfolk. I’m thinking that he maybe works on the docks (and now I’ve got Bon Jovi stuck in my head, it’s tough) or is the bouncer for the local tavern.

Black Scorpion pirate

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My last entry in this post is a mini I’ve wanted to paint a long time. As I’ve been thinking about the various characters that inhabit Tyburn Island, one that has been firmly lodged in my head is a hired sword nicknamed “The Razor of Nassau”. Don’t ask me where it came from, but it’s this guy. I love this mini, he just oozes menace and has that gunslinger vibe about him. To go with this, I painted him in full but worn black, with a red sash for some visual contrast.

I’m happy with this lot for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s nice to get stuff painted as it’s been quite a thin year so far. Secondly, this batch turned out quite diverse – a couple of females and not everyone’s white. It’s not a huge thing, but it’s fun on both a visual level and out of principle too. I’ve got more stuff lined up too, so..yeah, cool!

Posted in 18th century, Miniatures, Pirates | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments »

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