St. George and the Dragon

It was a matter of pure coincidence, but I was looking for some other stuff over the net and I eventually found this:

 Oh, you can see how I had no option but to get it, right? It belongs to Reconquer Designs ranges, which have quite pretty interesting medieval stuff, mostly focused in Reconquista, but with some other generic models.

In fact I found it on my local shop's web, which has a 3D printing service, and it made the whole thing much easier. When I got the actual model I couldn't be more pleased. Absolutely delightful and just right like the pic above. The details are stunning and everything was lovely. So I couln't wait to throw some paint on it!

This is technically a Wyvern, but it will do

I thought of doing the dragon red, but in the end I went for a more classic green. In fact I gave it the same treatment as the Orc Warlord on Wyvern from a few weeks ago. I made some research on St. George and the Dragon representations in art through history and there are a lot of different interpretations and readings of both the knight and the beast. However, I think this is the first time I see St. George in this Norman style.

To be fitted later!

Apparently St. George was a Roman officer of Cappadocian Greek ascendance, a Praetorian to Diocletian, and who was sentenced to death for not abjuring his Christian faith. Wikipedia assists me by stating that the Diocletian Persecution of 303 was especifically aimed at Christians within the ranks of the professional soldiers of the Roman Army, and hence when George was caught. He was beheaded at Nicomedia on 23 April 303. So the tradition says.

It seems that the cult to St. George became popular in the following centuries. But what about the dragon? The legend doesn't come up until the 11th century, spreading through Europe during the 12th century.

Yeah, that guy is nothing without me!

 

(By the way, do you see that hole on the dragon's neck? It's designed so the spear can go through it when the model is assembled. Seriously top notch design work!)

Once upon a time... It is said that a dragon built its nest on a natural spring nearby the town of Silene, Lybia, and that the people gave two sheep each day to the beast so they could get water. But at some point there were no sheep enough, so they started to give the dragon human sacrifices, on a raffle basis. The system worked until one day the King's daughter was chosen. Only then people seemed to have a problem with the whole thing (Hello?? No one is making any kind of social criticism here? Ahem. Never mind...). Long story short, George faces the dragon, kills it and the citizens of the town became Christians. Woohooo.

Well, there are way better sources for the story than this blog. Go make some research.

Going back to the model, I had this little frame at home, and I thought it was perfect for this occasion:

Come on, dragon, go home, you're drunk

Some DAS putty to make it more 3D

I had some doubts when it came to painting St. George. There are as many representations as artists, I'd dare to say, so I didn't feel bound by specific colours. I couldn't make his clothes white, as that was the colour of the horse. I thought of green, but it was all too green alongside the dragon.

Besides, I'm getting a Rohirrim vibe here

So this was my final take:

It took me some time to get to this solution

In the meantime, I moved forward with the base:

Barren desert. But the dragon's lair was supposed to be close to a spring

So some vegetation is required

I took my chances with the black edge on the base, I thought it would look better this way, instead of using the whole base as part of the vignette, with land and grass.

This is the final result:

St. George seems to be quite popular all over Europe, being the patron of many countries and regions, revered from East to West, from Russia to England, spanning Ukraine, Hungary, much of the Mediterranean.. and outside that, even Ethiopia! As I googled him to write this post, I discover that Muslims also consider George as a prophetic figure in Islamic sources. I'm happy to display someone who brings together so many different people. We have too few of those.

Days of high adventure

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure.

If you read the above slowly and pitching your voice, then of course you came to the right blog and you can feel here like home. If you don't know what's this fuss about, then go back to your instagwhatever you children are into these days.

I got the 'Barbarian Couple' by Elladan. Sculpted by the artist of the moment, most talented Boris Woloszyn, they of course are the object of desire for a whole generation. Or two.

Well, not all of them are for me!

I painted two sets, one for myself and another one as a commission for a friend...

The other only explanation is that you are drunk and see double

I made two vignettes (these are calling for it!).

My pal wanted them on individual bases

But my own will have them integrated on a single base

Just like this

I also got some cardboard for the background

So, this is the final result:

Dum dum dumdum, dum dum, dum dum dum

Dum dum dumdum- Oh, come on, I know you are doing it

Well, this of course will be my last post for 2018. I hope you are enjoying these days and I wish you all the best for 2019. Here's to the new year! See you!

Lord Macragge revisited (Pt. 5, the final result)

Time to put this project to an end! With all the minis finished, I just had to take care of the hall itself. I could make this as easy or as complicated as I wanted. If you know me you already know the answer... The easy way it is :P

I was suggested to use some wooden pieces as columns and stuff. The idea is nice, I got it under consideration, but that would have forced me to design some base for them. Naah, just these pieces of foamboard, they'll have to be enough...

 

Yup, after all the converting work, I'm risking it all with this lousy approach

 

Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Not only it is easier (which it is!), it also gives all the visual attention to the minis. So no tapestry, carpets or anything else. I'll just keep it the way of the original vignette.

Some cunning cuts here and there and this is gonna be all

For the floor I just repeated the checkered pattern I used for the original vignette:

 

How about a nice game of chess?

 

The same goes for the wall:

Another brick in the wall

OK, now I faced a problem. The standard bearer has quite a pose. His left foot is on a piece of rubble. I thought I could save that part using two levels on the floor, but the piece of foamboard is way too high for that. What could I do then? Well, use your imagination, Suber, use your imagination...

 

The skull comes from the Scouts kit, I believe. The rest is just greenstuff

Right, a Genestealer corpse. Why oh why, I hear you wonder. The illustration of yore (WD 97?) shows Tyranids trophies on the room:

We can skip some details for this vignette...

So well, I thought it could be appropiate, and honestly, I couldn't think of any other motif to justify that standing pose :D

So the vignette finally looks like this:

We are posing for the cover of our new album

 

You can compare both the original and the reinterpretation:

Man, it's the same vignette but on steroids!

Well, this is all I have been able to achieve out of these minis and my skills! It's been a fun process, I must say, from the inception of the idea coming out from the dead marine to this vignette with four converted minis. I think I could have added some more stuff to the wall, it looks too plain. But for the moment I will call this complete and move on other projects. Hey, you never know, maybe in a couple of years I make another reinterpretation and recreate the whole throne room and the Fortress of Hera :D

Lord Macragge revisited (Pt. 4, minis finished)

Some more progress on this! As I told last week, what I was missing here was a proper, decent standard bearer, to show off and sing the glory of the Ultrablah blah blah. No, I mean it. Any throne room worth of the name deserves a nice touch of colour. I simply got the Standard Bearer from the Calgar retinue again.

My starting point

I had already taken that original awful helmet off. I hadn't tried before on the bodyguards, but it was easier on this one, so I had to do it. That also made everything easier now ;)

I removed the head again and used a helmet, just to give coherence to the whole group. Also had to reposition the sword arm, it would be a little bit ankward having the guy pointing wherever while his mates were watching over the boss.

The conversion

I tried to save as much as I could from the original brushwork on the Standard. I saved the scrolls and the lower part, but repainted all the rest:

Behold the power of oldschool painting!

So you can see the final take on the minis. The style is quite homogeneous on the whole group:

No matter how colourful I look, my pose says I'm tired

I said no autographs from the boss

I wanted to be the Standard Bearer, but all I got was this stupid halberd

Well, now that I have the characters, I only need the environment. As I need to move on, I think I'll take the easy approach. The final stage in a few days!

Lord Macragge revisited (Pt. 3, bringing some colour up)

Aha, so as I told you last monday, I've been working a little more on the blue bunch of throne room guys. Still can't show them totally finished, but at least you can see them a little bit better.

You can get the basic shapes here

I went as usual in these cases, from bottom to top. So a dark blue base (a mix of prussia blue and royal blue) and them up and up. The rest was just a matter of adding colours, you know ;)

Well, I hope now you finally get an idea of what I'm trying here!

My idea was adding some contrast, so clear colours, not too flashy, but bright enough to make them look a little bit oldschool, you know.

We're looking ultra-blue

So getting closer and closer to the desired end state

I've realized what I was missing here. A proper banner for the throne room. The Calgar kit provides me solution to that issue though. Working on it, working on it...

Lord Macragge revisited (Pt.2, bodyguards)

Next step in the vignette. The original one has a bodyguard besides the throne, so I thought I was needing something like that. The choice was kinda obvious, as the modern Marneus Calgar kit comes with two guards:

Yup, I bought these when I was young and reckless

But let me tell, even back in the day I couldn't bear those helmets. Those ugly, ridiculous gull-winged helmets. So in fact this was my perfect occasion to get rid of them. Win-win!! :D

So I replaced the heads with regular helmets and also cut off those axe arms, they look too aggressive. Otherwise, they would look like they were going to attack their boss sitting on his throne! (And we don't want that! We certainly don't want those rumours about a Genestealer Cult infiltrating Macragge go too far!) Unfortunately I didn't keep track of the WIP and I didn't realize until I was priming them. Oh, my bad. This is what I can show you:

 

Brother Stanilus Laureliis

Brother Olivius Hardius

 

As you can see, I repositioned the arms, so they look like standing guards next to their boss. For the first one I chose the 'vigilant bolter' pose (it's the one on the right on the first pic). I severed his full right arm and part of the left one, just below the shoulder pad. I replaced the missing parts with plastics and that was it. I also needed some kind of collar made of greenstuff so the helmet joint looked natural.

I couldn't completely take the right arm out from the second guard (the one on the left on the first pic), but I found this halberd from the Grey Knights pack, so in the end it didn't look that bad.

I currently have them on the painting table, but for the moment you can see then black primed:

Provisional 'bad boys' display. Subject to further changes

Sorry the pics don't really show the work on the minis, but for sure they'll look better when painted. More coming soon!

Lord Macragge revisited (Pt.1)

New crazy project! Once again a product of my mental scattering :D

Those of you who know the latest edition of the Space Hulk game will be familiar with this mini:

Man, is that bus coming?

It's a perfect objective marker for the game, sure, but what I saw was this other thing...

You saw this HERE

 

 You know, that's my lateral thinking... Don't ask, there is no rational explanation. I just knew I had to do this. Sooo, in order to update the vignette, first thing you need to do is removing some expendable stuff.

Thousand of blood drops and other Blood Angels stuff!

 

From them it all was a matter of getting the right bits into the right places. So you know, greenstuff all over, a suitable head... Hardest thing for me was finding a right hand power fist. I have plenty of left handed ones, but not a single right handed one! I finally had to get one from Space Crusade:

Now beginning to look like something

 

However I wasn't getting the right vibe for the mini. It lacked some quality and I wasn't getting it to the point I was looking for. I finally had to assume I was in need of drastic measures. I had to desecrate the modern Marneus Calgar mini (you know, the one in the Terminator armour).

This is how he's gonna look in the end

I took the right shoulder pad and the ammo belts for the bolters. At this point I could then as well used his head or his right arm, but you know, that mini is much more aggressive, the guy is charging through the battlefield, so his fists are clenched and he's shouting. I needed quite the opposite, a relaxed attitude, so I just used these bits and that was all.

So this is it for the moment! I have the centerpiece, the boss, but I will need some more people for the vignette ;) I'm working on it, you'll see what I'm getting in a few days...