This pirate landing party took a wrong turn at that big magnolia and straight into the hands of mambo de Belleville.
I went with a subdued, greyish palette in contrast with the more vivacious pirates. I also gave these guys a more uniform colour scheme, 'cause one of horrors associated with zombies is the loss of personality, right? Also, it was faster to paint them like that..
Related watching:
Captive in the borderland between life and death, her brain drained of the life-spark, the "White Zombie" obeys the unholy commands of her demon master!
As that line clearly suggests, a great movie!
More zombi. This time caught hunters of neighbouring tribes and tribesmen deemed criminal.
More Foundry minis, from their Aztec range.
I'm a lot happier with the stitching over their mouths this time. I used the same cotton string as in with the previous posts, but rolled out the threads to get a "plate" of stitches. Not quite pleased with the paint job on the shields, though. But I know I'm too lazy to go back and fix them..
After years and years, I finally got around to visiting some old gamer friends. The experience was weird in a good way, not unlike coming home.
I also got to play a great game of mythical Japan, Legend Of The Five Rings, ran by my friend who is one of the developers of Audatia, a historically accurate card game of sword fighting with historical people, playing which helps you learn the techniques and terminology of 15th century Italian sword fighting. How cool is that? Dear reader, I trust you know as well as I do, that there are no words for how cool that is.
I was also made aware, that this other fellow I also haven't seen in years has his own miniature blog featuring, among other things, pirates and zombies. Convergent evolution?
(Pic from Wikipedia)
Maybe it's just that great minds think alike. Anyhow, dawnofthelead.com is definitely worth checking out, if just for the mind blowing pirate ship he is building.
But best part was that my wonderful goddaughter, whom I've seen shamefully little, was there with her friend, taking part in the aforementioned Lot5R game. It was their first ever tabletop RPG, and they took to the concept like ducks to water and great, cinematic fun was had by all.
But, anyhow this is my miniature blog, so my conscience demands I include a mini pic also. Being a bit short of anything recently painted, I'll leave you with this picture of some Rogue Trader squats I painted ca. 1996. Looking at the colour scheme now, I can only say: What the van Helsing was I thinking with that colour combination?
Among the slaves, old Olamilekan was the one who could speak to the ancestors. With the power of the ancient songs he could break the fever and stop the bleeding of wounds. He carried bones of his ancestors that protected him from harm. But these small powers could not shield Olamilekan from the terrible might of the witch de Belleville when the band of escaped slaves he had guided through the treacherous, alligator-infested swamps, were captured by the foul sorceress. Unlike his companions, with the ancestors watching over him, the old healers mind wasn't completely obliterated under the voodoo curse. He was still a person, even if a shadow of a person. He had a name, Lee. But sometimes he almost remembered that wasn't his name, not his whole name. And if Lee could remember his true name, maybe he could find his will again..
A undead champion for the zombis. Also a musician with a greenstuff drum and a standard bearer carrying a mask that came with the mini for the voodoo priestess de Belleville. But you'll still have wait a little longer to see her!
News of Red João procuring guidance to the fabled Great Bonanza soon reached the ears of the feared witch, mambo asogwe de Belleville. She offered an alliance to the pirate captain, to aid with her mystical powers and the manpower of her servants in the search for the legendary treasure. Because captain João's guide, navigator Le Pierthy, cursed to exist as a bodiless head, was living proof of what happened to those who braved the safeguards of the Great Bonanza unprepared, João accepted the offer. But he soon wished he hadn't. Of the pirates' new allies, the first to arrive were some unfortunate slaves who had escaped into the wilderness. Exhausted and starving they came upon a native village, where de Belleville resides as the villages protector and de facto leader. When the desperate slaves were caught, trying to steal food from villagers' stores, her justice was cruel. Through dark magic and the clever use of natural toxins, those the Witch deems criminals are damned into a shadow existence, knowing neither pain nor fear and having no will save that of their mistress. The only thing they crave, is to eat salt, which would release them from their torment.* To prevent this, their mouths have been sewn shut with crude stitches.** The presence of these creatures is most unnerving to the mortal pirates, but none of them dares to ask de Belleville to leave for the fear of sharing the fate of her servants. * The current hypothesis is that the perpetuation of the "zombi state" requires the body to be hyponatraemiac for the toxins used to remain effective. This causes an overpowering hunger for salt and the fast increase in blood sodium levels after consuming large quantities of salt leads to central pontine myelinolysis (breakdown of the white matter of the brainstem) and death of the "zombi". ** The crudeness of the stitching of due to their creator being well versed in the dark arts and witchcraft and less so in actual arts and crafts. Any connection to the author's poor modelling skills are purely coincidental.
These unfortunate souls (soullesses?) are tribal warriors from the Wargames Foundry Darkest Africa -range.
They stand a bit shorter than the pirates, so I put some cardboard between them and their bases to add a little height. You can also still see the little numbers on the back of the bases I painted while basing them, to make sure that they still rank up when finished without them poking their spears in each other's backs.
I added bits of string for the stitches over their mouths. Not quite happy with the way that turned out, with just two bits of string, they look more like fangs, which not what I wanted at all. The paint job I like better, I just went for a sickly green with some blue on the noses, lips and fingers to suggest cyanosis.
More people to the baggage train. A simple "conversion" with a Perry plastic head, some string and PVA glue.
They say that the journey is more important than the destination. But, on treacherous waters, thousands of leagues from home, it's nice have some directions.
When Red João set on the quest for the fabulous treasure of Great Bonanza, his first goal was, through threats, bribes and cunning use of gunpowder, to recruit the only known person, dead or alive, to have glimpsed the legendary treasure's hiding place.
That person in question was Geoffroi Le Pierthy, the navigator of La Seynte Mere-Polayle, which sailed the seas some 150 years before current events. Transgressing a powerful curse protecting the Great Bonanza was the doom of the crew of La Seynte Mere-Polayle and cost Le Pierthy his body, but surprisingly, not his life.
Le Pierthy now exists as a sentient, disembodied head with a speech impediment due to the lack of lungs. He spent decades sitting on shelves of voodoo shops as a scary juju, and is thrilled to be out and about again.
Le Pierthy's limited abilities of communication are causing problems in the treasure hunt. But by a weird twist of fate, Red João's current navigator, Geoffroy LePerdu, is a direct descendant of Le Pierthy. This bond enables the ancestor to give guidance to the young navigator through dreams, visions and half-intelligible whispers.
Relevant things on my mind:
-Music!
-The head of the navigator from The Secret of the Monkey Island that guides Guybrush through LeChuck's hellish underground lair.
