Being a re-visitation of Naval November with feeble excuses offered as to the author's failure to fulfill his ongoing obligations...
Cut to the chase... Roy over at RoyW's Hobby Blog came up with Naval November last year. I liked the idea and put together a wizard/familiar combo in line with the theme.
So far, so good. The sticking point was that NN came right after Zomtober and participating in those two events back-to-back badly impacted my previous commitment to The Helping Hand Challenge. (The fact that I'm a slow painter and a general loss of interest stemming from my costly involvement in the Center Stage Kickstarter debacle only made matters worse.)
It felt wrong to produce a LOOK WHAT I PAINTED!! post featuring the pair while The Helping Hand Challenge sat neglected. Consequently, only the fish familiar saw the light of day back in November while his boss was allowed to cool his heels (or tentacles in this case) until The HHC was caught up.
As I'm nearly caught up, it seemed a good time to finally unveil the pair as originally intended.
The wizard began as Bombshell Miniature's Edo Underling #1. In keeping with the pulp sci-fi theme of Bombshell's Counterblast line, the mini holds an enormous ray gun. Nothing against pulp sci-fi or ray guns, but that needed to go. After much filing, carving, and pinning, it was replaced with a suitable staff from a Reaper mind flayer (a staff with tentacles, no less).
There are some awfully cool minis in the Edo faction. As there's always a little more room in the lead pile, I picked up a couple other items at the same time as this one.
The markings were cribbed from the mimic octopus... an amazing animal optimized for deception and a fitting inspiration for a wizard specializing in illusion.
Beyond that, he's still something of a work in progress on a conceptual level. If nothing else, I see him and his kin as foes of the aquatic undead from Zomtober.
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| Good or evil? The jury's still out. |
That's a really interesting-looking creature. And the paintjob is stunning as always! The colours and pattern you chose fit him well.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Ana.
DeleteFine paint job, sir.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jay.
DeleteExcellent! An absolutely stunning group of painted miniatures.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to choose a side, I'd be going with the evolved natural species instead of the unnatural reanimations. And, as is always the fact with nature; nature is, as nature does. It being neither good, nor evil. Natural to its own specific nature, itself.
Naval November is certainly the theme event that keeps on giving ;)
Thanks, Roy. Like a vampiric mermaid, Naval November just refuses to die.
DeleteNow that is a bit special, what a wonderful piece of work. Great to see them altogether, really wonderful concept you are creating.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michael. I didn't set out to create a concept. It just sorta' happened by accident.
DeleteFantastic paintjob he has a wonderful face!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Simon. A face only a mother could love (and she has her doubts).
DeleteThat's a cool looking sculpt and the whole set fully painted looks absolutely gorgeous! Great work!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, 4EM.
DeleteWow! That looks really terrific! I would love to see a whole crew painted up like that.
ReplyDeleteThanks! There are some cracking minis in your Edo range. At the very least I'll have to pick up the other underling to pair with this guy.
DeleteThat group shot, Finch. . . it's a staggeringly great achievement in the world of mini painting. I somehow missed this post earlier this week- I'm very glad it didn't slip me by. That octopus fella is easily one of your best. Really, really fine work on the stripes and (per norm) the eyes. Very frightening indeed.
ReplyDeleteThat's very kind of you to say, VK.
DeleteThe stripes took some patience.
The eyes are just near-black with tiny off-white dots to simulate reflected light. Easy-peasy.
Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow... Fantastic stuff finch. Absolutely inspirational. When anyone mentions nautical minis these days I immediately think of your painting of that fish, but this octopus is right up there in memory as well now. Just the best. Simples :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Blaxkleric. Glad you like them.
DeleteThis has become the project begun by accident. The serendipitous convergence of Zomtober and Naval November sucked me in.
At some point I should pick out a proper name for my unintended creation so I can label past (and hopefully future) posts. "Aquatic conflict between two or more currently unnamed factions, during an undefined time period, with significant D&D/Lovecraftian influences" seems a bit unwieldy.