"Aztec Elf & Arabic Dwarf 28mm fantasy characters" Topic

HEllo! i, from Menhir Games wanted to share the last 2 renders, an "aztec- like" Elf in "haunting", slow advancing position, he has a metal scale armour, necklace shield and spear, and a beatifull long hair with feathers :).

Sketch:

And an Arabic-Turk (based on Abassid Caliphate and Seljuk SUltanate from 12-13 centuries)

"Real size" pic:

And the sketch

ANd next is the "Inuit Orc" :D, Salutes!

Well, they are 3D models, ready to print and being casted.

Here is a set of other 7 characters sculpted in 3D, printed and moulded!:

Here are the redners of those miniatures and bases:

link

From the photos they look really nice. How were they printed? Liquid resin as opposed to filament or powder sintering?

Liquid resin! "SLA" at 25 microns.

Quite interesting!

neat design, reminds me of the Shadow Elves of d&d fame

MesoAmerican elves… fancy that! Like it! Will there be more variety? Female as well as male? Missile troops? There's definitely a lack of fantasy troops that use the sling or the atlatl….

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

P.S. Herte's some food for thought on costumes, weapons, and etc. if you expand on the MesoAmerican elves:

Hi! yes there will be female version of all the male characters, as well in 28mm.

However the product line with ARMIES, all troops (and characters of course) will be done in 1/72 scale, a scale that does not have much or ANY i would say, variety in fantasy minaitures, it is mainly historical (World wars).

I like 1/72 becuase it is smaller than 28mm making it cheaper and lighter weight to build big armies, without hving to go straight to 15mm were you lose a lot of nice detail.

1/72 scale (true 25mm scale!) is IMHO an optimal scale for actual wargaming, though I freely admit my bias having cut my teeth in the hobby playing Starguard! so long ago, and having spent my childhood buying up every box of Airfix toy soldiers I could lay my hands on that my allowance would cover!

The characters in 28mm will be great for skirmish gaming as well as FRPGs. I for one think that elves following a MesoAmerican/rainforest fauna theme would be a natural fit (excuse the pun), especially given the literary trope of elves being spiritually/magically connected to the natural world particularly forests.

Off the top of my head I would love to see elven warriors male and female alike in 28mm in a variety of zoomorphic regalia emphasizing the fauna of a rainforest. This would include predatory insects, arrow poison frogs, and poisonous snakes, which could be a part of their backstory (and why their missile weaponry is so lethally effective!). This could even translate in game terms to having any hits from elven arrows, javelins, or darts as inflicting an autokill on any rank-and-file troops, while heroes must save against poison or die on the spot! This would reflect the elves' intimate knowledge of the naturally-secreted toxins of the flora and fauna in their rainforest environment (and their willingness to use it to make their weaponry all the more deadly).

From an artistic standpoint this also allows for some extremely colorful regalia, with all sorts of bright hues running the full color spectrum.

To make them even more unique, their facial features could be more aquiline ala the Maya, their ears larger and more akin to anime style depictions of elves indicating superior hearing, and their skin tones darker, more akin to the MesoAmerican native peoples than pale Nordic complexions ala Tolkien:

link

link

I think you get the idea.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

yes to all, haha, it is a really not explored concept.

Lots of work with nice and varied detail can be done to miniatures that represents priests, governant and warchiefs.

regarding to normal warriors , details can be done, but not traspasing the point of havving too much fluffy details and ornaments that would be uncomfortable to fighting moments.

BTW, the artwork of bladestorm is original? comissioned? or borrowed?

IN the other hand, today i finished another sculpt, an Inuit-like ORc, with a pike, harpoon and a "half moon" necklace-knife.

The Bladestorm cover art is our IP, a piece of commissioned work done for ICE by the late Angus McBride (who also did so much wonderful cover art for the Middle Earth Roleplaying Game published by ICE).

I agree with you about keeping the fluffy details limited to what would actually work for a rank and file warrior, so I expect most of the rainforest elves would be attired akin to the bulk of MesoAmerican armies, namely simple body armor protection and adornments based upon accomplishments in battle.

I like that cold weather orc! I can see orcs being adapted to harsh environments, and cold climates being included in that regard (and a subject neglected often in miniatures IMHO). I can see them as natural opponents of Ice Trolls as well as humans, ice elves, dwarves, and anyone/anything else that dwells near the polar regions.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

hello, another model, an korean based goblin character:

:)

Also sketched (future sculpt) a human mounted character , based on chinese SONG dynasty (1250 ad)

ANd an ONI japanese demon:

Salutes guys!

I really like the Korean-style goblin. Will you do more poses of such goblins? They're definitely a different look compared to the traditional Euro-centric goblins of fantasy literature and gaming.

I also like you working up some Song Dynasty troops. Perhaps you might slip in a few poses based upon the Romance of the Three Kingdoms fame such as Guan Gong to your 28mm character offerings:

Ming Dynasty armor is also worth a look for inspiration IMHO. Perhaps Ming Dynasty-style dwarves given the Ming preference for using gunpowder weapons:

Just some more food for thought…

Leland R. Erickson
metal Express
metal-express.net

Hi!

i am trying (want to) do the fantasy lines of minaitures based on 10-13th century kingdoms/empires/culture of the history.

You, soemthing that people might never ask themsekf is where to place in time the images, ideas they have of how X area of the wolrd looked in "ancient times", and that leads people to have "wrong ideas" , because in their minds they have a stereotyped mental image. My point is, for example that if you ask 2 person how did a european men at arm looked in medieval times, one will tell/draw you a man full of chainmail, and other will describe a man with a steel armor full of plates, when between those 2 men at arm there is a 4 centuries gap..

Something like that happened when you(i am not acussiong lol, just trying to make a interesting point about accidentaly mixing historycal data) mentioned romance of 3 kingdom and ming: romance of 3 kindgond is like 200 AD, and MING, comes after song dinasty, from 1350AD and foward, maybe you knew that, but it would not surprise me that it happened "by accident" of not "that informed" person, and that leads to mixing (which is not bad actually being fantasy) armor look that have 500-1000 years of difference, because they are mentally saved as "ancient armor of china" in this case.

the first example i gave is like the "ancient european armor mental idea", and like that there are like infinite examples.

however i do mixes of course, but with 1-3 centuries diferences becuase in some parts of the world in 300 years armor didnt changed a lot.

Sorry for all the words :O

Hey , the Song dinasty where the first who used gunpowder "seriously" (ming perfectioned it), and as i dont want to sue a lot of gunpowder in my setting, it is ok, that is why i dont want to go behond 13th century.

and you have to note that, it is a pity because it increases the "level" of mixing history centuries, games or innacurate artwork shows wrong stuff, for example the images of romance 3 kingdoms , they have mountain scale armor pattern, that didnt appear until 750 AD aproximatly, that is 5 centuries after romance of 3 Kingdoms XD, so basically you were showing song/ming armor, which is the kind of armour i want to use (more than nothing SONG armor) with this faction.

For now i am only making worldwide heroes, i will then make normal troops and poses variety in 1/72 scale.

here you can see other 7 heroes i made :) (includes some mythological creatures )

menhirgames.blogspot.com.ar/2014/06/3d-renders-updating-it.html

These are outstanding miniatures – they have a fluidity of movement that is lacking in most 3D stuff

Is the 3D printing cost effective – do you have your own machine that prints at 25um or do you get it done externally ?

Thanks

John

3D printer is cost effective if you want to offer the 3d printer service, or if you are a medium/big miniatures company that wants to have all production in house.

buti n my case, i send te files to print to a guy that offers 3D printing service with high quaility, 25 microns. i just print the original and then mould + pewter copies .

it costs between 100 and 200 dollars a 28mm scale mini, the bigger it is, the more expensive it is.

Those Aztec Elves are simply beautiful. I have no gaming use for them but I'd buy them for the display shelf.

Something like that happened when you(i am not acussiong lol, just trying to make a interesting point about accidentaly mixing historycal data) mentioned romance of 3 kingdom and ming: romance of 3 kindgond is like 200 AD, and MING, comes after song dinasty, from 1350AD and foward, maybe you knew that, but it would not surprise me that it happened "by accident" of not "that informed" person, and that leads to mixing (which is not bad actually being fantasy) armor look that have 500-1000 years of difference, because they are mentally saved as "ancient armor of china" in this case.

Actually, I wasn't mixing history accidentally or otherwise, but merely pointing you at potential sources for inspiration in your project development.

I actually lecture on military history topics and am an academic at a private university. I've studied the Far East specifically for over 35 years now (and military history since childhood). I know the Chinese dynasties and their differences in terms of armor, weapons, methodologies, etc. rather too well to confuse a Ming Dynasty anything for something from the Song, the Han, the Qin, or the Qing not to put too fine a point on it.

Yes, the Song used gunpowder bombs lobbed from catapults or thrown down from the walls of fortifications on hapless besiegers. The Ming used *cannon* and *handguns* in addition to all sorts of sophisticated siege engines (as the Japanese discovered to their great discomfiture during the Imjin War 1592-98). I appreciate that you want to cap the level of gunpowder nastiness in your fantasy setting (and rather don't blame you, as gunpowder is a game changer!).

I agree with you that too many view history through the lens of stereotyping and ethnocentrism.

and you have to note that, it is a pity because it increases the "level" of mixing history centuries, games or innacurate artwork shows wrong stuff, for example the images of romance 3 kingdoms , they have mountain scale armor pattern, that didnt appear until 750 AD aproximatly, that is 5 centuries after romance of 3 Kingdoms XD, so basically you were showing song/ming armor, which is the kind of armour i want to use (more than nothing SONG armor) with this faction.

Funny you mention that deliberate artistic convention of Chinese popular artistry. I have a large resin figure of Guan Gong I've been working on and off on for several years now. He's depicted wearing the mountain scale pattern armor, and wearing a distinctively Song Dynasty composite structure (metal, leather, and cloth) helmet rather than the soft cap he's usually rendered in by Chinese artists. We both I suspect appreciate that the historical General Guan would more likely have worn a much simpler style of armor closer to that of the later Han period and owing more to the later part of the earlier Qin Dynasty than anything else:

link

You just keep doing what you're doing, and keep us all posted as to when we can actually start ordering your fascinating and imaginative wares.

Leland R. Erickson
metal Express
metal-express.net

This is all great and exciting stuff. As a 1/72 fantasy gamer, I look forward very much to seeing these go into production.
And loads of great images from Leland, too – definitely the kind of things I'd like to see expressed in Menhir Games' project.

thanks for your reply, you are 1 in thousands regarding to the knowdledge you have, history is nice to read/learn from in many aspets not only military of course.

i will launch the campaign to make this 3 initial characters + 5 more (including the goblin, oni, the "chinese" mounted , a mithological Sileno and an hindu based human)

After ths 2nd kickstrarter i might make another KS for the 1/72, if i do not, i will fund/produce them by my own, i really want to make 1/72!! :)