Triumph of Death: 28mm Renaissance skeleton army miniatures cast in white-metal for gamers and collectors, by Skull and Crown Stratagem, Inc.
Every idea or mad scheme starts with a back story…
The first miniatures wargame I played in was an epic battle between a Renaissance skeleton army and Romans run by the notorious Alan Lucien. The miniatures were old Minifigs models from the late 70s or early 80s, with stylized Romans and a fantastic Undead/skeleton army. They were possibly the first skeleton minis ever made, and modeled after Hans Holbein's Dance of Death or Totentanz renaissance wood block prints from the 1500s. They weren't the best sculpts, but man – did they catch the essence of the period. Those skeleton hordes and that Totentanz style stuck with me like a first crush. Older than Oldhammer, my bell had been rung!
I've always wanted to recreate an updated line of minis in the Totentanz style, but never had the sculpting chops to pull it off. Last year, I became friends with an amazing sculptor, Drew Day Williams, who shared my passion to create a range of 28mm skeletons in the vein of Renaissance artists like Holbein, Dürer and Peter Breugel. This is how the Triumph of Death (or ToD for short) range of miniatures came about.
The goal of Triumph of Death is to create a line of Renaissance-inspired 28mm white-metal Undead skeletal miniatures for collectors and for use in RPGs and tabletop wargames. In a word, Skeleton Landsknechts!