Before sending the figures off to John Morris of Mystic Spirals, I thought I'd take a few photos so you could see the "before" pictures.
As far as I can now determine, these figures were originally produced in the mid-to-late 80's. Kevin Contos was the sculptor. The figures have that sort of "old lead" look to them - a little darker, but not corroded or pitted.
The Blue Ardua
In the Talislanta game setting, the Ardua compose one of the Seven Kingdoms. They are basically tribal, living in the forests of Vardune. There are two species, pretty much identical except in color - the Blue Ardua, who are the warriors; and the Green Ardua, who are farmers.
Most of my figures are Blue Ardua. I originally thought only two poses were available:
This fellow is brandishing one of the "needle gun"-type crossbows used by the Ardua, as well as one of their slightly impractical double-knives.
This warrior holds high a poleweapon, ending in the Arduan double-knives.
In my collecting, I stumbled on a third figure, a variant of the first pose I showed but with a "big head." I only ran into one of these - he'll make a good command figure!
The Green Ardua
As I mentioned previously, the figures in this series seem to have been targeted at collectors rather than wargamers (or even role-players). Most of the Blue Ardua figures look like they're posing for the camera, rather than wading into battle. The Green Ardua has an even less practical pose...
Yes, that's a flower he's holding in his raised hand - remember, the Green Ardua are horticulturalists. (I suppose I can come up with a rule about the combat effects of certain flowers...)
And Now Into the Mail...
I've wrapped the figures up securely, and will get these into the post to John shortly. I'm also hoping he'll have some good suggestions as to color schemes. The game setting has very little to say about details of the Ardua - I'm not even sure what their skin color is. I just know that one is "blue" and the other "green" - I imagine that refers to their wings...