XX. The Three-Headed Devil Dog

 "I have proven the head transplant is possible. 
My inital experiments involved living black rats (Rattus rattus) as subjects, and were more or less successful. My next step was the attempt to apply the procedure on a dog. For the subject I picked the largest hound cadavre I had available - hecatian hound (Canis lupus hecatiensis) of the hairless breed, and successfully reanimated it as per usual procedure. After that I severed the heads of two more animals of the same kind and surgically grafted them on either side of the original head. They are connected to the body's circulatory, digestive and respiratory systems. Each head contains its own working brain, but only the original one has any power over the body as, of course, it is the only one connected to the body's nervous system. The subject is still functional now, 46 hours after the transplant. I named it Cerberus, after the three- headed monster from the gates of Hades.
I strongly believe head transplant is possible on humans as well, but that I have yet to prove." 

-The Plague Doctor

 

THE MODEL

 

Basically, it's an oop Rackham Cerberus of Acheron. I've done some minor conversion work on the heads (modified ears and muzzle, bolts on the neck from the reanimation process, empty eye-sockets), and I added the red cross shield on its chest. I initially painted all the skin dark grey, but it looked hideously monotonous, so I went and repainted the grafted heads sickly greenish colour they are now.  :)

When the Plague Doctor is played as McMourning in Malifaux, this puppy represents the Rogue Necromancy. 

THEMES 

Kerberos in Greek mythology is a three headed watchdog of Hades; his job is to stop shades from returning to the world of the living. He is son of Typhon and Echidna, and brother to Hydra, Chimaera and Orthrus. Capturing Cerberus with his bare hands was the final labour of Heracles. The hound is often described as having a mane of serpents and a serpent tail. Cerberus is mentioned in Dante's Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost. Norse mythology has a similar watchdog at the gates of Hel, albeit single-headed; his name is Garmr.

Head transplant, the surgical operation involving grafting the head of one organism onto the body of another, has so far been performed successfully on rats, dogs and monkeys. They die pretty soon though, and they are paralysed neck down because science hasn't yet figured out how to properly attach the spinal cord of the head to the spinal cord of the body.

There's an interesting video on the subject in The Midnight Archive. I recommend checking out the rest of the series; it deals with all manner of curiosities and the episodes are just five minutes long (this one about head transplant is an exception):

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The first issue of  Figure Painter Magazine is now available for download!  It's a new independent magazine dedicated to sculpting, painting, displaying, collecting and gaming with miniatures of all genres. The magazine contains details on new releases, reviews, interviews with the industry's top painters and sculptors, show reports, tutorials and a user gallery. The magazine will also feature a series of articles following the design and construction of a modular Malifaux gaming board - the combined efforts of two of my clubmates and me.

XIX. Hound, Fiend, Cavalry

A couple of new additions to my slowly growing collection of finished minions. This update increases the number of my Hounds to four and my Bloodfiends to five. I don't think I'll be making any more of either of them any time soon.

Hecatian Hound IV. - another one based on an old Chaos Hound; swapped the head and resculpted the neck.

Bloodfiend V. - it looks pretty cool from this angle; gave this one an open mouth to add variety.

On to my latest acquisition, OOP Confrontation Scavengers of Acheron. I've always wanted to have those guys; their mounts are the best looking undead horses out there. I intend to turn them into the other three Horse-men of Hades:

...but not just yet. This is what's next on the list:

(illustration by William Blake)

XVIII. From the Sketchbook

I've been thinking a lot about the backstory lately. I haven't yet completely figured it out, but here's a short introductory text I came up with:

Gardens of Hecate... A most desolate place. Nothing to see but dark, grey earth, the heavy sky above it and the vast forests and plains in between. Nothing to hear but the rustle of leaves and silent whispers of fading apparitions, haunting the ruins of their towns and villages long ago destroyed. This is where I stroll when I awant to be alone with my thoughts.

But I wish to tell you of the old days: on the brink of the events that brought an end to every beast, bird and man. The years of war and of plague. When fire rained down from the Heavens, and the dead crawled out from inside the Earth to take the living back with them...

Also, here's a peek into my sketchbook, where I put down ideas for characters, conversions, rules and scenarios which might some day be played:

XVII. Some New Photos of Some Old Stuff

Nothing new I'm afraid. Other projects and life getting in the way. But I took some better pictures of my Dead Rider, whom I now call The Reaper Horseman - the greatest among the Four Horsemen of Hades.

And for the first time, a groupshot of the entire Plague Doctor's crew as it currently stands:

XVI. An Abomination and an Agram Arena Announcement

FLESH ABOMINATION II

 

I've finished the second big lad:

This one walks on three legs and wields a huge spiked club. The fellow was based on one of the big mutants from the GW Chaos Shrine kit, and his club hand is from Beastmen Minotaurs.
Here he is with his friend:

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AGRAM ARENA SUMMER TOURNAMENT

My local club's annual summer tournament is slowly drawing near, so I'm helping spread the word. I'll be there both weekends, since I'm entering the Black Queen painting comp and the Malifaux tournament. The one last year was tons of fun and I expect nothing less for this year. Here's the official announcement:

Dear friends!

It is time for another (11th annual) Agram Arena Summer Tournament!

We are in the second decade of organising Arena events and this year's Agram Arena Summer is going to be held over two weekends:

13-14^th of July 2013 - Malifaux International tournament + Demo Games / Open play (Infinity and LOTR SBG on Saturday 13^th; Flames of War and Warmachine on Sunday 14^th)

20-21^th of July 2013 - 40K International tournament + Black Queen International painting competition


Location: MS "Cvjetni trg", Miskecov prolaz 3, Zagreb, Croatia.

Entry: FREE!

Refreshing drinks for all players will be free during the tournaments.

Accommodation for Saturday night is also free for the 1st-time-comers (read more in the rules)!

Lunch is available at the price of 75 Kn (around 10 Euro) for both days (= 5 Euro/day)!

Check out the tournament rules & other info:

Combo rules (40K, BQ & Malifaux)
with background: http://www.ums-agram.hr/app/webroot/...ti/AAS2013.pdf

w/o background (printer friendly): http://www.ums-agram.hr/app/webroot/...2013_print.pdf

Official languages of the tournament will be English and Croatian.
Registration:
40K - from 1^st of June to 15^th of July
Black Queen: from 18^th of June to 15^th of July (not necessary - see the rulespack)
Malifaux - from 1^st of June to 7^th of July
Demo Games / Open Play - from 7th of July to 12th of July
(you can find guidelines on registration in the rules (check out the above link))!

If you need any other information please contact us at ums.agram@gmail.com or GSM +385 91 7620584.

XV. The Nurse

Another human member of the Doctor's retinue. My Nurse is a stern lady in her late fifties. She was the wife of a country doctor, who died not long after the War had begun. As she is a widow she wears a black dress under her protective clothing. The Nurse is much devoted to her husband even after his death; when she left her home to join the Plague Doctor's staff she took with her his skull (the miniature shows her holding the skull).
 

The Nurse

The base for the conversion is Wyrd's Molly Squidpiddge. I guillotined her and sculpted a whole new head. I also put an apron over her dress. To make the base more interesting I built a small section of deteriorating wooden fence out of balsa. The choice of colours and the red cross on her hat tie her in with the rest of the gang.

The human part of the crew.

XIV. The Assistant

Converted yesterday evening and painted this morning - the Assistant:

It started as Wyrd's Sebastian, Morgue Assistant. He just needed an anti-miasmic mask and a red cross armband. The fellow sure makes one hell of a mess with that bone saw...   

XIII. Release The Hounds!

Last weekend I finished two more Hecatian Hounds. One is another Reaper wolf, and the other is the OOP GW Chaos Warhound. They were not modified much; the former just lost its mandibula and the latter its chaotic horns. Here they are with the one I made earlier:

XII. Pestarzt In History And Miniature

I present the Doctor; painted and based:

I'm very pleased with the result, and the paintjob was as simple as it gets. Making this miniature made me wonder how many plague doctor miniatures there are out there, produced by various miniature companies. I was already aware of some, like this one from the Carnevale miniatures game,  Shaking Sean from the delicious 50mm Smog 1888 range, or Goblin Gas Blowers from Confrontation. After a quick search I found some more: Mr Crippenghast by Darkling, The Cutter from the Disturbia range, one from Reaper Pathfinder range and one from Brother Vinni's, a rather rustic one from Lead Adventure, and a whole pack by Foundry. Of all the new ones I thus discovered, there is one I particularly liked and am getting at least one copy of. It's this Plague Doctor by C-P Models.

Some notes on historical plague doctors:
They were hired by town/city authorities in times of great epidemics to treat  infected people and record the numerous plague victims. The special outfit some of them wore was invented by Charles de L'Orme in early 17th century. It consisted of a long overcoat, gloves, boots, a hat and a mask. The protective suit was made of waxed leather, and kept the physician safe from fleas, rats and patients. The mask had a curved beak filled with various aromatic items, and served as a filter for the "foul air". People believed in those times that desease was caused by "miasma": putrid, bad-smelling air. The doctor would also carry a wooden cane for pointing, poking and keeping people away. Being a plague doctor was not a promising career. Paracelsus and Nostradamus were famous plague doctors.

An engraving showing the characteristic costume with bird-beak mask, worn by some plague doctors in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

Apparently those who didn't opt to wear the bird-beak would put on something even more grotesque, such as this weird-ass thing...

   

XI. Converting The Doctor

I've done some work on the leader of my plague-fighting gang. The conversion is based on Kassalis Venin for Rackham's Confrontation game. I gave him a plague doctor's beaky mask and a hat, and removed some pointless trinkets he had hanging from his belt. I omitted the mechanical claw things that should stand on the original mini's back. He may need just a bit of smoothening out before painting, but this is pretty much it.   

And the bits for my second Flesh Abomination arrived this week:

This one is actually smaller than the first one, though I thought it would be bigger. I'm not sure I'll be working on it yet, I think I'll make some more Hounds first.