LXXVII. The Bell-Ringers Revisited

As promised, here are the updated and re-based cattle-headed revenants:

It all started with the fellow pictured below. He was the last Bell-ringer I had made (that was back in January), and different from the others in that he had Horror arms instead of Plaguebearer ones. I found that the longer arms suited the Plaguebearer body better; they made the creature's proportions somehow more pleasing to my eye.  That is why I decided to replace the arms on the rest of them.

LEFT: before; RIGHT: after. The only change here is the addition of a small bell.

Besides arms, all Bell-ringer bar that one got brand new faces. These masks give the group a more coherent look.

LEFT: before; RIGHT: after. A visible difference on this one. The bells on his left arm come from the Blightkings kit.

I made each of the black masks out of bits of plasticard, carved with a hobby knife and put together with superglue. For reference I looked at photographs of real wooden carnival masks from Međimurje, such as these:

Photo by Davor Rostuhar; published in National Geographic HR

The musician got a bit rearranged. This walking bagpipe's chanter now sticks from the base of his neck, while before this intervention it used to be a transformed mouth. 

LEFT: before; RIGHT: after. The bell got relocated to his back, as it would have been obscured by the new arm had it remained around his neck.

You will notice that some have a ring or a disc between their horns, which reminds me of portrayals of Egyptian gods. I can't really explain the logic behind this detail, but it feels right. Does it look out of place to you?

LEFT: before; RIGHT: after. This guy got his old club replaced by a new one, put together from  a brass rod, a plastic bead and green stuff. The weapon's red colour adds a splash of interest in the crew's otherwise monotonous colour scheme.

LEFT: before; RIGHT: after. The first bell-ringer I ever made, this poor fellow has been through many transformations. I wish I could promise this was the last.

As for the Devil (not pictured in this post, but THIS is the mini I'm talking about), I can't seem to make his new look work. All attempts to fix him have failed (which is a bit frustrating), so I decided to put him away in a box for the time being. In my experience, that is the right course of action when a mini refuses to cooperate. There are plenty of others in need of my attention. :D

This is it. What do you think? Was the makeover successful, or do you feel they were better before?

LXXVI. Merchant's Shop

Last month I finally got my hands on one of Tabletop World's resin houses. It was the lovely Merchant's Shop.

I painted it for a step-by-step tutorial published in last month's Figure Painter Magazine. You can purchase Issue19 if you follow this LINK. It was fun, even though I had to paint fast to meet the deadline. It will be a welcome addition to my terrain collection. The only problem is that it makes my own scratchbuilt houses look quite poorly made in comparison. I guess I'll have to up my game when it comes to terrain making. Or fill my table with Tabletop World stuff. Spaking of which, the newly released Mansion is a real beauty. But that price tag...

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I recently bought another blister of Reaper Dire Wolves, so the Plague Doctor got two more cheap minions. The newcomers are at the front, and the two old ones are at the back.

The undead pack.

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Another thing I did in November was a redesign of the Bell-ringers. I wanted them to look more visually coherent, and more reminiscent of the source material. Before setting off I made some sketches:

The faces got an overhaul.

The Devil gets a new head. Also, possible new types of units are here. The stag and hounds belong to the Hunter Horse-man, though- whose crew is planned for a distant future.

The Plaguebearer arms are replaced by the longer Horror arms. They wield new clubs as well.

The big, Blightking-based fellow I haven't started yet; the Devil again, and the musician got a change of concept.

The next post will feature before and after pictures of the six minis that went through the makeover, as well as inspiration, design and execution notes.