Clan Crayfish Standard-bearer - Foundry Sea Elf Command

The Foundry Sea Elf Command, sadly discontinued, is a great set, albeit a bit large scale-wise. This piece was painted as the standard bearer of the Lustrian Sea Elf clan Crayfish.

Here goes the fluff (miniatures are just an excuse to make fluff, which is probably my main hobby):

Six thousands years ago - about the year 2500 of the High Elf Calendar - Elves left Ulthuan for the first time, sailing the high seas. Some of them travelled south to the coasts of Lustria, and settled on an isle inhabited by sea birds, which came to be known as Lystarannal. These settlers would later become the first Sea Elves. One of their clans adopted the Crab as their device, and they became renowned as warriors and marines, clad in heavy armour, fighting under the banners of the Phoenix Kings.

Around the HEC year 4500, after they had inhabited Lystarannal for two millennia, the Elves of Clan Crab sundered: it is not clear what happened exactly, as accounts differ, but some young Elves of their numbers left Lystarannal and settled in the harbour of the Slann city of Krox. These Elves adopted the Crayfish as their device, reversing the colours of the Crab banner. Clan sunderings were not rare in those times when the Elf race was still young and multiplied easily, but some bad blood remained between the old and the new Clan, which survives to this day as a rivalry.

Perhaps the source of disagreement was the willingness of the younger Clan to serve as mercenaries for the Slann: for long millennia Clan Crayfish offered their weapons to the crown of Ulthuan as much as any Slann governor willing to pay their price.

Clan Crayfish had its centre in Krox of more than three and a half millennia. But in HEC 8066 the city of Krox was struck by a terrible plague, brought by Humans who had recently learned how to cross the Sea: the Scourge of Krox killed one third of population and left the city as a partial ruin. The survivors hunted Humans out of vengeance and often associated Elves with them. Clan Crayfish abandoned Krox to return to Lystarannal.

But returning to Elvish lands was not easy. Clan Crab would not have their offshoot back to their lands and offered them a choice - return to the original Clan or be its enemies. A few Crayfish Elves subjected themselves to the mother Clan, but most angrily refused. Now, Clan Crab had always refused to serve in the same armies of Clan Crayfish, but now they actively fought them, provoking them into duels and slandering their reputation. Crayfish Elves were subject to every kind of abuse until the very governor of Lystarannal encouraged them to leave for public order's sake.

In HEC 8316 Phoenix King Finubar obtained elven rule on the isle of Osshual, already settled by Clan Clam. After 250 years on Lystarannal, Clan Crayfish was offered a new home and they formed an Elven Community. Today, Clan Crayfish numbers 40 Elves.

The Clan device is a green-grey crayfish on an inverted field of pale yellow and dark red. Their Head is Yvron, a mercenary veteran, nicknamed the Proud. He is relatively opportunistic and not in particularly good terms with the other Clan Heads in Osshual, although he is respectful of them. His clan is charged with the police and defence of the Community.

Theoden, King of the Mark - Mithril M27 (1988)

 

Theoden, King of the Mark is one of the earliest miniatures of the Mithril range, from 1988. It has a nice, fixed pose that is typical of that period when casting was not so advanced and miniatures were simple and solid. It's a nice sculpt - albeit the one I have is second hand and a bit worn out.

Theoden is one of the most popular characters in the Lord of the Rings. He plays a clear archetype, the King: he represents authority, and is often used to display how power can be used for good, when wisdom helps to wield it, or how power can be a burden and ultimately be useless, when justice abandons it in favour of fear.

The story of Theoden is simple, yet great: as a King, he finds himself to rule in a time of great challenges that wear out his spirit, until he becomes the shadow of himself. Because of the dangers, the defeats and the lack of support from his councillors, Theoden grows old and enters a "Winter of the Spirit", from which he is stirred by the unexpected visit of Gandalf. Realizing his mistakes, Theoden casts aside his fears and rides to war against the enemies of his people. He will lead his warriors in a great battle where he will die bravely, after defeating the enemy general. His sacrifice and example will help shape the future world.

If this story seems to touch some special strings in your soul, its' probably because this is the same story as the one of another archetypical King, King Arthur, who is stirred from his Winter by Percival carrying the Holy Grail and rides one last time with his knights against Mordred, to kill him and be killed in turn.
 

And yet once again, Boorman's Excalibur proves to be the best Middle-earth adaptation of all. Not looking at anyone in particular...

Let's look at the other adaptations of Theoden, shall we?

Bakshi's LotR (1978)

The Brothers Hildebrant (1978)

"Theoden Espies the Serpent Banner" by Michael Kaluta (1994)

Angus McBride (mid 1990s)

"Theoden's charge at Helm's Deep" by Timothy Ide (1997)

Ivan Cavini (2006)

"The Ride of the Rohirrim" by Abe Papakhian (2010)

Helena Starostina (2012)

Theoden is described as having a flowing white beard reaching down to his knees (when he is seated and bent), long white hair gathered in great braids and blue, glinting eyes. Although he may look "almost like a dwarf" when he is presented, after he is freed by his fears he appears to be tall and proud.

Now, I am not 100% satisfied with my painting this time - I have tried to portray Theoden as a bright figure, dressed in colourful clothes as befitted an early medieval Saxon king. They are perhaps too bright... especially the green of the robes: what do you think? I am quite happy with the hair and the crown, though, and I am definitely imrpoving in painting yellow, one of the most difficult colours for me.

Undinel, Herald of Serpentsfang - Foundry Sea Elf Command

Since last Summer I have been experimenting with colour schemes for a Sea Elf force. Here's one of them - the light blue and sea green of clan Serpentsfang.

This figure is from the Wargames Foundry Sea Elf Command blister, a line with many flaws (strange proportions, missing weapons, weird body positions) but also great detail (I love their mariner boots and scale armour). Too bad they were discontinued, but if you are at the shop you might be able to get a few at half price.

This specific figure came without a weapon - i would have loved to find a trident but in the end settled for a spear, which I had among my bits. It is a female figure in armour, with a closed helm sporting a serpent crest and a harp decorated with wave motifs.

One of my housefluff Sea Elf Houses is called Serpentsfang: they are based in Dralas, in the Border Princes, and they are merchants and healers. Their device is a Serpent's Fang dripping poison, a reference to the foundation myth of Dralas - the slaying of the Sea Serpent - and a reference to the killing and healing powers of venom. 

I decided this character is wearing a ritual armour representing the whole clan in city festivals. The harp is a heirloom of the clan, the Harp of the Waves, able to conjure or banish sea turbulence. Undinel is one of the daughters of Magalhaes, the clan Head, and is also her father's herald, representing him in missions away from the city and the Community.

The Leydenhoven Border Patrol - a Mordheim warband

Since I created the Coldwood Smugglers, I planned on having a nemesis for them, a band of Border Wardens hunting smugglers and, since we are in the Warhammer World, monsters and mutants. But at the same time I didn't want to invest a lot of money in it (too many other projects... ) so I decided to build the new warband with a single set of miniatures: the excellent Empire Archers, in the time of AoS also known as the Freeguild Archers. Created in 2009, this set has been hugely popular because of its quality and modularity (and price point), before being discontinued in 2019.

That's right, I got myself a basic warband for around € 20,00, which is a steal!

The fluff of the warband is simple: the town of Leydenhoven lies along the river Reik, on the southeastern border of the Wasteland, still belonging to Marienburg but a few hours walk away from Middenland and a short boat trip from Reikland. It is a sleepy border town: boats pass by on the great river, and few people walk along the road, mostly peddlers and hunters. The main road to Marienburg also bypass Leydenhoven by cutting from Kalkaat to Klessen anyway. To the east of town the eaves of the Drakwald loom all too close and the summits of the Mirror Moors are clearly visible.

The inhabitants of Leydenhoven are local merchants, hunters, farmers and fishermen. The city maintains a small garrison of guards commanded by a Captain sent from Marienburg, who is also responsible for order within the city, but the main defence are the Wardens of the Border Patrol, a corp of rangers trained to scour the forest, capture smugglers and outlaws and kill beastmen and mutants.

Unlike the guards, who are mostly outsiders, the wardens are all local people - woodsmen recruited and paid by the Burgomeister. Their captain is Rutger Hauer, an middle-aged veteran whose experience and sense of responsibility allowed him to access a position few others would keep, had they his total lack of mesure in talking. Rutger the Outspoken, the Straighforward, the Sincere are just kind names for his inability to hide, or even sweeten, his opinions, which are generally negative or anyway pessimistic. The Burgomeister Cornelis Drebbel can't stand him, but also trusts him to do his job and keep an eye on a group of people who are paid too little to be professional and are very prone to corruption.

Rutger de Stomp - the Blunt - is assisted by three main assistants: Lieven de Schermer, Eddi de Groen and Elke de Bosdochter.

Lieven de Schermer (Leobwin Visser) is the only member of the wardens to have a proper combat training. He is a Marienburger with an obscure past - some say he was a duellist, some say a protagonist, all agree he ran into some trouble connected to a woman, her husband and some murder. He enrolled into the Border Patrol and nobody ever asked him any question. He does not like to talk about his past, anyway, although when drunk he occasionally mutters about some past sorrows he needs to forget.

Eddie de Groen (Eduard van Halen) is the youngest member of the wardens. He joined because he wanted an exciting life of fighting monsters in the woods, rather than fishing like all his family does. Rutger constantly yells at him or berates him for his lack of judgement, but he is actually grooming him since he is one of the few members to actually believe the Wardens have some purpose. Eddi carries a sword, apparently found on a river wreckage when he was little, and is trying to learn how to use it.

Elke de Bosdochter (Adelheid Bosch) is a priestess of Taal and Rhya. While not a member of  the wardens, she is often called upon when the Patrol needs to deal with supernatural threats. Elke agrees to help them if there is indeed a supernatural threat to the population, and expects to receive a donation to the village temple.

The rest of the warband are regular wardens, all armed with a long bow and a dagger.

Berengar de Stil - Citadel ME25 Ithilien Ranger (1985)

Here's a later addition to the Coldwood Smugglers: Berengar de Stil, boar hunter and poacher. Armed with bow, spear and a hunting horn, lying in ambush for his prey.

I am in love with the Ithilien rangers from the original Lord of the Rings release of the '80s: this is the second one I find, and I hope I can complete the collection with the third one.

Jurgen the Wolf - GW Middenheimer Youngblood (1999)

I am a fan of '80s miniatures because of nostalgia, but in terms of proportions and style my favourite period are the '90s. At this time better tools and materials coupled with talented artists to generate great sculpts. Sadly, the passage to graphic design and finecast has, to some degree, exaggerated some cartoonish features and taken out the soul that hand-sculpted pieces were so full of.

Mordheim miniatures lack all reference to the great age of Oldhammer but they have a character of their own and this is one of my favourites: one of the two Middenheimer Youngbloods sold in a the blister since November 1999. The fact that it is sculpted by the great Alan Perry is a brand of guarantee.

Our youngblood has a dynamic pose, caught in a dash - either charging or running away from an enemy - and his expression conveys all the excitement and urgency of an imminent fight. He is armed with a nothing but a warhammer and dressed in old farmer's clothes (notice the rip on the knee), carries a large bag and a big wolf's hide on his shoulders. Can't get more Middenlander than this! he also carries a bow and a quiver on his side, because he's a hunter.

I don't play Middenheimers, but this will be a nice addition to the Coldwood Smugglers, in the charachter of Jurgen the Wolf. Young Jurgen is from the village of Isenbüttel, the son of a woodsman; when caught poaching to feed his large family, he escaped the Grand Duchy of Middenland. He met the Smugglers in the Coldwood and readily accepted to join them.

Captive Gollum conversion (from Mithril M383 Anborn & Gollum)

I have long planned a conversion of the Mithril 383 Anborn & Gollum miniature, released in 1996:

It's a great figure but extremely specific of a certain moment of the story, so I planned to substitute Gollum with a free arm. What to do with the unused bit? Well, here it is: a free-standing captive Gollum, to be used as a token in a scenario based on the capture of a prisoner.

Considering it had to be cut and filed a bit, it's not too bad. It's a shame to waste bits left from a conversion :)