Tribesmen and Beastmen

A pallet cleanser before doing more terrain for Lurkers From The Deep. Sometimes one needs a break and a change. Buildings and boards are great, but miniature figures are the real focus of the hobby.

These are from Crooked Dice as part of the Dracula Kickstarter. That’s probably going to be the next project I try to do, assuming I ever reach the end of the Lurkers builds. It will also have lots of terrain to build, though maybe I compromise a bit and focus on reuse.

Regardless, the models for the Dracula game will need to be painted. I haven’t read ahead in the rules or episodes to see where and how these will get used, so I can’t say much about them.

First up we see the Borgo Pass Tribesmen. As usual, Crooked Dice makes some great models. Check these guys out. They are well proportioned and have a great realism about them. The poses are dynamic without being overdone.

Even the Tribesman who is standing ready with his gun doesn’t look static. It’s great stuff.

I’m looking at these as possible inclusions in other games as well. Silver Bayonet isn’t too far off, just need to look the other way at the guns.

For colors I chose a dark grey and red scheme. It works well. Not too showy; definitely in the same theme as other uniforms of that region and era.

Second we get the Beastmen. Very different from other Crooked Dice Beastmen, much more along the lines of primitives. This poses an interesting problem for me color-wise. I don’t want these guys to be identifiable as any particular race or ethnicity. Why? Because then I can use them in a variety of scenarios. They can be a “lost tribe” kind of group that has no links to standard assumptions about skintone. But that means I have to avoid normal skintones. And I can’t do anything to drastic, anything that would be an impossible skintone.

In the end I chose to do a dark grey color. It looks plausible but doesn’t force one to assume these are natives of any particular region. Plausible but not right, perfect for a mysterious group for pulp games.

The hair is a different matter. I wanted that to stand out. Why? Why not. And because the sculptor actually gave the models arm, leg, and back hair. There is a challenge to painting that a contrasting color to the skin and make it look good.

Bright, almost neon-green was the clear winner. In the pictures it’s more yellow, but that still works.

2024 Count:
89 figures painted (0.927 per day)
0 figures printed
8 figures purchased
6 terrain painted