Friday, March 1, 2019

Uncivil Servant

A year or two ago I backed a kickstarter by a company called Blind Beggar Miniatures. Like so many things I've purchased over the years the set of miniatures thus acquired is . . . not yet fully in paint. But slowly, bit by bit, it's getting closer. This is the story of one miniature in that set: They Mayor. Quite a few of the miniatures in the range seem to refer to a property called "Outlanders." As best as I can figure this might be related to a movie and its novelization from the late seventies or early eighties by the same name. (Could also be a novel and its dramatization. Not quite sure which way the two fall there.) Most of the miniatures have a sort of space western feel to them. There was quite a lot of that going around thirty years ago, and it's an ethos that appeals to me particularly. I'm not really sure who "The Mayor" is, or how he fits into the Outlanders story, whatever that might be. But he clearly has a rather ominous vibe, with his almost plague doctor like mask and his villainous tophat and umbrella.


He's clearly a rather affluent fellow, given his somewhat antique business garb, so I've decked him out in pinstripes and an ascot that probably refers to some lair where the children of similar fat cats grow into the maneaters they ultimately become. (No evil overlord is complete without a good evil overschooling, right?)


Like so many Blind Beggar miniatures the Mayor's details run a little to the softer end of the spectrum and the scale to the larger. Not everyone will appreciate this, but I feel it gives him a very nice comic-book kind of style that stands him well on the gaming table. Below you can see him next to another unusually tall and slightly ominous sort, in this case one of the Society of Intrepid Explorers from Curtis Fell's Ramshackle Miniatures.


And below you can see him with a variety of other upper crust sorts from various manufacturers: two leftmost from the Space Lords adventurers range now available from Moonraker, two from Ramshackle, our Mayor, and three from Colony 87.


 All in all, I'd say he stands in good stead. He's clearly a little bigger than some of the older models, but not so much so as to seem inappropriate. (We humans are, after all, quite variable in our own size and shape.) And his style of dress fits in quite well with the other sculpts, both modern and historic. And if his details provide a most interesting canvas for a painter to express themself.

Lastly, below I give you the Mayor with the other miniatures from the range: assorted civilians, colonists, aliens, and mysterious strangers wandering about the wastelands. Blind Beggar may be a bit of an acquired taste, but . . . I do believe I have acquired it. Lovely stuff.



As always, thank you for reading along. And have fun gaming out there, whatever miniatures and rules you care to use.

Sincerely,
The Composer

7 comments:

  1. Any body what flies Trans Rim is OK in my book. Nice work, Mr. C.

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    1. Thank you Jay. The Mayor, maybe we'll call him Mr. Spheniscidae, came out all right. And Trans Rim is modeled on two companies that take me back to a happy place. Glad to hear I'm maybe not the only one.

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  3. A very atmospheric shot at the end. I recognize some necromunda terrain back there. Not sure where the girders are from? Nice work on a largely black and white figure, it's easy to make it look grotty rather than crisp. The fine work on your pin strips no doubt helps. I'm quite liking the ramshackle figure, I hadn't spotted him before. Curtis has lots of diamonds hiding in his store.

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    1. The girders are from a building set my parents bought me when I was young. It's a little battered from long years of love, which . . . works pretty well for gaming. I'm tempted to weather them a bit as I think they've got new life. There's a couple of other vintage building toys which will probably also make their way to the battlefield shortly.

      Anyway, thank you! Glad the pinstripes pass muster. They're one of those things I keep doing, even though I'm never a hundred percent happy with them. But the concept is so nice . . .

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  4. The charm you get from all these pics is undeniable, a total pleasure to the eye

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    1. Thank you Suber. I feel like my tables still have a long way to go, but maybe I'm slowly getting there.

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