Sunday, February 18, 2018

'Childhood' from SidneyR: Ada the Goose-Girl of Laarden


My entry for the “Childhood” themed round is, for me, very nostalgic. Growing up in the 1980s, I was a keen player of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I remember many amazing hours with like-minded school friends exploring The Keep on the Borderlands, or wandering through The Village of Hommlet. And I am more than sure that many fellow Challengers, and readers, will have done that as well. 



I collected miniature to use for AD&D, and still have lots of the miniatures from companies like Citadel (before and after being purchased by Games Workshop), Marauder and Chronicle. Some of my favourites were the Citadel C46 Villagers - for no better reason as they’d easily double up for both AD&D and convenient eye candy in 25mm Medieval skirmish games using the 'Lamming Medieval Rules' (oh gosh, that was a while ago!).


One of my favourite Citadel C46 Villager miniatures was called ‘Ada the Goose Girl’, a wonderful whimsical casting of a young woman and her goose. For anyone who has even attempted to hold a goose, you will realise they are not a bird which sits easily under the arm - unless I’ve been doing it wrong. I had an 'Ada' in the 1980s, and early 1990s, and then lost her somewhere - no doubt exploring with my chums in Hommlet, Bogenhafen, Middelheim or Nuln. I have missed her greatly ever since, particular since I started collecting civilian figures for Laarden.


So, for the “Childhood” themed round, here’s Ada - or ‘new Ada’, complete with perhaps less tame geese, which are waddling around her feet in some Laarden allotment or Sint-Vaalben farm. She’s a Midlam Miniatures casting - which are fantastic, flash-free and very nicely proportioned miniatures.




The geese are from Hovels and Magister Militum, with the Magister Militia geese being particularly characterful. Although, I admit, ‘New Ada” slightly lacks the charm of the Citadel original, I'm hoping she’ll be perfect until I can try and find one of the C46 originals...  



31 comments:

  1. Terrific work on a wonderful sculpt. Well played Sir!

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    1. Thanks so much, Ev! It was a lovely, clean sculpt. Even the geese behaved!

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  2. Well done Sir, a nostalgic entry indeed!

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  3. Great figure Sidney, the wife once thought it a smart move to go feet some free range geese while they were taking their chicks out for a walk. I had a nagging thought in the back of my mind that geese were used as guard-d..animals in Medieval times, so I started running long before they came hissing and flapping at us. And yes I did abandon the wife to their mercy ;-)

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    1. LOL, I had a similar experience in a small town in Switzerland with the Wife a few years back. Walking to a little café passing a yard with some geese, and I commented that they would make a good dinner. They must have understood me as they all stood upright and started hissing and flapping at me! Good thing there was a fence in the way. When we walked back past later, as soon as they heard my voice they tried to attack again.

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    2. Great memories, Gentlemen, and very much along the lines of my own experiences with angry gees (....are there any other geese, other than angry ones...?). It just goes to prove what fantastic goose-whisperers 'Ada' and 'new Ada' must have been to walk the line of goose-friendship.

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    3. I am absolutely certain that geese remember their former lives and they were peck-ish then. That nun that would rap knuckles with rulers....;)

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  4. What a great little vignette. Nice muted tones. Geese can be vicious little so and so's - I'll stick with bantam hens!
    Cheers
    Richard C

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    1. Thanks Richard!! Hens - piece of cake compared to geese!

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  5. Lovely figure Sidney. Glad to see that you are not neglecting the winged denizens of Laarden!

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    1. Thanks Peter!! Don't worry, there are many more winged inhabitants of the city still left to paint!

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  6. Very well put together entry Sidney with great colour choices and muted palette.

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  7. Another joyful entry, gorgeous work Sir.

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  8. Ada the Goose Girl reminds me of the opening sequence of The Duellists (a movie Curt and I watch every couple of years).
    A beautifully painted figure, and I do hope in your chronicles of Laarden, Ada finds a suitable beau, perhaps the butchers son, and they raise a bevy of children. And of course, with geese as guard animals, Ada and her family will be safe from the plottings of Laardens’ more grasping classes. :)

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    1. Haha!! I knew you'd spot that connection! It's unmistakeable, isn't it - the young girl walking down the lane with the geese surrounding her. Quite magical.

      "...La!..."

      As for Ada's narrative (thank you so much for that!), I am sure I can find a place for her in the nearby picturesque village of Sint Vaalben, close to the town of Laarden, for her to settle down. She's a home-maker, so I have a feeling nuptials and motherhood will not be far away.

      Although, I do also remember thinking that Sint Vaalben was the perfect village to quarter the Croatian light horse, so additional geese sentries might indeed be required ;)

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    2. I'm with Sarah on this one, it completely reminds me of The Duellists. Now, you need a windmill, some waiting Seconds and some fat Flemish cows to dress it.

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  9. Grand work, Sidney! The basing is great with those somehow docile geese, waiting for food no doubt! Shame you lost the original Ada, she is probably ensconced with the missing left socks from the dryer!
    Grand work though on Ada's daughter!

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    1. Thanks so much, David!! I can't quite remember where we were adventuring when original Ada vanished.... It was somewhere in the Old World. If someone finds her in Marienburg, please let me know!

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  10. Very nice I have fond memories of keep on the Boarder lands as well. great work! she could also double as the girl at the start fo The Duelists (or her older sister)

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    1. Great idea, Adam.....sisters.....hmmmmm....next Challenge, maybe!

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  11. Nice goose girl, my citadel townsfolk set must be the previous set, centered around a bar also used for AD&D!
    Best Iain

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    1. Great getting those old Citadel figures out. I think that there was a C46 Townsfolk set, as well as a C46 Villagers set.... Great memories.

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