Monday, March 9, 2015

'Antihero' from Millsy - 'Ye will ne'er take me alive constable!'




Hi All! As some of you will know I like to do something largish for my Curtgeld, and in this case, also anti-hero bonus round entry. I like the way it finishes my Challenge on a high and I get a sort of sadistic entertainment thinking about how much of Curt's valuable shelf space my contribution is taking up. I know for a fact he swears at least once or twice per Challenge as a direct consequence of my arseing about and it really floats my boat. 


This year's final bonus round theme is my favourite and I got right into the spirit of it as you'll be able to tell from the photos. I've based my anti-hero on Guy Fawkes (obviously) although I've taken a few liberties and made him somewhat more of a gun-toting hard man that he is generally portrayed. I've entitled the piece "Ye will ne'er take me alive constable!" It's a similar approach to last year's Ney With the Rearguard where I've pulled apart a period image and used it as a basis of my model. 


"Fawkes" is the wonderful Witch Hunter Johann half of the Johann and Wilhelm Dogs of War set from Games Workshop. I had to substantially modify him to remove a range of witch hunter bits and pieces including a crucifix on his cape, a further two on his cuffs, yet another large one on his belt and also an enormous wooden stake and string of what I assume are some sort of herbal charms. All this required a serious about of Dremmel and subsequent green stuff work to rebuild various areas. The modifications were somewhat to the dismay of my long-suffering wife as a I cackled aloud and cried "Just a little more spinal grinding!!!" over the ear splitting whine of my grinding. 30 minutes of that was enough to push her to the edge I think. 


Fawkes is being apprehended by another four GW miniatures from their early Empire fantasy range which are just about spot on in terms of costume and weapons. I've painted them up as a rather dashing officer of the watch and his attendant guards. The only modifications required were to remove the shield knob from the two swordsmen and carve some fingers on in place. 


The "stage" for Fawkes' arrest is bespoke with set dressing in the form of the barrels, lanterns, gargoyles and the door which are commercial items. The structure is 10mm MDF (that's Craftwood in the UK), screwed and glued together. I love to over-engineer stuff and this is no exception. The paving is hand-cut cardboard flagging and the walls are 3mm foamboard engraved twice over with a ball point pen. Finally, the columns are a couple of wooden blocks I have had in the Womble-Box for longer than I can remember. Never throw anything away! The whole lot was given a double coat of black craft paint and then dry brushed in successively lighter shades of grey (only 4 before some wag cracks the inevitable joke). 


I hope you like it all Curt. It's an absolute blast doing the Challenge each year and you deserve every plaudit. I hope this is compensation enough for all my weirdness but I doubt it. :-)

18 comments:

  1. This post must be read and viewed while listening to Spear of destiny:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU3aXG4JMJU


    Excellent dioramic entry Millsy :)

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  2. Lovely work, Millsy, with the villainous Guido brought to bay in the cellars of Parliament!

    Apparently the authorities used to rent out the cellars as storage space. Did nobody think to ask why the sinister-looking chappie in the big hat was storing dangerous goods beneath the very seat of power? "Well, he had the right papers, so..."

    Maybe you could re-create the famous group picture of the conspirators for next year...?
    ; )

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  3. Well done! "Never throw anything out" is my family motto.

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  4. Wow, what an amazing vignette Millsy! The figures are brilliant (I love the re-imagining of the 'Dogs of War' Johann as Fawkes) and the cellar is wonderfully atmospheric, really nailing the mood of the source drawing. A triumph!

    Bravo Sir and Thank You!!

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  5. Superbly painted characters, and nice terrain backdrop too.

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  6. Great submission Millsy! Cheers, PD

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  7. Brilliant. Apparently they had 10x too much gunpowder but it was damp.

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  8. Really cool entry with the dungeon as well. I remember those faces you put on the walls. Long time ago but I do remember them. Very nice work with a lot of time spent on customisation. cheers

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  9. Fantastic diorama Millsy and a great submission.

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  10. Great job, Millsy! The work put in paid off well!
    I sometimes have nightmares of minis trying to convert me....in revenge! ;)

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  11. Thanks everyone. Much appreciated!

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  12. Really nice vignette. The hard work you obviously put into this really shines through.

    Pip pip

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