(Or, why you should always make sure your pictures don't suck before you pack up the miniatures.)
As life feels to be on a more even keel these days, I have been making more time for hobby work. A couple months ago, I reached out to Jacob at Ral Partha Legacy to see if he needed any miniatures painted for their website. As it turned out, he did and had quite a list of miniatures to choose from. One of the first sets to catch my eye (of course) was the Amazon ballista and crew. I say "of course" because these ladies (sculpted by Tom Meier) are quite noticeable due to their exaggerated female proportions (they have big boobs for the thickies in back).
And I do mean exaggerated.
Odd really - I bought a blister pack of Amazons from the OG Ral Partha a lifetime ago, and they had very athletic (downright skinny) forms, and were nude (these were also sculpted by Meier). Somewhere along the line, someone looked at these and said, "no, there proportions will not do. Tom, get the sculpting putty out - you're putting in overtime."
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| Originals on the left, Heroic Scale on the right. |
SOMEone's got a fetish. Not complaining, mind you, just pointing it out.
As RP Legacy gives you copies of the miniatures you paint upon successful completion, this is a really good deal. I mostly wanted the two ballistae that come with the 6 crewwomen, but I will certainly find a place for the ladies themselves - probably in a Dragon Rampant army.
Thanks to my weird schedule, extra shifts and the hell of being on call often, it took me about 1 1/2 months to finish them. They really don't look all that bad either, even after a near-disastrous experiment with bronze armor. Couldn't do the eyes though - Meier miniatures are teeny and they have helmets on. After I finished, I took a bunch of pictures for Jacob to see that I was done, boxed them up and sent them on their way.
Then I looked at the pictures.
UGH.
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| This is amateur hour, folks. |
I bought a new photo box from Reaper miniatures recently. Pretty nice really - even has a built-in light strip. Word of advice, never use the light strip. Harsh, ugly light, washes the colors out and makes their surfaces looks super rough. Their armor doesn't even look metallic FFS.
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| I post these not to harm my readers, but to remind myself to tear out the damn light strip. |
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| Always gotta show the butts. |
So yeah - check the pics before packing.
I took one of the backs of the ballistae without the lights for some reason - so much better and closer to reality...
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| Ballistae Butts. |
ANYways - once Jacob get the miniature back form me, we'll see if I want to do more for him (I do - there is a ratling artillery set and some troglodytes that have my eye), and I'll get copies of these girls and their engines of destruction. The Amazons will probably be painted up the same way as here, but they'll all get spears to hold (I think these are meant to be "artillery tools". I painted the stubby spears up like the ballista bolts to designate those girls as the loaders.) The ballistae will be generic for whatever army/game needs them.
Last note - Meier sculpted the Amazons themselves, no clue who sculpted the ballista. Whoever it was, that person is on "Gitkikka's List Of People Wot Need To Be Spanked", just for sculpting all those damn studs!
