Thursday, 20 July 2017

Pygmies

In a bid to even up the sides, I have been beavering away on my Forest Tribes column.  Deep in the jungle our fearless adventurer has discovered an old and mysterious race of Pygmies led by their eccentric and demonstrative King.  
These are, of course, from the 'Wargames Foundry' Darkest Africa range and comprise of the Pygmy Chief Mbuti and his Pygmy Bodyguard.  I have selected my favourite six sculpts for our encounter along with the freebie spearman that was being given away at 'Salute'.*
*He is the chap with the fixed spear and a rather splendid pair of earrings. 
Although not immediately apparent, I have based them on slightly smaller 20mm metal washers to help convey their diminutive scale.  What they lack in stature these fearsome warriors will make up for in fortitude, particularly with the addition of the King whose addition to the group sees their Bravery Stat rise from a D8 to a D10.

74 comments:

  1. Most beautiful Pygmies, great painting and very expressive faces...

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    1. Thank you Phil, the sculpts were a joy to paint.

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  2. Short and furious!
    (The Hellarewee Tribe... so called as they tend to live in tall grasslands and keep introducing them selfes. "Wer the Hellarewee!" Old joke I know so please forgive me! )

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  3. Pygmies are deadly in Congo, you can split the units into two. Both can move though using one action.

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    1. I am starting to appreciate that Simon, I like the Harassment rule to where they can hit and run.

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  4. Jolly nice, those. Someone once suggested using 15mm Zulus for pygmies in 28mm gaming, but I think the idea lacks stature.

    (It's warm, I won't need a coat...)

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  5. Gorgeous painting on some wonderfully characteristic minis, Michael. They look awesome :-)

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    1. Thank you so much Simon, I was really pleased with these.

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  6. I thought they were the "Oomegoolie tribe" as the spikey grass sometimes reaches above thigh height! (I too am very sorry). Beautiful painting, and I adore that lady adventurer!

    Rumour has it she became pregnant by one of the Pygmies, though I heard someone had put him up to it!!

    (I'm here all week, tip your waitresses!!)

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you Roger, who knew naming the tribe would be so much fun? :)

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  7. Excellent work as always Mihcael!

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  8. That's some lovely brushwork. And I love the colours used. Now which are taller; Pygmies or Bakemono?

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    1. Now I had to take a tape measure to this question, from foot to eyes they are exactly the same, but of course the Bakemono are on bigger bases so they certainly appear taller.

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  9. These have so much character, they are really lovely.

    Again, I'm very impressed with your dark skin tones sir.

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  10. That's not fair I have some pygmies to paint as well and I bet they won't look nearly as good 😩

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    1. Nonsense, get the paint on them, they will look great.

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  11. Lovely! I've been meaning to add some Pygmies to my Congo collection...I just keep getting distracted!!

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    1. Thank you and you should as they have some great special rules.

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  12. Lovely work as ever Michael, very impressive - splendid stuff! :)

    Leon.

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  13. Simply superb Michael! Really love your work on the skin tones. Would you mind telling me your recipe?

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    1. Thank you so much Nick, as for the recipe as for recipeI have tried a few over the years. More recently I am using the following. I airbrushed the miniatures, there were quite a few at the time, using a base of Vallejo Model Air Burt Umber. I then put on the first highlight with Reaper Master Series Dark Skin, followed by a final highlight of Reaper Master Series Dark Skin highlights.

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  14. Great miniatures! You've done an excellent job painting them.

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  15. Wonderful vertically challenged warriors Michael. Excellent work on the skin tones. Did the females in the house give you any words over the female Pygmy?

    I do like the lady with the pink blouse and revolver. Very elegant fashion sense plus I feel that in this case the female is definitely deadlier than the male.
    Cheers
    Peter

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    1. Thank you Peter, I seemed to have managed to remain unscathed over the Pygmy Queen, at least for the time being. ;)

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  16. Lovely looking pygmies and a terribly dashing explorer!
    Best Iain

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  17. Lovely work Michael. Very nice skin tones.

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  18. Splendid!
    I really like these pygmies skin colors and adventuress is just plain lovely too. :)

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    1. Thank you Nimrod, they were great fun to work on too.

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  19. Hot stuff! You are on fire, sir.

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  20. More great looking Natives and fabulous lady explorer too!

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  21. Splendid pygmies and explorer!

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  22. Lovely stuff. The faces particularly.

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    1. Thank you, more down to the sculptor than mean though.

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  23. Wonderful painting. Great detail on the figures.

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  24. Great work Michael! The skin tone looks very good. Somehow getting a dark skin tone to look nice and natural seems really difficult, but you seem to have got the recipe spot on!

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    1. Thank you so much, I seem to have stumbled across a successful recipe at last.

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  25. They are very nice Michael!

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  26. These are simply amazing, your skincolours are very convincing.

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  27. Very cool mate! Love the chief's spear. Compensating for something perhaps?

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    1. Thank you Millsy, he does seem very proud of his big sticker doesn't he. :)

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  28. Love the way you've painted the fleshtone. How's you get that effect?

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    1. Thank you Ray the recipe is as follows. I airbrushed the miniatures, there were quite a few at the time, using a base of Vallejo Model Air Burt Umber. I then put on the first highlight with Reaper Master Series Dark Skin, followed by a final highlight of Reaper Master Series Dark Skin highlights.

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  29. Lovely work, they look superb.

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  30. And very nice chaps (and chappess) they are too.
    I thoroughly approve of th e20mm bases too - I've never seen any advantage using anything large, even for so-called 28mm figures.

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    1. Thank you Joe, I was pleased with the outcome of the decision to use slightly smaller brushes, they just seem to sit more comfortably on them.

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  31. Fabulous skin tone; not something I've ever been able to do. I am in awe.

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    1. That is incredible kind of you, thank you.

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  32. Yet another set of minis with great poses brought to life with a great paint job. Love the dark skin tones too, very well painted!

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  33. I do so like your Darkest Africa collection. Stevie still pines when ever he sees anyone else`s Victorian-esque minis as I cruelly made him carefully pack all ours away in preparation for the house sale next year.

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