Tuesday 7 April 2015

Rad mutants - Iron Claw pirates


At last I finished some models !

These have somehow jumped to the top of the paintqueue (well, greatly thanks to The one for sending me Captain Dunbar as a gesture of kindness) and as always with Bob Olley's sculpts, I just let the models paint themself without worrying too much.
I've already told you how I strongly believe you only truly know a model once you've painted it, well that is even more true with Bob Olley's sculpt. I called it the "Bob Olley effect" earlier, you may not like what the sculpt look like (I've been like that a lot in my earlier days), but the minute I painted one (I was kinda forced), I realised it was a tremendous pleasure to work with his models and I have come to be a huge fan of his work. I just love sculptors who work for painters. Just like Jes Goodwin (my own personnal favourite), Bob is a very painter friendly kind of sculptor and that's what makes his work so great and favoured.

But let me tell you about those particular models. They are Iron claw pirates dating from the time when Bob had his own studio producing models for Games Workshop (just like the Morrissons had the Marauder studio).

There's a full range of pirates to pick from, all particularly characterful :


I have most of this range except maybe 3 of 4  and I expect to paint the full set in due time. Looking at the picture above, I just feel frustrated to not have collected Ooglorg the cruel yet as it would have made a set of 5 aliens which would have been pretty cool but anyway... (if any of you feels like trading him, I'm your man)

As you can see, those models all bear the distinctive style of Bob with organic shaped weapons, very detailed faces (you may not be able to spot them but if you've ever handled one of these you surely know every single detail like eye lids and nose hair are sculpted), wrinkles and wrinkles over wrinkles and guns you don't know what to count as.

You may have noticed I didn't place the models in a random way. you can clearly see the one on the left is far more humanoid than his colleague on the far right. This is because I've decided to treat them as mutants. But not the chaotic sort, no, just like my Rad chimera, I want these guys to be the offspring of radiations and fallout of some nuclear holocaust. The further you get to the right, the more the mutant and his ancestors have been exposed to radiations.


That was a way to unite all those models by giving them a similar paintjob to tie them a little. I voluntarily left some remnants of "human" pink skin and coloured red the overgrown or most mutated parts (the heads in most cases).


Once I had that idea, it was only natural to try and link those models to the Space minotaur I had painted earlier (sculpted by the most excellent Diego Serrate who is about to unleash a wave of new exquisite models...) and to my Rad chimera.

Being such the fallout fanboy that I am, I imagine that these mutants have found some sort of military complex where they could equip themselves :

(Mariposa wink wink nudge nudge)
Colour wise, that meant I kept the camo green weapons and black pieces of armour and that the mutated parts of the skin were going to be red. This was accomplished by painting the parts in a natural flesh tone and by blending the red parts with washes first and then glazes.




The one on which I could really play with blendings was Jhetfield below. The transition between the mutated parts and the semi-normal ones was achieved with very light red glazes over the natural fleshtone and that really tought me a lot. I will try to apply these kind of techniques a bit more in the future. Though a little time consuming, I had great pleasure doing it and I'm pretty sure I'll learn how to apply this faster in time.
Jhetfield is the merry guy of the group although his bad temper is as legendary as his poor jokes. he has this distinctive way to end each word with "-AH !" and by using "yeah" a lot... Apart form that he enjoys flaming everything with his flamer he has decorated into the shape of a dragon (although most his friends tend to laugh at it looking more like a horse).


Jhetfield
The second one is Laural Baccen nicknamed "handsome" by his friends if the troop. Though he is the most level-headed guy of the troop, he is often mistook for the most violent one because of his weird teeth and his "look". Of all the mutants in the Mariposa facility, he is the one who has had the most success in using ancient technology and it appears the mutations have altered his brain capacities beyond those of a mere mortal.



Joz "Papa" Wrink is perhaps the most sentimental of the group. you will always find him trying to shield his comrades in action times or trying to look after his companions in times of peace. He is testing a peculiar weapon he doesn't truly master and which gives him hard time whenever he uses it. Sometimes the weapon will act like a meltagun, but sometimes it will act like a stapler, a glue gun or a shuriken catapult. Joz, doesn't want to waste Laural's time though and he keeps trying to figure out how to handle that weapon, sometimes causing greater threats to his own side...

Joz "Papa" Wrink
His comrades like to laugh at him for looking a bit too much like an old genestealer (it has toi be said that the group had had several encounters with Genestealer cults but with no threats on either parts. The genestealers seem to avoid creatures with such unstable genestock and the mutants tend to leave the cultits attract attention to save their own asses).


Dathang below is the most altered mutant form the group and his ancestors have been far from human standards for generations now. This leads him to thinking everything is perfectly normal and in fact, he just happens to find the less mutated ones of the group like Jhetfield or Laural to be the weird and ugly ones...
Dathang
So what's it gonna be next time ? Very probably some updated Realm of Chaos Demons and other things of the sort but who knows what other silly things I might get to the top of the queue before that ? (I don't)


28 comments:

  1. You've done a great job on these, you've really brought out the detail in the faces and the two tone skin is brilliant. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Colin, the details in the faces make things so easy if you just go the basecoat + wash way ! I wanted something effective and didn't have the courage to go the full coloured way as you did.
      Still plenty of them to paint.

      Delete
  2. Really, really good work! I always think the Iron claw figures have a wonderful "atmosphere" about then. They always remind me of the "extras" in a 2000AD comic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed ! That's exactly why I find them so appealling. I really like that at the time you had so many "styles" to pick from, every sculptor had his own touch and you can most of the time see that they all blend nicely with a unified paintjob.
      Bob Olley is the definite proof characterful doesn't mean "heroic poses", huge scale or anything, it's just a nice attention to details and setting a mood (I think).
      Thanks a lot.

      Delete
  3. Such a clever idea to tie them together thematically - they look exactly as they should - mutated humans rather than aliens. I alays considered the 'aliens' in the space pirates range to be the weakest of the figures, but once again you're forcing me to revise my opinion!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I was in your state of mind until for some reason, I imagined them the way I present them today. I do like a good healthy dose of vintage sci-fi but as aliens they were a little too hardcore for me and looked like extras in latex suits. As mutants, they look more integrated and i like to explore a non chaotic brand of mutants.

      Thanks !

      Delete
  4. I have been thinking about how to tackle painting this range for over a year now, and I would never have come up with what you have done JB. The quasi-military, almost Vietnam War/Catachan Jungle Fighter look is something that I never even considered, but it looks great.

    The painting is lovely too. I hope that you get the rest of the Mercs painted and displayed in not too long. The range is so full of character that it would be a shame to leave out even one of them: the Iron Claw Mercs are more like a huge RPG party than a unit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well thanks ! I really like this range and I think I'm going to do it bit by bit. First I 'dlike to add Ooglog to the crew (just for completion's sake) but then I'll work out small groups of similar looking models (they're easy to spot really) and will let the models dictate the direction to take.

      Delete
  5. Hey, nice work! I think you interpreted the minis gorgeously, and I must say they really suit the palette/scheme you used on the Mino, so they really look like a team. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool, that's what I wanted to confirm. i'll probably expand this band organically whenever I find some suitable models so i'll have to keep some consistency to make it look good.

      Thanks a lot !

      Delete
  6. Lovely painting on some great old miniatures.
    I like the choice of colours and the blending of the red and flesh tone together. You're right with the Bob Olley effect, I have found that with the Goblins and the Squat miniatures. I especially like the painting on the flesh of Jhetfield. The colours and organic weapons almost give them a slightly early Tyranid feel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's true the weapons could be used a totally different way. I painted them camo green to fit with the mino and to tune down a bit that alien look but one could really go to town and use their weird design to make them go in another direction. That's tha mrk of a great work to me (I mean Bob's) you can interpret it in many ways.

      Thanks a lot Lee.

      Delete
  7. WOW!! Fantastic!
    I have a couple of this guys and are awesome! The blend is really soft and well done pal ;)
    And that minotaur fits perfect with them! Is really nice mini btw.... HAHAHA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are really cool models I find. Glad you think the blending is OK. The minotaur fits just right in and hopefully he should have some more friends very soon. Only one thing on which I'll have to disagree, it's not a "nice" mini but an EXCELLENT one ;)

      Delete
  8. Man those are some ugly motherfu****a, faces only a mother could love!

    Well done!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm no sure those guys got much mother love but who knows...

      Cheers ;)

      Delete
  9. Yes, they are definitely some fugly looking dudes!

    I don't think I've ever painted a Bob mini before.....for the much commented on reasons. But your awesome paint job's on these guys & the ork you did a while back have revealed their (well hidden) potential to me. You've done a far better job on them than the advert too JB, no bullshit!

    Maybe if they were painted up better when they were first released then Bob might have gone on to create more twisted & interesting creations? It's a nice thought isn't it?

    I don't think I'll start a new collection, but your red headed monstrosities have given me a much needed kick to the painting mojo gonads. For that, I thank you greatly :)

    Come to think of it, I think that's quite possibly the best reason for blogging, motivating each other to try new techniques & create "better" minis/models etc.

    Oh, and I'm glad you like the Captain. I know he's gunna get some well deserved paint abuse from you :)

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is indeed what I find exciting about blogging, seeing other people's idea, see them explores paths you wouldn't have yourself so that in the end a group builds something greater than the sum of its elements.
      It's true the Iron claw range could have benefitted from other paintjobs but I'ùm pretty sure it's the bare lead pictures that frightened a lot of people who didn't kow what to do of these or were fearing the models might not fit with other brands. I have yet to encounter someone who regretted diving in and painting a Bob Olley sculpt really, the only real drawback about them is you might want to paint some more.

      Thanks for the kind words really, I'll hope I'll soon abuse the Captain in a way at least you find pleasant ;)

      Delete
  10. Yikes, Mr. ALMan, these guys look so real and alive I can almost hear them singing! (But I can't make out the words...) Beautiful work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Believe me you wouldn't want to understand what they say, most of the time, these are bawdy songs and believe me when you see the female mutants in their troop you do not want to hear those... Jhetfiled will usually end up with his usual yeahs and arhs...

      Glad you like them Private !

      Delete
  11. You've knocked it out of the park again with this lot JB, I don't know what else to say.
    Those heads look so sore and rude...I feel like eating pizza after looking at them.
    Full marks on another unique band of minis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn you're too kind Bruno, I tell you , I have nothing to do with it, it's Bob Olley's fault and you know the Bob Olley effect as well as I do ;).
      A unique band it is, can't say I've seen much of them painted outside of the catalogues !

      Delete
  12. Mouahahaha !! Ils ont vraiment une belle tête de vainqueur tes mecs ^^

    Très belle peinture en tout cas.

    Dis donc, j'avais pas vu : t'en a un bel aquarium avec des jolis poissons, me rappelle quelque chose ça... ^^

    Serviteur,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Merci à toi, c'est vrai qu'ils ont des "gueules d'amour" mais au fond, sous tous ces problèmes de peau se cache un cœur gros comme çà !

      Le bassin de carpe est là depuis la fondation de ce blog et remonte aux temps anciens de mon premier blog (un blog de grommeleur fondé collégialement en 2009 : http://conspuons.blogspot.fr/)? J'avoue avoir été agréablement surpris de revoir ce gadget chez toi et je dois avouer que c'est bien un des rares gadgets "fantaisie" que je m'accorderai. ^^

      Delete
  13. These are fantastic - the RoC style Fall Out Warband looks amazing together!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Awesome team ! I didn't even know those minis. You did a great paintjob, that are all harmonised together !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I probably need to update the basing on those now !

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...