Yesterday I managed to finish the goblins I was working on and their allies.It is a small force but sufficient for the skirmish or Portable Wargame games I want to play. Combined with the wolves/wargs them could form a bigger force for bigger games. I like the look and feel of Vendel Miniatures, their solidity and restrained fantasy feel
Whilst painting I was reflecting on what contributed to how I “see” the periods I game. For example for interwar gaming it is black and white, Pathe footage . For Middle Earth it has to be the poster below by Jimmy Cauty. I do really like the artwork of John Howe and many , many more but this was the poster I had up in my room during much of my teens and beyond. Framed I would put it up today. For me it defines the look particularly of Gandalf .
I had others by the artist up too but this was the one. Have a look at his artwork he is a fascinating artist. Finally I was thinking also of novels that define a historical gaming period for me . For Napoleonic land warfare this is the novel I return to
If you don’t know it you are in for a wonderful adventure, go on treat yourself during the current days and get a copy.Finally, what artists and novels evoke the periods you game for you?
Good work there on the Goblins and Wolves...looking forward to reading about the Wolves vs Hobbits solo game. That is a great drawing of Gandalf.
ReplyDeleteA great Gandalf indeed.
DeleteGreat looking figures Tradgardmastare, making a nice little army! (Note to self: Don't be tempted, don't be tempted!!!)
ReplyDeleteA motley crew indeed. You are safe Vendel ( now Thistle and the Rose Miniatures) have to be imported from America and so are less easy to succumb too. The postage can be a tad hefty.
DeleteWow! I had that poster too. I've got the book as well, always felt it would make a good TV series a la Sharpe. Loved the ending.
ReplyDeleteA small world indeed. I agree re it making a splendid Sharpe like programme.
DeleteYup still have that poster in my mancave. Roger Dean and Rodney Matthews inspire my fantasy games. Not sure about novels other than The Lord of the Rings. The Cranborne Chase by David Burnett captures the grim side of the middle ages well.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know the Burnett book and will investigate. As far as I can see the poster didn’t really seem to influence figure designers really ,especially in the hobbits they made. Perhaps a lost opportunity.
DeleteRosemary Sutcliffe, especially Sword at Sunset for Late/Post Roman Britain, The Black Arrow and Ivanoe for Medieval, With Fire & Sword for 17thC, The images in Classic Comics and Prince Valiant. Memoirs were even more evocotive for me, from Xenephon to Churchill.
ReplyDeleteGreat books and comics there Ross. I recall reading Churchill’s “My early life” at school and being most taken with it.
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ReplyDeleteGood to see a mention of Rosemary Sutcliff in her centenary year - sadly little of her work now in print - I have just (re)read the Eagle of the Ninth trilogy and her charming childhood memoir Blue Remembered Hills this year.
ReplyDeleteDonald Featherstone is a good one to read, he has a good turn of phrase and authoritative avuncular enthusiasm, (less so in his historical fiction?) as does Baden Powell in Scouting for Boys etc. and H G Wells in Floor Wars and Little Wars. What a dinner party trio that would be!
The Delderfield Seven Men Of Gascony is new to me, thanks, I shall track down a copy, partly because he was one of my late Dad's favourite authors to borrow from the library along with Wilbur Smith. Delderfield was his favourite partly because of the South London suburban settings of his interwar and wartime era books, similar to where Dad grew up as a wartime child. I have a similar treasured Coronet paperback copy from my Dad of To Serve Them All My Days series (WW1 and WW2).
I much prefer reading real people's civilian and military published wartime diaries and memoirs to historical fiction of the period but it does make it gaming the periods more awkward and problematic. In These Times by Jenny Uglow - her recent social history of the Napoleonic Wars based on diaries, letters and memoirs - etc is very very good.
I don't quite get fantasy and Tolkien in the same way as you, although I still enjoy the surreal weirdness of Narnia, Gullivers Travels, Pilgrims Progress (including the Enid Blyton rewrite as the Land of Far Beyond) etc.
Do you think the poster's muted colour tones and palette / style have influenced the way you paint, game and terrain model your Hobbit worlds?
I am afraid to say that the illustrations of Tintin, Asterix, Preben Kannik's Military Uniforms of the World and various historical / military titles by Ladybird books still exert far too much childhood influence on my painting and simple gaming style.