Sunday 22 February 2015

28mm Servitors of Nyarlathotep from ‘Achtung! Cthulhu’ and Greyscale Mat from Deep-Cut Studio (15 Points)



This entry takes me back for a bit of pulp adventure, this time it's a trio of figures from the game where the world of H.P. Lovecraft meets the Second World War: ‘Achtung! Cthulhu’.

Several weeks ago someone had mentioned that many of the Cthulhu miniatures currently available are not really horrific enough to convey the vision of the literature.  For the most part I tend to agree, but I think there are some exceptions, such as these creepy fellas below. 




These rather disturbing creatures are known as Servitors of Nyarlathotep.  They’re beings that use a human host as both an incubator and delivery device.  Lurking until their dark designs are needed and then tearing themselves into our reality in order to wreak havoc.  Sort of like tax assessors with a skin condition.



These are 28mm figures from Modiphius Entertainment’s ‘Achtung! Cthulhu’ range.  Nice figures, with very fine features and excellent detail.  They're perhaps a smidge smaller than most other 28mm WWII lines, but not markedly so.



Many of the paint schemes I’ve seen online for these figures depict the emerging creatures' bodies in a single uniform colour.  As the figures' design reminded me of the art of H.R. Giger (famous for his conception of the first Alien movie) I chose to portray them as something almost quasi-sexual, with a nasty pink pseudopod emerging from a carapace.  Ewww, yeah, sorry about that.



Okaaay, to help take your mind away from that disturbing image I’d like to point out to you the wonderful cobblestone mat that I've used in my photos. Yes, if you look closely you’ll see that the mat is in greyscale. Now, how neat is that!


You see, when I approached the good people from Deep-Cut Studio about the possibility of them being a Challenge sponsor they recollected my Great War greyscale work and so offered to do up a PVC cobblestone mat in a similar motif.  Very flattered, I happily accepted and am extremely delighted with how it all turned out.  


 

Georges Boillot and his Renault 'Taxi de la Marne'
As you can see it works very well with my greyscale figures and building facades.  The original coloured mat has a few manhole covers as part of the design, but I did not want to have to work around them in laying out my buildings so I asked to have them removed.  No problem, the designers quickly made the necessary adjustments and I now have a wonderful 4x4 cobblestone layout for my Great War and Pulp gaming. Thank you very much Deep-Cut Studio - you did a brilliant job!


Tomorrow I'll be beavering away with the 'comedic' theme round so expect something on that front later in the day. But now, off to sleep!

20 comments:

  1. Nice figures Curt, love that mat, how big is it?

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  2. The mat is gorgeous I am hovering on the edge of temptation!

    “On many occasions the curious atmospheric effects enchanted me vastly; these including a strikingly vivid mirage - the first I had ever seen ....” (Mountains of Madness HP Lovecraft!)

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  3. That's a great mat Curt. And the figures, well, they are up to your usual top-notch standard. :)

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  4. Your greyscale work is indeed brilliant! So is the paint-job of these, rather disturbing, miniatures. I have been seriously considering the Deep Cut mats for my Victorian project but am not entirely convinced yet even though they do enhance your scenes well...

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  5. Lovely stuff Curt... Mind you gave scored a winner with that mat!

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  6. These are far too disturbing to be good, their great instead

    Ian

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  7. I do like the Modiphius models. They are supposed to be expanding the range as part of their upcoming skirmish system and are aware of the scaling variances in their current range

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  8. Fantastic painting work. The figures are very nice, and the mat is perfect! I have one of them, the steppe one, and this is very good, a great product.

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  9. Creepy figures Curt. I think I'll find some knee of something to hug.
    Cheers
    PD

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  10. Excellent work on these figures Mr. Campbell! Especially the fellow with the creature coming out of his back is rather disturbing. So mission accomplished I guess. Somehow they remind me a bit of those old GW chaos spawns.

    The mat looks ace and should add quite some atmosphere to your future games in greyscale.

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  11. Ok I was going to delete the autocorrect, but it is creepy and funny in one go. I need to find some ONE to hug.

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  12. Wow, wow, and wow! The color against the grey terrain is very impactful. I wonder if it is safe to say that my 28mm embargo is over and I should just give in to gaming in the scale. Of to look at Deep Cut.

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  13. Great choice to showcase then against the greyscale! They are very well done. If something like that sprung outta my tax assessor, at least I'd be within my rights to hit 'em! ;)

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  14. Beautiful work and that map is also awesome!

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  15. Great figs, very unnerving. Don't really do horror, I prefer my thrills to be exciting not disturbing. My mind is dark enough thank you very much.
    Love the mat and am sorely tempted.

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  16. The awful truth behind Spy vs Spy!

    Brilliantly creepy figs and the background terrain is top shelf. Well done!

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  17. Suitably gruesome and very well painted mate. Love that mat too.

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  18. Spooky looking horror movie figures. Painted really well and that grey scale terrain is interesting. Nice table mat and it certainly draws attention to coloured miniatures.
    cheers

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  19. Very cool stuff man - as others have already mentioned, those figures are creepy as heck...

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