Tribute to Phil and Sylvain: HP Lovecraft and a Exloding Star Destoyer(!) (20 Points)

The task of coming up with something to present to Phil and Sylvain, our Friday Minions, was fairly simple as I've been friends with them for several years and know some of their favourite things.

Phil and I are both big fans of the pulp genre, especially anything having to do with the Cthulhu mythos. So I thought it fitting to paint for him a rendition of the Great Man himself, Howard Philips Lovecraft.

HP Lovecraft was a bit of a strange cat. From reading biographies of the fellow you get a distinct sense that he considered himself out of step with the rest of society. Much of the horror of Lovecraft's writing is based on a sense of humanity's relative insignificance and powerlessness when juxtaposed against the terrors of the cosmos. Many believe Lovecraft's own feelings of social unease, racism and misanthropy are conveyed directly in his writings. Yes, 'ole HPL may not have been an especially cheery or warm human being, but he certainly had a knack for writing some of the creepiest stuff in English literature.

This figure is from Uncle Mike's Strange Aeon's range of miniatures. It's cast in an odd resin material which makes the detail somewhat soft. Nonetheless, I really like this impressionistic rendition of Lovecraft, with his tall, gaunt frame and his characteristic lantern jaw.  I decided to give him minimal groundwork and to base him a little off-center to give him more of a sense of unbalance and loneliness. 

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For Sylvain, I've made up a critically damaged Victory-class Star Destroyer.

Sylvain is an avid participant in our current Star Wars: Armada campaign, commanding a Rebel fleet in the hotly contested Corellian system. He's tasted both victory and defeat in the campaign and I know he dreams of putting this model down on the tabletop to mark a 'kill' against his Imperial foes (much to Peter's chagrin, I might add).

This model is a 3D design that I've resized to better match the scale of Armada. It's a fairly minimalist model, with not a lot of fine detail, but I think it serves nicely for acting as a casualty/wreck for the game. (I think I may go back and paint-in some running lights on the bridge and superstructure.)

...and check out the wonderfully dorky base I made for it!

Similar to my work on the Nebulon frigate and Corellian corvette, I've used fractal models of  explosions, adding some fire, debris and armoured plate in an effort to add a bit of drama.


I hope you like the figures guys. Thanks very much for taking care of the Friday crew - you did a terrific job.

I'm going to score the Star Destroyer as a 28mm vehicle as it approximates that size, so 20 points total.