From LeeH - Ral Partha Sorceress (Millsey's Millpond)

As previously mentioned I'm going to be playing a lot of Frostgrave with the Padawan this year and have largely been able to repurpose my old Dungeons and Dragons figures for use in this setting. However, she did note that my collection didn't include many (or indeed any) female wizard figures. I did wonder if this was a sad reflection on the nature of figure design in the 80's and 90's (ie lots of chainmail bikini's and little else) but looking back through old magazines I see plenty of female figures that I could have bought. So I guess this 'gap' in my collection says more about me than it does about the availability of figures when I was buying them!

Feeling a little stung by this realisation I decided to see if I could find some suitable female figures online and in particular on eBay (a wonderful source of old mini's) to correct the imbalance. I eventually bought several models, some of which will be featuring later in the challenge. This female sorceress, however, was not only the oldest model in the batch it was also one of the best looking sculpts. The base stamp shows this to be a 1977 Ral Partha figure and when stood next to other '28mm' figures its a perfect example of scale creep over the decades. This magical female is best described as slender, but despite this, there is plenty of detail to be found in the design making it fun to paint.

Given that I plan on using this for Frostgrave, I decided the character needed some additional warm weather clothing and so I added a fur stole across her shoulders. I was going to sculpt this using greenstuff but inexplicably I couldn't find it (must have been lost or misplaced when I moved into my Operations Room). In the end, I used a product I have not used before, Plastic Putty by Vallejo. It's not strictly designed for sculpting but for little details like this, it worked perfectly. I applied a thin layer across the shoulders of the figure and as it dried over the course of half an hour I shaped it with a small brush.

Now if my math is correct this little figure will net me quite a few points. A base 5 for the figure, 30 points for completing the Challenge Island location and a further 20 bonus points because it's a 1970's miniature. I'll leave it's to the umpire to decide if I have also earned the additional ten points for the backstory on how I acquired this figure. So this could net me up to 65 points, and all because my choice of figures from my early days of gaming was a little bit misogynistic!

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A very cool blast from the past Lee!  I seem to remember this figure from days gone by and old D&D games back in school, but who knows maybe I am imagining things.

I really wish you would have showed a picture next to a current 28mm figure though so people could see the scope creep.  We all know it's real, but many people do not have figures this old to actually see the dramatic nature of the creep over the last 40+ years.

Great work on both the paint job, and actually keeping (and finding) this old gem in your pile-o-shame for this many years.  Also great work and getting 65 points out of one lowly 28mm figure!!!  That may just be a challenge record for points per figure without voting bonuses!

- Byron