For my visit to "The Tomb", I've painted a jumble of figures from various manufacturers. They all have something to do with dead things, however....
The first thing I thought of for the Tomb was a praying guardian, perhaps one of the Brothers of Sint Jacobus from my fictional Laarden project for the late seventeenth century. A member of a monastic order tasked with the sacred duty of guarding and observing the relics of Laarden's greatest saint - just in case, on the off-chance, a miracle might just... you know... happen.
The Brothers missed out on being in my Challenge for last year, so it's been good for my soul to add one of the Brothers to this Challenge XI.
The Brother is a Bicorne Miniatures monk, from their 'War Correspondents" range. It's a venerable sculpt, in the Peter Gilder/ Connoisseur style. While it didn't look great out of the packet, like many older figures it's a joy to paint and starts to very effective on the table at the three foot range or more. Striking, highly contoured, and with a 'mannered' style, I can see Prior Willem adding a touch of ecclesiastical pedigree to many of our games from the Dark Ages to the Napoleonic era.
I added the same Milliput cobbles with my fancy greenstuff roller which I'd used for my "Armoury" submission earlier in this Challenge. I also placed the Brother alongside a really strange miniature - something from Games Workshop which might best be described as a box of body parts.
There's a skull, a lot of bones, a non-decayed head (which is quite handsome for a severed head) and a steel gauntlet. Could these be the Sacred relics of Sint Jacobus himself, dear Challengers?
Perhaps so, which explains the Brother's dedication in committing his prayers to parchment. I was taken by the idea, and I thought the Holy Saint needed a more striking and expensive velvet cover for his once-mortal remains. I made the 'velvet' covering with some wine-bottle foil and a greenstuff fringe, painted the velvet in deep scarlet and the fringe in Venetian Gold. Fancy stuff indeed. Nothing but the best for Sint Jacobus, my friends.
A few tufts of grass weeds, poking through the cobbled paving of the Tomb, completed the base. I liked the slightly creeping feel of decay in the miniatures, even down to the rickety old wooden box which Sint Jacobus' remains are resting in, contrasted with the miraculous preservation of the Saint's hands and handsome head. I doubt the bottle of herbal liqueur, warming Prior Willem in his arduous duties, will have the same longevity - though it might have miraculous properties all of its own.
Here's Prior Willem's ludicrous Character Card from the "Enemies and Allies of Laarden, 1688" Collectible Card Collection for Challenge XI....
Alongside one of the Brothers of Sint Jacobus, there's a Banshee. I thought this went well with the Tomb, and she is also a female banshee - to transport me back, with the intercession of the good Lady Sarah, to the 'Hall of Ancestors' on the Second Level of the Challenge Chambers.
It's been a while since I painted a ghost (or a wraith or banshee). But with a mix of dry-brushing (light grey) and washes (mainly blue, green and grey), the details picked out fairly easily on the Games Workshop miniature.
Finally, as this is "The Tomb", I thought I better add one. Midlam Miniatures make a very fine tomb with a noble knight on the outer covering and a tiny skeleton inside. Just the thing for placing in a spooky temple, church or monastery.
So, for the points, there's a 28mm Brother, and a Banshee (5 points each, adding to 10 points). I hope to claim 5 points for the tomb (half points for the prone knight and the prone skeleton inside!), and then a couple of points for the bones of Sint Jacobus. All of the bones in Sint Jacobus' box do, I think, complete an entire person, but he is prone - so just two points, dear Challengers. That would collect 17 points, and with the 20 points for "The Tomb" gives a total of 37 points, and adding in the extra 20 points for a Lady Sarah Bonus (back to Hall of the Ancestors), brings that to 57 points.
I'm praying that's correct. (Yup. Sorry. That was a pun). If its not... the flagellation can commence in the discrete surroundings of the Brothers' dormitory...
So how am I doing with my creation of Character Cards for the "Enemies and Allies of Laarden, 1688" Collectible Card Collection for Challenge XI? I am sure with whatever is happening in the real world, it's the question everyone is really asking this Friday morning. So far, there's now seven cards with the addition of the Brothers of Sint Jacobus, with three more scheduled to appear.
Maybe, just maybe, there might be even one more after that, if my prayers to Sint Jacobus are answered. I better stare at his remains for another hour. That'll help. Can someone pass me the herbal liqueur, please?
*******
