Ewal Painter and Puck's Dance are here

And finally the Ewal Painter and the Puck's Dance diorama are here.

And some spares have now been packed up and are looking for a new home :)

 

 

 

Click on the little blue button: "How to get some" (top, in the right side bar) or follow this link: http://claminiatures.blogspot.dk/p/how-to-get-some.html

Where were we?

Ahh! .... yes .... that's right! - so sorry for the lack of updates in here recently, but it's not that I've abandoned the project or anything.
It all come down to a few personal issues (like a back surgery in June 2014, and a planned re-try coming early next year plus a few other real life issues, concentrating around or highly sensitive son), a major laptop breakdown (a sewer hard drive failure and replacement) - but mostly due to the fact, that the sculpting and casting process are a bit more time consuming, that I've been used to. All due to a high demand for their great services, which is a good thing in general :)

But here is the State of the Nation, so to speak:

1. The Puck's Dance Diorama piece is currently with the mould maker in the UK. Was shipped out 6-7 weeks ago, so I expect news anytime soon.
2. The Ewal Painter will fill out the new "Puck's - mould" - so he will become available, when Puck is done, too.
3. John will start the sculpting on the Ewal Warriors with Guns (roughly based on the crossbowmen - sculpt) very soon. Latest guesstimate for a stating date was around New Year 2014. This will be another 2x4 bodies, 8-10 heads set, like the two other core warrior sets. 
4. John will also look into a minor conversion of the current Musician. It will be another "Drummer", but with different head gear and a slightly change pose (I think).
5. 2015 will also see a small run of new evil dwarfs - the "Son's of Siegward". These dwarfs are perhaps even more cruel and evil than their Ewal brothers, as they have been blessed by the ancestor Gods and given demonic powers and mutations - so a small line of mutant dwarf characters to spice up my army. Rather excited about these. Sjoerd Trouwee is the guy behind these, and will give a preview very soon.

Ewal Dvergr Painter

The Old Bag: Puck's Dance

Something a bit different than the usual commissioned Ewal Dvergar. The Old Bag is a small diversion from the main strategy here - but definitely something that fit very well with my passionate need for bringing more John Pickford sculpts out to the painting and gaming world :) Can't say if this will be a lonely Wolf or if more will be acquired, guess time will tell - but for now, it's about a mischievous little forest spirit called Puck :)

Back in 2007 the Frother’s Unite Community ran their 4th Pro-Am Sculpting Competition. The theme for this competition was, as always, a very open theme trying not to limit the sculptor's creativity. The theme for this 2007 Competition was: "The Unseelie Suspects or the dark side of faeryland" and sculptors where to do fantasy characters, spirits and creatures with inspiration taken from the classic folklore and fairy tale without going Disney.

John entered this competition and was competing in the "Satyrs and woodland spirits" category. For this category John did a entry called "Puck's Dance" - a diorama piece with roots in classic English folklore and Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - but with the usually little twist of evilness and humour that is seen on many Pickford sculpts. Puck was inspired by Neil Gaiman's "the Sandman" - in here Puck aids the Norse God Loki in kidnapping Daniel, and am playing a small role in the death of the Sandman.

Entry commentary: 
The main figure is Puck, dancing on a rock, his true nature revealed from behind. With him are Peaseblossom on lute and Mustard Seed on trumpet, who provide the music for Puck's dance. 

They do not care that they are disturbing the inhabitant of the rock, and are therefore neighbours from hell. It must be early morning as he has not yet brought in the milk from the doorstep. ©Frother's Unite

The Frother's sculpting competition concept has that the winner/winner's and selected runners-up are moulded and sold through Frother's for a limited period of two months. After that, the miniatures faith are up to the sculptor.

John didn't win his category, as it was won by Kev White's lovely Oberon, but Puck's Dance was moulded and cast in limited numbers. Unfortunately, I wasn't around in time to get myself a copy. After the limited sale on Frother's the rights went to White Knight (WK). White Knight has then released the two characters Peaseblossom and Mustard Seed - both available in his Hors Série - line - but he has never released the entire "Puck's Dance" - diorama. Such a petty, I'd say - and I've been nagging him over and over again releasing it - but with no luck .... till

... 6 weeks ago when WK surprised me with an offer of letting me have Puck's Dance and put it in production, cause as he said: "It's more chaotic anyway, so makes more sense in your range than in mine". 

For me, it was one of those offers you can't really refuse, so I gladly accepted his strict license terms and signed the 50 page contact ...., in blood - and I've just donated the first kidney. Hopefully he can wait a bit for the second one :-P

So, here is the master cast I've got from WK, and I will now try and give it a proper release:

The 2007 FU!-UK Sculpting Contest "The Unseelie Suspects" - Puck's Dance

The trained eye will see it's now after breakfast, as the little Milk bottle on the doorstep has been brought in. The little bottle might have been lost in transit or it was still sitting in the master mould, when the master's were spun :-?

Here's all the diorama pieces:

And here is Puck, will work great as a stand alone piece as well :)

And that's not all. It actually came with an additional head piece. Puck head ain't a separated piece, but think it's an easy conversion - should you like replacing the awesome head he already has.

Crossbowmen and Infantry Command Group has arrived

Took a bit more time than anticipated getting the moulds done but I glad to announce that the Crossbowmen and Infantry Command Group miniatures are finally here.

The Core Warriors with Crossbow comes in a set of 6 miniatures (2 of each pose). In this pack you'll also find 8 different Sallet type helmets and 2x4 different crossbows. Should give you an opportunity for nearly a hundred different builds.
Some of the helmets might not fit all 3 bodies equally well - so some adjustments (filling/gab filling) might might be neeeded.

The Infantry Command Group come in a set of 2 miniatures - a Musician (the Drummer) and a wolf-cloaked Standard Bearer. The Standard Bearer has three different pole-hands to choose from.

Keep in mind that the pole-hands will also fit quite well on some of the regular warriors from set #1 and (in particularly from) set #2.

You'll find all the details by clicking on the "How to get some"- blue button in the upper right-hand corner or by clicking this link

Master casts have arrived - soon going to "the next stage"

The master moulding of the Crossbowmen and Command miniatures are finally done. They will now need some cleaning and quality control and then they are sent back to UK for production moulding.

If all goes to plan,  most of the new toys will be ready for play, mid May-ish :-D

But before they all go back, I got a few pictures to share, so you all can see how nicely they turned out.


Ewal Dvergar with Crossbows

Body-blanks front

Body-blanks back

Assembled warriors with separate bows and Sallets 1-3

Assembled warriors with separate bows and Sallets 4-6

- and then the magnificent Command Group ..... :)

Ewal Dvergr Standard Bearer and Musician

Standard Bearer and Drummer

Standard Bearer and Drummer - back

As mentioned earlier, I have had alternative banners made. These will not only fit the new standard bearer but also some of the pole-armed posed Warrior's from Core set #1 and #2. Here , they are glue to the new standard bearer, though:

Alternative Banner #1 and #2

Alternative #1

Facial details

Alternative #2

Banner details - front

Banner details - back

All the above will now go back for production moulding - and will of course binge you an update when they get here.

Core Warriors #1 are back

I've just received another batch of Core Warriors #1, so for those that have been asking, lately ..... dinner is served .... :)

Also in the box were a few more Grenadiers #2 and then all the new master casts, but much more about that later on :)

Ewar Dvergar by Blue in VT

Friend of the Ewal Dvergar, Blue iv VT has been painting evil dwarves again - and has done a magnificent job.

Blue has painted five Ewal Dvergar in a mix of the set #1 and #2 Core Warriors - and they give you a good impression of how easily unique warriors can get build from those two sets.

And as always, the colour pallet used is stunning. Great job, Blue :)

As Blue in VT use his dwarfs for 3rd edt Warhammer Fantasy Battles and plans to mix them in with Old Marauder Miniatures MM90 Chaos Dwarfs Blue has provided these with Games Workshop plastic shields.

So, I should probably mention that the standard core warrior #1's come with plain round shields.

Should you like seeing more of Blue's work, check out his blog: Blue's Maraudering Miniatures