Monday 26 September 2016

Shadows of Brimstone Hellbats and Stranglers

Here are two more of the monster types found in Flying Frog Production's Weird West game - Shadows of Brimstone. From the Swamps of Death boxed starter set are the Hellbats and from the City of the Ancients boxed starter set are the Stranglers (no connection to the pop group of the same name!). You get six figures of each type in their respective boxed sets and both types are multi-part sculpts.
Filling the skies overhead with clouds of black death, Hellbats descend in swarms to terrorise any who would dare travel the roads and countryside near Brimstone. With a long, swirling snake-like body and powerful demonic wings, Hellbats sweep through the air, lashing at their targets as they fly by. Emitting a nightmarish hissing wail, Hellbats are frightening creatures from the Void and can often be found in Other Worlds as well. More than virtually any other creature, Hellbats adapt easily to their local environment. This makes them an excellent vanguard for any wave of creatures flooding through an open portal.
These figures came with 30mm diameter bases and their wings and tongues were separate from their bodies. I have bent a few of the wings where they join the body to have them folding forward just to add a bit of variety. Plus it means they take up less space when bunched together on the game board.
Here I show all six Hellbats together, flying in a V formation. They are a scary group to deal with and very fast.
Vicious, headless demons with an array of squirming tentacle arms and claws, Stranglers stand just short the height of a man. Often hunched over, they they use their arms as well as their legs to move, charging at their targets with demonic speed. Ensnaring a foe with its powerful tentacles allows a Strangler to draw them into its gaping maw. Ringed with sharp teeth, the massive mouth of the Strangler is inset into its torso, allowing the creature to bite down on entire arms and even the heads of its victims.
The Stranglers are smaller in height than an average 28mm figure if you measure them from the bottom of their feet to the top of their bodies. But their tentacles give them extra height. The tentacles and tails were separate from the body and legs. These come in two different sculpts. Because they are so small I stuck them on 25mm diameter MDF bases instead of the 30mm bases they came with. The Hellbats and the Stranglers are just two of the myriad range of creatures to emerge from the Void and are clearly not from this world. They are a threat but as you will see over the coming weeks there are monsters much bigger and far more deadly than these!

25 comments:

  1. nasty flying things and very nasty tentacle things. I really like them all. Only played Brimstone once but I did enjoy it. Maybe you might think on an AAR when all is painted.

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    1. Thanks, Clint. I have lots of ideas for batreps, so hopefully you (and others) won't have to wait too long to see them on this blog.

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  2. I really enjoy the Hellbats, but shudder with dread when I think of them. Boy oh boy, these things, when they come at you in a game, attack you in such droves, they really get the adrenalin pumping, just trying too clear the chamber(s) of them so your team can push further into the lantern flickering gloom. Man, these things are the worst... but nicely rendered by your brush hand.

    The Stranglers are new to me: which box set do they come from Bryan? Its obviously an expansion I don't own... or are they from the other City of Ancients core set? I only have the Swammps one.

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    1. ...... ah I see the answer to my own question. The Stranglers are from the other core set.

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    2. Thanks kindly, Steve, Yes, the Stranglers are from the City of the Ancients core set. It must be so frustrating for you only have one of the two core sets, although that said, there is so much you can do with just one core set. Plus the swamps set has the zombies in! :-)

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    3. {{It must be so frustrating for you only have one of the two core sets, although that said, there is so much you can do with just one core set.}}

      Not really frustrating so much as wistful thinking. I`m very happy with my one Core Set (Swamps of Death) and the four expansion sets I have for the game.... Frontier Town, The 3D Portals (VERY lovely set that one), and a couple of the monster sets. But I know I am short a good (I`m guessing) ten or more other sets, but I`m not massively fussed... I`m not really complet-ist you see: however, having said that, I did feel a great sense of.... something , not quite sure what it was... but yeah, when I finally completed the entire of wave 1 of Super Dungeon Explore(completely by accident, never set out deliberately to do so). Heck, I think I`ve nearly completed wave 2 at this stage as well, then of course, we have "Legends soon to look forward to, mmmmmmm"

      I think, because I`m more of a lifelong wargamer than `game in a box` hobbyist. And with that, there really is no completing anything (unless you just madly went and collected everything there was to buy from your favourite figure making company... or crazily tried to collect every bit of terrain made by 4Ground or something. But yeah, in wargaming, you collect themed things for your chosen topic, and it’s never really a case of collecting for the sake of collecting type thing. It’s more of a `collect what you need` mentality.

      But again, yeah, oh boy Id LOVE to have the other core set.... “City of Ancients” mmmmmmmmm yummy.

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    4. Well said, Steve. There are games where I do have everything published for them but they are few and far between and don't have that many supplements or extras anyway (A Touch of Evil, Ninja All Stars and Rum and Bones) so are easier to complete. I'm still missing a lot from games I really love such as Shadows of Brimstone, Super Dungeon Explore and Zombicide, but like you, it doesn't bother me that much. I'm happy with what I have for all of my games. If I can get more then great but if not then so be it.

      I keep checking on eBay to see if I can find you a cheap copy of City of the Ancients but no luck so far.

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    1. They certainly are, Andy. But... they aren't the worst! There is much worse to come!

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  4. Now the tentacles didn't really do it for me, but these are cool. It's nice to see some original looking monsters for once, rather than variations on the same theme. They would make good aliens for a retro sci=fi game too.

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    1. Thanks, Jez. These monsters are so other-worldly that I can think of many possibilities for using them in other games. Call of the Cthulhu readily springs to mind for me.

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  5. You wouldn't wanna bump into any of them in a dark alley!! Great work Bryan!

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  6. Nightmare creatures indeed! Of course, they're probably just misunderstood - treated with affection they might be very friendly. Not that I'd want to be the one to try that...

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    1. I don't think I'd want to try that tactic either, Hugh. I'm trying to think who would be mad enough to try it and the only person who springs to mind is... Harley Quinn!

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  7. Wow!! You're really upping your painting game over the past few postings Bryan. Another colourful bunch of terrific horrors to add to the tabletop. You're also making me more and more happy I went with the "Swamps" Starter Set as the sculpts from that box continue to impress me (not that the others don't either mind).

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    1. I'm not surprised you like these, Simon. Of the two starter sets, "Swamps of Death" is the better choice, but not by much.

      Painting my Shadows of Brimstone figures has been an absolute joy. There is still some terrific stuff I have yet to show you. Just wait until you see the really big monsters!

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  8. Very creepy stuff Bryan, I like both of these, and really good paintjobs and interesting colour choices. I do like a bit of purple (I think it's my love of pulp, you know).

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers, Roger. Whenever I see a purple coloured monster I'm reminded of the Purple People Eater. This always confused me. Was it a purple monster who ate people or an odd monster who only ate purple people?

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    2. Perhaps it had tentacles and would wrap them round their necks till they turned purple?

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    3. And there's another possibility. Sheesh, I'm even more confused now!

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  9. Love these gribblies they are awesome looking miniatures. Great brush work on them all.

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  10. Great monsters, Bryan, good color selection.

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