Tuesday 12 September 2017

Death Match Lord Valatrix and Concubines

In the year 2579, the planet Traventi had become a cesspool of crime. The poor were either preyed upon or forced to turn to a life of crime just to survive. The planet contained 40 provinces each with its own Lord. Each province was struggling with criminal activity with more of the population becoming imprisoned by the day.
A year later the prisons were overrun. With more criminals arriving each week the prison wardens looked for a way to keep the population down. Some of the wardens started to pit criminals on death row against each other in trials of combat to help keep the prison numbers down. These trials were crude and barbaric; two inmates were tossed swords and instructed that one would eat that day and one would die. Inmates surrounded the the two in combat lining the walls and watched until one triumphed. Lord Valatrix was asked to visit his prison as the wardens had run out of ways to keep the prison population down. A trial of combat had just been started by the wardens and upon entering, Valatrix caught the exchange. Struck by an idea that could help keep the prison populations down permanently and create massive riches, the Death Match games were created. They became a huge success and soon saw alien races and beasts being introduced into the games as their popularity extended far and wide across the galaxy.
These three figures from Wargames Terrain Workshop show Lord Valatrix, the creator of the Death Match gladiatorial games, and two of his alien concubines. I should point out that these are all very big figures, that may be too big for some of you. The fact that they are aliens means I'm not at all bothered how tall they are. Lord Valatrix. in the centre of the group, is 48mm tall and 60mm wide from the edges of his cushions. The blue-grey skinned mutant concubine is 60mm long and the feline concubine is 57mm long from the tips of her toes to the tips of her fingers.
I have to say that I like these figures a lot and whilst they don't do anything in the actual Death Match game, I just think they are great spectator figures. I'd certainly like to develop Lord Valatrix as a non-player character for my N.E.W. role-playing game. He'd make an ideal crime lord. Note that the blue-grey skinned mutant concubine has three breasts. I shall say no more on that matter. The feline concubine is by far my favourite figure out of this set. As a cat lover, I have a fondness for feline alien races. This particular figure has been exquisitely and very cleverly sculpted. I say "cleverly" because incredibly, she is a one-piece casting. When Dave Stone, who sculpted her came to visit me, I asked him how on earth it was possible to cast her in one piece? Dave enigmatically replied that it was a trade secret. The more I look at her the more I'm stumped how he did it! Dave, you're a genius!
Lord Valatrix costs £7.00, the mutant concubine costs £6.00 and the feline concubine costs £5.00. All are available from the Wargames Terrain Workshop web-store found here - http://wargamesterrainworkshop.co.uk/?product_cat=death-match&paged=1
If anyone would like them for free I have a spare set available. Just leave a comment saying you'd like to own them and I'll draw out the lucky winner by the end of this month and announce his name when I post this month's Monthly Musings. Note that my spare set is unpainted.

19 comments:

  1. They may not actually have a role in the game, Bryan, but I think, courtesy of your colourful paint-jobs, these figures will look very atmospheric positioned around the board. I was a big fan of Dorium Maldovar from 'Nu Who' and Lord Valatrix's palette captures him wonderfully (at least in my mind). I can't help thinking Dave also had a little of Mary the Mutant ("Total Recall") in his mind for the mutant concubine, but your choice of a different blue flesh really makes her stand out as a character in her right. Great posting and great sculpts by "Wargames Terrain Workshop" yet again... :-)

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    1. Thank you kindly, Simon. They'll look even better in situ when Dave produces the 3D arena stands.

      I agree with you about Dorium Maldovar and "Total Recall's" Mary the Mutant. Who could forget her?

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  2. Those are great Bryan! Tho a little to big for my tastes. Wish they were a little closer to 28mm.

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    1. Thanks, mate. I can fully understand you wishing they were closer to 28mm scale. I'm sure if they were, they'd prove more popular. However, please keep watching as I'll soon be presenting another Lord to use alongside Lord Valatrix, who is made by a different company and who most definitely is 28mm scale. I think you'll like him a lot... and his two bodyguards.

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  3. I like these a great deal. Wonderfully characterful pieces. The blue one even looks like me.

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  4. Great painting Bryan, as for the size of the models, this is due to the humans being one of the smaller species in this universe, they are by no means the smallest, but as future species releases will show they are certainly in the mid area.
    Some have mentioned in recent postings they don't feel a gladiator arena fits a sci-fi setting, I'm not the first to use a gladitorial setting in Sci-Fi ( Star Wars, John Carter, Mad Max, Star Trek) but understand it's not everyone's cup of tea.
    As for the inspiration on the blue concubine look to Paul as this is one of my favourite movies when in need of a cheer up, that or Galaxy Quest, or Evolution

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    1. Thank you, Dave. Please understand, the size of your figures does not bother me in the slightest.

      I most definitely think that gladiator games do fit in well in a sci-fi setting. In my Space Opera campaign, one of the four major star-faring races, the Mercantile League with their classical Roman outlook, are huge fans of gladiator games.

      I, too, am a fan of the film, "Paul". Ditto, "Galaxy Quest" and "Evolution". All great, fun movies.

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  5. Your great paint work brings this set of characters to life Bryan, and I'm glad they'll be inhabiting your campaign - they're far too good to be just 'passive NPC's'.

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    1. Many thanks, Greg. Such great figures as these deserve to be used in more than one game.

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  6. Fantastic pieces and yes I would like to own them, maybe that would kickstart me in to actually doing something about Deathmatch! I love the feline one the most too!

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    1. Much appreciated, Andy. Seeing as you're the only person to ask for my spare set, I shall post them to you next time I go to the post office. I'm glad to see that someone wants them.

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  7. Lovely work as always. Just add the role appropriate burly guards and flunkies and away you go.

    On an unrelated topic knowing that you have a 'slight' interest in Vampirella. These might be of interest (first is the Asian version):

    http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/forum/front-page-news/856564-dynamite-x-executive-replicas-x-phicen-1-6-vampirella-action-figure.html

    http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/forum/sixth-scale-action-figure-news-reviews-and-discussion-/857152-tbleague-phicen-1-6-vampirella-shcc-2017-exclusive-action-figure.html



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    1. Thank you kindly, Jason.

      Regarding the Vampirella action figure - it is just superb... and I have one on order, which probably won't surprise you. Even so, I do appreciate the heads up. It was kind of you to think of me.

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  8. hmmm? We assume that she and the feline are the concubines....... but maybe they are not!

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    1. That's a fair point, Clint. Food for thought, huh?

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  9. These look really cool Bryan nice work.

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    ReplyDelete