Thursday 23 November 2017

Contemporary Witches 01

As a complete change of pace I thought I'd show you three contemporary witches, two of which were recent purchases and one, which I've had for quite  awhile now. They are all made by different companies to varying standards.

First up is my favourite figure out of this trio - the limited edition version of Jill Lucas by Silver Fox Productions for the RAFM Miniatures range of USX Modern Day Heroes. Jill is available in two versions - normal and limited edition. The limited edition versions differs from the normal version in that it comes with the spell effect rising from the pages of her spell book. Only 300 of these figures have been produced and mine is number 117. They all come with a small certificate. Jill is obviously a Goth Girl. The sculpting of her is just exquisite. I love her coffin shaped backpack and her red plastic horned tiara. The spell effect of the ghostly skeletal head is such a cool touch. Limited edition Jill Lucas is RAF09001 priced at $10.95. If you want the normal version, she is RAF02838 priced at $5.95.
In the centre is Witch Hazel, sculpted by Kevin White as part of the Hasslefree Miniatures range of Modern Day Adventurers. She is obviously based on the character of Willow Rosenberg from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, specifically series 6, when Willow turned bad and almost destroyed the world. I'm using her as an evil Goth Girl rather than bad Willow, and keeping the name Witch Hazel. I should mention that Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel, still remain two of my all-time favourite TV series and I would love for someone to do a full range of figures from both series. Witch Hazel has cast a levitate spell on herself. Once again, the sculpting of her is sublime. She is listed as HFA041 Witch Hazel on the Hasslefree webstore and she costs £4.00.
Third in line is Anastasia Tenebris, sculpted by Dave Stone of Wargames Terrain Workshop. She is actually described as a female necromancer but that just makes her an evil witch in my book. I must admit to having mixed feelings about this figure. On the plus side, I like the concept of her raising the dead so spectacularly. What is cool is that her base, with the two rising skeletons has been cast in transparent green resin. Most of this has been obscured by my painting but the ghostly flame effects do show some of the green resin beneath my dry-brushing. The necromancer is a separate casting and could, if you wanted, be glued to a different base. She'd fit well on any 25mm diameter base. What lets this figure down is the sculpting of the necromancer. Compared to the other two on display here, she looks rather crude. Now don't get me wrong, Dave is a very talented sculptor. His scenery pieces and monsters are just superb. However, when it comes to sculpting humans, he still has a long way to go to match the work done by the likes of Kevin White and B. Van Schaik, who sculpted Jill Lucas. The female necromancer is not named, so I gave her the name of Anastasia Tenebris. She does not appear in the WTW webstore's online sales section, but you can see her in the News and New Releases section as part of the September 2017 new stuff. I'm sure if you sent Dave an e-mail he'd be able to give you a quote for her price. I can't remember what I paid for mine.
I bought the figure of Jill very recently, and Anastasia a couple of months ago. Witch Hazel was bought a few years ago as soon as she was released. I could have called this post, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, but decided not to. I do like all three of these figures but I haven't decided how to use them yet. My thoughts at the moment are to wait for the release of N.O.W. by EN Publishing to use them in that contemporary setting RPG. Oddly enough, Anastasia is the one who has the most gaming potential. She is such a generic sculpt that she would fit in well in almost any genre from fantasy to sci-fi. I am pondering about whether to make her an ally of Malexica in my JDMG campaign. Does Malexica need an ally? We'll see. And no, I haven't forgotten about that campaign. A new batrep will be coming soon.

18 comments:

  1. "When shall we three meet again in thunder lightning or in rain" ;-)
    Very nice trio Bryan, and I concur with your choice of favourite and your comments.
    A new JDMG batrap to look forward to? Excellent news :-)

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    1. Nice of you to quote Macbeth, Greg. I almost mentioned it myself, so thanks for that.

      The new JDMG batrep will happen once I finish my current "The Ace of Spades" scenario, which should be soon.

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  2. my fave is actually Witch Hazel as Kev is one of my favourite sculptors of all time as my ever growing collection of his work can attest (expect more on my blog after xmas!). He does quite a few not Buffy models including the plucky lass herself (which I own) listed as Sadie

    http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=young-sadie~hfa019&category=modern-%26%0D%0Apost%252dapoc~modern-adventurers

    and a not Spike (which I will own soon) listed as William.

    http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=william~hfa066&category=modern-%26%0D%0Apost%252dapoc~modern-adventurers

    I'm yet to see a not Angel or not Xander, although I may just have missed them and there are plenty of models that could rep Cordelia although I think Kitty is probably meant to be her as they came in the same set when I bought them a few years ago.

    http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=kitty~hfa043&category=modern-%26%0D%0Apost%252dapoc~modern-adventurers

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    1. Many thanks for such an informative answer, Andy. Actually, I do own all of the figures you mention. Kitty most certainly could double as Cordelia. Elite Sadie with the shotgun or katana looks remarkably like Cordelia when she was in "Angel" with her shorter hair. You're right about not-Spike and not-Buffy. Witch Hazel is clearly bad Willow but where's the rest? i know that Kev is a fan of "Buffy" and I was hoping he'd do more "not" versions of the cast but it hasn't happened. I have an even better figure of Buffy from the Horrorclix range, along with an excellent evil 19th century Angelus, also from the same Horrorclix range. I should do a post all about my not-Buffy characters.

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  3. Nice painting Bryan, the female necromancer is available on the site she can be found here
    http://wargamesterrainworkshop.co.uk/?product_cat=fantasy-females

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    1. Thanks for pointing that out, Dave. I missed that link. I'm pleased to see that she is officially available now.

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    2. no problem, she has been since September, but with so many sections easy to miss !LOL

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    3. Indeed! I just never thought to look under Fantasy Females - my bad!

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  4. I have never seen a single episode of Buffy! yet I was instantly drawn to the middle figure. I guess I like Hasslefree sculpts. You do raise an interesting question about contempoary witches though, if they dressed normally how would we know they were witches? You could be one or I could. Just how would anyone know?

    Although you did not directly ask the question your paint choices on these figures did. Expert choices allow us Muggles to realise they are Witches. Bravo sir.

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    1. Gasps in horror! You have NEVER seen a single episode of Buffy?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      Oh man, how sad! Poor, poor Clint!!!!!!!!!!!

      You do raise an interesting point about how to spot a contemporary witch (or their male equivalent - warlocks). Indeed, in "Buffy" Willow looks just like the girl next door, most of the time. The same is true of many other witches - Willow's girlfriend Tara, Sabrina the Teen Witch, the witch sisters from "Charmed", etc. There is a long list and none look like a "typical" witch!

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  5. Witch Hazel looks like a very useful model Bryan. Great paint jobs mate - as usual.

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    1. Much appreciated, Tim. Witch Hazel is a very beautiful sculpt.

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  6. Hmmm... an interesting array of minis at no mistake, Bryan. I rather like the mini of Jill Lucas most (undoubtedly due to your fine colour choice for the spectral ghost), but all three definitely bring something different to the party; whether it be Kev White's typically elegant sculpt or Dave's impressive 'rise from your graves' pose.

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    1. You're absolutely right, Simon - they all have something to recommend them - the sign of a good figure.

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  7. Nice work Bryan. I really like these very useful for a lot of weird game needs.

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  8. Your coven of witches is much more attractive than mine. Maybe that's why I haven't got around to painting mine yet :D .

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