You know how sometimes people decide to gloss over why they were trying to do something a particular way. There's even a phrase "because reasons" that seems to mean "for reasons that I won't go into just now". Well, I've got some old D&D figures in some scale that probably wasn't even named at the time, it was just the size that Citadel and other manufacturers made D&D models. Nowadays we might call it 28mm. Almost everything else in my collection is 1/72 scale.
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| The new Joshua |
I settled on just one scale, because I couldn't face collecting separate buildings, bridges, fences, trees etc in a handful of different scales. I even have 1/72 fantasy figures from Caesar and Light/Dark Alliance. So the last time our D&D group got together face-to-face I brought a bunch of models to use and they were 1/72 with just a couple of exceptions. The biggest exception was an old Citadel druid for David's character Joshua. Not only is it as tall as Umar the giant, but in 40 years I'd never bothered to paint it beyond an undercoat.
We're getting together again soon, so I was talking to David about models to use. By the way our DM typically relies on theatre of the mind for Zoom sessions, or uses spare dice for the bad guys. Those small dee-sixes are goblins one to six, the dee-fours are ogres. The pile of paperbacks is the cowshed and the big cardboard box is the tavern. The figures on the upturned tumblers are still flying down from the top of the tower.
You can probably see where my inspiration comes from when setting up a wargames table.
Anyway, I told David I'd get a proper coat of paint on the old druid model. Which I did, just a simple base coat. Then I picked it up for a closer look, dropped it on a hard floor and the druid's sickle snapped off. David was very understanding. "That's fine", he said, "Joshua doesn't use a sickle anyway. He's got this special Rod of the Druid that was a gift from the Elven empress after we raided their temple and ..." You don't need the whole provenance. But this has become a serious piece of crafting now, with a weapon to be built and attached securely to the model. On a metal figure that's a job for a pin drill and superglue and other stuff that I never use with 1/72 plastics.
At this point it occurred to me that a conversion like this may as well begin with a 1/72 scale figure, so that it fits with the rest of the party. So I grabbed an old Airfix Robin Hood figure and got started. There, now I've explained why I would do such an odd thing, when D&D models are readily available in larger scales, and not just "because reasons".
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| Airfix outlaw |
The actual conversion was surprisingly simple. I cut off the original's sword (including the hand, so I've got something to put in the spares box). The new shield was cut from cereal box card, with planks cut from 80gsm printer paper on one side. A new hand is cut from a piece of sprue (white) and stuck to the shield. The "rod of the druid" is a length cut from a paper clip, with toilet paper wrapped around the top and soaked in PVA to make the head piece.
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| Conversion work |
Then I gave it the usual treatment of a plain base coat in each area, with a wash of burnt umber on the hair, raw umber everywhere else, to fill in the creases. Bish bash bosh job's a good 'un. Can't wait to get it on the table.
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| Druids old & new |
Until next time, health & happiness to you all.
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