War Trolls - Olog-hai (Set 2)

The second set of Trolls from Dark Alliance and in Terms of use and ..unfortunately   Quality*,  a bit of a mixed set.
You get eight in the box, two lots of four poses and I´ve painted up only one...the reasons will become clear.

Teddy

The catapult is from one of those "Bag-O-Kniggits". I´ve replaced the end of the throwing arm, added some cogs from a broken wind up toy and replaced the wheels. 

*Of the other three. poses? Well, it Looks as if the mold has "slipped" and slipped quite badly, 1-2mm´s.  I´m used to removing mold lines, IMHO, it´s part of the hobby but in this case, the amount of slippage meant they were way beyond saving.  C'est la vie.
 
Hopefully this was in only a few sets and I was unlucky as I really like the Alliance Fantasy Range.
I´ll chalk it up to bad luck on my part and hopefully I can get hold of a complete set later on.
But what were they up too?
It Looks like two are the ones who were opening the Black Gate in the LotR´s film "The two Towers" but they could equally be employed to push/pull siege weapons like a seige Tower.

The 4th pose Looks very much like his painted Counterpart and similar looking ones are seen loading catapults in the LotR´s film "Return of the King"
He could be saved with a lot of snipping but TBH, I haven´t the time

Fire Demons - Balrogs (set 1)

Made by Dark Alliance.
These things are big, not quite as big as  the  Balrog  in the LotR´s film, The Fellowship of the Ring and although Tolkien was never specific about the size and appearance of the Moria Balrog it´s film depiction is frankly,  ridicously enormous.

Thier height.
From page 194 in "The Book of Lost Tales II"
"Then Glorfindel's left hand sought a dirk, and this he thrust up that it pierced the Balrog's belly nigh his own face (for that demon was double his stature)..."

Apparently Elves are supposed to be tall, and Glorfindel around  6'6" (or taller?) so doubling his height, this makes  the Balrog, at least  13' tall. 
The Alliance Fire demons are ca; 6cm´s tall. In 1/72nd, roughly 4.5 meters, roughly  15' foot tall...so 2 and 1/2 times bigger than a man but roughly 2x the height of an elf so the sculptor at Alliance has them just about right.

I´m not good at reproducing flame/fire effects especially on such large sculpts but I wanted to portray them as if they have fire /intense heat within them, hence the attempt at a  "Lava" effect on thier Skin. Did it work?
They are also described as having "steel like claws". Wether this means "actual steel" or "as hard as steel"  I´m not sure. I tried steel coloured claws but it looked odd so I went for more animalistic colours. Fits with the teeth colour as well.

A tiny bit of Flash but as they are semi hard plastic it´s easy to remove.
The Demons have two holes in thier backs, the wings two pegs but the holes needed Drilling out so the pegs would fit. Even then, the wings are quite heavy and due to the non-glueable type of plastic they  needed pinning so they would hold. 

Orc Catapults

Produced by Dark Alliance, they appear to be  Based on the ones shown in the  Hobbit film, Battle of the five armies.
I´ve stuck to the colour scheme I used for the Olag Hai,  animal characteristics - the pinkish Skin and troll ones , the Grey cracked Stone like Skin

Initially it´s not 100% clear that the catapult set and the troll set  are to be used as one, especially for those who haven´t seen the film. There is  no plan / diagram to show what the catapult "sledges" should look like when they are built but more on that later.

Anyway, These are made up from two sets.
Set one..the "War Trolls for Catapult"..2 of them (HERE) and set two...the catapult "sledges" plus two Crews of 4 orcs in the set "Orcs Catapult" (HERE)
Either of them are a bit odd if used  on thier own so you need to buy both sets.


Problems and  Solutions

1. The trolls don´t attach that well to their bases. The pegs just don´t hold even with glueing or welding with a heated screwdriver. Solution? I cut the pegs off and drilled holes in the feet, made Counter sinks on the bottom of the bases and using small Wood screws, screwed the bases to the trolls.

2. The "Sledges". With the lack of a diagram I had to fiddle about a bit and prefit the "sledges" to the trolls to see if I´d put them together correctly. 
The "sledges" have  tabs underneath and the trolls have corresponding  holes in thier backs. Problem ? It doesn´t fit or hold. Glue? Seeing as the plastic isn´t the glueable kit type..nope. Heat welding ?There´s too little space to do this. Solution? I cut the Tabs off and drilled holes in the trolls backs and through the "sledges" . Nails, slightly thicker than the holes were then stuck into the trolls backs.   To attach I just pressed the "sledges" onto the nails.
This solution turned out to be better in that  when the "sledge" is added to the Standing troll using the Tabs, the throwing arm tends to be too low so the sling with the rock hangs on the ground. By using a nail, the  angle of the nail can be altered which alters the angle of the "sledge",  raising the sling off the ground and giving a more or less horizontal platform for the Crew.

3. The "sledges". Seeing as they are made of non-glueable plastic,  the parts need heat welding together.
The wheels on the sides ? They have (unless you look at the link below) have no visible function so I´ve added spokes so they give the Impression of being used to draw the arm down.

As actual war machines they wouldn´t work. There´s no Tension skeins of any worth to add Torsion to the throwing arm, no gearage to pull the  arm down , no release System.  Ok, the orc could bend Forward quickly to lob the arm Forward (in the style of a fustibalus - Stave or staff sling) but that would mean the Crew would also fly off or be putting in Claims for work related whiplash injuries.
They could be made more "realistic" like THIS but it would mean a lot of  fiddly work but TBH, I like the look of them as they are.

More bits and Bods

A few bits that don´t Warrant a post all of thier own.*

Two new additions to the Bodstonia Landscape, a couple of Trappers/Militia. Bodies from the Imex Pilgrims, the heads from the Imex George Washington´s army

Some more North American Indians in a Canoe. Bodies and Canoe from the Imex Lewis and Clark set, heads from the Italeri Indian Warriors.
I´ve forgotton where the musket came from but I think it was a spare from the Imex Pilgrims set. 

A small  Veuglaire. I haven´t a clue what make it is but it´s A really nice Piece  and made entirely out of Metal.

The tent from the Emhar crested kniggits set. As it Comes, OOB, the Thing is massive. PSR puts it at around 5 meters tall. I sawed off 2 cm´s from the bottom so the doorway is the height of a bod.

*If it hadn´t been for a recent stay in Hospital, they might have had some other bits added to them but as I´m in "recovery" sitting down to paint etc is beyond me at the Moment :-(

Modern Mounted Amazons

Like the Modern Amazons on foot, they have been re-assigned as Cimmerians.
They´ve been given the nags from the HäT Numidian Cavalry. The nags aren´t as sturdy as the ones from the  Mounted Cimmerians set but they fit the Bodettes better and provide a light cavaly element.

The Mounts provided, Lizards, unicorns etc are nice sculpts but;
A. The bodettes don´t fit that well,  the Fantasy Mounts are way too wide
B.  Lizards, Lions, lionesses, unicorns and stags as Mounts? IMHO, way too fantastical and too much of a mix. Just lions and lionesses would, IMHO, be fine but four different types of creature?..nope. 
10 mounted and one foot Bodette.

A couple of random Close ups. 

My favourite pose from the set. 

Command Bodette

"Fly my lovelies!!"

Compared with the nags from the Cimmerian  set thier horses are tiny..but the Cimmerian ones are big even when put alongside medieval destrier types from other sets. 

I suppose What they lack in power they gain in Speed and manouverability

Modern Amazons - Foot (Mild Nudity)

Modern Amazons as opposed to ancient or classical ones.
More from the Alliance range of Fantasy bods and Monsters.
10 Bodettes in the set, a wee bit of a Problem with Flash but it´s  easily removed.
I´m going to use them as Female Cimmerians so...

 .....I´ve stuck to the colour scheme I used for the Cimmerians, reddish hair and blue Cloth.
A couple of Close ups

The female orc from the Dark Alliance Orcs set 3 fits alongside them, so she´s now a Cimmerian...

.....and the females fit well alongside thier male Counterparts.

Now the NSFW side of the set. Not too "rude " but not for children.

How many Fantasy sets has RedBox (Alliance) brought out now? 34 including the 5 new ones about to appear in the Shops ?
I´m still haven´t caught up the the first 29 sets!!!

Imagi-Nation meets reality

After reading a great book, Changes in the Land written by William Cronon,  suggested by TMP member Otto Schmidt, I´m going  mention something I wrote in a previous post of mine,  the one about the Imex  Eastern Friendly Indians set.
There I showed my ignorance of Native American Indian culture when I wrote;

The women folk.
"As usual, the women are the ones working - cleaning Skins, making bread, carrying Wood etc"

"As Usual" !?  An eurocentric pro-Feminist view perhaps?

My assumption was similar to that of the early european Colonists, that being that the Native american women do all the "real" work* whilst their menfolk happily trott off hunting and fishing.
After reading the book, I now know that to suggest that as being incorrect.
I won´t edit out my assumption on  the Eastern Friendly Indains  Post so it it can stand as proof that I have since learnt otherwise.

The book is, at first a bit hard going but once I got used to the style, well worth reading and it contains a lot of info that has changed my perspective on the period of colonisation.
Also, I´d got into a bit of a Corner with the Bodstonian Imagi-Nation, and the book has  given me more ideas which I can work into the narrative.

Reading the book, it at least showed me that I was thinking along the right lines with my ideas about the Relationships between the Bodstonians and Native Indians and how I could improve them in regards to what actually happened in reality. 
Example, Without giving a too complicated and in depth Explanation (you have to read the book to realise what I mean) the book Shows that both sides cooperated in varying degrees with the "exploitation" of the ecology whilst having different perspectives on how and what was "exploited" and why. This inevitably  led to disagreements and Solutions that suited both or either side depending on thier wants Needs and expectations, the result of which wasn´t always the one desired by one side or the other..or both.  
Ok, my ideas were a bit simplified,  the "A Burning Dispute" Story for example, but  I was getting there.

Many Thanks Otto for the Suggestion. 

Inquisition

Another set from LW. I didn´t paint up the bod on the stake..it´s a converted bod from the Esci Barbarians set (you can see him  HERE)
6 bods in the set (one is a repeat pose from the LW Medieval Mortar set) and, as mentioned, the one on the stake.

The guards and a hooded Dentist...sorry, torturer

The "friendly" Monks.

Apparently it´s a rare set..only 2,000 copies were made..so I´m lucky in owning 2 sets :-)...only another 1,998 to collect......

Medieval Mortar crew - LW

One of the better sets from LW..even though the Mortar is ..er?..quite big! Actually, big is an Understatement..it´s bloody MASSIVE!!!

The Crew. Not a bad selection of poses but  too few in number considering the weapon they are serving. Not only that but only one poor bod is actually working..and considering the size of the mortar..what he´s doing isn´t exactly going to be very effective.

The BIG Mortar.  Made  of softish plastic, the   frame needed "welding" to Keep the sides firmly in place.  The bar to alter the angle I swopped for a metal one although considering what the Barrel would weigh if it were real, I can´t imagine how the angle of fire could  possibly be reset. 

Not only is it way too big but I reckon that if it were actually be fired the barrel would fly backwards or break out of the base. 

The Crew aren´t too bad so will find Jobs elsewhere.
The BIG mortar ? I´m not really into having exact historical accuracy but this device is a Little beyond a bit of bending of reality with a "maybe they could have had such monstrosities" excuse so it will end up either being used in a Fantasy Setting by the Dwarves or Orcs.

Eastern Friendly Indians - Imex

As with the Lewis and Clark set this lot will end up as part of the Bodstonian Landscape.
15 poses but two, the canoe rowers,  have already turned up with the Lewis and Clark set so I didn´t bother to paint them up...yet.
A really good Thing with the set, just under half are female.

The women folk.
As usual, the women are the ones working* - cleaning Skins, making bread, carrying Wood etc.

The Party folk.
Exactly what the dancer has attached to his stick I don´t know. It could be feathers or leaves but they look more like leaves so that´s what the ended up as.

The Hunting folk.
The one crawling is converted from the leafy stick man. He´d been base painted but our kitten chewed the top off his stick. The rest of the stick was removed, a spear added, a bit of twisting here and there and he´s turned into a crawling bod.

The "Don´t you DARE shoot that thing at me!!!" folk

The Making fire Folk Man

The one  great Thing about Imex is they had some brilliant ideas and very well sculpted, if a Little on the large size as far as the bods go.

The not so good Thing is that they stopped making new sets. I´d have liked to see more from them, especially the sets they had planned...amongst them this Little lot. 

   
Columbus & explorers

French & Indian War Mohawk Indians                   

Knights of the Round Table                            

Archers, Bowmen & Pikemen                             

Mounted Knights                                     

Tournament Knights with Support                       

War of 1812 British                                  

War of 1812 Americans                               

War of 1812 Creek Indians                           

Pony Express                                        

Farm Animals, Wild Animals & Buffalo             

Rogers Rangers                                      

I could have made use of all of them :-(

*since writing this post I have learnt something that makes my assumption "As Usual" incorrect.
Explantion HERE

Medieval Guards - Alarm!

The actual titel of the set is just   "Alarm" but seeing as these are in the same livery as the guards on Duty and the resting guards, the post titel is fair enough.
The whole set...13 bods

My favourite poses from the set

The running bod on the right Looks a bit odd, as if he´s really happy.."whoopee!!"  but I think he´s supposed to be running up some steps

Get to it you oribble lot!!!!!