Rushing to the rescue or providing impediments to PCs: any fantasy city needs its guards. These fellows will represent the authorities in the big game of Into the Odd I'm running in a couple of weeks. When I've got 12 painted, they'll also form a unit of Heavy Missiles with Venomous shooting in Dragon Rampant - or perhaps I'll plunder The Pikeman's Lament for proper musket rules.
While the guards are Seven Years War Austrians from HaT, the next miniature is a Strelets bashi-bazouk. Although they've enjoyed a long afterlife as an insult hurled by Herge's Captain Haddock, the historical bashi-bazouks were irregular Ottoman soldiers paid only in plunder - a close analogue to RPG adventurers, in other words. Murderhobos especially: the bashi-bazouks were responsible for some heinous atrocities in various campaigns.
 |
Bashi-bazouk chieftain (Jean-Léon Gérôme) |
 |
| Bashi-bazouk (Stanislaw Chlebowski) |
They also cut quite a dash, as the Orientalist paintings of Jean-Léon Gérôme and Stanislaw Chlebowski make plain. And they were always armed to the teeth. This fellow will work well as a PC or perhaps an NPC brigand.
I also added to the dangers of the Underworld in this scale with a very quickly painted stone golem from Reaper Bones. A bit of a handful for either guards or adventurer, I suspect ...
First of all the Seven Years War Austrians are wonderfully well painted. The stone golem looks suitably menacing, especially for a figure of that size. I like the historical paintings, I didn't realise that they were so colourful, I tend towards a rather drab palette and `shamelessly copying' a reference may well be a cure for that.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's a bit easier when you're not following any real historical uniform!
ReplyDeleteYes, the bashi-bazouks were quite a showy lot. Most of the ones Gerome painted in Cairo were of Albanian descent and were wearing a form of Albanian national dress with the white 'petticoat'.
Oh, I didn't read this post before... excellent stuff, especially the bashi-buzuk, sorry -bazuk (we write "bachi-bouzouk" in French). The idea for the golem is very good, he's not to tall compared to a 1/72 mini. I think I will order some minis for Christmas at Reaper Bones.
ReplyDelete