I'm taking part in Snickit's "Odds and Sods Oldhammer Painting Challenge", the goal of which is to get us to tackle our leadpile and get paint on things that have been waiting for it for too long. For November the theme was grandeur - and the more I thought about it, the more I realised the time had come to tackle The Swan Ship by Tom Meier, a Thunderbolt Mountain limited edition from 1989 I believe. I bought this for my Sea Elves back in... 2014 I think? Unassembled in its box but at a very reasonable price (before the inflation really took hold of Oldhammer prices). However, at the time I was wary of painting it. I just didn't think I could do it justice. It's been with me through 3 house moves since, and every time my eldest has seen it over the past 8 years, he's asked me when I'm finally going to paint it. So he helped me out with the assembly - only fitting given that it's been sitting around in its box for the majority of his life.
Those of you familiar with the model will spot that I haven't gone with the original passenger Tom Meier sculpted for the Swan Ship. As you can see on the box here, it comes with an Elven Princess - and the boxed set includes a story by Richard S. Kerr to explain the tale of how the Swan Ship came to be and the Princess' voyage in search of true love.
I switched her out for two reasons. First, the Princess is so tiny as to be out of scale with all of the rest of my minis; secondly, I want to field the Swan Ship on the battlefield, so went for a more martial - though still suitable - captain of the Swan Ship. So I chose one of the three "Elven Kings" by Tom Meier - another Thunderbolt Mountain limited edition set (from 1988) waiting for paint - to stand on deck.
Having finally painted one, I thought it was rude not to get the other two Elven Kings in the set ready for battle, so here they are - just finished today.
Anyway, happy Christmas to everyone! I have a seasonal battle report which hopefully I'll be able to share before the end of 2022, but in the meantime, I hope everybody has a wonderful and blessed Christmas Day!
It's a very cool old-school model! It looks really good and the new captain suits it well. You've reminded me that I've got an old dragon model that I ought to finish. Have a good Christmas!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am guilty of putting off big projects and not feeling 'worthy' of them until I get a push like this - either a challenge or a big game coming up. But what a shame if all of our best models sat unpainted forever while we waited for 'the right time'
DeleteMerry Christmas!
Same here! This year I've made myself repaint a load of old eldar, which was something that I'd normally think of as too difficult, and I'm very pleased with how it's gone. That only happened because a friend gave me some Guardians. So I guess sometimes you just need a bit of a push!
DeleteFirst of all, thank you for letting us know these miniatures, of which we had no news. We read Kerr's story with interest, which has a very "romantic" and fairy-tale mood. However, the swan-shaped flying ship seems to us to have been clearly inspired by Vingilot, the ship of Earendil in the "Silmarillion"; therefore it seems appropriate that you gave him a male passenger.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, do Meier's elves match well with the classic 28mm Citadel ones?
The result, both in the idea of inserting a collector's item within your army and in the quality of the painting, is successful. Sometimes you just need to take courage and start!
I am glad you enjoyed, and interesting observation about the inspiration from the Silmarillion!
DeleteOn the compatiblity of Tom Meier's Elves, it depends on what period you're asking about. You can see a Ral Partha 1984 catalogue here, including Tom Meier Elves and the beautiful chariot he sculpted: http://www.paintedminiatures.ca/PDF%20Catalogs/Ral%20Partha/partha1984.pdf
- those Elves are tiny. (You can still get them from Ral Partha Legacy, for what it's worth.) They're scaled as 25mm and I'd say they're on the small side for that! I believe the same is true of his C37 Elves, which were also sold by Ral Partha in the USA.
The Thunderbolt Mountain elves, however, are a different story - some of the ones of that range still available (again through Ral Partha Legacy) are described as "30mm", and I believe are an appropriate size match for later citadel High Elves though I've not seen examples of those in real life other than this set of three. I would say these ones that I've just painted line up well alongside my other elves - height-wise they're bang maybe slightly slim looking but then Elves are meant to be slim...