A couple weeks ago I discovered lead rot on some classic Citadel hobgoblins stored in my attic. I've euthanized pets with less emotion than the pain involved in throwing out these hideously maimed miniatures. Never again, I vowed to myself. As a result, my energies have lately been spent on prepping and priming all my really old miniatures in hopes of protecting them against corrosion. And it's not fun to share pictures of primed miniatures. So in the meantime, I dug out some Otherworld miniatures that I painted a few years ago but never got around to posting. I hope you enjoy them: while you browse, I've got some spray-painting to do.
First up, we have the magnificent Otyugh, which is described by Gary Gygax in the Monster Manual (1979) as a garbage dweller, "eating dung, offal and carrion, as well as fresh meat when it is available" and "living in their piles of rubbish and droppings." Sculptor John Pickford went beyond your run-of-the-mill abomination and gave us a true horror: an anus dentatus.
Otherworld Miniatures is a direct spiritual heir to the Citadel Miniatures of the golden age in the mid-1980's. Indeed, Otherworld's founder, Richard Scott, is the proud owner of the definitive collection of Citadel's short-lived but opulent range of licensed AD&D miniatures. In starting Otherworld in 2006, he created a line of miniatures that is clearly inspired by that early Citadel aesthetic: simple designs, rounded features, expressive faces, and a emphasis on gesture and character rather than action or violence.
You see all these wonderful traits on display in the Evil High Priest, sculpted by Citadel alumnus Kev "Goblin Master" Adams:
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Richard Scott himself has pointed out that the original Citadel AD&D range had a "definite 'UK flavour', featuring creatures from TSR UK's Fiend Folio [1981] such as Githyanki, Norkers, Meazels and Xvarts." This British influence continues in Otherworld's own offerings. Here are the delightful Meazels sculpted by Kev Adams:
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Of course, sometimes it's nice to colour outside the lines. When it came to that most classic of monsters, the Gargoyle, I decided to try something a little different... I wanted to create a molten monster of hot, cracking stone and seeping lava. So here is one of the Otherworld Gargoyles sculpted by Paul Muller:
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Hmmm. Perhaps that's no so successful. So for the second Gargoyle, and my last Otherworld miniature, I went back to basics:
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What a great pose!
Let me know in the comments if you've painted any Otherworld Miniatures and if you like them as much as I do. Cheers!
One of the other things I like about Otherworld is that it covers many basic monsters that unglamorously populate every low-level dungeon such as giant ticks, violet fungi and stirges. For instance, here are Kev Adams'Fire Beetles:
Of course, sometimes it's nice to colour outside the lines. When it came to that most classic of monsters, the Gargoyle, I decided to try something a little different... I wanted to create a molten monster of hot, cracking stone and seeping lava. So here is one of the Otherworld Gargoyles sculpted by Paul Muller:
Hmmm. Perhaps that's no so successful. So for the second Gargoyle, and my last Otherworld miniature, I went back to basics:
What a great pose!
Let me know in the comments if you've painted any Otherworld Miniatures and if you like them as much as I do. Cheers!