Unmatched Battle of Legends, Volume 1: Sinbad

 

"Well this is embarrassing. And why did he forget to paint my right eye?"

I love the Sinbad figure from Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume 1. To me, I immediately thought the inspiration for the figure was the classic 1973 fantasy adventure film The Golden Voyage of Sinbad directed by Gordon Hessler, with stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen. Sinbad is portrayed by actor John Phillip Law. There was no doubt in my military mind that I had to replicate the character as close as possible to the film.

A bit of trivia, Tom Baker plays Prince Koura, the main antagonist of the film. Baker's performance helped him get the lead role of the Fourth Doctor in the TV series Doctor Who, because the show's producer, Barry Letts, was impressed with his performance. The Doctor!

For this hard plastic 28 mm figure, painting the skin had to be right with the muscular body (not to mention going back and painting his right eye!). I started with a base of Citadel Tallarn Flesh Base, followed by Vallejo Dark Flesh and then a wash of Citadel Contrast Snakebite leather.

The artistry of Ray Harryhausen stop motion photography.

"I started my own business: Killing Monsters and Rescuing Princesses, Inc."

Unmatched Cobble and Fog: Jekyll & Hyde

 

Two sides of the same man - the scheming of Doctor Jekyll and force of nature of Mr. Hyde. Who will be the author of your demise?

Jekyll and Hyde is the fourth and final "official" figure for Unmatched: Cobble and Fog. Having actually read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde I have frequently been disappointed with the portrayal, especially in the last 40 years of so, of Mr. Hyde in visual medium and with miniature manufacturers. He is usually portrayed as a version of the Incredible Hulk, which is not how he is described in the novella: 

“Well, it was this way,” returned Mr. Enfield: “I was coming home from some place at the end of the world, about three o’clock of a black winter morning, and my way lay through a part of town where there was literally nothing to be seen but lamps. Street after street, and all the folks asleep—street after street, all lighted up as if for a procession and all as empty as a church—till at last I got into that state of mind when a man listens and listens and begins to long for the sight of a policeman. All at once, I saw two figures: one a little man (italics mine) who was stumping along eastward at a good walk, and the other a girl of maybe eight or ten who was running as hard as she was able down a cross street. Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child’s body and left her screaming on the ground. It sounds nothing to hear, but it was hellish to see. It wasn’t like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut."

Richard Mansfield in the first stage version of the novella in 1887.

Based in Soho in London's West End, Dr Jekyll is a "large, well-made, smooth-faced man of fifty with something of a slyish cast", who sometimes feels he is battling between the good and evil within himself, leading to the struggle between his dual personalities of Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde. He has spent a great part of his life trying to repress evil urges that were not fitting for a man of his stature. He creates a serum, or potion, in an attempt to separate this hidden evil from his personality. In doing so, Jekyll transformed into the smaller, younger, cruel, remorseless, and evil Hyde. Jekyll has many friends and an amiable personality, but as Hyde, he becomes mysterious and violent. As time goes by, Hyde grows in power. After taking the potion repeatedly, he no longer relies upon it to unleash his inner demon, i.e., his alter ego. Eventually, Hyde grows so strong that Jekyll becomes reliant on the potion to remain conscious throughout the book.

Oh well. The figure is done well as it depicts the moment of transformation. To accentuate this, I decided to pull an "Incredible Hulk" and paint the Hyde side green. Guilty as charged!

A nicely sculpted 28mm hard plastic figure.

Review of Gripping Beast Plastic Vikings

I am not great at making models or putting figures together and this is the box of hard plastic figures I have been waiting for and it gives you an army right off the bat! I have been tempted by the Gripping Beast line of figures for a long time and when I read an Dux Bellorum article in Wargames Illustrated # 299 that featured at the end of the article how to build a Late Saxon era and Viking army with 2 boxes of Gripping Beast plastics I knew that this is what I wanted to do. 

You have probably guessed already, this is the box that the components for 44(!) unpainted and unassembled screaming horde of figures come packaged. I found the box and instructions extremely useful for putting the figures together, painting schemes, plus the added bonus of paper banners that can be cut out of the instructions and added to spears to give you extra banner men. The two banners in the first picture came with the instructions. I wish that I had taken a picture of the instructions so you could see the banners that come with the box, but I'll point them out in the photos below. So what do you get?

The small banner in the rear came with the box; the large banner I printed off the internet

I think the Gripping Beast Website says it best: Inside you will find parts to assemble 44 finely-detailed ferocious Viking Hirdmen, armed with either axes, swords, spears or dane-axes, suitable for use in Swordpoint. The box also contains extra parts to assemble two of your warriors as Viking Lords, as well as two horn-blowers or standard bearers. The Hirdmen were the professional fighting men of a Viking Lord's household. These fearsome warriors would be well equipped with the finest weapons and armor. A favored weapon was the mighty dane-axe which was wielded with both hands and quite capable of severing a horse's head with one blow. The figures are sculpted by the talented Bob Naismith. The box also comes with comes with sixteen 20x20mm bases, two 20x100mm bases, two 20x40mm bases and two 40x40mm bases from Renedra. I did not use the bases as I put the figures on round 25mm based to fit the movement trays I already have.

Again, I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures of the sprues, so the following pictures belong to Gripping Beast and are copyright Gripping Beast Ltd. 2020:

When I put the Vikings together, I did them 8 at a time to ensure that they fit on the bases together. Later I found out that this was not really necessary, as there was plenty of room on the movement trays. By doing this, however, it did organize the figures so that it looked like leaders were in the front rank and I could make some (sorta) mini-vignettes.

Note that I cut of the hilt of the scabbard for those figures that were carrying shields. If you can't find it, it's the second figure to the left in the front rank wielding an axe and sword. Highly unlikely but it looks cool!

I failed to mention earlier that I mounted the Vikings on round 40mm bases which all came from extra bases I had from GW products. I used masking tape to cover the slots. Note that I have not mounted any shields! I decided to paint the shields off of the figures and then add them later.

I wanted to have some big banners to represent the big guys. Working in plastic makes this easy and the figures were perfect. All I had to do was drill a hole in one of the arms that held a shield. I used a brass rod for the shaft and the spear head from some Old Glory spears I had lying around in the bit box.

A quick search of the internet will get you some cool "Viking" banners for free.

Gripping Beast has some really nice metal figures and a bought a few for leaders and extra's to round out my army. Did I mention that I made these for Dux Bellorum? Of course they can be used easily for just about any Dark Age set of rules.

The Big Boss which is a metal Gripping Beast Viking figure. He also has the +2 Stare of Intimidation.

Here are some samples of what you can do with the box:

For me the Dane axe was the hardest to put together. You have to get those arms on the body just right.

As I mentioned earlier, I found it MUCH easier to paint the shields separately before gluing them to the figure.

I'm a firm believer that you can never have enough Vikings! Easy to paint and very colorful with different shields. The Gripping Beast box of Hirdmen will definitely get you going on the right path.

Unmatched Cobble and Fog: The Invisible Man

What a great figure!

BWAH HAH HAH! Just kidding. Here is the actual figure (and how did I miss filing down the flash on his hat?)

How can you defend what you cannot see? A glint of metal amidst the gloom - but it's too late. A surprise attack before he slips away again into the rolling fog.

I love what the team that produces "Unmatched" have done with the Invisible Man. Instead of the usual wrapped bandages or the plastic see-through figure, they have sculpted a figure that looks like he is ready for action as the . . . well, the Invisible Man.

I decided to try a different, lighter color scheme for this figure. In the game "Unmatched: Cobble and Fog", the Invisible Man can deploy fog tokens on the movement spaces. To match the tokens, I went with greys and white - and I think I pulled off a unique figure (I'm not too humble).

Planning his next move.

As always, the figures from the "Unmatched" series are 28mm hard plastic.

Unmatched Battle of Legends, Volume 1: Alice

Big Trouble in a Small Package. Anyone up for a game of chess?

She's been through the Looking Glass and came back with a vorpal blade and the Jabberwock in tow. Catch her at the wrong size and it'll be checkmate for you . . .

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

      And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

      The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

      The frumious Bandersnatch!”

Catch her at the wrong size and it'll be checkmate for you . . .

Okay - here's the deal: Alice is undefeated in our games. She is sneaky, can change size, has the Jobberwock as her personal pet and uses neat gimmicks from the Lewis Carrol books. I think it's time for her to face the characters from "Unmatched: Cobble and Fog" or fight bad guy monsters and Martian Invaders from "Unmatched: Tales to Amaze".

Alice's cards.

My only complaint is the figure which had so much potential (this is the personal preference portion which represents what I want in a figure). The game designers went with a school girl, Anime look with the butch haircut (Brrrr . . . shudder) instead of a more Victorian look. I would have prefer the hair style from the cover art. I love the vorpal blade, love the clock, and love the potions; but, the anime feel ruins it for me. I personally would have liked her in an older looking Victorian, adventurers outfit and longer hair. My opinion.

To make Alice to look like she is standing on a stone floor, I used my handy dandy hobbly knife to make the lines and then used Citadel Contrast Space Wolf Grey to get the effect.

I always enjoy looking at my photos when I start posting them on the blog and as usual, Alice needs a little touch up here and there. Having said that, a versatile 28mm hard plastic figure for many games and if you play "Unmatched" do not, I repeat, DO NOT, underestimate this character.