Unmatched Cobble and Fog: Team Picture!

 

Upper Deck left to right: Jekyll & Hyde and Dracula; and below them left to right are the Invisible Man and Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

I couldn't resist as I was fooling around with the camera. Here are all four figures for Unmatched: Cobble and Fog. With the "Year of Travel" moving around with and painting individual figures has kept me sane.

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.

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.

The Genie from Unmatched: Houdini vs. The Genie

 

"The Genie is loose!"

To be honest with you, this was not my favorite figure to paint from the Unmatched games. Not because it isn't a good figure - I just couldn't get my "mojo" going with this figure. I'm probably going to go back and repaint his hair and flames. He needs to look intimidating and I did not pull it off.

Yeah. I'll grant you three wishes but the paint job on my face looks blah.

The Genie is one of two figures that comes with Unmatched: Houdini vs. The Genie and as all of the other figures, it is a hard plastic 28mm figure.

The Houdini figure painted up like a charm, and now looking at the box cover, I definitely need to do a better job on his face and the magical flames (yep it's a guilt trip but I want a great figure to look great painted too!)

The gold coins and jewels on the base are just hobby sand applied with water downed white glue and then seal with water downed white glue. I painted the sand black, dry brushed with shiny gold and then added some red and green randomly for jewels.

Unmatched Battle of Legends, Volume 1: Medusa

"The Gorgon was made out of the terror, not the terror out of the Gorgon."

Bottom Line Up Front: This is the best Medusa figure I have come across. Medusa is one of the 28mm hard plastic figures that comes with Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume 1.

 

Unmatched Cobble and Fog: Mr. Sherlock Holmes

 

"Kali!"

Holmes chuckles. "Kali my deductive ass. Prepare for the ole' one-two punch."

Okay. The greatest detective of all time probably would not have said that! But I love that the hard plastic, 28mm figure of Sherlock Holmes from Unmatched: Cobble and Fog has him in a boxing stance. He was after all a great pugilist!

Another great feature is that he is molded as I imagine from his description in the stories and novels: Tall, thin and angular. Plus he has his pipe! Though to be fair, in the stories he usually smoked cigarettes.

A good comparison of the thin, taller Holmes to a 28mm figure from Pulp Figures.

I now have two Holmes figures; one from Wargames Foundry with pistol and the above. Talk about flexibility for gaming!