Marauder Flagellants

Posted on 10/01/2018 by sho3box

One of the many and varied reasons to love White Dwarf #127, these (mostly) Marauder Miniatures flagellants have been on my MILP list for a quarter of a century.

Today’s post is a little more rambling than usual as I address three miniature matters of the day, as I see them.  Yep, it’s wall to wall rumination, with twelve newly painted miniatures added to season.  Feel free to simply look at the pictures, I won’t know.

Some Flagellants, flagellating it up.

1) Fire and Brimstone. A core reason that I decided to put together a Stormcast force is that the demi-god, angels-amongst-men aspect appeals to me.  The Stormcast tap into some of the fun parts of the Old Testament, Paradise Lost and an idealised version of the Crusades.
This angelic theme is important to my enjoyment of my “Justified Ancients” Stormcast project.

The less flamboyant, but in no way less flagellatinous flagellants from cinema.

2) Masters of the Universe.  Somewhat counter-intuitively, the vague He-Man vibe that much of the Age of Sigmar setting has is also part of what drew me to Stormcast.  For a few reasons I am more interested in a fantasy setting that is 100% imaginary nonsense, rather than something set on a faux Earth.
Accordingly, I prefer the “Mortal Realms” setting in the Age of Sigmar to the Warhammer Fantasy “Old World”.

Voted “Most Likely to Flagellate”, class of ’91.

3) Relativity.  Perhaps inevitably, the MotU vibe in AoS is partly shown by every Stormcast model being a giant, beefcake post-human, roughly the size of a 1980s ogre model.  This is completely fine with me, desirable even.
The one issue that I do have though is that when every human(ish) model is large, then all of a sudden the scale on the gaming table starts to look peculiar to me, like playing with Thundercats on a Star Wars playset.  Games with Stormcast benefit from having a few regularly sized humans acting as a benchmark.

TL:DR I wanted some regular humans to give size context to the He-Man like Stormcast. Old Testament style religious human types fit with the crusading vibe, so I painted some Flagellants.

 

Marauder Flagellants from White Dwarf #127, 1991.
(image from solegends)

Even back in May 1991, when Marauder was increasing the levels of caricature in the Old World on a monthly (mostly) full colour basis, these brand new Flagellants looked on the extreme side. The large, hairy heads, big features and flapping feet stood out, but in a way that appealed to me aged fifteen.

A slann encourages a flagellant not to fear a trip to the hairdressers.

That Marauder style still appealed to me in 2016 when I decided that I wanted to have a number of frothing religious loons to accompany my Justified Ancients Stormhost.  The thing is, in the twenty six years since the flagellants release Citadel humans have been standardised.

Some flagellant feet, yesterday.

That’s fine with me: kits are usually cross compatible now and the days of ham hock sized fists being bigger than Spitting Image styled heads are pretty much over.  That’s great.  But I didn’t know if Muppet styled Flagellants from 1991 – the Flagellants that I wanted to use – would gel adequately with 2015 Stormcast.

I think that the hairy big heads look just fine alongside the the self-righteous, post-human holy Joe above, although I can imagine that these sculpts might look a bit too extreme for more picky types.  Not me.

 

The painting on these was a bit experimental.  I wanted to see what I could and could not get away with while making the austere figures grubby to cover a rapid painting approach.  I overdid the filthy look overall – a common mistake when weathering pretty much anything – but I like the contrast between the filthy dirty humans and the shiny, self important Stormcast all the same.

The flagellants would have benefited from a little more “pop”, but I wasnt sure how to achieve it without spoiling the grubby look, so I focused on just getting them finished.

 

Readers still awake at this point may have noticed an unreleased Citadel Miniature in the group. I used a wizard (now available from Wargames Foundry) as the leader of the unit. His owl made it easy and fun to give a link between the Flagellants and my Justified Ancients Stormcast, who have been decorated with the occasional ghost animal.

Hoot!

I have the plastic Flagellants kit knocking around. That’s a fun set, with all sorts of weird elements that I am looking forward to painting in a similar way, whenever I get another urge to paint lunatic zealots.

* my Shonen Knives force is of course contrary to that, but I see that project as more of a light exploration of a specific culture than being a part of a pseudo historical world, if that makes sense.  It’s reasonably complicated situation, but this post is already too long.

Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: , , , , |

« »

27 Responses

  1. Asslessman, on 10/01/2018 at 13:51 said:

    Classy bucket list ticking.
    Please continue.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. Riot, on 10/01/2018 at 13:55 said:

    I have had a fascination with flagellants for the longest time. When I lived in the Philippines (in my twenties) they would appear on the streets every April. As a non-religious kid growing up in East London it was shocking to see groups of men with sack cloth over their heads whipping themselves (and each other) through the streets to atone for their sins.

    P.S. your lads look brill!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 10/01/2018 at 14:12 said:

      Real Flagellants are mind blowingly peculiar. Better left in the fantasy realm too as far as I am concerned too. That kind of religious zealotry adds fun flavour in toy soldier games, which is great.

      Thanks for the feedback Riot!

      Like

      Reply
  3. Azazel, on 10/01/2018 at 13:58 said:

    Great work here – the Flagellants look suitably grubby and disgusting, while remaining visibly well-painted. A feat not easily achieved.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Alex, on 10/01/2018 at 15:25 said:

    I really like these mate – but then I’m a twisted fan of the Marauder vibe too!

    Love the paint job too – the grubbiness is spot in in my humble opinion, and does a great bonus job of diverting attention from those heinous feet 😉 You know, it’s funny, but the scale difference, facial hair and obvious anger issues actually makes them look like dwarfs when stood next to the mighty Stormcast!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 11/01/2018 at 12:00 said:

      You spotted my filthy foot camouflage ruse Alex! It was also used to cover up a few highlighting cock ups and at least one casting error 🙂
      Contrast between the two types is intentionally high, but the flagellants do look particularly deranged in comparison with the coiffed demi-gods.

      In terms of overdoing the dirt, I think that it’s that they possibly look a little too dark on the table maybe, like they need something to make them pop.

      The leaders owl is a good example of something that brightens the figure up without making him look clean, if you see what I mean.

      Thanks for the feedback Alex!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. Mikko, on 10/01/2018 at 15:36 said:

    Glad to see these getting the love they deserve, nice work on them!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 11/01/2018 at 12:03 said:

      I intended to mention that I got most of those from you Mikko, but I forgot.

      I get a kick out of seeing my unloved figs getting treatment that they deserve from others. I’m glad that these guys are doing similar for you 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  6. airbornegrove26, on 10/01/2018 at 15:38 said:

    These look great man! Really glad to see you developing some Motu aspects. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. axiom, on 10/01/2018 at 15:52 said:

    There’s something about flagellants that’s always appealed to me. It could be their wild man/hermit look. Or the slightly pathetic zealotry perhaps. With your full-on griminess and tangled, matted beards, you’ve really maxed out the wildness and ineffectiveness. They’re a perfect counterpoint to your space angel statues.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 11/01/2018 at 12:17 said:

      There is definitely a lurid enjoyment to be had with the flagellant concept. They are such a peculiar yet grotesquely fascinating idea. The idea of abandoning all notion of self is intriguing.
      Additionally, Flagellants tend to have rules that manage to convey some of these relatively complex concepts in entertaining ways.

      As you say, they are a fun counterpoint, for numerous reasons.

      Thanks Axiom!

      Like

      Reply
  8. Allison Mackay, on 10/01/2018 at 17:39 said:

    I have an old GW/Citadel figure somewhere of a medieval-looking guy with a book (I think), waving a fish. Is he one of these?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. Lasgunpacker, on 10/01/2018 at 18:42 said:

    I was wondering where the owl guy came in to the range!

    Nice work on these, although I am glad you identified their muppet lineage. When you get around to the plastic folk (this year, right?) you should compare a few to see if the loss of frenetic energy is made up for by the more scale humanness of the figures.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 12/01/2018 at 11:57 said:

      The owl guy fit in so nicely that I had to include him really.

      The flagellant plastic kit is fantastic and I am certainly looking forward to giving them similar treatment. As for whether it will happen this year or not, its difficult to say. These days I’m trying to end up with as few miniatures that I “must” paint as possible, as it helps my overall productivity.

      So maybe I will paint them this year, but no guarantees.

      Thanks for the feedback Lasgunpacker!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  10. crittersmasher, on 11/01/2018 at 08:36 said:

    MILP! Haha! Amazing job!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. mrsaturdays, on 11/01/2018 at 09:32 said:

    These are just the business. I’m quite a fan of these sculpts myself, and you’ve gotten the filthy smelly look down while managing to avoid the wall of indecipherable brown they could have ended up as.

    Marauder miniatures always give me the impression they are plush, as in like teddy bears. It’s something about the roundness of them and the exaggerated features. Even the undead are like that. More modern, proportioned and ‘realistic’ sculpts often look like mannequins and thus leave me cold, whereas these lads are magic. It’s like seeing the artist’s brush strokes on a painting.

    They are a wonderful counterpoint to the stormcast. The ‘can I touch your cloak lord?’ theme has legs that could run miles.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 05/03/2018 at 10:49 said:

      Thanks for the feedback Mr. S. Apologies for the delay in responding.

      I like different miniatures for various reasons, and various styles of painting for different reasons. These models are close to being too extreme for me to enjoy, but possibly because they are so close to, but not quite over where I draw the line, I love them.

      There is certainly a sterility to perfection, which some newer styles of miniature design seem to skirt a bit. But certainly not always.

      I will get one or two of those guys on the table this weekend I think 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  12. Warburton, on 12/01/2018 at 13:03 said:

    Great work, and who doesn’t get the urge to paint lunatic zealots on a regular basis. They fit well (in a contrasting way) with the Stormcast. I also must admit the AoS world has grown on me, largely for the sort of reasons you mention.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 05/03/2018 at 10:54 said:

      Sorry for the delay in replying Warburton, January was a bit messy.

      I quite like the open ended nature of the AoS setting. The pseudo-historical aspects of the Old World didn’t interest me much and they certainly held it back in some ways.

      Thanks for the nice feedback on the furry headcases 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  13. curiso, on 15/01/2018 at 10:30 said:

    I had that owl wizard a whole year longer than you and you’ve painted it first! Bah!

    Great job.

    That Stormcast with his refined modern proportions and refined casting alongside those swonky swollen-headed flagellants specifically reminds me of David Bowie dancing with all his goblin puppet entourage in Labyrinth.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 05/03/2018 at 10:57 said:

      The Magic Dance is appropriate, definitely 😀

      The owl wizard is a very straightforward sculpt. You could rattle it out in an evening I’m sure Curis.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.