Notes On The Satanic Panic Miniatures Goblin Boar Riders
As those of you who have already backed or indeed bought from the website will know, these seemingly innocent multi-part models are very flexible.
I began gaming just before the first 'Fantasy Tribes' ranges were released by Citadel. They featured models which were featured 'cast-on' variants. Now, there were arguably a lot of variants and those model were classics which I own a lot of, including a couple of hundred which belonged to the late Joe Dever, creator of the Lone Wolf adventure game books; but there was still a finite amount of variety you could achieve.
Being a historical gamer as well, I was also a big fan of the ranges by Q.T Models and Lamming Miniatures. These were true multi-pose figures with almost endless possible combinations of bodies, heads, weapons and equipment.
And so, the logical position with Satanic Panic Miniatures was to capture the styling of the classic fantasy ranges and couple it with the sheer variety of the old school multi-part historical ranges . That has been and will continue to be the way that I plan and release miniatures.
The beauty of the multi-part approach is that if you plan properly, every new addition to a given range, exponentially expands the previous ranges, so I always try to think holistically. The Boar Riders were the logical expansion to the initial infantry releases and I wanted to continue with the Nomanesque look and feel, whilst also adding a Feudal/Crusader feel. I also wanted to be able to represent several types of cavalry.
So, the first thing was the boars themselves. I wanted to have options for unarmoured, lightly protected and heavily armoured fellahs which Martin Buck, the sculptor picked up on beautifully. Next, it was a case of doing a similar thing with the riders and also posing them so that you had the typical Norman overarm and couched poses as well as 'at rest'.
The heads were a real point of discussion between Martin & myself and we went back and forth to get a nice selection of characterful head variants which would have a later Norman and early Crusader feel because the original heads covered a lot of bases already.
I wanted to also have a seperate standard pole and a musical instrument that were not cast on as the original infantry had been. The boar finial which Martin came up with is great and he jumped right into the fray when I suggested a 'jingling johnny' as a musical instrument choice and his final piece was breathtaking.
I will be using it for a lot of my guard units as it's a really large and eye catching sculpt.
So, what can you do with the Boar Riders?
Of course you can build the classic armoured knight type of cavalry, and of course you can make lighter cavalry types with javelins and hand weapons, and the posing of the left arms on all of the models allows (as you'd expect) for the addition or omission of shields.
The utilisation of the existing crossbow and bow sprues will also allow you to make up skirmishers. I'd use the 'at rest' pose, putting a bow or crossbow into the right hand and quiver on the belt. I'd also pop a shield on the belt or back to be able to claim that +1 armour save if they had to go into melee.
Likewise, a crossbow and quiver slung from a heavier armoured model can give a nice Byzantine look and also upset your opponent,
Of course you have total of 12 heads to play with and so you can if you wish make uniform posed units and then use the boar and rider heads for the variation. Even if you used exactly the same parts, you can add a twist here and there to the position of the heads and you will still have a unique unit.
And there you have it, a few ideas and a recap of the design philosophy. This is a work of love for me. So far I've invested around £8000 of my own funds into 4 ranges of models and so far I am still £5000 out of pocket, so it's certainly not something I am undertaking to make a living from (luckily). What I really do want to do is try to share my enthusiasm for old school styled and compatible models with those who either share that love from 'back in the day' or simply want to try to capture the feel and excitement that those of my age group experienced when we first found this fine hobby.
I began gaming just before the first 'Fantasy Tribes' ranges were released by Citadel. They featured models which were featured 'cast-on' variants. Now, there were arguably a lot of variants and those model were classics which I own a lot of, including a couple of hundred which belonged to the late Joe Dever, creator of the Lone Wolf adventure game books; but there was still a finite amount of variety you could achieve.
Being a historical gamer as well, I was also a big fan of the ranges by Q.T Models and Lamming Miniatures. These were true multi-pose figures with almost endless possible combinations of bodies, heads, weapons and equipment.
And so, the logical position with Satanic Panic Miniatures was to capture the styling of the classic fantasy ranges and couple it with the sheer variety of the old school multi-part historical ranges . That has been and will continue to be the way that I plan and release miniatures.
The beauty of the multi-part approach is that if you plan properly, every new addition to a given range, exponentially expands the previous ranges, so I always try to think holistically. The Boar Riders were the logical expansion to the initial infantry releases and I wanted to continue with the Nomanesque look and feel, whilst also adding a Feudal/Crusader feel. I also wanted to be able to represent several types of cavalry.
So, the first thing was the boars themselves. I wanted to have options for unarmoured, lightly protected and heavily armoured fellahs which Martin Buck, the sculptor picked up on beautifully. Next, it was a case of doing a similar thing with the riders and also posing them so that you had the typical Norman overarm and couched poses as well as 'at rest'.
The heads were a real point of discussion between Martin & myself and we went back and forth to get a nice selection of characterful head variants which would have a later Norman and early Crusader feel because the original heads covered a lot of bases already.
I wanted to also have a seperate standard pole and a musical instrument that were not cast on as the original infantry had been. The boar finial which Martin came up with is great and he jumped right into the fray when I suggested a 'jingling johnny' as a musical instrument choice and his final piece was breathtaking.
I will be using it for a lot of my guard units as it's a really large and eye catching sculpt.
So, what can you do with the Boar Riders?
Of course you can build the classic armoured knight type of cavalry, and of course you can make lighter cavalry types with javelins and hand weapons, and the posing of the left arms on all of the models allows (as you'd expect) for the addition or omission of shields.
The utilisation of the existing crossbow and bow sprues will also allow you to make up skirmishers. I'd use the 'at rest' pose, putting a bow or crossbow into the right hand and quiver on the belt. I'd also pop a shield on the belt or back to be able to claim that +1 armour save if they had to go into melee.
Likewise, a crossbow and quiver slung from a heavier armoured model can give a nice Byzantine look and also upset your opponent,
Of course you have total of 12 heads to play with and so you can if you wish make uniform posed units and then use the boar and rider heads for the variation. Even if you used exactly the same parts, you can add a twist here and there to the position of the heads and you will still have a unique unit.
And there you have it, a few ideas and a recap of the design philosophy. This is a work of love for me. So far I've invested around £8000 of my own funds into 4 ranges of models and so far I am still £5000 out of pocket, so it's certainly not something I am undertaking to make a living from (luckily). What I really do want to do is try to share my enthusiasm for old school styled and compatible models with those who either share that love from 'back in the day' or simply want to try to capture the feel and excitement that those of my age group experienced when we first found this fine hobby.
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