Magister Militum 10mm Therizinosaurus

I’ve had this model since November, but various distractions have kept me from painting it and posting about it on the Zoo. I commend Magister Militum for making a figure of such a strange beast. Therizinosaurs were a group of unusual theropods that first appear in the Early Cretaceous and lasted up until the end of the Mesozoic in Asia and North America. Unlike their carnivorous cousins, the Therizinosaurs were largely herbivorous and characterized by small, beaked heads, and large bellies to process all that plant matter. Their most distinctive feature are the Freddy Kruger-like scythe claws on their forelimbs. It has been speculated that these animals may have been too slow to outrun Tyrannosaurs and  the giant claws evolved as a defensive weapon. The largest of these animals was Therizisaurus itself which reach an estimated 10 meters/33 ft. Our model, even at 10mm size, still measures 7.5 cm which translates to 25 feet in 1/100th scale. It towers nicely over 15/18mm explorers. The comparison photos show Therizinosaurus next to a Blue Moon Manufacturing 15/18mm Victorian detective and a 15mm Primaeval Designs Tyrannosaurus Rex.

15mm Primaeval Designs Allosaurus

Just before I was laid up in the hospital, I sent off an order for Primaeval Designs’ new 15mm Allosaurus. Big Al and I go way back and it was perhaps my favorite theropod when I was young. While T-Rex may be bigger and smarter, the more gracile Allosaurus always seemed more dangerous. Allosaurus looks like he might actually run you down.

For a paint scheme I went for a sun-dappled look. This was inspired by a couple of lizard photos I found online. The model measures 9cm long. At 1/100 that would make Primaeval Design’s offering about 29.5′ long. This makes our animal slightly longer than the average specimen of Allosaurus Fragilis (8.5m)-in other words perfectly acceptable. We have a big boy here!

Copplestone Picts

Copplestone Castings has a new 15mm fantasy range inspired by the works of R.E. Howard. So far the listing includes both Cimmerian and Nordic barbarian types, useful animals for a prehistoric setting (wolves and cave bears), and the recent addition of ‘Picts’. These Picts are not the Dark Age variety familar to historical ancients gamers, but Hyborean primitives from Howard’s Conan and Bran Mak Morn tales. In this guise the Picts are portrayed as Stone Age savages somewhat reminiscent of the Victorian image of Neanderthals.  This makes them perfect for prehistoric/ lost world gaming.

The pack I received included twelve figures in eight poses. Four poses were unique and four were doubles. The primitives are powerfully built and clad only in fur loin cloths. For weapons they carry a variety of stone axes, picks, and spears. A few figures have a trophy head hanging from the belt that keeps on their breechclouts. At first look I thought the heads were skulls, but a closer view showed them to still have noses but empty eye-sockets so I painted them grey-green as mummified. All the poses are nicely active and the weapons look suitable for bringing down megafauna.

For a paint scheme I opted for a darker skin tone than I used for the Primeaval Designs Neanderthals. As near-naked, I imagine them living in a warmer climate than the more heavily-clothed PD cavemen.  Included in the gallery are comparison shots between the Copplestone Picts and Primaeval Designs Neanderthals. These make good opponents and I’m now considered a Rosny-inspired “La Guerre du Feu” adventure.

Khurasan Salamen

Since I have the day off for my birthday and it’s rather rainy out, I decided to post some pics of Khurasan Miniatures Salamen from their Mystri Island range. For some reason I only have one pack of these and  must have picked them up over a year ago. I imagine them living in the woodlands of our lost world, remaining in caves during the dry season, and emerging during the wet season when they are most likely to be encountered. Keep an eye out for them on rainy days. My paint scheme is so-so, I tried to give them a newt look with orange belly and blue-green stripe down the crest. The javelins are bronze -tipped and I painted the belt and baldric grey to represent some other material besides leather.

The first picture is a comparison of a Blue Moon Victorian detective and a Deep One and the second is the same chap with a Salaman

Khurasan 15mm Deep Ones

I’ve neglected my blog for sometime. Very busy and I’ve not had much new material to add. To get the ball rolling again, I’ll have a look at Khurasan Miniatures excellent new ‘Deep Ones’ figures. What heresy is this? H.P. Lovecraft inspired miniatures on a prehistoric/lost world blog? If you recall your Mythos, the Great Old Ones and their minions are timeless and have dwelt upon the earth for eons before the rise of Homo Sapiens Sapiens. The Deep Ones might be the result of genetic tinkering by The Great Race of Yith during the late Devonian, or perhaps the Octopus God himself grew them as intelligent slaves from some creature such as Ichtyostega?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ichthyostega_model.jpg

 

Khurasan’s ‘Deep Ones’ pack has 12 figures in six poses. I purchased two sets so I have quite a horde of 24 humanoids from the deep. They were a breeze to paint. I used a couple of different shades of green with a pale underbelly and yellow eyes. The bases are washers built up with Liquitex modelling paste, then dipped in sand with a tiny seashell glued on here and there.

Highlander Studios Space 1889 characters

I painted these a few weeks ago, but overlooked adding a post. Here are the new Space 1889 Earthlings by Highlander Studios. These figures are 18mm and are designed to be used with the Space 1889 wargame/RPG. They come in two packs with 4 unique figures in each armed with a mix of conventional weapons and VSF heat rays/lightning guns/ flamers. Though intended for VSF interplanetary conflict, of course they can find their way into lost world adventures. Maybe the heat ray is a patented Edison Anti-Dinosaur rifle? Maybe the armored fellow has been hired by P.T. Barnum to capture some specimens and has a tank of sleep gas on his back and armor to ward the packs of hungry dromaeosaurs?

The villanous-looking short guy, two Victorian explorers, and a resourceful dame.

A heavily armored adventurer in respirator armed with some kind of flamer and high-tech handgun. This cool figure is a very big guy that stands a couple of milimeters taller than the other characters

A pair of interpid women adventurers. One with conventional firearm and the other with a VSF weapon.

VSF explores with conventional weapons.

G. A. Custer with heat ray pistol along with a dwarf-like character with pistol and sack over his shoulder

professor with some kind of exotic weapon. A heat ray?

Highlander Studios character with big game rifle compared with Blue Moon 18mm adventurer

Custer managed to escape Crazy Horse, but will he escape a pack of Deinonychus?

Highlander Studios Space 1889 character on left with Rebel Miniatures pulp figure on right. Accompanied by a pair of trained hunting mammal-like reptiles.

Jurassic Vegans

With my previous post looking at the Jurassic theropods, now I’ll have a look at Magister Militums’ Jurassic herbivores. Again these are 10mm but very usable with 15mm adventurers and animals. In fact, two of the three miniatures fit in as 15mm dinosaurs as is.

First up we have Scelidosaurus, a small herbivore whose fossils have been found in various places including the British Isles and North America. This creature may have been the ancestor of the Cretaceous ankylosaurs. The Magister Militum model is very nice and does the little beast justice. The living animal was about 3.8 meters long (12.5 ‘) and the model is 27mm nose to tail-tip, making it 9′ with 15mm figures. Again the model is quite nice with nicely detailed osteoderms covering the back. I’m glad I bought two.

Next we have another armored dinosaur Kentrosaurus, a stegosaur from Tanzania. The living Kentrosaurus was up to 4.5 meters (15′) long and the Magister Militum offering measures 4cm. At 1/100th scale this makes the Kentrosaurus model approximately 13′ long.  This is another nice model with excellent detail. Too bad my inept photography makes it look like a gum-machine toy. The Kentrosaur was rather interesting in that it had Stegosaurus-like plates on the front half of its back with a double row of  spikes on the rear half .  Typical of stegosaurs, Kentrosaurus’ tail ends in a “thagomizer” -a word I did not know existed until this year. I’m thinking of saying to my wife “I think I need a thagomizer” and she’ll reply “I think they have those at the pharmacy.”

Lastly we have good ol’ Camptosaurus, a dinosaur known since 1879. Camptosaurus was another in the long line of dinosaurs that filled the niche now occupied by many ungulate mammals. This makes them an unassuming critter that likely wandered about constantly browsing the low-growing vegetation.  This is true Allosaurus food. Originally the first specimens of Camptosaurus were mounted in an upright stance like a kangaroo, but the latest anatomical studies reveal that it was mostly a quadruped. Magister Militum opted for a compromise and have the animal bipedal but with its back horizontal. This is acceptable since Camptosaurus appears capable of bipedal movement. In the BBC Planet Dinosaur series Camptosaurus is reconstructed using bipedal locomotion to flee from an Allosaurus. It seems many of these herbivores could rear on their hind legs to reach leaves and possibly run short distances.  The Camptosaurus model is 5 cm long which actually makes the figure closer in scale to 15mm as according to Paul’s “The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs”, Camptosaurus was about 5 meters (16′) long.

scelidosaurus

I went with a drab orange-brown scheme with ivory osteoderms and a yellowish underbelly. I imagine something so small would not be advertising itself.

Scelidosaurus with Blue Moon Manufacturing Victorian ladies

Prehistoric petting zoo

Kentrosaurus

Prepare to be thagomized!

Camptosaurus

Paint scheme heavily influenced by Planet Dinosaur

Allosaurus food

Ladies Love Camptosaurus

Say “cheese”

Magister Militum Jurassic Theropods

I’ve been a little quiet since Halloween so I have returned with more useful 10mm dinosaurs from Magister Militum. As I have repeated on previous posts, the 10mm dinosaurs fit in fine with 15mm figures as younger specimens of the same species or as stand-ins for other animals.  This lot is from the Jurassic range and represent three different theropod predators-Gasosaurus, Eustreptospondylus, and Allosaurus.

Gasosaurus was a small theropod found at Dashanpu fossil quarry in Sichuan Province China. It is noted to be only 3.5 to 4 meters long, but some controversy exists as to whether the fragmentary remains are of a juvenile. I bought two of the little Magister Militum models. I forgot to measure them, but from my own pics they look to be 20-25 mm long. This would put them in the 8-10′ range when compared to 15mm figures. Big enough to take out the unwary or unlucky explorer.

Eustreptospondylus roamed the island archipelago that would one day become the British Isles. It has been classified as a variety of Megalosaur, but the only known specimins are small. Maybe juvenile or adapted to island life through dwarfism. The Magister Militum model is 5.5cm long which actually scales it nearer 15mm when compared to the 4.63 meters of the fossils. In 1/1ooth scale 5.5 cm would translate to approximately 18′.

Last but not least is the Magister Militum Allosaur. A

Gasosaurus

I gave Gasosaurus a somewhat subdued scheme to allow it to hide in the underbrush

Gasosaurus compared with Blue Moon Manufacturing Victorian lady

Eustreptospondylus

Eustreptospondylus paint scheme was inspired by some paleo art I found online.

Eustreptospondylus is one of those animals that you can’t shout its name in warning. No one would have time to say “Watch out Jim, it’s a Eustreptospondylus!”

Allosaurus

Another paint scheme inspired by a google image search

Colt revolvers are still too small even at point-blank range

Magister Militum Allosaurus compared with Primaeval Designs Tyrannosaurus Rex

Allosaurus and Eustreptospondylus

nother dinosaur that the size is relative when you consider the large number of species of  Allosaurs that spread across the Northern Hemisphere during the Jurassic. Allosaurus is one of those very familiar dinosaurs whose anatomy is completely known. The Magister Militum model is nice , but the head lacks the prominent brow-horns of the North American A. Fragilis.  Don’t worry though, in the wonderful world of prehistoric life we soon discover that a Chinese allosaurid has been found with less obvious brow-horns so our Magister Militum model can represent this monster. The casting is 7cm long making a 23′ animal when used with 15mm miniatures.

Happy Halloween

On the special Halloween edition of the Prehistoriczoo15 we will have a look at Blue Moon Manufacturing’s pack 15HOR-106 ”Mummies, Archaeologists, Explorers, Diggers”.  The great thing about Blue Moon’s 15/18mm offerings is that they often overlap. In the case of 15Hor-106 it is apparent that the figures are quite comfortable alongside the same manufacturers’ Deep Dark Africa line.  Both lines make nice VSF/Pulp-era adventurers to explore lost continents or the hollow earth.

The pack contains 25 figures -five mummies, four diggers, and 16 Western explorers and archaeologists. The Westerners are evenly split between men and women with all poses dressed in typical tropical kit. The figures mix well with the Deep Dark Africa Adventurers, Great White Hunters, and Missionaries, etc packs.

 Of the eight male figures, two are unarmed, two wear sidearms, and the other four wield revolvers, a rifle, and a shotgun. Two men carry lanterns and another has a burning torch. The lanterns are especially nice for a journey to the center of the earth. The man with the shotgun is clearly inspired by Brendan Fraser’s character in “The Mummy” series while one of the pistoleros is dressed in a fedora, leather jacket, and grips a whip in his left hand and is a useful Indiana Jones stand-in.

The female figures have four unarmed archaeologists and four  with side arms. Two of the handguns are clearly automatics so date these ladies as Pulp-Era. The gun-girls all wear riding boots and trousers and two carry torches and a third has a lantern. The unarmed women have three dressed in safari jacket and long dress while the third is dressed as their armed sisters. The three in dresses all have lights-two bulls-eye lamps and one torch and one girl holds a book while the other two have what appear to be maps.

The four diggers are fairly self-explanatory. Two with shovels and two with picks. One of each type holds a torch while his compatriot works. We hope they take turns. The figures wear typical long robes with one guy seems to have pulled his robe up to his knees to make it easier to work. One wears a fez while the other three have turbans wrapped around a fez.

Last but not least are the five mummies. One mummy is clearly bigger than the others so I assume he is the leader. He carries a bronze sickle-knife and the others are empty-handed. One figure wears a death-mask, or at least I interpreted this as a death-mask. Mummies go a bit beyond the topic of this blog, but who knows what lost ruins one might find in deepest Pellucidar? Have any returned alive after daring to enter such cursed tombs?

Two uniformed explorers-one with lantern and one with map.

compared with Magister Militum Scelidosaurus

Two Pulp action-babes with automatics

Lighting the way to Pellucidar

Hard to make out in the photo, but the lady on the right holds a bulls-eye lamp in her left hand

Lady investigator with torch and book on left and with lamp and map on right

diggers with picks

Looking for ‘shovel-ready jobs’

Evil mummy minions

mummy in gold death-mask and mummy lord

The golden mummy from the Valley of the Golden Mummies

Kharis

Mr Sad Face

Menacing mummy

The building in the background is from Musket Miniatures Roarkes Drift buildings

Raptorama

Carrying on from one of my first posts on ERM and Splintered Light Miniatures 15mm dromaeosaur dinosaurs, tonight I’ll look at the raptor offerings of Khurasan in 15mm and Magister Militum in 10mm.

The Khurasan animals are a great set of six different Deinonychus. The poses are all advancing/attacking but each is unique. Deinonychus is portrayed as feathered which seems to be the current scientific opinion in regards to the dromaosaurs. The tail and arms have long feathers with shorter feathers over the rest of the body, with the exception of naked head and scaly legs.  The figures are about 35mm nose to tail making the flock members about 11′-12′ in 1/100th scale. 

Since raptor fossils from North America and East Asia come in many sizes and species, I feel free to use the 10mm castings by Magister Militum. Magister Militum has two sets of sickle-claws: Deinonychus and Velociraptor. The M.M. Deinonychus is ‘old school’ and unfeathered (though the model could be said to be covered in proto-feathers since at such a small size one can’t differentiate smooth skin, tiny scales, or peach-fuzz. The 10mm Deinonychus comes in more than one very similiar pose. One pose has an open mouth, while the second has its mouth closed, but perhaps there is three poses, it’s hard to tell.  The models are about 25mm long so are around 8′ next to a 15mm figure.

The tiny Velociraptor models have noticable feathers and a fringe of longer feathers around the base of the bare head. These also come in a multipose pack of five and are about 20mm long, or 6′ in 1/100th scale. The little Velociraptor makes nice partly grown chicks for Khurasan’s Deinonychus.

The Khurasan flock overruns a pair of Rebel Miniatures Pulp figures

The flock on the move showing all six poses

Pose #1 advancing

Another advancing pose

Attacking pose showing inside of feathered arm and open mouth

Pose #4-another advancing pose

pose #5-another advancing pose.

Pose #6 attacking with open mouth. Deinonychus are painted to resemble our local red-tail hawk, but with a blue-grey muzzle. The tail is red-brown, belly creme, back brown, and legs yellowish.

15mm Khurasan Deinonychus chasing their 10mm Magister Militum cousins.

The open-mouth pose. It looks like it has an irritating mold seam

The alternate pose

A Khurasan Mystri Island explorer and a Rebel Miniatures Chaos in Cairo figure threatened by Magister Militum Deinonuchus

All five Deinonychus. Yellow ochre body with pale underbelly, burnt orange head, and charcoal and white tail

Khurasan Deinonychus poses with Magister Militum ‘chicks’

Sticking close to mom

Magister Militum 10mm Velociraptor with Rebel Miniatures 15mm Pulp explorer

All five Magister Militum Velociraptors