Some Concrete Progress on the Retro Dungeon.

At long last it seems that my modern take on the original Torchlight Fantasy Products dungeon scenery could be be made commercially available. I had a brief conversation yesterday with the chap who has been producing the silicon rubber moulds for me & it turns out he is interested in producing a line of fantasy scenery, including rather fortuitously some classic dungeon terrain. Long story short, instead of starting from scratch or going down the Hirst Arts route he would prefer to produce the items from the masters I have already produced.
This from my point of view is brilliant news, having got the project to a stage where I could have started casting items & selling them I had hit the proverbial brick wall. The main problem for me was lack of time, due to already having a very full work load running my own company & to a lesser extent lacking the I.T. skills to have the confidence to set up an internet shop front to sell the product.
So it seems in one chance conversation things could be full steam ahead in bringing the Retro Dungeon project to a satisfactory conclusion.
We have yet to hammer out the final details but its more than likely that we will crowdfund the project, which should go smoothly given that the masters, moulds, casting & retail infrastructure are already in place. Its just a case of settling the financial situation to both parties satisfaction and then its just the litmus test of the buying publics interest to pass!

Just as a reminder of what the project looks like here are a few shots of an adventuring party taking on a recently produced mega-dungeon represented with my stuff & some original Torchlight product.

The first section of Barrowmaze, the parties Cleric attempts to turn a Ghoul.

Close-up of the above.

Skeletons await discovery behind a concealed door.

Cthonians. Modern & Classic.

Carrying on my recent theme of painting RAFM Call of Cthulhu monsters I give you the Cthonian.

I still need to finesse the highlighting a bit & put it on a base, but its almost there.

As a contrast here is Grenadier Models rendering of the same theme from 1983:

The two together:

I'm hard pressed to say which of the two sculpts I prefer; the animation of the modern version is very good, but its a bit too Hollywood whereas the flaccid pose of the earlier sculpt somehow more sinister. I've stuck to the colour scheme shown in Chaosiums 'Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters' rather than going with the current fashion for flesh coloured or purple tentacles popularised by Fantasy Flight Games, this is after all a 'Retro' dungeon.

Chaugnar Faugn & A Yithian.

More results from my current enthusiasm for all things Lovecraftian, though strictly speaking Chaugnar Faugn is a creation of Frank Belknap Long:

The Elephantine obscenity at his ease on the Plateau of Tsang.

Do think this miniature would make a great substitute for the demon idol featured on the cover of the AD&D Players Handbook.

One of the cone shaped beings inhabited by the Great Race of Yith.

A comparison with an earlier incarnation from the Grenadier Miniatures Call of Cthulhu Creatures set.

RAFM Call of Cthulhu Range. Elder Thing.

Still quietly working through the job lot of Cthulhu stuff bought in a moment of madness last year. The latest is an Elder Thing, one of the race of nearly extinct beings featured in my favourite Lovecraft story "At the Mountains of Madness".

Rather than portray him in the antarctic setting of the story I have based him in a somewhat warmer climate during his races prehistoric heyday.
No comparison photograph with an earlier Grenadier Miniatures equivalent this time because I don't own one, this may be rectified at some point in the future though.

Ral Partha Dog Handler?

Another very tiny 25mm miniature from Ral Partha c.1982, this time a chap in classic fantasy male slave attire with a very large 'status' dog:

Presumably a Tom Meier figure given the level of detail present but I stand to be corrected on this.

Some Re-Discovered Ral Partha & Citadel Miniatures.

These poor fellows have been languishing in storage since our house move a few years back & its high time they were treated to a new paint job.

These are mainly Ral Partha elves & magic users but there are a couple of oddities featured front & centre.
There is also this rather confused looking Citadel miniatures M.U:

This was given to me by a friend at college after a very brief dalliance with D&D. He has had a fresh coat of paint but I've stuck with Steve's original colour scheme.

One thing you do notice these days with early Ral Partha stuff is just how tiny it was, here are a few of their Adventurers up against some almost contemporary Denizen undead which aren't huge themselves by modern 28mm standards.

What it does bring home is just how good a sculptor Tom Meier, fabulous detail & anatomy on such small figures.

Dark Young of Shub Niggurath.

Not sure if this miniature really belongs in the retro-dungeon, but a little imagination & fiddling with stats could make it suitable for the Retro Wilderness:

This is a RAFM miniature from ( I think) the early 2000's

I picked up a job lot of Cthulhu monsters & investigators off eBay some time ago & have finally got my mojo together to paint them.
An interesting contrast with the earlier ( c. 1983) Grenadier Miniatures version from their Call of Cthulhu Creatures boxed set:

I'll post a few more of these comparison shots over the next few weeks, at least where I have the equivalents.