Victorian Gothic

Whilst painting up presents for son and heir I try and make sure I have something else on the go to explain away the hours locked away in the games room. So, in between painting some odds and sods for a forthcoming birthday (15! Where does the time go?) I took the opportunity to paint up some Victorian characters I picked up at Salute last year.

I have for some time fancied playing some Victorian horror games but have never got around to it. I even drew up plans for a conversion of Voyages Extraordinares which would have been called Victorian Gothic and had Bill Thornhill sculpt some armed bobbies (as at that time no one did armed Victorian police).

The idea has resurfaced in my head whilst reading the Pax Britannia books from Abaddon and they inspired me to dig out and paint the Holmes and Watson characters I purchased off Ironclad Miniatures last year. These are lovely sculpts and based on the actors who played the characters in the Jeremy Brett series.

Holmes was something of a challenge as the photos of Brett in this costume show it to be all black. Luckily I'd picked up a tip off the web recently about mixing Kommando Khaki into black to lighten it but keep it "warm" and I think this has worked well. The Watson character is painted in a light brown/beige outfit similar to one in the TV series (both should be wearing gloves but I liked the bare flesh contrast). The excellent bases are from Fenris Games and really help set the figures off without detracting from them.

I also painted up three Victorian police to go with them. There are four in the Wessex Games set but for some reason I was short the shotgun armed constable in this particular set. As with Holmes and Watson I removed the intergral bases and fixed them to Fenris resin ones.

Painting sources proved a bit of a bind (which IIRC was the case when I painted my first set a few years back) and I am not 100% sure whether to paint the white stripes on the left cuff (it either donates they are on duty, or on traffic duty...). Whatever, I was pleased with how they came out so quickly and they fit in nicely with the Ironcald figures. All I need now is a Spring Heel'd Jack and we're away...