Two thousand years ago these Vestals
were chosen from among the first daughters
of the highest patricians of ancient Tyr
to serve as sacrifices to Great Moloch.
- Cool Mini or Not
Ooogie boogie booooo!! Welcome to a ghostly post on The Art of Caesura!!
After Beefeater Zombies and then Dismembered Zombies, this week we're moving away from rotting flesh, but keeping in the undead spectrum. Today I have The World of Smog: Rise of Moloch's Lamias to show you.
I have to say, as with some of the Rise of Moloch minis, the design of these models is great (and the master mini, which you can see below and at this link looks real good - aside from that huge join-line under her arms!) but they are really let down by their production quality. The mold-lines on the Lamias were a bit perplexing - running right down the middle of her thigh (when they had loads of great fabric folds to hide them in) and then a horizontal one going across the folds of fabric on the front of the model! Good grief! Even with dedicated cleaning, they are still pretty visible. Disappointing, as the design, like I said, is cool.
were chosen from among the first daughters
of the highest patricians of ancient Tyr
to serve as sacrifices to Great Moloch.
- Cool Mini or Not
Ooogie boogie booooo!! Welcome to a ghostly post on The Art of Caesura!!
After Beefeater Zombies and then Dismembered Zombies, this week we're moving away from rotting flesh, but keeping in the undead spectrum. Today I have The World of Smog: Rise of Moloch's Lamias to show you.
I was familiar with the term Lamia (or Lahmia) from Games Workshop's acrylic medium "Lahmian Medium", and figured it had ghostly connotations, but on further research (i.e. wikidoodle), it turns out:
Lamia, in ancient Greek mythology, was a woman who became a child-eating monster after her children were destroyed by Hera, who learned of her husband Zeus' trysts with her. Hera also afflicted Lamia with sleeplessness so she would anguish constantly, but Zeus gave her the ability to remove her own eyes.
it goes on to say:
In later traditions and storytelling, the lamiai became a type of phantom, synonymous with the empusai which seduced youths to satisfy their sexual appetite and fed on their flesh afterward.
It turns out Keats even wrote a poem about the Greek philosopher Apollonius successfully resisting the seductions of a lamia. Here's a moment where she begins to turn on him:
"Lamia!" he shriek'd; and nothing but the shriek
With its sad echo did the silence break.
"Begone, foul dream!" he cried, gazing again
In the bride's face, where now no azure vein
Wander'd on fair-spaced temples; no soft bloom
Misted the cheek; no passion to illume
The deep-recessed vision—all was blight;
Lamia, no longer fair, there sat a deadly white.
- Keats "Lamia"
Anyway, let's get down to the lamias at hand!
Lamia, in ancient Greek mythology, was a woman who became a child-eating monster after her children were destroyed by Hera, who learned of her husband Zeus' trysts with her. Hera also afflicted Lamia with sleeplessness so she would anguish constantly, but Zeus gave her the ability to remove her own eyes.
it goes on to say:
In later traditions and storytelling, the lamiai became a type of phantom, synonymous with the empusai which seduced youths to satisfy their sexual appetite and fed on their flesh afterward.
It turns out Keats even wrote a poem about the Greek philosopher Apollonius successfully resisting the seductions of a lamia. Here's a moment where she begins to turn on him:
"Lamia!" he shriek'd; and nothing but the shriek
With its sad echo did the silence break.
"Begone, foul dream!" he cried, gazing again
In the bride's face, where now no azure vein
Wander'd on fair-spaced temples; no soft bloom
Misted the cheek; no passion to illume
The deep-recessed vision—all was blight;
Lamia, no longer fair, there sat a deadly white.
- Keats "Lamia"
Anyway, let's get down to the lamias at hand!
 |
| credit: Cool Mini or Not |
I have to say, as with some of the Rise of Moloch minis, the design of these models is great (and the master mini, which you can see below and at this link looks real good - aside from that huge join-line under her arms!) but they are really let down by their production quality. The mold-lines on the Lamias were a bit perplexing - running right down the middle of her thigh (when they had loads of great fabric folds to hide them in) and then a horizontal one going across the folds of fabric on the front of the model! Good grief! Even with dedicated cleaning, they are still pretty visible. Disappointing, as the design, like I said, is cool.
 |
| Credit: Cool Mini or Not |
I approached painting the Lamias using my Briar Queen to influence the colour palette. I wanted to keep them light to lean into the ethereal quality, so rather than giving them black dresses (like the official artwork above), or blue dresses (like the Briar Queen) I inverted the colours of the Briar Queen and made their dresses white and hooded cloaks blue.
Starting from a Grey Seer spray undercoat, I actually painted their skin first. After a coat of Nihilakh Oxide, I shaded their skin with 1:4 Nuln Oil and (appropriately) Lahmian Medium.
I further darkened their eye sockets with pure Nuln Oil, letting it run down their faces like emo tears. I then highlighted the skin with Nihilakh Oxide with a little White Scar added. Rather than dotting their eyes with white - as I did for the zombies - I kept them in black shadow, harkening back to the Greek myth above.
With the skin complete, I painted their dresses with one coat of Contrast Apothecary White. Once dry I gave it a couple gentle highlights of thinned Grey Seer with more and more white added.
The hooded cloak was similarly straight-forward. From Contrast Space Wolves Grey (which, despite carefully drawing away pools, dried a little messier than I would have hoped), I gave selective highlights on the top of the hood, where it gathers around the arms and where it attaches to the base with The Fang + White Scar.
The gold headpieces, necklaces, bracelets, and anklets (which you can see best in the first picture above) were Retributor Armour shaded with Nuln Oil.
Despite being a little let down by their molds, these are still cool models.
See you next Friday on The Art of Caesura!
Reading: Kal Jericho Omnibus - Various
Watching: The Shannara Chronicles
Next Week:
Buckle-up, sports fans...
Thanks Health LINE. I assume this is spam, but it's nice spam so I'll keep it.
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