Wednesday, December 16, 2020

The Bulls of Aeetes

The Khalkotauroi (Bronze Bulls) aka Colchis Bulls were a pair of automatons created by Hephaestus for Aeetes, King of Kolkhis (Colchis). The bronze bulls were described as having feet of bronze and bronze mouths from which they breathed out flame.

I think de Troy missed the part about the bulls being automatons

There is also a tradition that portrays Talos (typically described as a giant automaton in the form of a man) as having the form of a bull.

Both the the Khalkotauroi and Talos play roles in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. In the 1963 Ray Harryhausen verion of Jason and the Argonauts, Talos appears, but there are no bulls. In the Jason and the Argonauts TV miniseries from 2000 only a single bull appears.

CGI "Menaian" Bull

To represent the Khalkotauroi, I originally wanted to use a pair of Warhammer metal Juggernauts.


After getting one model, I felt that the Juggernaut was too big. It has a very bull-like body, but modifications need to be made to the model. The main change would be to remove the nose horn, and add some bull horns.

Later, I discovered that Wargames Foundry also produced a Bronze Bull (WG434), which seems to be based on the Menaian Bull from the miniseries.


The Foundry bull is smaller than the Juggernaut, and just the size I had in mind for a bronze bull. The only issue I have with it is that it does not have a tail (but that is easily remedied).

I was also finally able to get the Bronze Bull produced by Crocodile Games for their WarGods of Olympus Kickstarter campaign.



The Bronze Bull consists of 5 parts, and goes together fairly easily. I think the tail is actually supposed to go into the body before you glue the two halves together. I added it after gluing the body, because the tail broke off of the attachment, so the order didn't really matter. 


The Crocodile bull is really nice, but it is longer and heftier than the Foundry bull, so they don't work well as a pair. I will need to buy another Foundry model if I want to make my paired set.



5 comments:

  1. You could reconsider if it matters whether the bulls are a matching set. If I were to create something for the first time then my second attempt would include changes/improvements. Might not the Gods do likewise? Just a suggestion. I love your purchases and look forward to seeing them painted.

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  2. Thanks for commenting General,
    Foundry is having a Christmas sale, so I was going to get another bull along with some other stuff. I will modify the pose of the new bull so it will look a little different from the first one.

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  3. What an interesting post, thank you very much! I didn't know these bulls, nor their representation as minis. I will have a look at the foundry one, thanks for the info!

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  4. Great write up! U definitely do alot of research in these posts never heard of any of these ones. I know reaper makes one but is way more out there than these ones in its design.

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  5. Thanks for the comments Phil & Darathar. Glad the post was of interest.
    I've always considered the Reaper mini as being the equivalent of a D&D gorgon as opposed to a mythological Greek brass bull. I think I saw a similar design with all the scales in Final Fantasy or Castlevania, or some other video game as well.

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