The Tribe of Moro

This is the final installation on miniatures that can be used as Forest Gods, and covers the giant wolves belonging to the Tribe of Moro.

The first miniature below, is Fenris Wolf from the Marvel HeroClix line (Hammer of Thor #46). I really liked the way this wolf was sculpted, and the look is really close to the character design for Moro in the movie, but it is much too large for a 1/72 representation. The second miniature is a Vampire Dire Wolf (Unhallowed #59) from the Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures line. The figure has a bit more bulk than I would have liked, and the slavering jaws are a bit too wide, but it wouldn't make for a bad representation of Moro either.


The first miniature in the next image below, is a Winter Wolf from the DDM line (Underdark #60). Somehow it did not look quite the same as the image that is used in the advertisements for it. The head has an odd appearance, and the limbs are very thick. Not a very good sculpt in my opinion. Also with the Winter Wolf are a Giant Wolf from the Legion of Darkness Wolf Pack set (RAFM 3200), and a Dire Wolf from Reaper (2415).


In this next image, is a Dire Wolf from the former Dazed Miniatures line. I believe that it will be available in a slightly modified form in the future from Acheson Creations under their Primaeval Designs line. It is followed by a Warg from the Grenadier Lord of the Rings line, and last is a Dire Wolf from the Horrorclix line (Base Set #019).


The next wolves are five of the seven wolves from the Ral Partha Wolf Pack set (01-035). This is a mix of wolves of different style, some of which appeared in other sets.

The image below compares a Mage Knight Glade Guardian, which is a plastic version of the Ral Partha wolf from the Wolf Pack set (above); a DDM Timber Wolf (Deathknell #27); a Great Wolf of the Night from Ral Partha (Wizards, Warriors, And Warlocks E691/W691); two wolves from the Reaper Wolf Pack (02830).

The final image begins with a Great Wolf from the Ral Partha Fantasy Collector Series; a Citadel Devil Dog (FF10-1); a Great Wolf from the Armies of Arcana line (formerly of Thane's Games and now available from Lone Gunman Games); a wolf from the Grenadier Wolfpack set (Fantasy Legends 3111); and a wolf from the Reaper Familiar Pack I (02018).

Even with this many choices, it was difficult to find a good representation for the wolves in the film. One of the main problems was the inconsistancy in size for the wolves in different scenes.

For my choice to represent Moro, it was either the Vampire Dire Wolf, or the Winter Wolf. Frankly, I felt the size of the Winter Wolf was probably closer to how big Moro should have been, but the miniature was just too ugly for me to use.

To convert the Vampire Dire Wolf into Moro, I chopped off the various spikes protruding from the wolf (I guess nowadays when a creature is labeled "dire," it is assumed to be both larger, and covered in spikes), and carved away some of the fur, so that the figure would look a bit leaner. A pin was inserted into the base of the spine as an armature, and a second tail was sculpted from Kneadatite.


The figure was then painted in white, and dry brushed with a yellowish off-white color.


For the two Sons of Moro, the choice was a bit harder. I picked three pairs of different sized wolves as candidates.

The first pair would be the Reaper or RAFM wolves. In some scenes, the Sons of Moro are depicted as being really huge, and these miniatures actually look the best in relation to the Vampire Dire Wolf as far as size is concerned.



The next pair would be the Grenadier Warg and Dazed Dire Wolf. This pair is really nice because of their dynamic running poses. They look fine in relation to the Vampire Dire Wolf, but they don't look good compared to human sized figures or the Gemsbok. Maybe it is because their heads look too big compared to the animated wolves.

The final pair are one wolf each from the Reaper and Ral Partha Wolf Pack sets. These two wolves look good in size compared to humans and the Gemsbok, but unfortunately they look too small compared to the Vampire Dire Wolf. They do however look in scale when posed with the Winter Wolf.












At the moment I'm leaning towards going with the final pair of wolves, but that means I'll need to find a replacement for Moro. Who makes a nice wolf that is about 30mm to the shoulder?

The Tribe of Okkoto

As the film Mononoke Hime approaches its climax, an army of giant boars gather to repulse the humans who are encroaching on the forest. They range in size from the colossal Okkotonushi...


To behemoths like Nago,


Down to merely gigantic rank-and-file boars.


To represent these beasts, I rounded up a number of different boar miniatures. The line-up begins with a 15mm boar from the Reaper Shadow Corp line. The head is nicely sculpted, but I felt that the body looked kind of stunted. Next is a GW boar of about the same size as the Reaper boar, but much better proportioned, followed by a Citadel Fiend Factory Giant Boar (FF67-1). Last is a boar from Amazon Miniatures. Of the lot, this miniature is my favorite as far as size and appearance are concerned. I ordered four of them last year after seeing a fantastic modification on the Ferrous Lands blog. Unfortunately I only received two, and subsequent inquiries to Amazon were ignored.


The great mystery to me, is what happened with the GW/Citadel boars. I just don't understand how they went from the beautiful sculpts above, to the ugly, sway-backed Warhammer boars. I don't have any examples of GW boars, but suffice to say they are similar to the BTD boar (or rather the other way around) that is shown below on the left. In the center, is a giant boar sculpted by Werner Klocke für Das Schwarze Auge line of miniatures. Again, a nicely sculpted head, but with a strangely undersized body. The final boar on the right is an old Heritage giant boar. The right profile doesn't look too bad, but from the left side, it looks like a giant rat.


The last batch are of plastic toy boars. First up is a boar from the Noah's Ark playset by Auburn (other colors for this boar include black, navy blue, light blue, white, and red). Next is a wild boar by Britains. Metal versions of the Britains boar exists as well, but can be fairly pricey. The last two are a piglet and wild boar by VEB Plaho.


I still have my work cut out to collect enough boars to recreate the futile attack of the army of giant boars against the human forces. Amazon does not seem to stock their boars any more, but even if they did, I would have second thoughts about buying from them again. IWM does carry some old Ral Partha giant boars that may be suitable, but I have not yet been able to determine how big they are. Another hurdle is also to find a giant boar that can pass as Okkotonushi in 1/72 scale. Preferably with head raised and squealing in fury.

Even if every one of us dies, it will be a battle the humans will never forget!

The Deer Tribe

I've always thought that the film Mononoke Hime by Hayao Miyazaki had great potential for wargaming, and have been trying to assemble miniatures representing the various characters in the film for quite some time. This entry will be the first of three entries covering the Forest Gods.


The main Forest God is the Shishigami(シシ神) or Deer God. There are several large scale statues of the Deer God, but luckily I was able to find one that looks the right size for use with 1/72 figures.


I've included the red elk, Yakul here as well, because it is a member of the deer family. There are a couple of miniatures that can be used as proxies with a little modification. Red elks have appeared in an earlier work by Miyazaki as well.


The Journey of Shuna (シュナの旅) is considered a precursor to Miyazaki's epic Nausicaa, and includes many designs that appear in his later works. I'm surprised that it has not been published in English yet, but then I guess many people would consider it too Old School.


On to the miniatures. The first figure is the Deer God, which I received with a bunch of Studio Ghibli merchandise, mentioned in an entry I posted back in May. It used to be part of a cell phone strap, but since it seemed exactly the right size for 1/72, I cut it off to use for gaming. The hole that ran through the center was filled in, and painted over.


The next two miniatures will serve as the basis for my red elk conversions. The first figure is a Gemsbok from the Ral Partha Veldt Animals set (31-032). The body is about the right size for what I want, but the neck seems a bit short, and the horns are different. The next miniature is a Psychotic Goat Llama (Chariot S20X1) from Magister Militum. This miniatures comes with tack, so is not as useful as the Gemsbok. It's legs are also too short, though this can be remedied. The best part of the Goat Llama however are the horns, which look spot on for red elk horns.