For my Character of the Month, and for my submission to Tom’s #paintanadventuringparty challenge on Instagram, I chose to do a bard: specifically, this old-school Grenadier “Bard with Bagpipes”, sculpted by the great Andrew Chernak as part of one of the original Grenadier AD&D boxed sets.
Sadly, I don’t own the boxed set; but I picked this guy up loose on eBay a few years ago, since he was, up until then, a bagpiper miniature I did not own.
This guy has some bizarre fashion sense: a conquistador helmet, billowed sleeves, hose, toe shoes and some weird diaper-thing. I decided anyone who would dress like that would be looking for attention, so I painted him up as a troubadour in garish colors. A friend pointed out that his highland bagpipes have the traditional three drones and that his hand positioning on the chanter is pretty good–two things that are often sculpted incorrectly on bagpiper miniatures. Chernak did it right!
Only four more character classes to go until the end of the year (did that fly by or is it just me?): Monk, Wizard, Warlock and Paladin.
Apologies to all who have noticed my conspicuous absence from this site and from the blogoshere this month. Some family health problems have occupied my every waking thought lately; and I am way behind on hobby stuff. Still hoping to get something done for Dave’s Summer of Scenery by the end of the month, although it won’t be the AMT Deep Space Nine model as I originally planned. That turned out to be a bigger project than I anticipated.
I hope to be back in full form soon.
Hope all are feeling better soon Keith, and nothing too serious.
The bard looks excellent, and you not having a model with bagpipes would be criminal ! LOL The colour choices work really well for a bard, and he seems to be very affluent with the colour of his garments.
Hope you get something finished for the challenge, but health must come first mate.
Thanks, Dave. I was hit with a pretty big dose of reality recently: I’m going to be 50 in a few months. My parents are, of course older. When something goes awry with them now, it’s always a serious matter. Not really sure if I’m ready for this, dude. Although I guess that doesn’t really matter, does it?
Thanks for the kind words, buddy. And you’re right. If there is a bagpiper miniature to be had, I must have it!
It does become a worry as we get older, as I passed 50 * odd years ago, and it is always a worry when parents get sick, as it’s harder for them to recover, my mum had her 4 th knee replacement this year, but I guess we need to to make the most of while they’re here.
Yeah, agreed. Kinda makes me feel guilty every time I get annoyed with them now, though. 🙂
Love him! love the flamboyant clothing, especially the stripy hose! How many figures with bagpipes do you own? I have to say to my great embarrassment that I don’t own any .
Hope all is well with your parents mate, and don’t worry about being 50, I have 50 starting to loom in the rear view mirror! it’s shit, but it happens, like illness you can mope or just get on with it, as they say….
“As long as you have your miniatures, that’s the main thing”.
Cheers Roger.
Thanks! I have more than a few, Roger…most painted, one not yet painted. Maybe I’ll do a line-up here on the blog!
It’s not my age that’s worrisome. It’s theirs. It’s tough realizing no one lives forever, although you figure I’d know that by now.
Despite being someone who thinks bagpipes should be classified as a war crime, I really like this guy! You did a great job on his wonderfully garish clothing, and the bagpipes look really good.
I turned 50 back in January and it’s the first time I’ve had to come to terms with my age, although I still don’t act it LOL! Unfortunately getting older means our loved ones are getting older too, with all the issues that can bring. Hope you’re doing OK, matey.
Thanks, Matt. Although we clearly can no longer be friends because of your ill-considered and objectively wrong feelings about bagpipes, I appreciate the sentiments. 🙂