Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Gothic Horror => Topic started by: Ace From Outer Space on September 26, 2011, 10:51:42 PM
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Hi Guys,
My favourite horror author is M R James. For a long time now, I've been thinking of collecting some miniatures that could be used in games set in the early 20th century world of his books. I'm looking for academics in gowns, but holding makeshift weapons like cricket bats or candelabra, etc.
I'm also looking for miniatures dressed in early twentieth century clothing, tweeds and plus fours, again, hopefully in some sort of action poses but holding makeshift weapons.
A few priests and monks would also be good.
As far as scale goes, I'm looking for 28mm or above.
Does anyone know of any manufacturers that may be a good fit? I'm based in the UK.
Cheers,
Ace
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Foundry, Woodbine.
Copplestone?
Westwind?
Ummm....
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EM4
Pulp Miniatures
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Blimey, that was fast!
Thank you both, I'm off to trawl the websites!
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I love M R James! :-*
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Hands up for another MR James fan.
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And I :) ,him and Machen are as about as good as it gets ;)
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Some of the RAFM CoC figures might work, I'm thinking of things like the professor.
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Someone was asking about Cthulhu figures yesterday and I directed them to the VBCW mini guide here - http://www.btinternet.com/~jprice9/minis.html - it has pretty much every manufacturer making early C20th models.
I'd make a special plea for Artizan by the way.
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Great link Red Orc!
Oh and I just remembered, Owrry minis gave some civillian "rioters" (armed with bricks/bottles etc) in their ACW(?) range, I should think with the right PJ you could use them well enough.
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I have bookmarked that link RedOrc, thank you, it is excellent. I was thinking of maybe getting twenty or thirty miniatures for this little project, but after seeing the link, I may have to get a few hundred more... :D
As for M R James, I purchased "The Penguin Complete Ghost Stories Of M R James" from a charity shop in London in 1995, the 3rd October to be exact (I have it in front of me). The book has become one of my most prized possessions.
Now that autumn is coming, I can look forward to sitting in my Victorian house in front of the fire reading the ghost stories as the night closes in. My house has high ceilings, many open (albeit gas) fireplaces and an excess of atmosphere. I never considered until I started writing this reply that it could actually be the best place for me to read my favourite ghost stories.
Once again, thank you all for the links and the suggestions!
Ace
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Sounds like you have the perfect reading place ACE! :)
Have you read any other Victorian ghost story authors or just James?
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Oh, whistle, and they'll come to you, my lad. lol
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Hi Harwood, yes I have, although I haven't read many. I inherited a cheap compendium of Victorian ghost stories from an ex after we split up and went our seperate ways. The book is called 'The Supernatural Omnibus' published by a company called Victor Gollancz Ltd in. London in 1931, and introduced by a Montague Summers (what a great name!).
The Compendium contains works by well known authors such as Charles Dickens, Bram Stoker, Jasper John and Wilkie Collins. It also contain a brace of stories by people I've not really heard of such as J Sheridan Le Fanu, E and H Heron, Evelyn Nesbit, Amyas Northcote, Miss Braddon...
Some of the stories are fantastic, but none come close to the atmosphere that James creates. He really is the master!
Cheers,
Ace
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There's a few suitable miniatures pictured on my 'horror gaming' blog (see link in my signature below), if you care to look. I re-read my James collection probably twice a year, but am a fan of the vintage 'Ghost Story' genre as a whole and have over the years amassed a rather large library of spine-tingling tales. Some others collections that I would thoroughly recommend to admirers of M.R. James are Malden's Nine Ghosts (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nine-Ghosts-R-H-Malden/dp/1849027765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317152288&sr=8-1) (seminal!), Rolt's Sleep No More (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sleep-No-More-Railway-Supernatural/dp/075245577X/ref=pd_sim_b2), and The Collected Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collected-Ghost-Stories-F-Benson/dp/0786703652/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317152791&sr=1-10). The former two have only just come back into mainstream print after a long time in the wilderness, which is nice as the originals were fetching a pretty penny on a certain well-known auction site.
Miniature-wise it's a question of cherry-picking from different manufacturers to get what you want (or near what you want!). Artizan, Foundry and Westwind are all great and - more importantly perhaps - compatible. Some of Foundry's Victoriana range are very, very nice. Reaper Miniatures is your best bet for ghosts (see my blog for some examples). Not widely available in Blighty, find US stockists on ebay willing to ship to the UK for cheap (I've actually been charged less postage for a couple of blisters from the US than from UK sellers! Honestly!).
Also, have you thought about rules yet? Are we going for faux-rpg or miniature skirmish game?
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I can highly recommend Tartatus books for this sort of thing.
http://www.tartaruspress.com/
I purchased mine from Atlantis books on Museum Street in London. Distinct lack of Blackwood though.
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Hi Kitsune,
I studied the history of art at UCL which is just down the road from the British Museum, and of course, Museum Street so I know that shop well. I also have a collected works of Algernon Blackwood, which is very good if a tad dated in terms of it's colonial attitudes. But then, it is of it's time, much like John Buchan.
And thank you Funghy-Fipps. I am pretty sure I have one or two stories by EF Benson,probably in 'The Supernatural Omnibus' I mentioned earlier. I will certainly look out for the re-prints as I am a bit of a bibliophile at heart and can't have enough books. Or minis.
:D
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Re an earlier post mentioning ghosts from Reaper, Miniature Heroes here in the UK sells Reaper. I beleive they even do a weekly(?) order from the states. There's also a section for "Manikin"(sic) minis there that sell some nice Olley ghosts. 8)
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Thanks for the book recommendations Funghy-Fipps! I hadn't heard of Nine Ghosts before - from the description it sounds great. :)
I've had the other two books on my wish list for quite a while now. My collection of old ghost stories always seems to be getting bigger and bigger. ;D
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Glad you like my website Ace :D
I'm a massive fan of MR James. If you can find a copy, I thoroughly recommend 'A Pleasing Terror', which has all of MR James' tales, including some unfinished ones and a very sinister play, supposedly for children!
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Hi JP, yes your website is great and a very useful resource. I googled 'A Pleasing Terror' after I read your post. Now that is a book I would like to own! I think I will have to make it a mission to track down a copy!
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Ash Tree press, who published 'A Pleasing Terror', no longer hold copies sadly, but they do give a list of dealers who might have one knocking around... http://www.ash-tree.bc.ca/ashtreelinks.html (http://www.ash-tree.bc.ca/ashtreelinks.html)
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Now that autumn is coming, I can look forward to sitting in my Victorian house in front of the fire reading the ghost stories as the night closes in. My house has high ceilings, many open (albeit gas) fireplaces and an excess of atmosphere. I never considered until I started writing this reply that it could actually be the best place for me to read my favourite ghost stories.
I once read The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen whilst a terrific gale howled around the house - tremendous fun. Sheesh, the things I used to do on a Saturday night...
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Hey FF, just looked at your blog for the first time. You've got really great stuff there. Very moody.
The great thing about gaming Gothic Horror is the wide selection of models out there. One is really spoiled for choice.
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JP, now that's my kind of reading!
And Jet, I agree, there is a fantastic range of nice and useful miniatures out there!
And for me?
Well, I am lying in bed, I have my MR James book in my hand, and am about to start reading 'Canon Alberics Scrap-book'. Good night.
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You will probably have found them on the VBCW miniatures guide, but these (http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/store.php?r=19&rule=Historical&id=49) from Musketeer might be very useful, particularly the two civilian packs.