Best Ghouls ever?

[Alxbates]

I do like those old Grenadier ghouls - quite a lot, actually.  If they were a bit bigger, or if I ever played with true 25mm figures, I'd use them for sure.

But those Wargods Ghouls are great.



I love how versatile they are - subhumans in pulp games, feral alien-types on victorian mars, Cthulhu monsters.  And of course, Ghouls in Wargods...

[Commander Vyper]

These just don't strike me as Lovecraftian ghouls. Yes, they're very canine - but the description quoted above reads "vaguely canine" - I never really imagined them having manes and such...

I may be tainted by my first visual exposure to ghouls being the third edition Call of Cthulhu book, but this is my mental image of a ghoul:


(Sorry for the crappy pic - it was the only one I could find.)

And this (I had this poster hanging on my study wall for several years):



To each his own, eh? 

Definately,

I think that Paul M's ghouls for Heresy Miniatures are very nice 'human' ghouls, and probably the best out there for that 'species'. Blackcat bases do a range of modern ghouls. I like the croc games ghouls from an HPL perspective, but really no one has yet to nail it for me re HPL source.

The Commander

[jnr]

I have the Heresy Ghouls but I also would not mind these from Other World Miniatures
http://www.otherworld.me.uk/udseries.html

[dreamingleopard]

It seems to me that ghouls come in three types:
The gross humanoids (like most of Reaper's)
The simian types (short nose bridges and monkey-like muzzles)
The canine types (true Lovecraftian)

My idea of a fantasy ghouls is also due to this really creepy painting entitled "The Ghoul" by Les Edwards as shown by ZenWired:

One day I'd like a life-sized print of this to hang on a door at Hallowe'en.    It's muzzle is more simian than canine.

I really do like the Heresy ghouls very much, but they look a little too human for Call of Cthulhu. Though, perhaps, like vampires, ghouls could change face when they are not in human disguise - otherwise, they couldn't easily blend among us...

True Lovecraftian ghouls need that doglike head, and RAFM's ghouls do the job:

RAF02931  Ghouls


RAF02953    Ghoul Leader/Master (RAF03889) & Warlock/Scribe (RAF03890)  


RAF02954  Armed Ghouls


RAF03891  Ghoul Crawling from Crypt (also in the CoC pack RAF02955)


The old Grenadiers (now at Mirliton) were the earliest ghouls of the canine persuasion, and though I'm still fond of them, they are not as lithe and dangerous-looking as the RAFM figs, which I still prefer.  The animalistic Grenadiers come in dog-faced (true Call of Cthulhu figs) and a more simian-faced type (differences in nose and mouth), which still works well enough with the dog-like ones.

Here are all the animal-faced ghouls from Grenadier (now all available at Mirliton):

NM034  Ghouls 1


The first one comes from Grenadier's 8501 Nightmares (Chill) boxed set and is the CH4 Ghoul.
The middle one was in Grenadier's Call of Cthulhu 209 Ghouls as well as in their Nightmares 611 Crypt Creatures packs.
The last one was in Grenadier's Call of Cthulhu 6502 Creatures boxed set (sculpted by John Dennett).

NM035  Ghouls 2:

The first one comes from Grenadier's 2026 Encounter in the Crypt of the Warrior King boxed set.
The second comes from Grenadier's 2014 Folklore Creatures of the Night boxed set as the M15 Ghoul.
The last was in Grenadier's Call of Cthulhu 209 Ghouls as well as in their Nightmares 611 Crypt Creatures packs.

Mirliton also produced a female Call of Cthulhu ghoul, too... and it is found as the last figure here:

NM036  Zombies 2 (a complete misnomer of a pack):


This was in Grenadier's Nightmares 611 Crypt Creatures as well as the 1504 Monster Manuscript vol IV MM31 Ghoul-Female.  (The other two, which are also not Zombies, come from the 8501 Nightmares (Chill) boxed set.)

Also in the Grenadier collection, there are these, which are not yet re-released by Mirliton and don't fit well with the ghouls pictured above:

Grenadier 1504c Monster Manuscript vol IV MM30 Chaos Ghoul
Grenadier 1508d Monster  Manuscript vol VIII MM66 Plague
Grenadier 5002 Dungeon Monsters (two versions)

em4 produces the Metal Magic Dunwich Detectives ghouls, which go very well with the Grenadiers:

Ghoul with Bone Ref: 2004a (Photo and painting by MarkDixon)


Ghoul threatening Ref: 2004b (Photo and painting by Mark Dixon)

 
Ghoul attacking Ref: 2004c


Uncle Mike produces a couple of ghouls, too, and though I like the poses, they're more simian than Lovecraftian dog-like:


Ral Partha produced a few ghouls, but they were smaller than the Grenadiers and more goblin-like than anything:
http://recipesrealm.com/wiki/index.php?title=Personalities_and_Things_that_go_Bump_in_the_Night
http://recipesrealm.com/wiki/index.php?title=Image:RP-31-004.jpg

The closest thing to a Lovecraftian ghoul at Reaper seems to be the crouching ghast here:
02450: Ghouls and Ghast by Ben Siens


But even Siens recognized the variance in ghoul descriptors.  His other ghoul pack is definitely more animal-like:

02941: Ghouls and Ghast (painted by Chris Smith)



Speaking of Ghasts...

RAFM has Ghasts in its RAF02942 Ghasts blister:


Grenadier did produce two ghasts in its 223 Ghasts pack, and they are more humanoid, much bigger, and look quite a bit more dangerous. Neither sculpt has been re-released by Mirliton yet.  Scroll up slightly to see the ghasts here:

http://recipesrealm.com/wiki/index.php?title=Call_of_Cthulhu_%28Grenadier%29#UK_Releases