(COMMERCIAL) Baaaaa

[shredder]

Doug over at eM4 produced some rare breed sheep some years ago (no mean feat for a man) through a company called Valley Design. They are rather nice minis although never really sold as collectables, but I thought they might be of interest to people as wargaming figures.

They are 52/54mm scale metal miniatures.
Suffolks


Jacobs


Hill Farmer & Dog




The range also has Blue Faced Leicester (and no, that's not a cheese ;-) and Welsh Mountain. I think there is also a miner.

The shepherd is 58mm from bottom of foot to top of hat, the adult sheep are 25 and 36mm.

Any thoughts?

Gary

[Vermis]

I thought they might be of interest to people as wargaming figures... Any thoughts?

If you wanted them as wargaming figures, for the background of a 54mm game, they'd do nicely.

If you were a sheep farmer, some kind of breed enthusiast, or just a collector of esoteric but quality minis, they're a bit iffy in places.  For one thing, I'm surprised the heads on the suffolks are so broad and flattened (dorsoventrally/top-bottom) when the breed normally has a high-ridged roman nose.  Missing the... what would you call it... 'forward thrust' of the chest too.  And sorry, but the chicken-drumstick shoulders grate on me.

The jacobs sheep look better, but I'm not convinced by the attempt to represent fleece patterns in the sculpting. YMMV. (Though the patches seem more regularly-sized and spaced than on the live article, anyway)

I don't know if it's the casting process or metal used, but I wonder if that's what's causing the smoothed-over look on the fleeces.  It looks like there was more detail there before.  I'm a little more cynical that it's the reason for the hooves - especially on the suffolks - to have merged into blunt paddles.  Not great detail for 54mm 'scale'/36mm tall minis, IMO.

I think the hill farmer and dog are decent.  Not without their problems (ankles), but the farmer reminds me of my old grandad.

[shredder]

Ye, I'm thinking background, part of the scenery figures myself. I just bought some sheep for my dark ages games (28mm though ;-)

Gary

[shredder]

I have finally got around to listing these items on the shop, so if you are interested in these you can find them here…

http://www.forlornhopegames.co.uk/em-4-miniatures/category/116-valley-design

Enjoy

Gary

[Earther]

Bah indeed. Doug has the excellent Spacelords line he has done next to nothing with for years and you guys release his 54mm sheep breeds… 

[shredder]

Bah indeed. Doug has the excellent Spacelords line he has done next to nothing with for years and you guys release his 54mm sheep breeds… 

:-)

Actually these were released many years ago under the banner of Valley designs. I simply persuaded him to let me have them and see if they sell, as I said to him "nobody will buy them if they are sat in a box over there".

:-)

[Quendil]

Nice to see the Jacobs as I used to breed them.  Its not that common to have them with 4 horns though.

[Earther]

…as I said to him "nobody will buy them if they are sat in a box over there".

:-)

Can you say it to him again about the Spacelords?

[shredder]

Are they not on his site?

I'll give him a poke ;-)

Gary

[Earther]

Are they not on his site?

A tiny sampling has been up for years. But it's a big range and I'm not buying a handful of them and then waiting indefinitely for the others to be rereleased. I was hoping Forlorn would roll them all out. I'm certain they'd sell well now the 28mm 'old school' sci-fi thing is growing.

I'll give him a poke ;-)

Gary

Please use a big shitty stick. He might take notice then.

[Predatorpt]

A tiny sampling has been up for years. But it's a big range and I'm not buying a handful of them and then waiting indefinitely for the others to be rereleased. I was hoping Forlorn would roll them all out. I'm certain they'd sell well now the 28mm 'old school' sci-fi thing is growing.

Please use a big shitty stick. He might take notice then.

Hear, hear. I love the range, but I would like to have all of it, not just part. And like Earther said, there's lots of old-school projects around and that range would fit like a glove!

[Jonas]

I would be interested to buy one of each Spacelords miniature I currently don't have and I would be interested to buy dublicates of several of them too.

 

[shredder]

I've passed your kind and heartfelt words on to Doug and he informed me that everything he currently has moulds for is listed on his shop. The rest of the range (I've no idea what that entails) is currently mouldless (though he didn't use that word, if indeed it is a word :-)

He has gone to change his coat.

Gary

[Jonas]

That is sad news. Does it mean that the other miniatures are lost? Or moulds eventually can be made?

[shredder]

That is sad news. Does it mean that the other miniatures are lost? Or moulds eventually can be made?

Doesn't look like bad news, his full reply was…

Got them all (people keep asking me about them as well, by the way) but the ones not on site have not been moulded – that’s the reason they’re not available.