Sculpting Fantasy Miniatures + Half-Elf Ranger + Martin Longbow

Martin Longbow. 

Ok. Seven miniatures in a month? Considering sculpting is a new hobby for me and I already have a full life, I am surprised I found the time! The unexpected joy that comes from creating a new character from wire and putty has brought delight, albeit at odd hours of the day.

Now thay I have seven miniatures, I will send them off to have them cast in metal. The latest figurine is another character from the glory days of gaming. Alex Packwood had a few memorable characters but two that stand out were Claris the Cleric and Martin Longbow. The former was a D&D (Redbox) character, whereas Martin Longbow an AD&D character.

The main difference between the games being that Race became independent of Class. New classes were also added. One of those classes was the Ranger. Invented by one of the player's in Gary Gygax's Greyhawk campaign, the Ranger was based upon Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings. Of course Aragorn was the original half-elf, so what better race to choose? In the 1st edition of AD&D playing a half-elf gave offered added benefits. In latter editions your character is better off as either a human or an elf.

Game mechanics aside, Martin borrowed his name from a character in Magician, a popular book by Raymond E. Feist. His best work in my opinion. As an aside the world of Midkemia was from Raymond's own houseruled D&D campaign, which had an invasion by Tekumel (from M. A. R. Barker's Empire of the Petal Throne.) In his novel Magician, Tekumel became Kelewan.

On one of our more memorable gaming nights, Martin broke his Longbow when Alex rolled a 1 during combat. Rolling a 1 on the 20 sided die was a critical failure and in our house rules for bows, that meant a broken bow. Alex picked up another bow and tried to shoot again the following round. He rolled another 1. And again. And again. After his fifth consecutive 1, Alex stood up, strode to the sliding doors, opened them and threw his cursed die into the night!

With this miniature I added a few new strings to my bow. I utilised more wire tham usual; to shape and support the arms and bow. The original studs were too bulky, so I employed a ball pump needle for the task. I also found a better tool for cloaks. It has a small convex end, like the back of a tiny spoon, that makes for cleaner sculpting of folding cloth.

God bless and enjoy your week!