As promised last week, I finally have worked on something Prehistoric/Pulp again. And this time it is something quite large as well. Outside of being a bit of a pain to varnish with a brush (because the varnish tends to collect in between the fur which requires extra work to clean up), this mini went pretty smoothly and wasn’t too work intensive. Here’s a look at it with a few hungry Neanderthals closing in!
I got out a bit of my old LOTR terrain out to help set the scene as well. One of the things I realized while working on the Mammoth’s base is that my basing scheme looks better on the cavemen than it does on a bigger miniature with a large base. I did some research into basing options to try and get ideas and ultimately decided to add more tufts and foliage to the Woolly Mammoth’s base since the photo was taken. I realized that I need the flock and tufts to match across the Cavemen and Mammoth for obvious reasons but also because it needs to blend in with the terrain in the background as well. I have some ideas for how to improve my basing further, but this isn’t going to be the best project to do so because I need to keep the pre-existing terrain in mind. At some point in the coming months, I will see if I can try some new ideas out, however.
I think other than buying some dice and maybe a measuring stick since the game is in metrics, I can finally test out Palaeo Diet: Eat or Be Eaten. So I may be able to do that and put together a brief battle report in the nearish future. That is something I’ll be looking forward to. I got a game in of Hellboy since my last update and had quite a good time with that so I should have plenty of gaming opportunities the rest of this year even if I don’t get around to any more Fallout for a bit.
Keeping the pulp theme going, I read The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs and I’m halfway through the movie as well so I thought I’d share my thoughts to close out. The Land That Time Forgot is available for free through Apple’s bookstore and the movie can be watched on Youtube for free as well, if you’re interested. The book is under 100 pages so it wasn’t difficult at all to read through it in a few days.
The Land That Time Forgot was written quite a while ago and that surfaces in a couple of different ways. The first is that adventures of surviving a dreaded U-Boat attack and then taking it over takes up a good chunk of the narrative. Burroughs was writing shortly after WWI ended so a U-Boat would put the fear into any reader at the time even if it is less impressive now. I couldn’t help but be amused at German incompetence in the story too. The U-Boat is boarded by people whose ship they blew up and later the Germans take over the ship again after being prisoners only to lose control yet again.
Its a bit silly but the U-Boat shenanigans fit the fast pace of the story. There is rarely a page or two that goes by where something isn’t happening. This is surely what is meant when people say pulp stories feature “two-fisted action”! As a counter-example, consider Lord of the Rings. Tolkien loves to include songs, poetry, and pieces of exposition about the world he created throughout the exciting adventures. There’s absolutely none of that here. Its all action and almost none of the characters get fleshed out other than the protagonist who is also the narrator.
The Lost World setting is cool here. Instead of just having dinosaurs, there’s everything! Sabretooth tigers, fierce cavemen, hyenas from the Ice Age. I liked that and I liked that it wasn’t just another steamy jungle because I don’t want to make jungle terrain to do pulp gaming if I can avoid it!
Speaking of dinosaurs, quite a few dinos die while the narrator is stuck in Caprona, the lost world, and they all get turned into steaks! Do you think a dinosaur would make for a decent meal? Its entertaining how much dino meat gets consumed in the story to me anyway.
Another amusing detail in the book is how Edgar Rice Burroughs manages to get some digs in on ze Germans. Unlike Americans who are completely free from the horrible monarchy and any class based systems (sarcasm intended on that last bit), the German characters can’t help themselves! The leader of the U-Boat can only order others around because he’s a European and this is how they do things. The other Germans just listen and do what they’re told too because they’re so used to that way of living.
Finally, much like H.P. Lovecraft, Burroughs was a talented writer with deeply flawed personal beliefs. He was a big proponent of eugenics and it surfaces in this book when you get close to the end and he starts talking about the various cavemen and their evolution. Its kind of funny and benign compared to actual eugenics (where people were sterilized against their wishes in some cases), but he seems to describe a world where each caveman is trying to “evolve” or elevate themselves by marrying up into a higher class of caveman. Its bizarre and kind of funny though the views that likely inspired it, are anything but.
All in all, The Land That Time Forgot was a fun read both in intended and unintended ways. I looked at a couple of local bookstores near me to see if they had this or anything by Burroughs and one Tarzan book is all I could find. I can certainly see why as his work shows its age. That is not a criticism of it necessarily, its just that I don’t know how many people, especially the younger generations, would seek this type of book out.
For what its worth, the movie does get rid of some of the book’s rough edges and is pretty entertaining. The actors play their roles seriously and convincingly. The special effects are not great, however. I am reminded of the Gorn fight in Star Trek a bit though it isn’t quite that bad. Honestly, watching the movie is probably the better way to experience the source material and if you weren’t alive at the time the movie came out (and probably even if you were alive), it really makes you appreciate how good the Star Wars movies and their special effects are.
That’s it for me this week. I will have a wildly different miniature for next week but no hints on what it is. You’ll have to come back and see for yourself!
Kuribo's Painting 
Great work on the Mammoth Jeff, a couple of sabretooth tigers and you should be good to go on the threat level ! LOL
Look forward to reading your game reports, both Hellboy and prehistoric.
Having lived through the 70’s I can safely say that a lot of those outdated views were still around then, and it wasn’t until the 80’s that things started to change, but only slowly, crikey there are still people to this day with very strange view points ( never offer to help on psychology reports ! LOL). The movie is very tongue in cheek when it comes to the effects, but they were cutting edge at the time, and we have certainly come along way since then, unless we are talking low budget B movies ! LOL
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That’s the truth! I have roughly ten (probably less than that) miniatures to paint as far as animals go and I feel like that is about all that I need, give or take an addition or two. You certainly can’t get away with that in Warhammer!
I can believe it, unfortunately and there certainly are some strange people out there. I’ve run into quite a few in my lifetime. I really enjoy in the movie where they’re firing at the dinosaurs as if they’ve got Tommy Guns and the dinosaurs don’t really react very much until about 50 bullets are put in them. I imagine that is completely realistic! 🙂
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Love the look of these minis! Great job on the mammoth. I know what you mean about the larger bases being a bit more tricky, I’ve found getting bigger tufts is helpful for them
Thanks for the run through of the book/movie. Never read the book but the movie I have seen… many many years ago! Was fun to remember
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Thank you, mon ami! Its good to hear from you and I hope all is well with you. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have a lot of taller or bigger tufts. I need to get some and I think I might reconfigure my tuft collection as well because I think its mostly suited to painting LOTR display pieces which I haven’t been doing lately but that’s a topic for a future update!
Glad to hear you’ve seen the movie too. Its definitely good fun and was well worth watching!
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Yes I’ve had to proactively seek out bigger tufts for just that purpose. Vallejo and Gamer Grass do some good ones if you have access to that locally.
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I should be able to get either here. Gamers Grass is definitely around and I’ve had my eyes on it recently so that is good to hear.
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Nice mammoth
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Thank you!
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Nice work on the mammoth, Jeff! 🙂 I really like it! My next remark will be viewed as heresy by some/most – you could paint the base edges brown instead of black to help bring everything together (shock, horror)! I switched to brown base edges decades ago since I find they look better (to me anyway) against grassed or earth terrainscapes (not sure that’s really a word). I use Vallejo Game Color Chocolate for base edges. Just a thought!
I was alive before the film was made, but not before the book was written!
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Thanks, John! I don’t think your base color suggestion is heresy at all. When I worked on the Woolly one, I had to go back and look how I painted the Cavemen because I wasn’t sure. I’ve flip-flopped on base colors over the years because I used to use brown colored base rims for LOTR and quite liked them. I’m not opposed to going back to that color either as I think it looks good in-game. I may even use the black rims in the upcoming game and see if that motivates me to go to brown. It wouldn’t shock me if that happens.
And haha, that is good to know! Of course, if someone wants to tell me that the U-Boat sections are thrilling because they’ve served on one, I’ll be happy to rescind that portion of my amateur criticism 😀
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Great Work on the Mammoth. I had totally forgotten about this film.
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Its a classic to be sure and thanks, mate!
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Venturing into pulp is awesome. It’s something on my to-do list for sure. Love that mammoth!!
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I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you do in the setting and thank you for the kind words as well!
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great looking mammoth. I Hope getting its base right won’t be a …mammoth… undertaking. 😀🥹
I find the idea of cavemen and dangerous animals actually an intriguing idea for gaming. Might have to look at it more closely done day.
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Haha, it shouldn’t be! There are a decent amount of rulesets in the Prehistoric setting and some would be pretty good for multiplayer/convention style games which I would think are appealing to you. Additionally, your terrain collection would work well too. The painting lift is pretty small in this setting and a lot of the animals can be drybrushed just like I did with this Woolly Mammoth. So in other words, I’d say its a good fit for you and your collection 🙂
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I like what you have done with the Mammoth, the only comment I would add on the basing is that there needs to be something under his belly as well.
I don’t know if I would call the movie a classic but I do find it enjoyable. I’ve always been tempted with doing a game board with the submarine in the back and using Warlord Games Soviet Naval Brigade figures or use Murch’s Savage Seas Merchant sailors and do something similar to Peter Jackson’s Kong. Pulp fiction is so enticing.
I’ve pulled my copy of The Land That Time Forgot off my shelf and rereading it – it is holding up quite well and keeping my attention and imagination going!
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I came to that same conclusion when I added more groundworks to it. I’m sure you’ll see the mammoth again in the near future and hopefully you’ll approve of the additions when you do.
That is a fantastic idea. I had never considered it but I think that would be an excellent board and with your existing terrain collection, it wouldn’t take a lot of work either. I have some rough ideas for things I’d like to do with a pulp setting, though I’ll keep gathering more as time goes on. It is a very open space to play around with, very different than Lord of the Rings or Fallout.
The Land That Time Forgot is never boring and that is to Burroughs credit. I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying it. I need to start on the remaining two chapters in the trilogy soon.
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I love that mammoth, and I have to admit that I’d almost forgotten about your burgeoning tribe of neanderthals. I look forward to reading about how a great mammoth hunt unfolds on your tabletop.
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Thanks, mate and I wouldn’t blame you! I think it might have been a year now since I last did anything for this project. That is the one advantage to sticking to one or two games I suppose. You can get a lot more done for them!
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Sounds like a silly fun read and watch. Very much an inspiration I think for the X-Men’s adventures in The Savage Land and Sauron (they were so, so blatant back then, weren’t they?)
The mammoth looks good to me! The rich brown of the fur works really well and I also like the subtle blending on the tusks. Even the eye manages to look annoyed at that hunter alongside!
I think one of the issues in basing is that what looks good and “balanced” on a single 28-32mm model can end up looking sillier and more unrealistic as you scale up to larger bases get if you keep the same density and variation.
Like on a full table it would look silly to have bases like the ones I typically use with a tuft and a rock every 15mm or so, where on a mini it can look boring to have nothing but an unbroken patch of grass or barren earth when larger areas of both of those look much more natural on an actual tabletop than having both mixed together every 2 feet…
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Indeed! The Savage Land is definitely inspired by pulp settings and there are quite a lot of Marvel comics set there. I’m sure you could find a list online if you are so inclined.
I’m glad you like the mammoth as well. I think you described the basing challenges better than I could. You’re exactly right that each base size requires a different approach to look the best. To further prove this point, if you look at Gamers Grass’s ready made bases, they manage to scale the bases really well, I think. Next time I tackle a bigger base like this, I intend to use those as a reference/inspiration.
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