The Continuing project - Carnevale. UPDATED!

 

So, now that I have your attention.  Here is a limited edition for my favorite gang in Carnevale - The Pulcinellas.  Now onwards to the rest of the production for this game  this quarter.

  

Here is a picture of the total production for this range.  

Once again, for those who do not know the game, Carnevale runs of "gangs" also called "factions.  This "faction" is the Catholic Church.  On the far left is an Inquisitor.  Next to him is an Executioner.  The remaining eight figures are French Revolutionary soldiers.  The game is set in 1795 in the city of Venice.  The French have just conquered the city, so officially the city is under the jurisdiction of a French General and patrolled by French Soldiers.  However, the Catholic Church has asked for and been given control of the city by the Current Revolutionary government (The Directory), as the French are busy fighting elsewhere.  ALl the Catholic Church asked for was some troops as base line support.  The French are not short on manpower in this era so they have complied and left the church to sort out the Chaos that Venice has descended into.  The Inquisotor is the standard leader for these troops, and the Executioner one of the tougher fighters in their aresnal.  The French troops are raw recruits, generally used for patrol duties in controlled areas as well as some extra muscle when the Church deciddes to take down an objective.  

 Here we have elements of the Guild.  The Guild represents the normal people of Venice, who have largely been abandoned by all the powerful groups.  As  a result the street gangs have stepped in and taken on the responsibility of offering normal citizens some level of protection in these troubling times.  Front row extreme left is a Capodeceime, the leader of a standard street gang.  Next to him in the fron row is a gondoliere and three citizens of Venice in the front row.  Rear row, extreme left is a prostitute, next to a "Naga", which is a male prostitute dressed as a woman (Male prostitution was illegal at the time in Venice).  The next two figures are "Recruiters" which can act as secondary leaders in a gang and provide some missile fire for the gang.  The last two figures are fishermen.  

These are members of the "Nobles faction.  On the Extreme left in fron is a butler (he "Buttles").  Second in from the left is a noble gang leader.  Front Middle is a Merchant.  On the right of the front row is another Noble gang leader.  Back row on the extreme left is a syphillitic noble.  The second figure in the back row is a foreign noble.  The third figure is another Butler (he also "Buttles").  The final figure is a Gambling noble.  The Syphilitic and gambling noble are both converted figures from another set in this range, they are both "Noble Strogoi (Vampires).  I got these figures for a great price ($2 each when these figures sell retail for $11 each!) and since I decided that adding Vampires was just too weird (yes that notion does exist in my psyche) so I converted them for better uses.  

The weird/cool faction I did want to use from this game was the Magi-Rasher.  This faction is Cuthulhuoid monsters and mutated humans who worship them.  The basics of this faction is that humans worship Cuthulhuoid "Elder Beings", this worship exposes them to the magic of the ELder Beings.  Said magic either kills the humans or warps the Human beings.  This facts has access to Citizens of Venice (like the previously discussed "Guild").  These Citizens after being mutatated a bit become "Hybrids".  There is a Female Hybrid second from left in the front row and a male hybrid second from right in the front row.  These "Hybrids" get exposed to further magical energy and eitherdie or mutate further into "Advanced Hybrids".  On ethe extreme left in both the front and back row are two examples of advanced hybrids.  A few of the advanced Hybrids are further mutated intoHybrid Gondoliere (Back row extreme right) or a sort of Mermaid (third from left front row) with a name so horrible I will not bother to repeat it.  A small fraction of the mutated are further mutated in "Magi Rasher" these are magic wielding leaders of the faction (front row, third from right.  In the back row are four examples of Cuthuluoid  creaturers whose names I will not bother you with.  Finally fron row, extreme right is a beast called a Karcheros.  It is a mutated shark that can walkon four legs as well as swim.  

Here is the Plague Doctor faction from the game.  In the front on the left is a Plague Doctor, next to him is a "Doctor of Beasts".  To the right in the front are three "Carrion" and in back are five Madmen of the Ospedale. "Doctors of the Ospedale" faction was one of the prime reasons why I got into this game.  Their basic story is that the changes brought about in the game world have caused many people to loose the grip on reality.  Many families having no way to take care of their deranged family member turned their family members over to the "Ospedale" in Venice.  The Doctors quickly began experimenting on the madmen.  The Doctors discovered that they could siphon off the energies of the madmen and use their essence to create magical effects of various sorts.  Literally, the patienst are the batteries that power the magic of the Doctors!  Imagine that, medical people experimenting on their patients for their own benefit!!  I am so glad we live in a "Sane" world where such things NEVER happen!  

Here is a closer shot of the two doctors I have finished. There are LOTS of doctors at the Hospital, but these are the two most important ones.  On the left is a "Doctor of the Ospedale", also known as a "Plague Doctor"  They are the leaders of the faction and have an impressive array of magical spells they can cast, generally they are just as tough magically as the Magi-Rasher.  To the Right is a Doctor of Beasts.  These Doctors work with Animals brought to the hospital for experimentation.  

Here are five "Madmen of the Hospital".  These are the "batteryies" that power all the special tricks of the Doctor Faction.  The Madmen can also be used in hand to hand combat in a pinch, but powering the Doctors abilities is a MUCH better use for their essence.  The actual figures I am using here are from Heroclix as you can  never have too many madmen in a doctor force, but at 13$ a pair of madmen, the actual ones from the company are TOO expensive for my tastes so these will suffice.  I am working on the two actual official madmen I own and will update with them in a day or so when they are finished.  

When madmen have been "discharged" too many times they loose their ability to recharge, just like modern batteries.  When that happens, the "Doctors of the Morgue" fit the madmen's body out with a control node and the remains become what the Doctors call "Carrion".  These can be thrown away in hand to hand fighting as needed while the Doctors concentrate on blasting away with their magical effects.  Again, I am so glad that we do NOT live in a world where the medical profession feels like we patients are here to serve their purposes and we can simply be dispensed with whenever we no longer suit their needs.  

Here we have my personal favorite faction in the entire game, The Pulcinellas.  They have no magic, they are not particularly strong, they have no technology on their side.  Basically, they have given up on life and accept that they have lost, now they just want to get drunk and cause as much trouble as possible with the time they have remaining.  Pulcinellas can be hired in standard Guild gangs as cheap muscle.  Or they can be fielded as their own stand alone gang.  In orger to field them as a gang they must purchase one figure.  

"The King of the Pulcinellas" is their leader.  The game has a fascinating method of explaining how the king is determined.  Whenever a Pulcinella does something remarkably dangerous, or crazy, or preferably both, nad manages to pull off the stunt, the other Pulcinellas decide he will be "King for a day".  Literally for one day, every Pulcinella will do whatever the "King" says.  At the end of that day all the Pulcinellas beat the crap out of yesterday's "King"just to remind him he is nothing special any more.  

The second special figure in the Pulcinella gang is the Ostrich Riders.  The game "Canon" states that the Pulcinellas accidentally stole some Ostriches that the Doctores of the Ospedale were importing to run experiments on, and have managed to breed them.  When the job calls for it teh Pulcinellas can bring out several lunatics who will proceed to spasmodically run around on an ostrich in the game, really fast, and can be deadly, but certainly not always.  

All the basic Pulcinellas (none of them have any special abilities over each other) come as four piece  model: the torso, two ams and a head.  I managed to get this one to stick together so that it looks like he is either kissing his club or talking to it (this figure always reminds me of Anton).  

Here is a special variant drinking a beer which is the perfect "Pulcinella".  

Here you see another view of that rude "little person" that I showed at the top of this post.  Once again there is no difference between him and any of the other standard Pulcinellas, however he is a "limited edition figure.  So here you have 57 more figures painted this quarter.  

Now, as promised, how I managed to get 372 28mm figures painted in three months.  The basic strategy was simple and two fold.  First, I would pick four or five figures from one of the ranges, naturally all these would be relatively similar figures, for purpose of this discussion say it was half a squad of Brood Brothers.  Second, I would go through the other ranges and pick out a few figures who could have similar paint jobs and say three zombies and a farmer from the Zombie game and one "citizen from this game.  I could then production line paint all ten figures in about two days, flocking and overcoating included.  Then repeat the process as ofetn as possible.  Periodiacally, for sanity sake I would take on a vehicle just to break the cycle up.  I found it best to do this when I was done with a basic color scheme.  

So if you ever decide you want to crank out a lot of figures feel free to try this idea and let me know how it works for you.