Thursday, December 30, 2010

Robin Hood: Books and Movies and Miniatures, Oh My!

Illustration by Howard Pyle

Over the past few weeks I've been on a bit of a Robin Hood kick. I reread some of Howard Pyle's stories from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, checked a few history and folklore books on the legends of Robin Hood out from the library, read the graphic novel Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood, and saw The Adventures of Robin Hood, the 1938 film staring Errol Flynn, which (in a fantastic coincidence of timing) was screened at the Paramount Theater here in Charlottesville earlier this month. I highly recommend the film, it's a great swashbuckling adventure with one of the best sword fights in film, between Errol Flynn's Robin Hood and Basil Rathbone's Sir Guy of Gisbourne.




Along with all of these things, I managed to finally finish painting a miniature I started way back in the fall of 2009, but never got around to finishing. It's an old Games Workshop miniature I picked up in a clearance bin a few years ago. In the Warhammer world he's known as Bertrand the Brigand, but it doesn't matter what Games Workshop calls him, it's obvious that this is supposed to be Robin Hood.



The base was entirely made from scratch, the figure just didn't look right on a flat base. I found an appropriately sized stick of wood in the yard, cut and painted a small piece of it to look like a log, and added some other basing material. The lighting in the pictures is not very good, there are some bad shadows and the colors aren't showing up very well. The skin tone looks far more orange here than it is on the actual figure. 


9 comments:

Jim said...

Nice mini. Especially like the work on the base. That's a good idea.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Jim!

The Happy Whisk said...

Tim loves Robin Hood stuff. Very cool. Thanks for dropping by and joining. Nice to meet you.

Happy Gaming. Happy Eating.

Sigmar said...

You're spot on CL, Bertrand is most definitely meant to be Robin Hood.

There were 2 other miniatures that accompanied him, one was obviously supposed to be little John "Hugo le Petit" (big strapping bearded chap with a staff) and the other Friar Tuck "Gui le Gros" (a rotund fellow with a beer barrel).

Friar Tuck and Little John won a Golden Demon award with this diorama:- http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ts1HdLGjywM/TR8kbl7lm5I/AAAAAAAANOw/gau29Rym6ZQ/s800/Gui_le_Gros_Hugo_Le_Petit_Robin_hood.jpg

NIce blog, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm following now and will return for another fun read.

Sigmar
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Sigmar said...

Whoops, the pic link didn't copy across, here it is again:-

Hugo and Gui (Little John and Friar Tuck)

Unknown said...

@Whisk-Nice to meet you too!

Unknown said...

@Sigmar-Yep, I've got the Little John and Friar Tuck minis as well, but they will have to remain in the "To Be Painted Someday" box for a while, as I rarely have painting time these days. Thanks for stopping by!

Gothridge Manor said...

Put Robin Hood in the title and you got my attention. Very nice minis.

My favorite version is Robin of Sherwood. I watched it when it first came out in the 80s and have been a huge fan ever since.

http://www.amazon.com/Robin-Sherwood-Set-Michael-Praed/dp/B000L21290

Unknown said...

@Tim-I never watched Robin of Sherwood. I'll have to check to see if Netflix has it. Thanks for the recommendation.