Retrospective: A Ship of Fools - The Crew of Gilliam's Folly

The allegory of the Ship of Fools might be rather pertinent at the moment here in the UK and elsewhere, however I am using the phrase literally to introduce this lot - the crew(s) of Gilliam's Folly!

Actually I'll start with the first scurvy lot who crewed the ship during the Warhammer Ahoy game at BOYL 2015 - a fearsome Goblin pirate band sculpted by Kev Adams. 

They're a great bunch of minis and it was nice to give them an outing as I don't really do much pirate-themed gaming!

They certainly did a sterling job in the Warhammer Ahoy game, hanging on while the Giant led them on a merry dance across the high seas, along with a bunch of my 4A Miniatures Bog Gobs (as I call them) - another lovely range of Kev Adams sculpted Goblins with a strong maritime feel and available from Four A Miniatures.

 Not only did they manage not to fall off their ship, even with the Giant swapping nautical hats during the game, but they even succeeded in downing Zee Kindenbourg - Geoff's amazing Goblin Airship!

A proud moment although tinged with sadness at the destruction of such a beautiful ship!

There's a nice mix of warriors and villager types in the 4A range and I look forward to painting up the rest of them that were released in the last Kickstarter Andy ran back in 2017...

Hornblower lets rip atop the Crow's Nest!

There's lots of humorous touches to the miniatures - the "Fishwife" below is one of my favourites, although the eye-patch wearing Boss is a close runner up!

I must admit they do seem quite at home aboard Gilliams Folly...

I think this conversion from a bottle of grog to a telescope just about works!

However, I am very happy to say that I have finally gotten around to painting up the proper and correct crew from Time Bandits - Northumbrian Tin Soldier's Time Robbers! I think Time Bandits has to rank as one of my all time favourite films and I still remember being absolutely blown away by it as a kid watching for the first time so these miniatures were a bit of a labour of love for me!

I'm not sure when these guys were originally released but as soon as I saw them I knew I had to have them! It certainly seems like they've been in cardboard purgatory for quite a while! In fact it was getting round to painting this lot up (being distracted by larger projects didn't help) that held up getting Gilliam's Folly featured on here properly. The paint jobs are based on what I could see of the costumes from stills of the film and the lovely painted versions on Northumbrian Tin Soldier's website. Nice to really go to town on a small group of miniatures and the palette of warm browns, tans and reds was very pleasant to work with.

Of course the Time Bandits actually stole the ship (if you can actually steal something a giant is using as a hat?) from it's previous occupants - Winston the Ogre and his lovely if slightly sinister wife, Mrs Ogre, played by the fantastic Peter Vaughan and Katherine Helmond in the film.

Happily these resin scenic pieces from Scotia Grendel are reminiscent of Mrs Ogre's kitchen - well stocked with a large selection of knives and bladeds as well as all the disgusting ingredients for Winston's various medications. 

"You try being beastly and terrifying... when you can only get one hour's sleep a night because your back hurts and you don't dare cough unless you want to pull a muscle."

I ended up trying to emulate the pattern on Mrs Ogre's dress which was a little nerve-wracking but I think it came out alright in the end. Again these were a pleasure to paint - nice, unfussy and old school in style. Winston was pretty straight forward with his old coat made of rags and fishing net.

Seeing as how I had the cast and set to hand I thought I'd recreate a little scene from the film!

Kevin's cunning plan to escape being eaten by the Ogres - a miraculous back cure!

A back cure that involves the Time Bandits stretching Winston by his arms and legs...

... which enables them to swing overboard!

A suspicious Mrs Ogre investigates.

Winston... What are you doing in the water dear?

Kevin and the Bandits approach under cover of the cooking pot...

Mrs Ogre - about to join her husband...

Celebrations - the boat is theirs!

Or is it...?

I wonder how much this lovely Jes Godwin ogre was inspired by the film - or even Tim the Enchanter here as well?

I'll leave you with a few close up shots of the Northumbrian Tin Soldier miniatures - next steps to paint the rest of the range up!

Randall and Kevin

Fidgit and Vermin

Og and Strutter

Wally

Winston and Mrs Ogre