Paint ... patriotically!

[Margo]

I\'ve been browsing some historical miniatures ranges and to my great surprise I found a whole range of models of Armenian soldiers by different manufacturers!

Being an Armenian by origin, my patriotic feelings instantly went sky high.

And what\'s even more amazing it that the best 28 mm range is produced by ... Perry Miniatures (The Crusades range; seven (!) different boxed sets). Needless to say, I\'m ordering some. To paint. Patriotically. lol

I\'m a little curious: have any of you ever painted a miniature of your own \"nationality\" just for the fun of it?

 

[t_haye2]

yup, I did some minis based on rembrandt\'s Nightwatch ages ago... not specifically dutch uniform wise, but still quite funny... i also painted a Warmaster Windmill for the display cabinets of Forgeworld with a little Dutch flag on one of the wings They still take it to shows...

 

[minimaker]

Hmm, my nationality. I\'m a mix of Chinese, French and Czech while I live in the Netherlands, so I\'ve got a broad choice. lol

Funny you should ask right now. I\'m about to send a master to a caster which actually has a Dutch theme (yeah, wooden shoes, windmill, tulips and a suspicious cigarette. ) . It\'s a convention special, so I can\'t tell more about it. I also have plans to make a few Chinese based figures since I\'m tired of all those Asian figures being based on Japan.

As to commercial figures, well, most relevant figures seem to be from the post renaissance period so they don\'t interest me very much. I do always have a look though. There are a fair number of Chinese figures around but they don\'t have the quality level I\'m used to.
One thing that\'s fun is to look at the figures by SF companies. I\'ve got some Dutch troops by GZG. Question is though, what makes them Dutch.

What Armenian troops did you find?

Tammy, what brand were those Nightwatch figures? I missed those.
Hehe, first two reactions by Dutch nationals.
By the way, we\'re choosing tasks over at the sculpting project

 

[Margo]

Originally posted by minimakerWhat Armenian troops did you find?

Oh I found lots. HERE is the list; unfortunately, there are not many pictures.

 

[minimaker]

Most of those are ancients. Nice. Not much luck on the Dutch at the atlas, mostly ships and Napoleonics.

 

[Margo]

Originally posted by minimaker
Most of those are ancients. Nice.

Yes, very nice. Although I\'d really love it if there was something even more ancient or even Armenian and Cilician kings. Those would look gorgeous if sculpted.

... I can\'t make up my mind which set to order form Perry Miniatures -- they all look nice and, well, quite LotR-ish

 

[vincegamer]

I painted some orks once.

 

[t_haye2]

@ minimaker: they were conversions i did of foundry minis, and some other brands as well.....

 

[sin3br]

I haven\'t painted patriotically, yet. I bought some IG catachan snipers a few months ago, the blister that comes with three of them. I began to think about a colorscheme for them, and I noticed that the crouching one has some nice muscles. A freehand idea came to my mind: the flag of Finland on the left shoulder :] I\'ll prolly start painting him in a week or so. Too bad my freehand skills are pretty non-existent, but that\'s what the practice is for On a sidenote, would you guys think it is inappropriate if some german people painted marines with swastikas?

 

[t_haye2]

swastikas are fine in a historical context, AKA german WW2 models and tanks etc. Painting them on marines or anything not related to it\'s original context, will certainly kick up a storm here, in the negative sense. I myself don\'t much care either way, but I find it pretty juvenile to feel the need to paint swastikas on space marines...(or american marine models for that matter), and will vote accordingly.

 

[minimaker]

Origineel geplaatst door t_haye2
@ minimaker: they were conversions i did of foundry minis, and some other brands as well.....

Ah, I see. Nice idea. Picture? Hmm, competition idea, mini based on a national painting?

 

[Klute]

Just for conversation.
Wasnt swastika symbol borrowed from an Egyptian source by the Nazi party.
Wasnt it used by a \"normal\" political party to begin with and is now just associated with \"evil\".
How do certain countries and religions think when they see the Union Jack or Stars and Stripes.
Im pretty sure some will feel the same as we do about the Swastika.
Just a thought.

EDIT
I do agree that it is usually best to keep clear of things that could cause offense.

 

[Ritual]

I think the swastika is Indian, originally. They have two similar symbols, one for the rising sun and one for the setting sun. The Nazi\'s used the latter. The other one is basically the same with the \"hooks\" going the other way.

And I see no point in using them on Space Marines. Yes, it\'s an old symbol having nothing to do with racism, war or genocide. However, the symbol is forever associated with Nazi Germany and using them (in a non-historical context) will unavoidably cause a stir, no matter what the intentions are.

Anders

 

[green stuff]

Message original : Klute
Just for conversation.
Wasnt swastika symbol borrowed from an Egyptian source by the Nazi party.

It seems to me it was first of indian origin (as in the southern peninsul of Asia). It was supposed to be a sun symbol and represent strength. But in it\'s original form it went the other way arround.

Would Bretonians count for a french origin theme?

 

[Klute]

Thanks for keeping me right guys.
I could only remember that it had been used long before the Nazi\'s.
And yes I do think it would cause quite a stir.Saying that there are some minis here that have them and also include Hitler and co.
Do we have a right to stop these images on the beliefs of some people when we dont stop images on the beliefs of others.
Its like the naked woman post that was verging on pornography.Where is the line and who decides when it is overstepped.
On topic I dont think I have done a patriotic mini.

 

[frenchkid]

Well actually not all peoaple find the swasistka offensive. When I whent to mexico I was astonished to see the number going around with tee shirt witha swasitka on it., also had a strong urge to give these people a piece of my mind about carying that around. But I actaully learned after asking my corespondent about it that most mexican people just associate it witha sign of power and nothing more.
As for painting a patriotic mini, we had someone do a graphic of a wolfen model with berret and carying a croissant. I\'v been wanting do that for ever

 

[minimaker]

Info on the Swastika: http://www.locksley.com/6696/frames.htm? (interesting connection between Native Indians, Karl May and Hitler) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika Loads more if you want to read up on it.

My opinion on the use is the same as Tammy\'s.

@French kid. I think I know what mini you\'re thinking of. The one with the croissant like stone above the head, right? I had a funny idea about that one as well. The stone as a croissant and it getting worshipped by a crowd of hobbits. Oh, don\'t forget the bageutte and wine.

 

[frenchkid]

Originally posted by minimaker

@French kid. I think I know what mini you\'re thinking of. The one with the croissant like stone above the head, right? I had a funny idea about that one as well. The stone as a croissant and it getting worshipped by a crowd of hobbits. Oh, don\'t forget the bageutte and wine.

Exactly !!! that\'s the one, just have to make the stone a bit more croissant like, adda beret, put a frog on the base, and add a basket with baguette and wine in it And don\'t forget the cigarette This is going to be a fun one if I ever get around to it

 

[minimaker]

Don\'t forget the café au lait. A big one so the wolfen can dip the croissant in it.
And you should add a chicken with brush in it\'s rear end to the base as a finishing touch. lol

 

[t_haye2]

Hitler got the idea of the swastika as the symbol for the NSDAP from looking at the ancient Indian(sanskrit) sun symbol, which is a cross with four hooks. note that this symbol has been used in several ancient cultures, but ALL of those have the orientation of the hooks pointing the other way, IE, the cross is \'moving\' to the right, while the NSDAP sun symbol is \'moving\' to the left.

hitler chose the sun as the symbol for the aryan race as a way of self empowerment, same as the roman salute \'Ave\'. The nazis used a lot of runic symbols as well and took them out of their primarily benign context.

This \'borrowing\' of symbolism and ideas has happened eversince the beginning of man, see the greek and roman belief structure for instance. This doesn\'t mean that it condones using this imagery on, say...a space marine. We have to take into account the meaning the symbol has now, and make our decision based on that. Like I said before, I think it would be very juvenile and tasteless using it out of this context, but frankly, so would using the US \'rebel\' flag, a star of david, or give them one black fist.(black panthers)

I personally believe any connection with political or religious ideas and toy soldiers is in bad taste. It\'s TOYS, not a method to spout your personal life philosophy, I get bored enough by priests/politicians/gurus who stick their flyers through my door every day, don\'t need it with my minins too.