The Dragon and the George

The Cult of Saints emerged in Christiandom during the 3rd century. Saints were seen as examplars of behavior, and capable of interceding on the behalf of believers for divine favor.

In the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, military saints became popular objects of veneration due to being viewed as protectors. Among these, were four dragon-slaying saints that represented the triumph of Christianity over heresy/evil.

The earliest attribution of dragon-slayer is usually given to St. Theodore [Tyro]. A second [later] St. Theodore is also said to have slain a dragon (or serpent), with both events having occured near Euchaita.

St. Demetrius is yet another dragon-slaying saint, though I think his iconography is more associated with killing Tsar Kaloyan [whom I presume was considered a heretic for opposing Constantinople].

Occasionally, the figure being slain is
misrepresented (purposely?) as Lyaeus,
who was actually killed by St. Nestor.

In Bulgarian folk tales, St. Demetrius and St. George were said to be twins. Their origin legend is similar to later fairy tales like The Knights of the Fish, with Demetrius saving George from a dragon.

The narrative of St. George as the sole dragon-slayer solidified in the 13th century through the Legenda aurea.

The iconography used to depict these saints is influenced by the Cult of the Thracian Horseman, and the Dioscuri, but depictions of the dragon from this legend are varied.

Personally, I always associated the St. George legend with the paintings of Saint George and the Dragon by Paolo Uccello.

His earliest painting of this subject shows a dragon with four limbs, wings with ocellated markings, and long neck and tail. The dragon is reminescent of medieval depictions of demons, and it wraps its tail around the saint whose helmet is surrounded by golden rays.

Paolo Uccello, ca. 1430
NVG 2124-4

When he revisited the subject decades later, the dragon is painted as a wyvern, though the ocellated wings remain. St. George is depicted as the classic horseman, but modernized to an armored knight.

Paolo Uccello, ca. 1465
MJAP-P 2248

His final attempt at the subject is a refinement of the second painting. The wyvern has the ocellated wings and corkscrew tail of the earlier work, but does not look as awkward. This painting defined how I thought wyverns should look.

Paolo Uccello, ca. 1470
NG6294

Apparently Conan Scanlon, the sculptor for Saxon Manufacturing was of like mind, and used the painting as inspiration for his Wyvern (Saxon Fantasy 5010).

This particular miniature was used on the Lost Minis Wiki. After I got ahold of it, I used a green Sharpie to color in the eyes and wings. A bit of isopropanol created the ocellated spots. I'm still deciding whether to strip and repaint the miniature or not.

It's probably twice the size it should be to replicate the painting, so one of these days I'll probably use this miniature as a reference to sculpt a smaller version that matches better with 1/72 scale figures.

Some D&D 50th Anniversary Miniatures

For the 50th Anniversary of D&D, WizKids has released a set of Icons of the Realms figures representing creatures from 1st ed. AD&D and the current 5th ed. of the game.

I picked up a few of the miniatures that I felt I could use alongside 1/72 scale figures, the first being the Classic Red Dragon, which is probably the size of a typical young dragon in the current line of miniatures.

The miniature represents the red dragon from the cover of the original D&D Basic Set from 1977.

I think it's a great representation of the artwork, though I wish they would have made the wings a little more in proportion to its body (certainly they were able to alter the appearance of other miniatures, so I don't know why they couldn't have made changes to make this miniature look better).

I also bought a Gold Dragon which is based on the 5th ed. ampersand logo.

This miniature is a Young Gold Dragon (50th Anniversary #50), which is the equivalent size I use for adult dragons in 1/72 scale. This particular miniature seems to sell on eBay for ~US$50, which is way overpriced. You can find it for much cheaper by shopping around.

The next miniature is an efreet based on the cover of the 1st ed. AD&D DMG.

The Efreeti (50th Anniversary #47) has been modified to suit modern tastes, with the damsel in distress replaced by a ball of fire. The sword arm is a separate part, and the seam line where it is attached to the body is quite glaring. I do like how the sunburst eyes from the artwork are replicated in the miniature though.

I was also surprised to learn that Super7 makes a similarly sized 3.75" action figure of the efreet (along with various other figures). Note how the left hand is conveniently cropped from the blister card art.

There is also a US$250 12" resin figure produced by WizKids that represents the "advanced scene" on the DMG cover after the scantily clad damsel has convinced the efreet that the knight is a much better candidate for his attentions.

Next are a pair of goblins. The 1E version is based on Dave Trampier's art from the AD&D Monster Manual.

The 1E Goblin (50th Anniversary #6) is similar to the art, with the main difference being the helmet (because of the way it is painted). The 5E Goblin (50th Anniversary #5) is an archer that is firing his bow.

Next are a pair of Shadow Demons, with the 1E version based on the art from the Fiend Folio.

The 1E Shadow Demon (50th Anniversary #17) mimics the artwork too faithfully, with its brows painted white. I'm pretty sure in the artwork, it is just a stylistic technique used to suggest some semblance of shape to the head of the demon. The 5E Shadow Demon (50th Anniversary #18) is just completely black except for its eyes and teeth.

The last two miniatures are a Pit Fiend (50th Anniversary #31) and a Glabrezu (50th Anniversary #25).

I wish the Icons Pit Fiend was closer to the original Trampier artwork, with half-furled wings partially cloaking his body, instead of the 2nd ed. Monstrous Manual version, since the miniature is similar in appearance to the conversion I made using a Reaper Pit Fiend.

Unfortunately, my Icons Pit Fiend is missing his tail, so it looks like he has a huge tear in his pants.

Finally, I really would have liked to get the demon idol miniature, but it looked like it was more suitable in scale for 15mm figures.

Spelljammer Miniatures

I just received a few interesting pieces from last months release of Spelljammer miniatures in the mail today. These miniatures correspond to creatures found in the 5th edition rules for Spelljammer that were released back in August.

Alternate art edition

The first miniatures are some Chwinga, which I believe were first introduced in Tomb of Annihilation. They are described as shy forest spirits, but for some reason, they exist in space as well.

The origins of the Chwinga are unclear, but I'm pretty sure that they were modeled after the kodama from the Studio Ghibli film Mononoke-hime, which influenced the design of kodama in other franchises as well.

Ghibli kodama

Persona/Shin Megami Tensei kodama

A Chwinga (Adventures in Space #4), and a Chwinga & Space Guppy (Adventures in Space #17).

The Space Guppy is pretty much just another fish-like creature (among many) that seem to populate Wildspace.

Astral Menagerie cover art

The next miniature is a Void Scavver (Adventures in Space #33), which appeared in the original edition of Spelljammer. They are essentially one-eyed space sharks that fill the role of facultative scavengers.

I wish that the eye of the Void Scavver was stalked like on the cover art, but I guess the eye is retractable, since the miniature seems very faithful to the interior art.

The final miniatures are Murder Comets. They are offbeat monsters that I rather like despite the cringy name, which I take to be some sort of riff on "murder hornet" or "murder hobo".

In any event, the Murder Comet is described as a type of paraelemental created by combining the essence of earth elementals with the essence of fire elementals, to which a spellcaster has subsequently bound their spirit. I'm not sure why it wasn't a combination of earth and water, since comets are largely composed of rock and ice.

The Murder Comet has the ability to breathe fire, but I would personally add the ability to release a trail of poisonous gas, as an homage to the 1910 panic promoted by the press and other hucksters when spectroscopic analysis indicated that there were traces of cyanogen in the tail of Halley's Comet.

On the left is a Murder Comet (Adventures in Space #9), while on the right is a Swarm of Murder Comets (Threats from the Cosmos).

The regular Murder Comet is half the size of the ship scale (1:600) Swarm of Murder Comets, so both are undersized (especially if you consider that a really small comet might have a nucleus that is still ~½ mile in diameter).

The swarm looks as if it is made of multiple parts, so maybe it would be possible to separate off a couple of individual comets from the group if you wanted some larger single comets.

I also want to mention that the dragons from this set of miniatures are really nice, but I could not justify buying any of them.

There are two Solar Dragons that are roughly the same size, but I liked the sculpt and pose of the Adult Solar Dragon (right) a lot more than the much cheaper Young Solar Dragon (left). There is also a Young Lunar Dragon (center) that is exclusive to the prohibitively priced Collector's Edition Box.

A much cheaper ship scale Ancient Lunar Dragon comes with the Astral Elf Patrol set, but I think that it is probably too small for my needs despite the nice sculpt.

The Golden Fleece

Lord Jason held up the great fleece in his arms. The shimmering wool threw a fiery glow on his fair cheeks and forehead... The ram's skin with its golden covering was as large as the hide of a yearling heifer... The long flocks weighed it down and the very ground before him as he walked was bright with gold... Dawn was spreading over the world when they rejoined the rest. The young men marveled when they saw the mighty fleece, dazzling as the lightning of Zeus...

– Argonautica

The Golden Fleece is the pelt of the Golden Ram who took Phrixus across the Aegean and Black Seas to Colchis, and was immortalized as the constellation Aries.

The Fleece is also part of the legend of Jason and the Argonauts, which Strabo interpreted as a mythologization of the gold panning technique used in Colchis (a theory still popular to this day).

There are different versions of the legend describing how Jason overcomes the dragon guarding the Golden Fleece to attain the prize.

The Colchian Dragon guarding the Golden Fleece is described as both deathless and unsleeping, yet in the legends it is either put to sleep by Medea, or killed by Jason.

For miniatures, the Golden Fleece is available from Crocodile Games (WarGods of Olympus WGO-121b), while the Colchian Dragon is available from Mythic Battles: Pantheon by Monolith Games.

I was a bit unsure about the exaggerated curves of the Dragon, but it does look like a somewhat flattened representation of the corkscrew appearance of dragons in ancient Greek art.

The model of the Golden Fleece is excellent, but I cut away the helmet that was attached to the tree bearing the Fleece since it was too big, and I couldn't really find a reason for it to be there. The miniature was then primed, and the Fleece painted gold.

Dracolisks

The original dracolisk from AD&D module S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth was specifically described as a cross between a black dragon and a basilisk.

I think that it wasn't until 4th edition, that the description of dracolisks expanded to include variants with parentage from other types of chromatic dragons.

I own three different miniatures of the dracolisk.

The old Grenadier Dragonlisk (Dragon Lords 2514) is my favorite, because it looks closest to the Jeff Easley illustration from the module.

The body of the dragonlisk is not very thick, so if you pin the wings when assembling the model, just remember to stagger the pins so that they don't intersect each other when you glue both wings to the body.

The Pathfinder Battles Dracolisk (Dungeons Deep #16) has a nice flying pose, but is rather small, and would probably look better with 15mm miniatures.

It has four pairs of legs instead of the stated three, some of which are posed rather awkwardly.

Last, is the Reaper Dracolisk (Bones 77379), which I painted up as a dracolisk with white dragon parentage.

I cut away part of the base so that both front legs look like they are raised (I saw someone do this for their model, and thought it looked pretty good).

Some shots of the dracolisks all together.