Cheeseburger the Bear (Reaper Bones 77494: Dire Bear)

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Here’s a model that I randomly found in a baggie of Reaper Bones models from one of their Kickstarters. I believe I pulled it out at the same time I found the Carrion Worms, so it’s been sitting around for a couple of months now, having a little bit done to it every so often.

The fur had actually been done for some time, and the model just kept getting shoved out of the way from one spot on the desk to another, until I was doing the basing on another trio of models last weekend, so I grabbed the bear to do it’s base at the same time.

So a couple of days ago I saw it there, and decided to finish it off. A couple of hours later and the fur was finished, claws and muzzle and mouth and eyes painted, matt painted on and some tufts added. Anyone who has played Far Cry 5 will understand why I’ve called this bear Cheeseburger (though it also makes me think of the ROH/NJPW Wrestler).

I’m pretty happy with how Cheeseburger’s face turned out. It’s the first time I’ve painted a realistic Black Bear’s face (albeit on a simple Bones model), and it was quite a bit of fun.

In gaming terms, it’s a pretty flexible model. Obviously there’s a place for it in Roleplaying Games, but also anything scenario based, such as Historicals, Fantasy, even some sci-fi. There’s also potential for use in any army (again, especially Fantasy and Historical) that has animal or beast handlers – even 40k could work here – Dark Eldar/Drukhari Clawed Fiend, anyone?

I’ve only just considered that I could have made an awful pun and titled this post “Bear-ly Legal”, but on second thought while puns like Who Let the Dogs Out, etc are fin and fun, Bear-ly Legal might attract the wrong kind of crowd via searches. 😉

It does remind me of an amusing and wholly-unrelated anecdote that I’ll share here. Back in the mid-90’s when I used to play The Warhams with a regular and fluid group in a store in Melbourne’s CBD, there were a couple of other younger, 20’s guys who were also into wrestling, as I was. One evening we were talking about one particular guy lending me a pair of videotapes that he’d gotten hold of. One called Hardcore Heaven and the other called Barely Legal. We were discussing how good they were supposed to be (I’d heard of them, but not ever seen them). Another guy who overheard the discussion warned us that we needed to “be careful” with stuff like that. After a minute or so, we explained to him that we were talking about a different Hardcore Heaven and Barely Legal than what he thought we were on about. We were of course talking about Extreme Championship Wrestling’s first two PPV events. You’re welcome.

Oh, and here’s a size shot of the Big Guy. Pretty happy with how this one turned out, especially given that it’s a Bones model with soft detail and weird, difficult mould lines. The good news at least is that while both of those do stand out a bit in these oversized photos, they’re not really an issue for the model in hand.

Chronopia: Sons of Kronos Hunter, Barbarian and Blade Maiden.

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Chronopia Sons of Kronos Hunter, Blade Maiden, Barbarian Heartbreaker Models, HM1058 Brabarian Fighters II, Harlequin Miniatures, Black Tree Design, Kev White

Here’s a triad of Chronopia models, all from the Sons of Kronos faction.

Chronopia Sons of Kronos Hunter Heartbreaker Models

Another of the models I’ve recently completed was this guy – who some googling tell me is a Hunter from the Sons of Kronos range of models from the sadly-departed Chronopia game of the 1990’s. There were some real corkers amongst that range, but sadly at the time I didn’t have the funds to buy all of the models that I’d have liked to. I did pick up a few figures which I occasionally insert into the paint queue (sorry Chronopia Collectors – they’re not for sale!)

Chronopia Sons of Kronos Hunter Heartbreaker Models

Chronopia Sons of Kronos Hunter Heartbreaker Models

I started on this guy alongside the three Citadel F3 Barbarians that I completed earlier this year, but in the final run, the Citadel guys got completed while the Chronopia guy got put to one side temporarily. Now he’s reunited with his fellows.

Chronopia Sons of Kronos Blade Maiden, Barbarian Heartbreaker Models, HM1058 Brabarian Fighters II, Harlequin Miniatures, Black Tree Design, Kev White

Quite a few years ago in 2011 – the early days of this blog, I painted this pairing of Chronopia Kronos models – A Blade Maiden and a Barbarian(?) The photos from back then are a bit rubbish, so I’ve retaken them now alongside the Hunter, as these two are now being put together with their Kronos-buddy. The different skin tones really stand out amongst the two sets of models, though with 7 years between them, it should be no surprise!

Edit: Kev White (the sculptor) and following that, commentator Dreadaxe tell me that the Barbarian sculpt on the right were done for Harlequin Games (AKA Black Tree Design), and not Heartbreaker. In fact the model is still available today in a blister called “HM1058 Brabarian(sic) Fighters II“, alongside some other models I’ve never seen before. I’m not sure what the story is there, I could have sworn that I got that particular model in a Chronopia pack, but who knows how I got a single model 20 years ago?

Chronopia Sons of Kronos Blade Maiden, Barbarian Heartbreaker Models, HM1058 Brabarian Fighters II, Harlequin Miniatures, Black Tree Design, Kev White

There’s a few other Chronopia figures to get painted and go in with them, along with odds and ends from a variety of other manufacturers like Avatars of War and Reaper, along with anything else that works, from the aforementioned GW models to Shieldwolf’s Shieldmaidens.

Chronopia Sons of Kronos Hunter, Heartbreaker Models, Citadel F3 Barbarians Oldhammer

As well as the other Chronopia models, I’ve also reunited the Hunter with the trio of F3 barbarians that I started painting him alongside.

Chronopia Sons of Kronos Hunter, Blade Maiden, Barbarian Heartbreaker Models, Citadel F3 Barbarians Oldhammer, HM1058 Brabarian Fighters II, Harlequin Miniatures, Black Tree Design, Kev White

Combined, they work well enough together for my own little group of miniatures in that kinda-Conan-fantasy-Viking-ish-Barbarian genre. The Vallejo-Frazetta models that spawned everything from Games Workshop’s Chaos Marauders to Adrian Smith’s HATE. While I’ve got any number of plastic Chaos Marauders to paint (and a couple of boxes of Marauder Horsemen now – thanks Krautscientist!) Plus the Conan Kickstarter’s contents and possibly that HATE Kickstarter coming one day, I feel like I’ll keep the overtly-Chaotic models at least somewhat separate from the more Cimmerian-looking models much of the time.