For some time I tried to focus my hobby efforts on making something more coherent than random miniature sets or models. This effort spawned some time ago my second site and archive of this new new project – Chronica Goblinorum – my original,somewhat lighthearthed and somewhat sarcastic setting where goblins united the warring kingdoms and tribes bringing peace and civilisation and creating the Glorious Goblin Empire.
This project occupied almost 100% of my hobby time lately (affecting updates here on minilabmodels inevitably) and will probably most of it in foreseeable future. It comprises almost all media I have ever dabbled in. You will find there stories, art, 3d miniatures, lore articles and other stuff in an attempt to shape it up. I do not intend however to leave this site untended, but you may expect incoming works to be in some way related with Chronica Goblinorum as is the case with this set of paper miniatures.
These City Guard Goblins form the backbone of law and order (well… of sorts) in the cities of the Glorious Empire. If you like you can learn more about them on Chronica Goblinorum website.
You can get these miniatures form WargameVault. In this set you will get 10 unique goblins with multiple colour options for cloths shields and guild emblems to field multiple and diverse units foundend by various merchant guilds. Although somewhat more civilised than your everyday fantasy goblins you can field them on almost any fantasy battlefield.
Easter is coming and with it the common imagery of painted eggs, christian lamb and the easter rabbit. Eggs as symbols of life and resurrection (even if hijacked form pagan traditions), lamb as symbol of Christ… This all made some sense but rabbits?
According to some scholars rabbits were associated with germanic spring and fertility godess Eostre, and were later connected with christian easter by attempts to coverup and root out her celebrations with christian ones. It was a common practice at the time. Curious of when exactly it might have happened I digged into old manuscripts (at least those published on the internet), hoping to find first associacions of rabbits with christian celebrations. In vain however i looked for these creatures in pre christian and early christian iconography. In general this animal seemed to gather little attention. Yet moving forward in history, first in XII century and later in XIII and XIV century manuscripts finaly I have found them…
Oh where have you guided me trecherous curiosity!
The truth I have uncovered was more horrible than I could have imagined, for the rabbits I found were ones of horror and nightmare! Rather than eggs and happines, the medieval rabbits, armed with bows, clubs, swords and spears brought war and ruin to the lands of men.
Images of rabbit invasion. Neither peasant nor king was safe.
Judging on the date of the manuscripts it seemed that somewhere in XIII century a savage war broke out between with humans (and allied hounds it seemed). Striking down knights and laying siege to castles. For almost two hundred years, the manuscripts show signs of this epic struggle, with rabbits evidently scoring many victories and taking many captives.
Evidence of advanced rabbit civilization and their mockery of christian faith.
For these rabbits were no mere sevage animals, but beasts of most cunning intellect, capable of creating technological civilization, with leaders, rituals and even courts of justice! Yet what justice could be served by such foul monsters? Clearly the hearings were but a parody of any legal process! Yet lucky were the ones who died instantly of their spears or arrows, for the trials of captives (weather hound or man) ended often with public and cruel execution. Beheading, slow hanging, beating to death or even skinning alive such were the methods these evil monsters killed their victims. I wil spare you dear reader the image of these atrocities. Yet, if you are brave enough you will easily find these on the web.
Rabbits condemn a captive for gallows. Could this proud monster on the left of the bottom image by one of their war leaders?
Yet for all the horrors the killer rabbits inflicted upon men and dogs, suddenly in XV century they dissapear form christian chronicles and artwork replaced with nice, benign pets we all know today, depicted often accompanying Christ, Mary or the Saints.
In the end my research left me with more questions and answers. What caused these ferocious rabits to take arms against men? Was it an uprising against the hunters? Possesion by devils? Vengance of pagan Eostre for usurping her place? Many images show rabbits mocking christian liturgy. What rabbit Ceasar or Genghis Khan led them to to such victories that it took two hundred years to restore natural order of things? Perhaps a proud rabbit overseeing the imminent hanging of a captive depicted in Decretals of Gregory IX was one of such warlords? What heroic deeds put an end to this menace? What exactly was role of the dogs in extinguishing this threat? Finally what miracle destroyed this evil civilisation and turned beasts into harmless lovable beings?
So many questions! Is this a rabbit last stand? Could the unnamed dog king be a forgotten saviour of human civilization?
I guess we will never know, for all the records of these events were all but scraped clear from the annals, and overwritten later with unrelated content to preserve expensive velum. Only small illustrations left on the margins of these books testify of this epic struggle, allowing me to reconstruct it even if only in sketch. Trully it mus have been a terrifying, most evil foe for Damnatio Memoriae ( that is ereasure form history and records) was a fate granted for onlythe most foul deeds against laws of man and God.
For those who would like to remember, and honour forgotten heroes of this war please find at the top of this post set of rabbit invaders, that you can pit against Codex Manesse knights, hounds and hunters to recreate these great and tragic events.
Anyway, I wish You all a peacefull and happy Easter.
Yet looking in the eyes of a rabbit guarding your easter egges know that there was a time when these creatures were bringing terror and death, and if anything happens, consider that I have warned you.
Hunt for a big game was a dangerous affair. Not just because you could break royal monopoly, but also because the animals hunted were intrinsicly dangerous. A meeting with a bear or a wild boar, could easily end badly for the hunter. Yet no beast commanded more fear and awe than a mighty auroch. Below you can see a young Auroch cow springing from the thicket suprising the hunting party of Her von Buwenburg. Cowardly squire abandonned his master on frightened horse, himself climbing to safety on a nearby tree. Her Hawart rushing bravely spear in hand to ward off the beast. (Of his courage testifies his folio in Codex Manesse depicting him fighting a bear. This bear already “miniaturized” you can find here.)
Aurochs were indeed powerfull and majestic beasts, it was writted tey were capable of lifting on their horns an armoured knight. Still encroachment of civilisation, deforestation and expansion of agricultural lands reduced their habitats further and further, leading to their eventual extinction. In France no one have seen an auroch by the end of carolingian period, in german states they became rare by the XIIIth century, and extinct by the XVth. The last herds populated deep marshy forests in west Moldavia, Romania, Lithuania and Poland. Despite efforts of royal foresters, total ban for hunting and encroachment to their woods, the last known auroch died in Jaktorów forest (Poland) in 1627r. of old age.
Codex Manesse is however set in XIII century, so such hunt could take place on invitation of some Polish duke or Hungarian king.
Anyway not wanting to risk their life or legal complications Her Geltar and Der Kohl von Nussen decided to entertain themselves with a hunt for small game. Small game included foxes, ferrets, otters, sables, hares, squirrels, various kinds of fowl both land such as pigeon, phaesant or partridge and waterfowl such as duck, wild goose, swan etc. Roe deer was also sometimes included in small game depending on time and location.
Hunt for small game was usually more widely permitted, unless occured in someones private forest, as nobles were often entitled to set the rules for hunting on their lands as they pleased. On the agricultural lands however, it was encouraged in part as pest control (as weasels and foxes posed a risk for chickens, while hares and birds eaten out freshly sown grain, endangering future crops). The peasants of course would hunt with simpler and cheaper tools than swift greyhounds or crosbows, enjoyed by above presented lords. Most common tools of the simple folk included nets, snares, simple bows or slings.
After a long break I am getting back to Codex Manesse miniatures, with a new theme “Beyound Court and Castle”. We will explore knightly activities, related with everyday life, obligations and pasttimes.
For the first set meet Herr Heinrich Hetzbold von Wissense with his retinue, following a call of the hunt. Not just any hunt, but a Great Hunt (lat. Venatio Magna). That is a hunt for big game. What prey was treated as a big game varied depending on time and place, but in general in medieval Europe big game included animals such as Red Deer, European Bison, Auroch, Bear, Boar, Lynx, Moose, Wild Horse and occasionally even Roe and Beaver (sic.). In fact it was not the size of the animal that was a deciding factor but rather scarcity and prestige of the trophy,
Quite early in middle ages a hunt for big game became subject of royal monopoly (lat. regale), and privilege awarded to high lords and bishops. Dedicated officials and servants were appointed to keep track of quantity, of big game in royal forests, managing the game populations and protecting from poachers. Breaking of this monopoly could be punished by death, so forget about camping in the bushes, waiting for deer to show up at the tip of your arrows.
Indeed the Great hunt was rarely a romanticized a solitary experience of just “hunter and its prey” but rather a big, celebrated social and political event. An occassion to invite guests and reinforce alliances, discuss politics, arrange marriages etc. The hunt itself involved not just noble hunters themselves, usually hunting from horseback, but also a number of servants, and often peasants form local villages going in battue with rattles and horns to scare the game from its hiding.
The most treasured and invaluable hunting “tools” of the Great Hunt were not weapons but dogs, bred and cared for often by specialized class of servants. These dogs were divided not necessarily by breed but rather by function. There were separate dogs for tracking and chasing the game, herding the frightened animal towards the hunters, other hounds were trained to engage, and subdue the prey, or at least bleed and weaken it enough, so the hunter could catch up and finish the job with spear, sword or dagger. Separate kinds of dogs were bred for small game. But we will look at small hunt on another time.
Not much to report to be honest, apart form that I myself and this blog are still (semi) alive. For several past years unfortunately I had very little time for any hobby activities, taking some heavy blows in personal life that required some major life priorities reshuffling. Hence the loong pause on the blog. Things seem to be a little bit back under control, so I will try a little bit to revive but also restructure my hobby projects. This will affect what will show up on this page in many ways.
First I have recently received my Anycubic resin printer so papercraft hobby now shares competition for my hobby time with 3d miniatures modelling. This new gadget opened new area of possibilities and prompted me (together with nagging from my friends) to start a bigger fantasy themed project, spanning multiple hobbies and drawing me further away from papercraft. I do not intend to drop papercraft completely but It will shift somewhat out of my focus and most likely my upcoming models will be mostly connected to this big project. (More on that soon).
Secondly I will try to dust off my papercraft workshop as I have several projects almost completed on terms of geometry, textures and options. Such as this riverboat below, based loosely on archeological findings from Germany and Poland dated between XV-XVIII century. (Here tested for displacement weight by the trusty vauglaire crew.)
Unfortunately however, preparation for publishing and drawing/writing instructions and/or fine tuning mechanical elements takes anything between five times to forever more time than designing the model itself. Not allowing me to finish them off and publish them. Therefore in foreseeable future I will be focusing more on small simple models (like e.g. Manesse church) or 2d flat papercraft minis, connected to this new project, with some random inserts of next Manesse Miniatures which I still quite like to make (with maybe some guest stars from other manuscripts e.g. Maciejowski Bible).
Speaking of Manesse Miniatures. All the dead links for manesse miniatures on models page should be now up again. Individual sheets are now collected into multipage PDF’s that will be updated if I will add some new pages for particular themes. For now unfortunately, without the cutfiles, ase these not survived many computer crashes, and it seemed i failed to make any backups. Anyway, hopefully you will hear form me a little bit sooner tan the last time :P.
Because there were always some of them in medieval Courts of Europe… Here is another set of Codex Manesse miniatures.
First five minis to the left are monks. Judging by their habits we ave here three monks of the Order of st Benedictus (first, fourth and fifth from the left). Two of them are carrying pastoral staves, are probably abbot and a prior of a convent. With their motto “Ora et labora” Benedictines were one of the oldest and most significant orders in Europe anbd their monasteries were a vital element of medieval landscape (both geographicaly and socialy speaking).
A year without Codex Manesse… shame on me I guess… Anyway the theme of this modest update is – a sword. Not as a tool of war, but as a symbol of status. Browsing Codex Manesse miniatures you may notice that many images depicting knights during very “civilian” activities like reading a letter or contemplating a poem there is often a sword around hanging on the wall or simply standing somewhere (see Emperor Heinrich).From narrative point of view the sword adds nothing to the image and the narrator could just omit this detail (wchich he often does), however the presence of a sword underlines high status of the man depicted.
For a medieval man sword was not only a tool of murder or a portable shrine making an impromptu cross when stuck in the ground. A sword was a powerful symbol – it denoted knighthood, justice, virtue, authority, Christendom and possibly had many other now not entirely clear meanings.
Anyway a curious thing is that with exceptions of evident martial or traveling context swords in Codex Manesse (and many other manuscripts from XIII-XIV century) sword is not carried fastened to the side hanging on a belt (or other device) but rather carried in hand. There could have been many reasons for this, but for me two most obvious and plausible ones are:
Practical – having something heavy (ok i know that original swords where not that heavy but still) and cumbersome dangling around your leg for a better part of a day could be annoying. There are accounts of II WW officers complaining on the weight and discomfort of carrying their sidearms on their hip – it could be the same with the sword.
Informational/Symbolic. – When carried by the side, a sword is not always in sight, especially when the bearer was wearing a cloak. However it is hard to miss when guy you’re looking at carries it in hand or resting on his shoulder and regardless of many romantic or chivalric, symbolical meanings of a sword the most obvious one was – power. When a sword was in sight all people around immediately knew things just got more serious.
Finally I’ve finished the well set, and it is out there (on WargameVault) for grabs as MiniLab’s “pay what you want” demo set. I hope you’ll like this little model. If you will try it tell me what you think. All feedback is welcome.
Ok. I’m not dead and neither is the blog, but it is kinda… hibernated. Hopefully I will be back in a couple of weeks/ months when Ill manage to climb out of a pile of mundane work. But for some time posts may be hmm… even more irregular than usual. Having some time for myself only when I’ll convince myself I don’t need to sleep I use it lately to dust off my drawing painting skills. Poked by friends and family i started to put some of my newer and older drawings on the web. So if you are curious what is keeping me from making more models you can visit my Deviantart gallery. You can meet there some friends of Aspasia A. A. Achsenberg that I hope one time will make it to a set of steampunk/ victorian adventurers.
For those who don’t know what I’m speaking of. It’s a contest about making paper models and miniatures for tabletop games like wargames or RPG. So if you draw some miniatures/ design models from time to time on behalf of organizers (and whole Cardboard Warriors community I believe) I invite all pen/and scissors able ladies and gentlemen to take part. And if you only use other people creations in your games you can still participate in “papercraft in action” showing your modelling skills and ability to create drama with papercut means.
Rules of participation and rewards (one book shelf gift certifiactes and sometimes other) you will find below. Papercut Awards 2015 contest rules.
I myself am afraid will have to pass this year but who knows… Best of luck for all who enter the fray. 🙂
Sometimes, especially when you have almost no time for hobby, you need do put aside more complex projects just to make something different that you can finish in a short time. Its a kind of mental hygiene I guess. Below you can see my last such “fast and simple” project. A simple crank well. A universal design suitable for many fantasy, or historical settings spanning 2500 years. Below you can see the first test build and a test print.
It is intended as a sort of demo set for my 3d models. Now ahead of me is the boring part – the instructions…
P.S. To all whom it may concern… Marry Christmas and all… 😛 😀
Finally I’ve finished the well set, and it is out there (on 
MINILab Models 
