Pastures Frankia

So here I am in pastures Frankia for a lovely holiday, which always gives me a bit of room to think. The day to day stuff of running a miniatures company can seriously get in the way of creativeness, so these breaks are essential for me really. Thankfully the Coubre Forest, near the spectacularly named Fief du Fond d'Arse, is allowing me to think. Here's a few snaps:

The edge of Mirkwood. I mean, Coubre Forest...

Sherwood is suitably chastised by the size of this thing...

Not the fief of fond arses; it's Coubre lighthouse, just off the forest...

What am I thinking about? Well, MOAR MONSTERS of course, in between answering e-mails and keeping the Summer Sale going. Actually that's not quite true; room to think means I'm thinking about pretty much everything; but monsters keep the world turning, at least for Mierce, so moar monsters it is.

(I should say, here, that this is a bit of a ramble, if you hadn't already guessed, so turn your on switch resolutely off if it's all a bit too long, didn't read for you. Mind you, it's a pretty short ramble, and is slightly exciting, and also requires your participation.)

Monsters get all our juices flowing and they are simultaneously some of the easiest and quickest miniatures to make and the most profitable, which I'm unashamed to say is something we have to chase. Costs keep going up, as do taxes and wages, and our pants and socks won't buy themselves, so... MOAR MONSTERS is the way.

(note, here, that I'll continue to make the backlog miniatures that haven't been sculpted yet. They are not forgotten!)

Not having new stuff is boring for you lot - I know this because I'm a consumer too - the ‘Ooh, shiny’ feeling is something I want to poke in all of you. The trouble is, it should be backed up by production. I want to make sure you can get your new shinies the very same week I show them. So let's do that!

After I get back, get all my ducks in a column and my gear in fond d'Arse, I'll release Gogamagogg properly, and following him I'll be doing a Monster a Month. Here he is bless him:

The lads have cast him up and he's in production now. The first few have been sent!

Now, after Gogamagogg will probably be Ilkulkaag the paracerox, but after that I'm going to give you all a big list, and you can state your preferences below in the comments. It's not very scientific I know - sadly there's no poll provision in these blogs - but I'll get a good idea of what you all fancy. I will try to cover every kindred too, and if there's something else you'd like to see that's not here, perhaps a resculpt or even a totally random idea, go for it.

So, what do you fancy after Ilkulkaag?

Albainn: nowt, till next year... although the wild oghurüc will need doing, so expect those this year anyway.

Anglecynn: probably not a massive monster, as the Anglecynn don't get those. Maybe some nice, smaller boars? Haven't done those yet...

Atalantes: Cres the megakolossos, I should think!

Brythoniaid: new Parawn (for both riding and being dragony)

Byzantii: an Elephant! Got to be done. Also, howdah do? I do like the idea of a giant hippoxus monster too. That would hurt.

Érainn: Some thorn beasts!

Fomoraic: Ilkulkaag the paracerox, and I do have plans for a humpback whale beast for Conand. Also, new Galagaak, anyone?

Infernii: It might be time to turn to the fiery hell beasts...

Jutes: well, now. Rafael is currently working on the corpse-dragon - so that would fit here for sure...

Khthones: new giant szalamandra, a resculpt of the current szavramakh

Norse: I fancy a resculpt of the raven-griffon, egaendr, which was always a stop-gap conversion. Also the valhrafn!

Vras: the ratty war tower will get released properly once we've produced the pre-orders, but after that I'm definitely thinking of a giant mole (for tunnelling with).

Ysians: Sana the filthy Filth-Hulk. Or maybe a counterpart to Torku, with nine vaginas. Ahem. I'm joking. Or am I...?

That's all for now. I'd better get back to doing holiday things!