Tuesday 6 November 2012

Spiky Rat Pack

In 2001, Inquisitor, the game, came out. That changed everything in the hobby for me.

Four years ago I had an idea. An Epiphany.

It took sometime to connect the dots and do something that would define the ideal hobby set up for me. I always enjoyed Necromunda's game mechanics, and the decision to liberally combine those with Inquisitor background, roleplaying elements, and simple house rules set off something. Great friends, great miniatures, decent terrain and lots of good writing was involved.

I called the game =I=munda and we called the campaign Jade Vessel.

Since then the Imunda movement has taken off, people have taken what was our spirit and made it theirs and more. Nothing could have made me happier. Through this rather selfish and perhaps boring introduction, I finally arrive to my topic for the day.

This would be the headline act in section of "Best 40k stuff happening right now" in White Dwarf, should they actually realize that would be the section to add.

Well my pick is the fantastic Spiky Rat Pack Blog.

It's a stunning effort by two friends who share a spirit and passion and a lot of talent. "Okki" and "Ice" are producing some of the most original miniatures around. And what's even more important is how their work and attitude is creating international hobby webways. Their work resonates some of the interesting darkness and flavor that is an ingredient to my work too. We are all Finnish to begin with. That crazy people up north, swallowed in darkness or never setting sun depending the season, brought up with the Kalevala Mythos or the Moomin Trolls. It's a culture that breeds interesting miniature artists. Distinctly different to their more elegant southern european masters.

Their Punk Moth project is what it's all about. They are living their "Golden hobby age" and it shows.

So go and check them out! You won't be disappointed.

8 comments:

  1. One of my favourite blogs to read. Most everything I've seen posted there is amazing and VERY =I=munda dark and addictive. Well, addictive to me at least - my lazy-non-modelling-or-painting gaming group is another matter... :P

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  2. I still remember stumbling across the Jade Vessel campaign on dakkadakka. It gave me more than the Inquisitor rulebook itself did. To see the Inquisitor setting actually come alive like that. Just to think someone together with his friends could create such immense feel and atmosphere. It really gave me tons of inspiration. Thank you.
    And its really nice to be able to follow your continous work. Keep posting!
    Best regards,
    Mattias

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  3. The Jade Vessel was fantastic. Inspireing. Alive in itself.
    And the Spiky Rat Pack and their endavours has a kind of energy very similar to your campaign.

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  4. I had a look at the vessel for the first time proper yesterday .. Fantastic stuff .. really enjoyed the inventiveness of the whole thing. The visual narrative is very strong within the whole blog. Cheers Migs

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  5. I treasure your kind words Miggs.
    We truly are crazy - I'll bet it's the Moomin Trolls!

    I just love this whole Imunda movement! One can only think of what's gonna happen next - Im sure it's going to be something EPIC, 'cause things are heating up nicely right now ;)

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  6. Humble thanks for your kind words, Migs. It's the melancholism that drives the Finns either crazy or visionary. I don't know which we are though, maybe a little both.

    I lived in Helsinki during 2007-2008 and 2010-2011. Too bad we didn't catch up for a chat, would have been interesting to swap thoughts regarding the hobby and stuff.

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  7. The Spiky rat Pack is indeed an absolute joy to read.

    As is your Jade Vessel thread.

    I remember when i found it and a few similar, I was thrilled to see that there were other hobbyists that loved the 40k background so much and had a similar view of it to myself.

    (I say similar, because no matter what.... All the glorious =I=munda/=I=28 blogs and threads out there will always have that beautiful unique spark from everyone producing such works.)

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  8. I think the Finnish have kicked the French off the throne of miniature painting/modeling. You guys have really added the true feel of 40k to them. More importantly, the previous generation (late 90s, early 2000s) of awesome models were done by the French, they had really great paint jobs and did crazy modeling. Remember Repent? They were the first ones to do true scale Terminators. Very amazing stuff.

    However, what sets you guys apart from them is that you've added a narrative to these models. The story is the main focus and the model is created around that story. That way you not only have a very beautiful model, it becomes (almost) perfect because it has a story. It becomes an actual character rather than just a model.

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