One of my favorite alien races in miniature are Denizens old 25mm K'hiff figures. If you are not familiar they are a canid race that looked like robed greyhounds and who were armed with advanced weaponry. They fill the same niche as the Aslan and Vargr of Traveller and other such humanoid animals aliens, but being spindly and long-snouted they worked stood out. Unfortunately they never made the jump to 15mm.
I had some 15mm Minifigs Arabs of some sort laying about. Like most Minifigs miniatures they are solid, simple casting, but are older and all in the same pose. These figures were advancing with sword raised and rifle at their side. Not much use to me, but I figured I might be able to morph them into some passable K'hiff.
The first ones that I did are four conversions based on the soft plastic, prepainted models of the Destrachan from the Dungeons & Dragons collectible miniatures game. For the beasts themselves I made them more menacing by cutting the floppy ears off of them, and sculpting on eyes and wicked beaks. To these I added some horn/spikes at the shoulder.
The rider were a bit more work. I cut a few of the Arab miniatures off at the legs and set to doing some extensive putty work sculpting saddles, saddle gear, new arms, lower bodies, legs, and even weapons on the two with the heavy rifles. The canine faces ended up a bit less like the original K'hiff but they work well enough and I've got them down pretty much after doing a dozen or so.
These figures were kept decidedly neutral as far as tech level as I hope to be able to use them in VSF, post-apocalyptic and sci-fi games. I think they turned out pretty well, though the finish on the putty isn't the best in some places. It shows up worse on camera than the actual figure but I may go back and try to smooth out or fill some of the more outstanding bit. Enjoy!
-Eli
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WOW! This is, I think, your biggest sculpting project yet. Coupled with your neighbor's, um, assets, this could be cool. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing more of it, Eli! Keep it up. Maybe a new race for Terra Secundus?
Really cool and clever conversions ! Great job !
ReplyDeleteI really hsould revisit Terra Secundus, shouldn't I?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliments. It was a bit of an undertaking but I was surprised at how quickly I got into the groove.
ReplyDeleteVery good job and here I thought that draschachen was a useless model
ReplyDeleteGreat work, Eli!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a 100% sure but I think the K'hiff were inspired by the Kif from C.J. Cherryh's Compact Space novels - The Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture, The Kif Strike Back, Chanur's Homecoming and Chanur's Legacy. The Kif are nasty, have a warped sense of honour and drive for status that makes Vargr look like pussies, eat only live food, and appear to dress in shades of black as they see further into infra-red.
The Hanni, on the other hand, have inspired me on how to play Aslan.
A good series of books with some lovely imagery for play SF RPGs.
Nice stuff.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing the completed figues.
What other K'hiff are you planning?
Right now, I am working with what I have. The budget has been a bit tight so I've been going through things laying about and trying to figure out ways to bring them in line with my other projects.
ReplyDeleteIn the future, I'm thinking about picking up some modern Afghan irregular troops to convert to K'hiff with mid-tech weapons. These K'hiff will be given technicals.
I am even considering picking up some Afghan regular infantry to convert to K'hiff Republic forces who have moved into the greater interstellar community, of course they have the help of Human or other alien advisors.
-Eli
Nice conversion! I've got one of those D&D figs too!
ReplyDeleteVery nice work Eli!
ReplyDelete