Fomorians of Irish Myth

When starting a new era, where do you start? Well, a good illustrated book is always a worthy purchase. I found this beauty on eBay, it ranged considerably in price, so of course I went for the cheapest. It doesn’t disappoint and has everything I need to get a grip on events and characters. It is beautifully illustrated too by P.J.Lynch and his style does remind me of that of Alan Lee.

Also today along with the book, my first batch of Fomorians arrived from Alternative Armies. I was impressed with how big the sculpts were, they matched my mocked up snakemen very well in height.

The Fomorian king, Balor of the evil eye.

The figure below is very large, being around 35mm tall. It’s a Fomorian hero.

The figures from Alternative Armies were about £30 for ten, I thought this was okay as some are quite large. I was surprised however by the amount of flash on them though, they will take some time to clean up. I hear they are old sculpts from the Nineties so I imagine the moulds aren’t as good as they once were. Still, can’t moan I’m just glad I can still get hold of them.

My kit bashed Fomori are a good match for the champions and once painted should blend in. It’s the ears which are the main thing I think for this.

Lovely reference for painting cloth colours.

More flash on the old sculpts, a shame but not irredeemable.

There’s loads of lovely, atmospheric pictures in the book which will be great for painting reference.

Flash, bang, wallop.

It’s also nice to see some images of the Tuatha De Danaan, the Fey enemies of the Fomorians. These are basically the Elves of Middle Earth. Later they would be retold as faerie folk and shrunk by the Catholic religion to be the little people under the ground. Back when these stories were being told though, they were man sized and devine, processing great magical powers.

The sculpting on the AA figures is very good, there is lots of crisp detail. I like that some warriors have heads on their belts, a nice Celtic touch.

I’m pleased that the mock ups seem to fit in with the metals so well. It gives me a chance to create some unique warriors and also to pad out my war bands.

The Tuatha De Danaan burn their ships when they arrive on the shores of Ireland, so they can never go back.
 

Here we see an idea I had of including trolls from Reaper. Fomorians grow into giants the older they get, so these big miniatures fit right in. Cheaper than the smaller AA sculpts, I think it’s a good idea. Reaper do a whole host of aquatic trolls that will be perfect for the older Fomorians. 

This one is called Bulgoth, Troll King on the Reaper sight. His big ears make him fit in nicely with the others.