Mori Part 2

Time at last for more of my own setting: Mori. I've finished a new faction warband, three new creatures and a lot of scenery, with more of each on the way. Read on below the jump for tons more photos and lore...

Mori is something I've been toying with for some time now - a non Warhammer setting for kitbashing groups of characters influenced by my own interests. Mori is set in an endless mystery forest, influenced mostly by Japanese folklore, but it's certainly not aiming for any kind of authentic representation, and is more like a grab bag of my own interests (it is certainly not an attempt at a fantasy historical Japan, which I do not have the chops to attempt with any sort of authorial expertise!). Folklorist manga artists like Shigeru Mizuki and Morohoshi Daijiro are big influences on the project.

Yiida Clay Bowl People

The Yiida Clay Bowl People are a group inspired by Jomon ceramics from prehistoric Japan. I thought of making a group that wore those ceramics as helmets. The base models are from Warcry Rotmire Creed, which have got cool bamboo detailing, and some nice naturalistic posing. I gave them bows from the Warhammer Idoneth range, which look a little like ornate ceramics themselves. On top of this I sculpted the masks from scratch.

First pass at sculpting the helmets

The first pass at sculpting the Yiida people's masks didn't really achieve what I was going for. I referred to pictures of Dogu online but the results didn't really communicate this influence specifically enough. At this point, they languished in my to-do pile for the best part of a year!

Second and final pass at mask sculpting

Finally I worked up the courage to re-do them. This time I worked with a mix of green stuff and milliput, which has a harder, clay like texture compared to green stuff alone (but is easier to work than raw milliput). First I made the collar for each mask and left that to set, then built up a head shape on each, and finally went in on detailing each mask over this structure. The designs are much more solid this time: from left to right in the above photo you can see one based on a Jomon pot, one that is like a haniwa figure, and one that is like the best-known Dogu figure (with goggle-eyes). Finally I was happy with them!

When it came to painting the Yiida people, I did the clay areas first and worked out the colour scheme around that. I used layers and layers of different red-browns for the clay. The weapons are also painted to look like clay, impractical as that might seem. From there, I painted the bamboo adornments like dry yellow bamboo, and settled on a warm grey-yellow for the clothing.

Dorodoro

I made Dorodoro with the aim of making a one-off yokai-type creature to haunt the woods. It's both spooky and a little cute. The different lengths of its four limbs suggest that its limbs might stretch and retract as it moves. It has a little of Spirited Away's No-Face about it.

Dorodoro WIP

Doro-doro was a complete scratch build apart from the hands, and the little tree stump. The body is Milliput over a tinfoil core, and the limbs are bent brass rod with putty over them. I left it for a while until I could decide on a face. In the end I went for an uncanny simple face made by drilling holes, so that it resembles a drawing or simple sculpted figure (exactly what it is!).

The name Dorodoro is a Japanese onomatopeia for "sticky" or "clogged" or "dirty". I don't know if this Dorodoro is antagonistic, or indeed if anything in Mori is inherently antagonistic. Maybe they all fight each other all the time, or maybe anyone can team up. Mori a strange world after all.

Tree-Ghouls

This pair of goblin creatures were inspired by the diminutive goggle-eyed "ghouls" in the manga The Dark Myth. In the original Japanese, they are meant to be the "hungry ghosts" of Buddhist folklore. I suppose they also resemble the ape tribe in Princess Mononoke.

Image from The Dark Myth by Daijiro Morohoshi

A while ago I picked up some leftover bits from the Age of Sigmar Mega-Gargant kit (check eBay - most people who build one will have a ton of leftover bits, and they're great for characterful conversion parts) and among them were some "creeper" monsters (meant to be climbing all over the giant) that are nice one-or-two piece models all ready posed for climbing on terrain.

I modified the creepers' faces a little bit, replacing their goofy ears and changing the mouth shape a little. Then I built up some trees from spare branch parts (to be covered over with moss), and posed them on the trees. Done! Nice and easy.

You can also see a lot of terrain in this photos. I refreshed the bamboo walls with a nicer paint-over. I also recently got hold of a set of the classic Citadel Forest trees. And the mossy floor is a cheap "moss mat" from eBay. The fibre strands on this mat were way too long, so I gave it a haircut all over with a sharp pair of scissors! It's glued and stapled onto an MDF board, and received a coat of diluted PVA in an effort to stop it shedding like a cat, plus some extra piles of flock to cover over some of its bald patches and add texture variety. It works well enough for photos at least.

Thanks for reading! More soon.
Hek