Ned Kelly is the most (in)famous Australian bushranger. Starting with petty crime, his career progressed through horse theft and cattle rustling and on to murdering police and robbing banks. His gang fashioned armour out of ploughshares in a bush forge, and wore it for a shootout with police at Glenrowan in 1880. Forewarned of ambush by young teacher Thomas Curnow (an under-recognized hero), the police prevailed. Kelly was executed and his last words were, "Such is life." He was 25.
His iconic armour weighed 40kg and significantly impaired movement and vision, but sustained multiple hits without penetration.
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| Ned wore a grey coat at his final shootout |
He has become part of Australian history, either as an idolised Robin Hood figure or a disaffected terrorist- Geoffrey Robertson scornfully calls him 'Jihad Ned'. If you have a "Such is life" tattoo, then I will judge you.
These figures are from Great Escape Games. I painted the armour with Army Painter Gunmetal, then a wash of AP Dark Tone, then a thin wash of Vallejo 73.204 Flesh Wash for a subtle rust effect. The final touch is a 2B pencil for edge highlighting and scratches.
Recommended reading: True Girt
My spaceship collection includes a flotilla of rebellious miners with an Australian theme, and one of their capital ships is called 'Such Is Life'. Please don't judge me.
ReplyDeleteWell, if it is not tattooed on your forehead you're probably OK...
DeleteGreat looking gang... nice to see how they play out on the table top.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Stu
I do hope they are lumbering and unstoppable and terrifying.
Delete🎶If Ned Kelly was king
ReplyDeleteHe'd make those robbers swing
He'd send them down there
He'd make them stay
And we can hope🎶
Oh wow these are great! I feel like I saw a Ned Kelly miniature at some point and wanted it... One of these? Reaper? IDK...
Could round them out with this:
ReplyDeletehttps://eurekaminusa.com/products/paxgr01
😄
Well, now I have to!
DeleteThose are the cat’s whiskers! Sweet paint work on some nice looking figures!
ReplyDeleteI’ve had my eye on them since we first played Dead Man’s Hand.
We played a Glenrowan Siege quite a while ago, unlike the original ours was a bloodbath!
https://toysoldiersforoldgits.blogspot.com/2019/08/tsog-does-ned-kelly-tribalbrutal-rules.html
That’s a lovely looking game; I’d love to try that myself sometime.
DeleteThat could be arranged!
Delete😃
Oh, sir! I never heard of this and I find it fascinating. Now I need to know more! The minis are super cool, but if you didn't tell of the story I would have guessed they were part of some kind of pulp project (that's the degree of coolness they have!)
ReplyDeleteThe armour is very distinctive, but I wasn't sure how recognizable they are outside Australia!
DeleteI think they're very well known, especially in our circles 😄
Deletegreat job mate - iconic Aussies indeed, but the folk idolisation of a murderer and thief is beyond me!
ReplyDeleteCouldn’t agree more!
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