Monday, October 8, 2012

The Planta for Prehistoric Pulp: Why Gathering is just as dangerous as Hunting

For nearly 95% of our species' time on this plant we were Hunter-Gatherers. Nomadic or Semi-nomadic small groups, surviving off the land.  The popular image of humans for this time focuses on the hunting: toe to toe with a mammoth or woolly rhino.  But we also had salad with our mammoth: lots of gathering of plants for our food, in fact if we hadn't become so good at it, and learned to understand those plants so well then agriculture (and therefore civilization) would never have been developed.

But picking berries doesn't make for as dramatic and exciting images as hunting the mega-mammals, but Prehistoric Pulp is here to re-balance the scales!  Venturing among the plants is every bit as dangerous as hunting beasts, for the plants have their own protectors...


The Plants are a sentient species that are unique in the setting:  the only race that are not animals.
Because of this, they are the most alien and the most unrecognized by the other tribes.

Descendants of the first flowering plants the Planta have evolved a means of locomotion: they are not rooted to one spot as other plants are.  With limbs like creeping vines, and by controlling the flow of water between their cells, they mimic the effects of muscles:they are quite strong for their size!

The Planta have other dangerous attributes beyond their strength: they can release a cloud of spores which can debilitate, and sometimes even kill animals.  They do not make or use tools, but they are intelligent.
The see and communicate by subtle vibrations, giving them the advantage of silent communication as well as 'seeing' in the dark and through concealment. When in vegetation, such as brush and woods they can be move nearly silently and remain unnoticed to all but the most careful observer, making them very dangerous foes.
...................................

The miniatures are from Hydra Miniatures and were a lot of fun to paint!
There are only 2 poses in a set (8 miniatures) but they are very easy to bend around to get different poses out of them.  They are fairly short, so they'd also make great large plant creatures for a 15mm scale!

Enjoy!

13 comments:

Chris said...

I've always really liked plant monsters. All too often people regard the vegetation as set dressing but as someone who has suffered through my fair share of allergy related issues I can assure that the plants are very much active and their intention is to cause harm. Great looking minis, can't wait to see what's next.

Clint said...

Nice Veg. I think you are right about plants being under used when they are just set dressing. Maybe for historical war games but for sci fi / fantasy your imagination is the limiting factor. Made me think about how I can change vegitation in other games.

Dr. Willett's Workshop said...

They look great, I love that pink!

Simon Quinton said...

They look superb mate, paint scheme is brilliant, Your pinks are always fantastic.

Paul O'G said...

Love the Barsoomian styled plant-men. I also considered the different varieties of models available for more 'active falora'. Quite a few options around actually:

http://pauljamesog.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Prehistoric%20flora

Michael Awdry said...

These are tremendous and I had been looking for some 'Tiffid-like' creations myself for the old secret project; these could be perfect.

Jay said...

Nice painting of some very needed minis.

Bill said...

Very Fun, Beautifully painted. I bet they would be really fun to paint. Reminds me of my favorite "Lost in Space" episode "The Vegetable Rebellion"

http://www.hulu.com/watch/23808

Bill said...

Correction: I meant, They look like they would be fun to play. Can't wait to try the game some day.

Anonymous said...

Very cool Ferret.

Boromir_and_kermit said...

They are great figures - always wished Hydra had released the other "Vardu" models in the range. I saw some sculpts a few years back, but they have not seen the light of day yet.

MrLee said...

Great work on them! Love the direction your going with this already.

Thib-0 said...

Great models. Great painting !

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