Pygmy Headhunting Cannibals of the South Seas

"Good God, man! Not Pygmy Headhunting Cannibals of the South Pacific...!" These are 15mm "Cave Imps" from Splintered Light Miniatures

Ever since watching the movie "The Mummy Returns," I felt I had to have a horde of pygmy headhunters to plague my players. Of course, the movie versions are zombie pygmies, but once I spotted these 15mm "Cave Imps" from Splintered Light Miniatures, I knew they'd fit the bill. Besides, ZOMBIE Pygmy Headhunting Cannibals of the South Seas is just too long of a name. Pygmy Headhunting Cannibals of the South Seas is fine, but sometimes that one extra word takes it over the top.

Tattoos, face paint, and decoration on the weapons makes these guys look like they belong in some undiscovered jungle valley...

 Anyway, I painted up my first batch of these as an entry into the first Lead Painters League that I entered a year and a half or so ago. I had about a dozen of them left and knew I'd get around eventually to painting them up. They have wonderful character and manage to pull off looking menacing and comical at the same time. Some of that is due to the hilarious upright hair on them, ala Heat and Cold Miser's imps from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (my favorite Christmas special).

Woe betide the Pulp adventurer who chuckles when he sees a horde of these emerge from the underbrush...

 They stand about half the height of an average 28mm figure. There is great sculpting of muscles, hair, and weapons on them that allows for easy dry brushing. I started with a base coat of dark brown. I dry brushed them Iron Wind "Asian" flesh, and added a final highlight of "Warrior Flesh." To give them that extra twist, I painted individual tattoos on all of them. For the eyes, I just went with all black. I even decorated the weapons with colored stripes or dots or whatever.

For all that detail, they paint up quickly. I think that is probably because of the lack of equipment...er, I mean weapons and such. Even clothes. But now that I mention it, I *am* kind of glad they don't have...well, a normal naked man's "equipment"! They look more exotic -- and less like simply short humans -- this way.

My photo of the original batch of Pygmy Headhunters the Lead Painters League in 2012

For the heck of it, I am also putting in a picture of my original batch I painted of these from the Lead Painters League. I do feel I didn't 100% match the skin tone, but it is close enough that I can live with it. My players in my Pulp games should encounter these little menaces shortly, so it'll be fun to get them out on the tabletop...!