Savage Beauty & Chicks in Chainmail!

Happy New Year, everyone!  Things are marvelous, though a bit chilly, at Floozy Manor.  I thought I’d start the year off with a review of a boxed set of figures from Reaper Miniatures.  The initial boxed set, “Savage Beauty”, and the individual figures began appearing shortly after the turn of the century, 2001-2003, and the current box set in the hard plastic case appeared in 2007.  What is really interesting about this box set is that the figures seem to be influenced by Larry Elmore’s cover art for the “Chicks in Chainmail” short story anthologies.  I may be imagining this, but it is hard to look at these figures without comparing them to the art of the 1990s of artists such as Larry Elmore and Keith Parkinson.

Savage Beauty

Savage Beauty is a box set of nine 28mm female figures sculpted by Dennis Mize and sold as a part of Reaper Miniatures’ Dark Heaven Legends line of miniatures.  You can purchase the miniatures individually as well.  They are wearing the ubiquitous “chainmail bikini” and a few of the ladies are topless.  I painted these several years ago and use them regularly in my Rally Round the King Amazon armies as sword maidens and as fighters in Red Sun Black Moon.  I have duplicates of three of the figures, I had bought these three before buying the box set.

02608: Tyden, Barbarian

02686: Female Archer

02687: Female Barbarian

02698: Melorian, Female Fighter

02722: Witch of Darkmoors

02723: Felicia of the Blade

02759: Dena, Female Barbarian

02773: Tana, Female Barbarian

02798: Korin, Barbarian

Chicks in Chainmail

Between 1995 and 1999 Esther Friesner put together 3 anthologies of fantasy short stories with women as the main characters.  If you haven’t read these anthologies, then you should make your way to your local library and check them out.  They feature stories by Elizabeth Moon, Margaret Ball, Roger Zelazny. Harry Turtledove, George Alec Effinger, S.M. Stirling, Jan Stirling and many others.

And if you like parodies, be sure to check out “Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson” by George Alec Effinger.