Is there a story behind these two miniatures?

[MechJunkie]

I came across these two as I was browsing. They're the same character: NANURANIDD, DARK ELF SORCERER. They're both very interesting sculpts with alot of character; one relaxed, the other casting a spell, one with his staff in the right hand, the other his left. 
Is there a backstory behind him? What's with the broken shackle on his ankle?

[Sanael]

Reaper has a lot of recurring characters in their catalog. This one in particular has a DHL version and one for use in Warlord, Reaper's very own tabletop wargame.

 

Off the top of my head, there's also multiple versions of the female wizard Sarah the Seeress, the vampiress warrior Monique deNoir, and the cleric Tolzar. A lot of the older versions are Garrity sculpts, and they're fantastic.

I don't know that there's any specific story behind any of them, beyond whatever Izzy had in her head when making the concept art.

[MechJunkie]

Cool! Thank you for the information. 

[Clearman]

38 minutes ago, Sanael said:

I don't know that there's any specific story behind any of them, beyond whatever Izzy had in her head when making the concept art.

 

There hasn't really been much in the way of official story canon from Reaper.  The Warlord game and Dreadmere setting have provided some flavor, but generally speaking, there isn't a whole lot of material out there to explain things.  I'm sure Izzy has something in mind while prepping the concept art, but a lot of the time the mini's are just there because they're cool sculpts.  Alternates exist because they were both great sculpts.  Reaper also did a special edition line during their 25th anniversary where they re-imagined selected sculpts from the past.

 

So the best part is you get to fill in the blanks with your own story.

[YronimosW]

I noticed these over the weekend:

 

02032 Unthar Godshand
02340 Unthar Godshand
 

03073 Sarah the Seeress
02030 Sarah The Seeress
 

02092 St. Tarkus, Dire Dead
02310 St Tarkus, Dire-dead
 

 

At a glance, at least a couple of these are the same character, realized by different sculptors.

 

 

 

 

[Cyradis]

That's true for a bunch of them. Lisette has a bunch. Ametrine Earthlite has a bunch. I think Aravir, Ranger does too. There seem to be some "characters" but it appears to be a matter of different artists doing a concept, or different timing on them (some are many years apart).

[dks]

Thanks for the question!  I sculpted Nanuranidd and had some input into the backstory and design. 

 

It was 2007, and Talin had drawn a very rough concept sketch for a dark elf sorcerer for the DHL line.  I forget whether ReaperRon (art director) had asked Talin for a sketch, or whether Talin had drawn the sketch and Ron said "good idea -- let's make that miniature".  The sketch already had the skull-topped staff, most of the outfit,  and the pouch made from the preserved head of a vanquished Bathalian, but a confident and intimidating pose.  I asked for the commission to sculpt the character, and Ron said OK.  (I had sculpted only a few figures before that.)  Talin asked me for ideas to flesh out the character, so we riffed on what it might be like for males in a dark elf society dominated by priest-/warrior-caste females.  Even though he may be a powerful wizard, he is still a "mere male" and always has to know his place.  We added the ankle shackle and even took away his shoes to make him go barefoot.  In the revised sketch, the pose was hunched and asymmetrical.

 

A few years later, the Warlord game expanded with several new "Savage North" factions.  There was already a dark elf / spider / demon faction, but Wayne Reynolds designed the new Darkreach elves to be all skinny angles and spikes, like icicles and frost crystals.  There was no drawing for a wizard or sorcerer, but ReaperRon asked me to redo Nanuranidd as a Darkreach character.  I was able to reuse most of the original sculpture, but made some conversions -- re-posed the limbs and neck, swapped the staff to the other hand, and sculpted a few bits (right hand, open mouth, etc.).  In hindsight, I should have found more ways to add spikes and icy accoutrements to fit the other Darkreach figures.  So it goes.

 

Enjoy!

Derek

[MechJunkie]

Thank you Derek for the information and I'm sorry I didn't see your post sooner. He's an interesting sculpt and I found him a challenge to paint, but I'm quite happy with the result. 

[DannySpencer]

I can not understand. Are these two different characters or one the same?

[Brother Jim]

Two different minis of one character.

[Adept Legacy]

Oooh. I like that sculpt, and the story behind the design choice. So only one has a statblock right?

 

I know there are some models in some skirmish games where a resculpt changes their stats and might have a passage of time story attached.

 

Someone may have been asking about that. Sometimes those are a good read.