Matakishi's Tea House
A simple little site...
Charon's Barge
There are several occasions in my Ars Magica campaign when the characters make journeys to the Underworld and use the facilities offerd by charon, the boatman of the River Styx. One day, and I can't remember why, I decided it would be a really good idea to build his barge.
It only took a day to make and paint it. The main body is made from balsa wood and the rest is plasticard and things from my bits box. I had a load of ship parts that I'd collected for a big pirate ship that never got finished so these were the first things to be pressed into service. The lanterns fore and aft are brass ship fittings and the rails down the side are plasticard mounted on wooden ships railings.
The little standing lights by the steps are made from mapping pins and a clear bead. the big skulls on the side are a metal badge, there's a different one on the other side. The hanging skeletons were bought from the same shop and are ear rings. There are a lot of skulls and bones which are shield devices from the Games Workshop skeleton box set, easy to use because they're flat on the back so you can just stick them down where you want them. This box set was a very worthwhile purchase as it provided full skeletons and seperate skulls as well for other parts of the barge.
Charon himself is a 54mm figure from a company called Sanderson (I think). They made figures, several based on Frank Frazetta pictures, around the end of the 70s. I don't think they're still going. This figure was originally an executioner and had an axe. I removed the axe head and extended the pole in both directions with brass rod. You can see the join in this picture. I made this in 1998 and wasn't as skillful as I am now. I topped his pole with a GW skeleton head.
The figure was on an integral base which I didn't want to bother removing (I didn't have the tools to do it either) so I added a strip of plasticard to make a ledge across the width of the barge and disguise the base.
The centre structure was made from plasticard, four plastic cyliders from till rolls and many GW skeleton bits. The coffin is from Rafm and is on a plinth made from GW bases. The roof ornament is from Grenadier and was the original figure I used for Charon in my games.
The ends of the centre structure are filled with an archway that a Rafm litch used to stand in and a Mithril Miniatures palantier. There is another set of these at the other end. The big hands that I used to cap the railings are from an Airfix skeleton kit.
The front skeletons are metal and come from Ellerburn Armies. The seated ones are on mapping pins again and the crucified one is held in place by brass rod. the front and back of the barge, where the wood grain was exposed by cutting have been capped with plasticard to give a smooth finish.
Everything was painted black and drybrushed with a couple of greys. Charon was painted in black and grey with pallid grey-green skin. Tiny bits of brass were added in places and that was that. A suitably gloomy and creepy conveyance for the River Styx.
The barge is 100mm wide and 400mm long.
