them into my games from whatever sources I could find. In the early days of
AD&D, the Arduin Grimoire was an absolute gold mine for strange and
wonderful monsters. My favorite monster was the Phraint, an insect warrior
who, well, I guess he can introduce himself.
(Archive Miniatures ad, from Dragon magazine 38)
The Phraints seemed to have a special enmity with Vroats - giant frogs
with crocodile heads as seen here...
(By Erol Otus, from Arduin dungeon #2 "The Howling Tower")
By now I'm sure you're thinking "Could this get any more obscure?"*
but amazingly, over the years, three separate companies have made
Phraint figures - Archive Miniatures, Texas Miniatures, and Emperors
Choice Games. Archive and Emperors Choice also made Vroat figures.
On the left are the original Archive Miniatures Phraint and Vroat, by
Neville Stocken I believe. The Phraint seems to be posing for a photo
op while the Vroat sizes him up.
On the right are the Emperors Choice Phraint and Vroat, ready to do
battle (by William Watt).
While in the center, Richard Kerr's "Insect Warrior" (nudge, nudge,
wink, wink) from Texas Miniatures looks on in smug superiority.
As far as I know, the Emperors Choice figures are the only ones that
are still available. You can find them >here<.
(* Yes, in fact, it can get more obscure, digression and obscurity are
my forte. Should the phrase "Phraints in Space" be running through
your head for any reason, here is a Space Phraint, also known as a
Hurraku.)
(By William Watt, from Emperors Choice Games.)
5 comments:
Is the photo of all three phraints taken from your private collection, or did you find another phraintophile on the web?
Its a picture of my own collection.
Hmm, perhaps you should rename your blog "Arx Plumbum Incorruptus"
I have a number of Texas Miniatures insect warriors available.
www.classicminiatures.net
Just want to set the record straight here: I did in fact sculpt the original vroat for Archive Miniatures, but my colleague, Steven Lortz, sculpted the Phraint. I went on to sculpt a Hurrakku (Space Phraint) for Archive several months later.
Regards,
Nevile Stocken
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