Feb 5, 2013

Dobryna Nikitich, last of the bogatyrs


Dobryna your mother warned you, don’t go to the river for “the first wave belches fire, the second wave brings sparks and the third issues steam”. The summer day was to hot and Dobryna did not really care. He could only forsee a bath of cool water. Long did he ride trough the steppe, and reach the river at last. Burned by the summer sun, his armor was hot as a caldron. Dobryna took off his armament and jumped in the refreshing water.

Suddenly the sky turned to black and Dobryna could hear again the warning of a loving mother. Indeed, it was no cloud nor night that darken the sky, but the immense shadow of the three-headed dragon Zmei-Gorynych. The dragon was once prophecised that a knight responding the name of Dobryna would eventually kill him. Instead of waiting for is faith, he faced it and caught Dobryna in a rather embarrasing situation.


Dobryna fearing no danger swam to the bank but his horse had flee with all his equipement, only the helmet that had fell on the ground remained. The knight filled it with sand and threw it at the dragon, thus blowing one head. He then jumped at him and grabbed him by the remaining necks. Zmei-Gorynych clearly saw the exit door, and started crying and pleading for life. Dobryna felt pity for the dismembered creature and let him go.

But dragons are not the kind to be trusted. Damn it! Dobryna! lessen to your mother! The minute Zmei-Gorynych was free, he flew to Kiev, abducted the niece of the Tsar Vladimir and took the maiden to his cave, deep in the mountain.


Out of guilt or maybe in need for a good meal, Dobryna rode back to his mother to seek some advice. Lessen carefully son: “here is a seven-fold silky whip. Now go get the horse of your grandfather, the one that has been neglected for ages, and you'll be able to ride to the dragon's cave safely”.

When Dobryna broke into the cave, Zmei-Gorynych protested that the knight has no word and that he broke an oath. Well, it takes some guts to be so  arroguant. Guts and blood and venom that would soon cover the floor after Dobryna chopped the last two heads and slayed the dragon for good. After a bath in the blood of the beast, Dobryna eventually found the pincess attached with gold chains in one of the many caves of the lair. He took her back to her uncle the Tsar Vladimir of Kiev. The two fell in love on the way, and Vladimir wouldn't have been a sovereign of tales and legends if he wouldn't have offer the hand of the princess to the deserving knight.


With Dobryna ends the serie of the Bogatyrs, the three russian heros, taken from the canvas by Viktor Vastnetsov and finely rendered by the manufacturer Plastic Miniatures. With the two extra points added to retribute my effort to render the patterns on his kaftan, Dobryna has earned me 12 more points in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, which lift me up to a total of 33 pts, and a well deserved bottom line on the scoreboard.

9 comments:

  1. Superbly painted figures - everything from the studs on the shield to the details on the coat are wonderful. Great job. Dean

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  2. A very nice looking figure! And a great story too!

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  3. I love these Russian minis and and these posts! Great job on the painting too. :o)

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  4. You might be last but that freehand is top notch.

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  5. Thank you all guys, so many superlatives! I wish I had more free time to answer you individually as comments pop, but you all know this damn hobby is asking to much on the painting side, and I need to stay focus right now.

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  6. Great work, I like all the little details you've painted.

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  7. In this manner my associate Wesley Virgin's autobiography begins with this SHOCKING AND CONTROVERSIAL VIDEO.

    Wesley was in the military-and soon after leaving-he unveiled hidden, "SELF MIND CONTROL" tactics that the government and others used to get everything they want.

    THESE are the same tactics many famous people (notably those who "come out of nowhere") and elite business people used to become wealthy and famous.

    You probably know how you use only 10% of your brain.

    That's really because most of your brain's power is UNCONSCIOUS.

    Perhaps this expression has even taken place INSIDE OF YOUR very own brain... as it did in my good friend Wesley Virgin's brain about 7 years back, while riding an unlicensed, beat-up bucket of a vehicle with a suspended driver's license and with $3.20 on his banking card.

    "I'm very fed up with living paycheck to paycheck! When will I get my big break?"

    You've been a part of those those types of questions, ain't it so?

    Your success story is waiting to happen. You need to start believing in YOURSELF.

    Take Action Now!

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