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| "I look fierce... but crumble like blue cheese!" |
"Get this Wagon Train a moving!" Hah, you thought this was going to be a western post, didn't you?
How about that? Combining a western phrase like an Old West cowboy when actually referring to the Temple Dog minis from 33rd edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
I have had them on my radar for a number of years. Back when we played 3rd edition I used a GW manticore sans wings to simulate one for my Dark Elf army. Game-wise they were fluffy, but as a war beast they were decidedly mediocre. The problem is the same with almost any other war beast or large models like giants: they attract an inordinate amount of artillery and magic. With a Toughness of 5 Temple Dogs usually dumped their rider very quickly. The problem I have always had is they are stone, they are divinely powered, and they fall over in a stiff breeze.
"Temple Dogs are stone statues found guarding temple entrances in the lands of Nippon and Cathay. They resemble nothing so much as a cross between a giant pekinese and a lion. In times of war, the power of the temple gods is channeled into these statues to animate them. It is a great honour to mount this divine animal, indicating that the rider has found great favour with the gods."
(Warhammer Armies, page 26, 1991)
Sounds like they should be made of sterner stuff, no?
As I move along in fits and starts on my Nippon army I have come around to the conclusion I am highly unlikely if ever going to play my Nippon Army as anything other than a third edition one. That leaves me with the open possibilities of being able to model the army however I want.
The Temple Dog was pretty much the same in each iteration (as near as I can tell as I have never actually seen one) and came with one of three different riders. The part I really like? I like that the Temple Dog's tongue is hanging out just like a real dog. My previous golden retriever Teddy who passed away always did that. Each had a plastic spear/lance that was fairly common with models back then and the hand was molded to the spear. From the look of it they are on 40x40mm bases.
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| Excellent Temple Dog examples over at the Stuff of Legends! |
The three riders are as follows:
- A dark elf rider – least interest. As I pointed out this would have been useful back in the day. (EDIT: and as luck would have the first one I found in 2023).
- A samurai rider – the one I am most interested in. Three in particular would be good.
- A hobgoblin rider – could be useful to me particularly since I have two full units of 2nd and 3rd edition hobgoblin infantry.
As a side tangent: I have been searching eBay and they pop up now and again, but remain elusive. The maxim of eBay is playing out here: "be patient and do not overpay." I have been known to rail against insane eBay price gouging, another good indication of relative worth as it relates to inflation. If we use the sale price listed and convert it to US dollars it was about $3.28 in 1991. In today's dollars it is $5.74, a 75% increase when one counts for inflation. Often I have seen these in the neighborhood of $40-50...that's insane. Sure any item on eBay is what the market will bear, but that sure is some markup!
As noted above, a great example of this excellent model is here from Cianty, one of the luminaries of Bordertown Burning. We interviewed him for Issue #1 of the Word of Hashut waaaay back in 2008. It is more Kung-Fu inspired where I am working more for a Nippon inspired theme. Either way it is pretty cool.
In the end this has been one of the more challenging models to find. It is not super rare, but I do not really ever recall seeing it here in the US shops I frequented back when 3rd edition was current?
How common were temple dogs in your travels back in the day?
