Shiny, shiny, shiny wings of Leather...

 Following on from my post a couple of weeks ago, I dug out some more Balrogs and demons to paint in a similar manner.

Left is one of my first ever figures, a Ral Partha demon. Right is a recently acquired Heritage mini, who looks particularly nasty.

Both Heritage I think. Left hand chap

 has definite Maurice Sendak vibes, I love his slight pigeon toed stance.

I can't do a group shot with the previous demons as they have been summoned to Oakbound Studios to take part in a game at BOYL.

Ral Partha Goblins

This picture of one of Joe Dever's battles shows a unit of Ral Partha Goblin archers from the 1977 Wizards Warriors and Warlocks range ( bottom left partially in view). I think this regiment was split up and repurposed in Joe's Giak army, but I want to recreate it pre-Lone Wolf. 

These must have been some of Joe's earlier figures as the original unit is based with flock ( now faded) , rather than Tetrion or Pollyfilla. He mentions the advantages of the latter over the former in one of his Tabletop Heroes articles in White Dwarf. I only have 2 of the original regiment from Joe's collection in its pre Giak guise.

 

  But I do have a lot of this range, which were some of the first figures I bought from Forever People in Bristol around 1980, so I mustered 30 for service.

Unfortunately some of these soft lead

 figures had been bashed about and had lost their helmet spikes, so I drilled holes and added fine brass rod.

I had to repair 10, a few of which are shown above.

These will be off to the basing filler queue before undercoating. The detail is so crude on these figures I decided not to bother stripping the ones that were already painted. 

Shadow and Flame

 ...or to be accurate, bright red paint and gloss varnish.  I volunteered to provide this flock of Balrogs for the upcoming game at BOYL, thinking I had all the figures, but on rummaging about, I found I only had a couple of them ( I had owned these all in the past, but they must have gone in my big fantasy purge of 1987). Happily the Oldhammer community stepped up to the mark and I was able to source the missing figures for zero cost thanks to the generosity of members.

The figures in the original picture are nice and shiny.

So I was pleased to be able to carry that theme on and do likewise, so they also fit in with my Prehammer and Joe Dever collection. It was very refreshing to do a simple paint job, lovely gloss varnish and a filler base again after a couple of years of painting muddy 17c soldiers.

The entire flock. Lots of lovely wings, like all good Balrogs should have.

Citadel and Grenadier.

Two Ral Partha specimens.

Citadel demon by Nick Bibby. A dynamic pose, but I had to counterbalance the base as he tips forward. He's still a bit unstable, but better.

I thoroughly enjoyed painting these. So much so I started another batch of vintage fire demons to join them. They are currently awaiting basing.

Chaos Warrior Reference

 Just dumping a load of pictures gleaned from WD and Line Wolf publications for reference. All Chaos Warriors from Gary Chalk's collection. It's interesting to see the same figures popping up in different battles, sometimes changing sides in a truly chaotic manner.

Mr. Spiky shield appears as N'aarsh the undead champion in Thistlewood.

Thistlewood Banners

 I've been finishing off a couple of flags to match those shown in the White Dwarf article.

First up the Black Uruks. I painted a banner for these a couple of years ago but decided I wanted to copy the one painted by Gary Chalk. I finally worked out the banner pole shown was a Dixon samurai yari with severed head cast on, so ordered one which came in record time.

The colours I chose are conjectural as I don't think I've ever seen this flag in colour, but I copies some of Gary Chalk's other illustrations with bold bright colours.

I'm also working on Lord Vassago's flag.

Thankfully the 2 pictures I can find of it show both sides.

I cheated here, by photocopying the black and white image and painting over it so the reverse of the flag is facing the wrong way, but although I'm pedantic, I'm all for an easy life and time is limited.

I just need to paint the standard bearer now who is undercoated and waiting.

LOYAL HALF ELVES (MK2)

 Many moons ago, I finished some elves for Thistlewood (here) Since then of course I've acquired a good deal of the original figures used by Joe Dever, and among them were 15 Minifigs elves.

The army list for Thistlewood states 20 Loyal Half Elves are needed, so I knocked up another 5 ( plus leader, because I had him).

Just need to give them a gloss varnish and add the filler for the bases.

GREEN GOBLINS - RESTORING JOE DEVER'S COLLECTION 4

 In the Project Aon battle day pictures is this splendid unit of green Hobgoblins and orcs.

 It was about 60% depleted when I took charge of it, with missing or rotted figures. I've tried to replace them like for like and paint them as they were originally done. Joe used a lot of inks on these, so Citadel contrast paints were really useful. When I came to take the pictures here, I was pleased that I had a job telling which were original and which were mine.

                                        

above are the survivors, below the rotted.

below, the regiment back to strength as far as I can know. One figure is being repaired by Geoff at Oakbound Studio, and I need to work on the banner I think they had.

Below, Joe's and mine mixed. I hope you can't tell the difference.

Below, a few shots of the replaced figures on the left, and the rotted orginals on the right. I haven't shown them all, but just a few to give an idea of how I copied the paint schemes.

It was a really fun project to complete, and I hope they will see battle soon.

LORD VASSAGO? RESTORING JOE DEVER'S COLLECTION 3

 Over on the Project Aon site here

https://projectaon.proboards.com/thread/2830/lone-wolf-battle-day-photos

is a description from lucky fellow who attended a battle day at Joe's house. I was ecstatic to find these pictures as they provide another glimpse of Joe's collection. I'm lucky enough to be custodian of many of the regiments shown, but those I don't have, I am recreating.

The commander of the evil forces on the centre left of the first picture appears to be a Ral Partha necromancer with Minifigs Monk Spirit attendants.

He is glimpsed in a couple of other shots too, below in the graveyard to the right of the turquoise statue.

and below from the rear exhorting the dead to arise no doubt. You can see his wraith like monk spirit attendants a bit closer here.

I have a hunch that this is the figure used by Joe to represent Lord Vassago in the Thistlewood scenario in WD43. Certainly the red and gold cavalry (Minifigs Parthian cataphracts btw) on the left in the first picture carry a banner which reads Emperor Vassago ( I have the banner, rather than unnaturally good eyesight).

Anyhow, as I didn't have the evil overlord and attendants, I set about copying Joe's.