A Tale of Four Oldhammer Gamers: Plague Skeletons

It is Sunday as I write this. Tomorrow brings the first day of half-term and the joyous realisation that I do not have to go to school for another whole week! I have a serious amount of painting to try and get in over the next week as a number of projects draw to a close and others spring up anew from the depths of my lead pile. 

As you will no doubt be aware, Paul, Steve, Ringo and I are all attempting one of those monthly 'Tale of Four Gamers' things, in the hope of joining up at the next BOYL and doing battle with the forces we raise. You will probably recall my post last month about my recently completed plague skeletons. Well, it has taken me ages to get the remaining troops finished and fit for the table, but with all the natural light flooding into my conservatory today, I managed to get them completed.

Looking at the three models above, I can see how very different they have come out. I painted the converted standard bearer first, using a broken figure as a basis, cutting off the staff and replacing the missing hand. Adding the banner pole was quite simple; I used a pin-vice to drill through the raised hand and just pushed some fairly sturdy wire through the hole. 

The heavily armoured chap on the right followed. A sense of deja vu came over me as I worked on this one, as this dolly saw a lot of action across the 1980s and numerous model variants exist. In the past I have struggled to get a decent finish on the chaos versions, so stuck to a very simple drybrush and highlight method on the armour, which covers most of the figure. The haft of the axe needed to contrast with all the nearby metals, so I chose an earthy brown to pick that out. using my smallest brush, I highlighted a grain effect like I usually do. The skull and hair where done as normal, using the excellent Foundry triads for both. 

The final model was the central one. This one is also a variant, though perhaps a more famous one. He is, of course, another version of Mordini from the Nightmare Legion. Considering he is supposed to be in a Nurgle army he has come out a little, well, purple. My reasoning is thus; he was a Slanneshi or Tzeentch Chaos champion who was killed by the Plague Lord's forces and resurrected as an undead champion - in thrall to a hated master. I am sure Nurgle would find such a situation most amusing. 

Here is the completed unit for my Nurgle force. As I said before, I wanted to make each skeleton different but not feel the need to make them look like a Nurgle unit. These are the raised dead that have fought against my army, not followers of the Father of Flies. I had fun with the different shield designs and with the paper banner. Keeping things a bit generic helps me in other ways, as adding some of my other painted skeletons (completed way back when in the early days of this blog) creates a ten figure unit for my undead force. 

Take a look! 

What do you think of my skeletons?

Orlygg

Things that go bump in the night!

I hate it when a paintbrush goes. You know what I mean, don't you? One minute you are painting away, master of the paint's destiny and the next... Splodge! The point of your brush just doesn't want to co-operate and ends up splitting in two! 

Arrgggthh!

Then comes that period of scrabbling around for a new brush to work with. Getting used to it's quirks and idiosyncrasies can take time and for a while at least, you lament the old one's loss.

That is where I am at the moment. Perhaps I should say, I am between brushes? 

I find speed painting great fun and often urge all and sundry to have a go themselves. Set yourself a time limit and just paint. It is liberating. 

These two nasties were born out of the need to change brushes. I knew I'd only get two or three models out of my current one, so snatched from the leadpile two simple figures that could be completed in a few hours. The first is the Old Hag from one of the villagers/townsfolk releases put out in the '80s while the other is the classic reaching Citadel mummy. 

The light was as dim today as you would expect in England during February but I managed to capture these nonetheless. 

More soon. 

Orlygg

A Tale of Four Oldhammer Gamers: Plague Skeletons

This weekend was a little bit of a busy one, and Fallout 4 currently holds me in its post-apocalyptic embrace but I still managed to get these four plague skeletons finished. These are the the rank and file of the seven skeleton unit I am planning for my Nurgle force. The command models - a skeletal champion, standard bearer and unit commander remain unfinished on my paint station. The standard bearer is a conversion and needs more work, while the other two models only arrived in the post this week and have yet to see undercoat. 

I was keen to make these models a little more generic, rather than go all out on the Nurgle iconography for much the same reason as I did with the plague cart. These models will also be able to become part of my undead force, and as I have three painted metal skeleton warriors elsewhere and future ten man unit is a possibility.

These old Citadel skeletons are full of character. I used to really despise them and strongly favour the plastic models from Skeleton Horde, but actually playing Warhammer has softened my few of them, for the plastic models are so light and spindly they are so easy to break. These chunky boneheads are much more hardwearing than their plastic cousins. I also love the variation of pose, armour and style the skeletons of the '80s bring us. I think all of the major sculptors working at Citadel at the time had a crack at at least one bonehead and they sold is suitable millions over the years to make them very easy to collect now. 

They are totally crap in combat mind, but they look great! 

Unusually for me, I painted the four models as a batch, working on each area separately before moving on to the next. For the bone, I used my trusted Foundry boneyard triad. The rusted metal was fairly simple, with a black undercoat drybrushed dark silver and then orange/brown to create the rusty look, with the dark silver back over the top. I highlighted the chainmail here and there with pure silver, and edged the helmets, plate and shields with the same. As you will have seen, I opted to give each skeleton a 'colour' to add interest. This is where these models differ from my standard undead army models as they stick to a scheme of black, bone, white, metals and brown. 

As is my usual style, I knocked up a couple of shields and had a go at some tiny little freehand skulls. They look naff up close but work reasonably at a distance. 

The 'green' skeleton is my favourite of the bunch. I have always loved the figure ever since I saw one fielded by Thantants at a game in Mansfield. His collection (particularly the undead) has always been a big influence and inspiration to me. This skelly's cheeky beard (still hanging from the jaw) tickled my fancy and I managed to find one cheaply on eBay. Lovely model! 

Right, I am off once again. I have a game in just over a month (In Defence of Far Corfe) and need to produce my units over the next few weeks. Hopefully, I can get a few hours in to finish this unit before March. Until then, enjoy what ever you are painting! 

Orylgg

A Tale of Four Oldhammer Gamers: Plague Cart

Hello all! I have had quite a prolific weekend and managed to get a large number of models near completion. Sadly, the light is diminishing rapidly so I must reluctantly clean off my brushes and pack away until next Saturday. But, blogging is possible in any weather, so he we go...

Last month the leaderboard looked a little like this:

Warlord Paul = 8 points

Steve Casey = 5 points

Chico = 5 points

Orlygg = 4 points

And yes, that is me languishing and the bottom of the table! Not wanting to remain there for any longer than I have to, I got to work building up my rank and file for my Nurgle army. Using the list in the Lost and the Damned gives you a great deal of options, and my eye immediately fell on the units of plague skeletons. I have a large number of undead models sitting in storage as well as an embryonic undead army, so why not kill two birds with one stone and paint up some skeletons!?

Nurgle's daemonic number is seven, so any units I build will need to be grouped by this amount, or a multiple of. I selected seven suitable skeletons and set to work prepping the models. It was then my eye fell on the section for plague carts, and it appears that any player who fields plague skeletons in the Nurgle army can have a cart for FREE! So my Nurgle warband would soon be seeing seven skeletons (lead by a skeletal champion) and a plague cart to boot!

Only I hit a snag. I ran out of decent light today before I could finish the skeletons. But the plague cart that goes with them is, at least, complete. The plague cart usually costs 100 points (and even though I technically don't have to pay them) can act as this month's commitment on its own. I hope to have the skeleton unit complete well before the end of the month, but this post can be my insurance policy just in case!

I must confess to being a big fan of this model. The plague cart is a truly iconic Warhammer model that sadly disappeared from the game some years ago. The beauty of the plague cart is that it can be used in ANY game, thus making it essential to any serious old school Warhammer player. If you are not au fait with the rules let me paraphrase. The plague cart can appear on any battle field and usually travels in a straight line across the table, passing through most obstacles. It causes fear and reanimates fighters slain nearby as it trundles its way wherever! A choice piece for any GM and a regular 'event' in my games of youth. 

Initially, I tried to paint the model entirely with drybrushing but the results were less than spectacular. So I returned to my tried and tested bone recipe - using the Foundry Boneyard triad, which is excellent. I completed the undead ox first but realised that I was in danger of producing a model that just looked like a cart made from bones. How would the eye differentiate between the ox, the wheels and the pile of bones in the back?

In the end, I used a red/chestnut ink wash over the corpses in the back of the cart, before highlighting in my usual way. This gave the bones here a bloodstained look that I really took too, and I used the same technique on my other (as yet unfinished) skeletons. 

The wooden cart was very simple to paint. Just a brown undercoat washed over with black ink. When dry, I drybrushed over with my brown basecoat and highlighted with the darkest shade of boneyard. Very simple. 

In the end, I decided to paint the grim reaper rider like a ghost. If you read the background of the Plague Cart it states that the vehicle is actually ethereal so I wanted to make reference to it on the model. Again, he was fairly easy to paint and I used a dark blue/green mix as a basecoat and added the lightest shade of boneyard gradually to create the highlights. 

To conclude, I am really pleased with how the model came out and it has become one of my favourite ever Citadel miniatures. I discovered a new way to approach the painting for bone that I am keen to try again too. With a point for this post and another point for delivering my 100 point entry for the month in the guise of the cart itself, I now have six points. 

Hopefully, I can earn a few more before the end of January and knock that Paul off the top of the table! 

Orlygg

Tackling the 'Unfinishables': The Miniature Painter's Struggle

Years ago, I wrote about the concept of a Miniature Moriarty. Those miniatures that somehow or other turn against their owners in a kind of Frankensteinesque moment that often results in a long period of apathy. At the time I jumbled together some ideas to help me express how certain models made me feel. It went a little like this:

"So if you blessed by not having a shameful secret (or think you are) how can you recognise a Miniature Moriarty? To help you decide I have created a little checklist that you can run through if you are unsure.

Here we go...

1) No matter how hard you try your paint always 'does its own thing' and blobs and runs in places you don't want it to go.

2) The colour scheme always looks awful, not matter what you try. Either too flat and lacking depth or cartoony.

3) Base looks awful, even though you have used the very same technique that you always use.

4) You start to despise the figure you are working on.

5) This feeling of dislike spreads to other models and you become reluctant to paint anything else in case the 'contagion' spreads to other models.

6) The 'contagion' spreads, you become disinterested in painting, your miniatures stand idle and the jar full of models you just bought from eBay float in their dettol bath unloved for weeks. Your table becomes a dumping ground for random objects placed their by your wife, dust breeds, the table becomes an embarrassment that you just cannot face tidying up

7) You blame it all on that one miniature that started the whole downward spiral.

And now, the most important aspect of a Moriarty Miniature! Number 8 in the list. Remember, that we are talking about a nemesis here, an archenemy. Its a personal thing, between you and the lead.

So...

8)Only YOU can see the faults. Only YOU care about the flaws. So only YOU can make the change... Everyone else will just look at the model and say... "I like the way to did the...'

So...

Just paint."

Thankfully, none of the models I am sharing with you today are true Moriarty. They are what I like to call the 'Unfinishables'. Models that you want to paint, start working on but ultimately abandon for some reason (initially for a short time). However, they just remain on your painting table, or even worse tucked safely away somewhere (often for years) and never, ever get completed. Years can go by, as indeed did for a couple of the models I am showing off today, without any further work being carried out. 

With a long holiday underway, I was keen to get some serious painting done and hope to get a least one miniature painted each day. Currently, its Day 6 and six models stand completed before me (though today, Thursday, I haven't completed anything as of yet) so I have done well. What better to get working on than some of those unfinished projects I have started over the years and never got around to finishing off. As I write, I still have three unfinished projects for next time I have a clear through but I am ready to move on to another project really. 

So lets have a look at what I have managed to paint over the last few days

This undead rider model is a bit special. Not because there is some sort of Warhammery legend attached to it but due to the fact it is one of the few original models I owned back in the 1980s. I must have at some point picked up a blister with these in as there was once a second rider and steed, but both were far to badly damaged survive one of my culls and went in the bin. Yet, this model has survived and I have been keen to paint it over the years but as described, I'd start it, grow unhappy or bored with where I was going and plop the figure in the Dettol. Repeating the process several times. 

He was undercoated and based on my painting table but I wasn't sure where to go with the colour scheme. I have a hefty collection of old school undead and always intended to do a white (bone) back and brown scheme for the lot of them, using red as a spot colour. The colours of death ultimately. So I opted to go for a brown robe for the rider, he did after all look like some kind of monk, and highlighted up with my new best friend of painting, Foundry Boneyard 9A. A truly versatile colour indeed. 

The rider's face and hands were completed using the Boneyard shade I just mentioned, followed up with a chestnut ink glaze. The cleaver was very easy. Just a dark metal basecoat, washed over with first a brown ink and then a orange/brown wash. A slight silver highlight was added to the edges. The shoes proved a bit of a problem as I didn't want to just paint them another shade of brown. In the end, I went for a green into which I mixed a little of the brown to create a little colour harmony.

It was the horse that took the time. I wanted to go for black to contrast against the brown of the robe. Now, as many a painter will tell you, black, like white, can be a real challenge to get right so I highlighted up with dark greys until it reached a point I was happy with. I used the same grey to drybrush up the mane and tail. It was fairly simple to basecoat the missing chunks on the mount's body with a scarlet before washing over with a chestnut ink. I highlighted the gore with red and then a pink. 

An enjoyable figure to paint and a finish I am really pleased with. 

McDeath is a favourite range of mine, though few of the models are exclusive to it. The Knight of Harkness above is one such figure. Sadly, he has gathered dust for some months on the paint station because there was always something a bit more exciting to work on. He was very straight forwards to paint up, though I had to change the base colour of his 'skirt' bit to red after reading through the background materials. I was unhappy with how the armour had originally turned out, so I mixed up a blue glaze and ran it over all of the steel on the model. It gave the metal a bright, noble hue that helped bring out the details. Well, I thought so anyway.

Only the shield took me any great time. The design is lifted from the McDeath background material though the colour choices are mine. A real test of my freehand. 

Over the years I have raved about the Citadel plastic skeletons many times and I am sure you will forgive me if I rave once again. They are, quite simply, the best plastic skeletons ever produced and GW really did go backwards with their second (and much inferior) set of plastic skellies. Thankfully, the originals are very easy to get hold of and I probably own more than I will ever need. If indeed you can actually own too many of them in the first place! 

I cannot recall why this model was abandoned. But he has sat there for some time feeling lonely so after the paint had dried on the Knight of Harkness I started work. I was keen to try out the Foundry Boneyard triad on a whole model and ended up washing over my original paint work with a dark brown wash. Once dry, I used a mixture of layering and drybrushing to work up the model to the highlight. This probably took no longer than 15 minutes to achieve. The axe needed just a moment or two to highlight with suitable colours. Easy and effective I thought. Another positive advert for triads. 

Of course, being a plastic skeleton he needed a freehand painted shield. As I have done in the past, I Googled skull designs and copied one onto the shield. To add interest, I decided to add a single, blood-shot eye inside one of the sockets. If you are trying similar things, always do your research first. Have an explore through as much reference as you can and always keep you paint fluid with plenty of water. My top tips!

With the skeleton based and finished, it was time to move on to a figure that I started last spring. Originally part of my Chaos army but unfinished due to me having grown tired of painting Khorne stuff - this classic chaos dwarf is a brilliant example of the insane ideas behind the original chaos release. 

He painted up quickly. I loved working on the face and chose purple as a skin tone. Dwarf faces are so full of character that they are a joy to highlight and I just kept on adding Boneyard 6C to the mix until I was happy with the result. The red hair was also easy to achieve. A dark red base, highlighted with orange and yellow. I used the same yellow to pick out the two spots on his face. To add further contrast, I used bone for the horns sprouting from his head and a vibrant green for his tongue. 

Not a chap to bump into on St Valentine's Day, eh? 

Though hard to see in the image - I used browns and creams for his clothing. After all, with such a shocking colourful face, I didn't want to over-egg the pudding and spoil the look of the model. The boots were black, drybrushed with grey and highlighted with a lighter shade. I used Foundry's steel triad for the blade and GW's new gold paints for the hilt and guard. 

The model gave me another chance to paint on one of the 'ogre faces' I have been using on my chaos stuff. It was a little more challenging this time, as I usually use the larger round shields, but instead opted for one of the spiky undead ones. As I have done previously, I kept the rim of the shield black to help frame the painting on the face itself. Its what they did in the GW Studio back in the day so its good enough for me! 

It was then an easy job to base the model. In retrospect, this is my favourite model in this little project. I have already added him to my chaos dwarf unit. 

Now this 'unfinishable' must be my oldest. I started this back in 2012 when Realm of Chaos 80s was just a few months old. I gave up on it because I just didn't get on with the sculpt. I am still not a great fan of this particular orc, but I persisted and am fairly happy with the result. I still think that my recipe for orc flesh is too pale - but there you go... That is a problem for a future painting session. 

And finally, this chap. He was a quick paint and is destined to bulk up a unit of Slanneshi Chaos warriors in my other chaos army. I cannot say I am a big fan of this model either, but he is finished and I am now free to try other things. I don't feel that the colour scheme works particularly well. I think its the lack of depth in the pink armour. But its finished and ready for the table top. 

To conclude, there is something deeply satisfying in completing a model at the best of times. Its even more satisfying when they are annoying figures that have just sat there gathering dust for some time. As I said at the head of this article, I have a few other models out there which can be classed as 'unfinishables' and one day, perhaps half-term, I shall return to them and endeavour to get them completed too. 

Until then, I off to start work on my next project. More McDeath stuff if you want to know. But before I pop off, why not get thinking (like so many of you did with my speed painting challenge) about YOUR 'unfinishables'. And the next time you lift a brush to paint, why no reach for one of those models instead, and lay an overdue project to rest.

Happy painting.

Orlygg

Acceptable in the '80s: Marauder Undead

Right then, back on track with the ACTUAL chronology of Warhammer Third Edition releases after our little foray into the world of Wayne England's classic old school dwarf miniatures. Now, wasn't that a sentence? Actually, while we are on the subject of Wayne's dwarfs, I can share with you this - Wayne has told me that he is working on a new dwarf army even as we speak and hopes to have something to show soon. 

So look out for that if you are a fan of his work. 

Onwards then... Today we discuss the Marauder Undead Contingent released in WD 136 in 1991. Looking at them now, its hard to see through the rather basic paintjob isn't it? But then again, the old addage goes - 'don't judge a book by its cover' and I suppose its relevant to model soliders too! Sure, the paint job presented in the photograph leaves quite a bit to be desired, based on past Citadel glories, and whiffs faintly of the yet to come 'Red Period', but its not that bad! I mean, the banners are quite good and there was even a photocopy version of each on the associated WD article (see below). 

Personally, I don't like the monopose regiments of archers and Grim Reapers, though I know a number of well known wargamers (the famous Harry from Warseer for example) who really enjoy building and fielding units in this way. I remember enjoying one of his games from the sidelines once, and he took me over to a unit and was very passionate about the way the same model created the 'look' he was after. I expect that there will be a fairly equal number of gamers out there from both camps.

The skeletons are much more up my street here and I wish there was a closer shot of them. I like the way the banner and shields tie the unit together in such a cohesive way. 

White Dwarf also carried a little painting article alongside the models. Look at that! Words! There are probably more words on that single page than in entire modern White Dwarfs. 

Now if you were a follower of Marauder releases, you would have no doubt recognised most of the figures in the contingent. Look closer and you can see that the leader of the force, a Necromancer, is a new sculpt. The page below shows you in glorious monochrome what the rest of the options for leader were - a liche and a vampire respectively. Oh, and a couple of wights. 

I doubt that I'd ever consider collecting this range. I just have too many old school Citadel skeletons to ever need any more, apart from a few more archers perhaps. But I am sure these unique models have their fans. 

Are you one of them?

Colin Dixon and Roy Eastland's Miniature Ranges from White Dwarf 133

As the festivities of the Christmas period in 1990 drew to their reluctant end, Games Workshop published their regular magazine on a very expecting world. As many of you will remember, White Dwarf was a very needed 'hobby-injection' in a world of print media. Its easy to take access to such material for granted these days (especially when you think there is probably more content published each month online for classic GW games than there was back in 1990) but back then, picking up a copy (or even better, getting your mag in the post) was an exciting event. 

For me, I'd grab my copy (as I did with issue 133) and dash up the stairs to my bedroom ready to absorb its contents over an hour or so. My first port of call was always the 'Eavy Metal pages - as they were of course in colour - and I would continue my endless pondering over why my painted miniatures didn't look as good as those in the magazine. 

However, this month had a little bit of a surprise in store for the GW fan. After years of collecting and gaming with Warhammer, Heroquest and the like, the sculpting team at Citadel were most definitely household (or should I say classroom?) names in my life. In January 1991 two new masters of the putty emerged: Roy Eastland and Colin Dixon.

Eastland's techs are a fairly so-so group of miniatures with rather static poses - though in their defence, this may well be due to the need to include the plastic arms and weapons of the time. I have never been a huge fan of uniformity in miniature design and these techs seem a little too similar for my painting tastes. I would probably give them a miss if I considered collecting the Confrontation ranges. On the other hand, the bounty hunters are excellent examples of 40k related material in the early 1990s, being varied, ragged cyberpunks! They really do look like the characters seen in the Confrontation artwork realised in lead. I would love some of these, but I suspect that so would many others and getting them for a reasonable price would take some time indeed!

Eastland's skeletons are excellent and are easily some of the finest ever cast up by Citadel. Here there is a great deal more room for variation of pose and this really helps bring the models to life. You see these turn up quite regularly on Facebook with collectors asking if they were part of the GW ranges, most likely because they don't appear in many of the catalogues available online. They are also really well painted and the colours selected convey the skeletal menace of these troops wonderfully.

The dwarfs, though characterful, are not as successful as the skeletons. They are still solid models that will easily stand alongside the numerous others produced in the 1980s, but there is something about them that seems lacking. I really do like the first model (from the left) and the third model as they share an Alpine quality similar to the dwarf skiier we have discussed in the past. 

Interestingly, the models were supported with a rather interesting little article about the two sculptors. Colin's biography is probably well known to long term readers of this blog and others that deal with classic GW material. He was the ORIGINAL 'Eavy Metal painter and was first person to be employed by GW to paint full time.  Roy Eastland is a name that doesn't ring any further bells with me, but I think he went on to produce figures for a number of other manufacturers in the 1990s. 

Anyone know anymore?

If we time travel back to my bedroom of yesteryear, I can recall quite clearly really wanting to get hold of the skeleton models to help bolster my plastic force. Sadly, I never got the opportunity and I don't really recall ever being able to find these models dangling from the blister rack at Wonderworld. I have the beginnings of a twenty-first century undead army on my display case, though its a project I have't worked on for a while, one day I shall and I think I would very much like to include these skeletons in it, perhaps as character models. 

Any fans of these models out there?

Orlygg

Acceptable in the '80s: White Dwarf 127, Marauder Undead and Flagellants

Unfortunately, my scanner is broken and so I am left with the only remaining option when detailing this series, photographing articles of interest with my phone. Not an ideal way to gather up historical evidence, but its all I have to use at the moment. If you happen to have better quality images of these pages, or can scan them, I would be very grateful and its fairly easy to replace photographs once a blog has been posted. 

Onwards and upwards then. Issue 127 is one of the all time classics, especially if you are into the Eldar. For it was within the pages of this issue that their background saw its first major relaunch. There are literally pages, and pages of art, fluff and such but this is a series of  blog posts that focuses on Warhammer Third Edition, not Rogue Trader, so commenting on these extracts will need to wait for another day. 

As we have come to expect, there is a little here that would interest hardcore Warhammer fans. As we know, Warhammer was in decline at this point, largely due to the runaway success of Rogue Trader, and the explosion of Big Box Games, including the massive selling Heroquest. There was plenty of fantasy around, it just wasn't Warhammer Fantasy

Marauder's monthly release for issue 127 were primarily undead. Let'a have a look at the minis in a bit more detail shall we?

I remember being disappointed by these back in 1990, and despite my changing views on Marauder as a range, I am still disappointed with them now. These skeletons just aren't as good at the older Citadel ones. The skulls look like comedic Halloween masks and the poses are very dull. I get the feeling looking at them now that they were most likely knocked out quite quickly, especially when you compare them to the lovingly put together Imperial Dwarf range by Marauder. 

There are some great ideas on a few of the models though, such as skeletons A, B and C in MM50/5, who have a strange appeal. I think its the cross between pantomime villain and mongol warrior! But overall these are not models that I will ever be adding to the collection. Perhaps I am being unfair, and please do let me know if you think I am, as it may just be the paint jobs that make these models look the way they do, but I very much doubt it. 

The Flagellants are are a different kettle of fish. Though a little obscured by the quality of the my photography, these are quite characterful models. The all look interesting and have yet to acquire the impossibly muscled look of the later plastic versions. Interestingly, flagellants were first mentioned (as far as I know away) back in 1987's Warhammer Armies book, but this is the first time we see some models produced distinctly to represent them. In my opinion, the style of sculpting is very different with these models, and reflect what was going to come with the Warhammer miniature line rather than fitting in with what had gone before. 

What are your views of these models? Is it yeah or nay for the skellies? Are you a fan of the flagellants? Please share. 

Orlygg

The Nightmare Legion

As you may have read, this week is half term and I plan to use my time wisely when it comes to getting miniatures painted. Some weeks back I entered one of the brilliant competitions, or challenges, over on the Oldhammer Forum for the month of October. The theme was 'Halloween' and so I chose The Nightmare Legion. 

Now the Nightmare Legion has had a special place in my wargaming heart for over twenty-five years. Why? Well it was the first box set that my father ever bought me, from Wonderworld in Bournemouth to be precise, back in 1988. I can recall him undercoating the miniatures in black for me, but the lure of other lead resulted in the models never being finished back in the day. Still, I didn't give up on them, and down the years I had repeated cracks at painting the legion but I never got further than a couple of models. It didn't matter what I had painted, when I saw my father he would ask 'have you painted the legion yet?' and, to be honest, it has become a bit of a standing joke.

But no more! For the Nightmare Legion are finished once and for all. Here they are in all their glory!

I went for a black, white and purple colour scheme as it was in keeping with the rest of my painted undead. I have also just finished a Khornate army, and the though of painting much red for a while did me the world of good. The simple colour scheme allowed me to batch paint these models quite quickly, and the sheer scale of the job saw me using several speed painting techniques. Sure, they was a loss of finish compared to my chaos stuff, but now that the models are all finished, I don't think you can tell. Can you?

The colour scheme for the basic trooper was simple. Bleached Bone/White for the bone, black for the clothing, highlighted in grey and brown and gold for the equipment. I used drybrushing and ink washes for most of the model, only using layering for the bone itself and edge highlighting for the clothing. Black ink became my best friend in ensuring that enough depth was created within the bones of the troopers and I even went as far as painting on the individual toe bones for the front rank models! The shields are not Citadel, but converted Gripping Beast plastics with the centre hollowed out to fit the boss. These were painted black and white, highlighted with grey and then washed with a muddy red ink wash to simulate the aeons of mud that would no doubt encrust a walking skeleton. I use a stippling brush to flick on red, brown and grey paint flecks, again to simulate age. 

For the command figures, I added gold to the armour and purple as an additional colour to the clothing scraps. Originally, I had gone for red (perhaps out of habit) but was not happy with the finished result. Fifteen minutes work was enough to remove this and replace with a nice regal Worm Purple. The banner is made from standard A4 paper, with the sign drawn on before hand. I used exactly the same technique as I did with the shields, only I added a skull symbol down the bottom and two silver dots to suggest nails at the top. 

The bases were done my usual way, as I recently explained in this tutorial, and believe it or not, took only half an hour or so to complete, for the whole unit! I spent a little longer on the command figures, adding the purple as I said, and highlighting the armour a further stage than the rest of the troopers. 

And here we see the beginnings of my Old School Warhammer Third Edition Undead army. Its early days, but there is a small force her for simple engagements, and minus the Liche, these models will be used as allies for my Khorne army at Blog-Con. I am hoping to be able to recruit a 'second in command' (underling) on the day to help me fight off whatever Warlord Paul feels I need to be fighting off.

Anyway, that is enough waffle for know. I am off to post these on the Oldhammer Forum (and my Dad's Facebook page) beforing tidying my desk up for the next project. With lots of holiday left, I plan to do something totally different next.

So what this space!

Orlygg.

Acceptable in the '80s: Skeleton Army

If I was asked to name a product released in the late '80s that really summed up my youthful experience of fantasy wargaming there are several names that would be on my lips. Heroquest would be up there, definitely, as would be the Combat Cards. Both leave me with vivid memories of gaming with the other boys on my road, or discussions on the school bus, even games, with multiple decks of Combat Cards! However, there is one release that stands head and shoulders above all of these, probably because everyone had a copy but me, and I looked on in envy. My jealous feelings were soften slightly by the fact that I had Skeleton Horde, which was a forerunner to Skeleton Army.

In case you didn't know, the Skeleton Horde consisted of just the infantry, armed with swords, scythes and spears. Skeleton Army added bowmen, skeleton cavalry and a skeleton chariot to the mix. It REALLY was an army in a box and it was incredibly good value.

Which is probably why everyone had one. 

I had to wait until later on in the mid '90s to get a copy. I bought the box with money I had earned doing odd jobs here and there, and had a wonderful time putting the models together. Sadly, I did not store them well and save for a few mounted skeletons, all of the models are long gone. I'd love to own another copy, but at £50 a pop for a box of these models on eBay, its going to be a while until I find a set at the right price. 

White Dwarf 114 contained a lovely little article that allowed you to field the skeleton chariots, though of course any suitable models could also be used. In an age of 40k's rising dominance, the big box games and all the rest, this was a little bit of Fantasy Battle that got my mates and I talking. I even remember using the narrative fluff in a story in Literacy and getting full marks for something that was nearly totally plagerised. Thankfully, Mrs Baker didn't read White Dwaf!

So what are you memories of the Skeleton Army boxset? Did you own a copy of the blue and red box? Did you mangle your skeletons with too much polystyrene cement? If so, please share.

Orlygg

Back to the paintbrush: What Orlygg did next?

Hello and welcome back to Realm of Chaos 80s. I have been gone awhile (and not just from this blog, it seems) and I am pleased to be back. Since the unholy combination of work, work and more work has stayed my hand from the painting, or indeed collecting, table and I lament the terrible absence of any actual progress.

That is correct; I have painted nothing, collected nothing - done nothing!

In truth, I was in that downward spiral that all of us must combat from time to time. The painting lethargy that sees the collection gather dust, and with each mote that falls, a further decrease in the drive required to work.

Such woes, for woes they are, were further enhanced due to the destruction of my scanner, which paid heed to my idea for a picture round of my festive pub quiz. Still, I can save that for another year. ICT troubles weren't further, with the email account linked to this blog dumping loads of emails from fellow enthusiasts into the spam box where I failed to notice them. Apologies if you are one of the many who went without reply, I shall attempt to clear the backlog as soon as I am on holiday.

Ahh, talk of the holiday. As I teacher, I have over two weeks off over the festive period (starting 3pm tomorrow) and I hope to spend most of that time either painting, gaming or collecting. So you will be reading a fair amount from this site in the coming days.

So I rise, pheonix like from the dusty embers of my paint station to illuminate this small corner of the internet with old school Citadel goodness, or something like that anyway...

I knew that I needed something special to get me motivated, so I opted to restore a paint a model I have wanted to do for years, namely the 1980s Realm of Chaos Chariot. I bought one from eBay a few months back in a truly shocking state and I have managed to clean it up.

Here is what I have so far achieved...

What are a kit! A classic Perry sculpt!

Obviously, the chariot is going to be a multi-assemblage job. I intend to build the chariot and paint that up first, minus the scythes, quiver and banner pole. These will be added last. Next, I intend to work on the horses to create an actual chariot before painting the crew and placing them inside. Keen eyed collectors will probably notice that the champion lacks the mace arm... I have been unable to locate one, so intend to use the halberd arm in its place.

No saddle!

The previous owner of the horses filled off the saddle detail, leaving some rather irregular markings. I'll probably be filling them down a little more before I paint them.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones!

As you may recall, I was unhappy with the finish of my last chariot (the undead version above) so look forwards to completing a decent model before Christmas Day. I don't want this chariot to be overtly chaotic, so with a minimum of mutation of wild colour schemes. With that in mind, I am going to treat the actual vehicle as corrupted wood, rather than a living thing as I have seen in other examples of this model.

So I suppose, I better get gluing. Oh, and I have finally finished off my final interceptor for my copy of Dark Future, and I hope to get a game in before the end of the holidays. You can follow this on my Dark Future blog here.

Speak soon,

Orlygg.

Acceptable in the '80s: White Dwarf 94 Miniature Releases Retro Review and Plague Cart Rules

I really enjoyed the retro review I did regarding the work of Bob Olley and I discovered that there are plenty of Olley fans out there but some agreement that some of his work is a little, what's the word, passable. So I have decided to continue. We are sticking with the same issue as before, White Dwarf 94, and I have reproduced for you all the releases of that month. 

Talisman Dungeon 

First off, a double set; Talisman Dungeon and Mercenaries. Let's start with the models released as part of the Talisman range. I have recently (by which I mean this week) seen a fairly complete set of these models going for about £100 so they are clearly still a popular series of sculpts. Now, those of you who don't know, Talisman was (and still is) a board game in which the players taken of a character type in a quest to gain possession of the Crown of Command. Though the game can be played without metal miniatures, such was Citadel's nature in the 1980s, a set of models was released for the game and the many subsequent expansions. I came late to the party, purchasing the third edition of the game when it was released in 2008, and played many games of it with my wife and it remains to this day the only GW game that she will play. 

The miniatures in the range are varied and well sculpted, I own only one of this series, the red robed inquisitor in the centre of the page, and are full of character. They would make fantastic character models for third edition games as well as interesting painting challenges in their own right. My favourite model? Most definitely the Sprite. I love the tones of green and flesh on this piece and it is certainly a scheme I would like to copy some time in the future. 

Mercenaries

The second set are entitled Mercenaries and are again nice a varied. With fourteen models in this set they would make a very characterful unit for third edition. I have a particular fondness for NOB who seems to be positively waddling forwards ready to engage his next opponent. Sadly, I have never seen any of these on eBay nor do I own any of them. I suspect many of these sculpts were added to the later FIGHTERS range but I have no evidence of this at present. There is little fantasy on show here, which suggests the hands of the prolific sculpting force known as the brother's Perry. The obvious nod to medieval dress would have made these models useful for historical forces as well as fantasy ones. 

Nick Bibby's Giants

Ahh! Nick Bibby's giants! I am a big fan of Nine Fingers and have said so publically before. I think that the model has a wonderful dynamism and its body is perfectly positioned. I cannot say the same for the other sculpts in this range. Wither Wattle, who bears a strong resemblance to a young Bob Naismith, is okay and obviously shares much in common with the Nine Fingers sculpt in terms of positioning but I just cannot stand the model of Bottle Snottle! Its the really, really crap hand, massively out of proportion to the rest of his body, that puts me right off. He looks like he has spent a long, long time in prison with a giant stack of 'magazines of gentleman's interest' and little else to pass his time. The fact that his weapon, a rather fetching stone headed club,  seems rather incongruous to the rest of the model cements the fact that this model is always going to be passed over in my collection.

Plague Cart and its rules

The Plague Cart on the other hand is an absolute must for my Undead army. I have slapped a bid down on this beauty more than once only to be pipped at the post. The wheels may be familiar to keen eyed enthusiasts, for they are the very same ones that appear on the skeleton chariot that I have been working on recently. The model has some interesting rules too.

The cart can be used in any game. You roll a 2D6 at the start of each turn; on a 2 or a 12 the chart appears on the middle edge of the left or right table edge (an equal chance of either). It then moves in a straight line across the battlefield at 4" per turn, leaving through the middle of the opposite table edge. The insubstantial cart may pass through obstructions and even units of troops. It causes fear in all living creatures with 6", and terror in any living creatures through which it passes. It is immune to non-magical attacks. As it goes, the spirits rise from the slain, following it wailing and moaning.

The Plague Cart may be summoned by a level 3 Necromantic spell, summon plague cart (cost 12mps) passing across the battlefield. It gains the following powers when it encounters an undead army.

1) Undead creatures with 12" are immune to instability.
2) Any living humanoid slain with 12" rises as a zombie behind the cart with hand weapon and appropriate rules. Each model is marked (perhaps with plasticine) and is under the control of the undead player.

Plague Cart

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	3	0	4	4	5	3	0	-	-	-	-

Spectral Driver

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	4	0	0	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5

Special Rules: As a normal spectre, the creature is armed with a scythe.

Command Groups

These command groups are ideal for pairing with the rank and file troops of the plastic Warhammer Regiments, a relationship that I have always felt was a deliberate one on the hands of Citadel. I love all the sculpts in this range and own one of two of them. I have the goblin shamen, the elf standard bearer, the skaven champion and elf the musician. I would certainly be interested in obtaining the rest of these models, especially the goblin leader which I feel to be one of the finest gobliniod models Citadel has ever produced. The dark elves are suitably militarilistic and the skaven leader is an absolute classic sculpt of Jes Goodwin that was, until relatively recently, still available to buy from GW.

The paint schemes or these models is also highly inspirational for me. The distinct blue and purple of the dark elves, the bright greens and golden yellows of the elves, the dirty, heavily shaded browns of the skaven and the sickly greens of the goblins are THE colours I like to use in my paint pallete. This is because this page of White Dwarf is one of the best examples of the colour scheme and painting style of three of the most important third edition armies.

The Gob-Lobber and the Gob-Lobber Appeal

Classic '80s Warhammer through and through! The second of the Perry engineered sculpts on today's post. The addition of some gruesome goblin heads turns this from being just another catapult into a wonderfully zany weapon that just begs to be fielded in all dwarf armies. Some of the crew members were recycled for use in other later dwarf war machines, though others were only available with this set - such as the dwarf cook with a pig on a spit (sadly not pictured here) and the pipe smoking commander.

I am lucky enough to have won this particular war machine recently. If I remember correctly for the rather cheap sum of £7. Sadly, I didn't win the crew that went with the machine but they tend to crop up quite often so its only a matter of time until I have my hands on them too. However, I am missing the wheels! I was wondering if any Oldhammerers out there could do me the kindness of lending me a wheel from this model so I can take a cast of it and create some greenstuff copies. If you could, please contact me and I'll be eternally grateful!

Orlygg