Old Bones and Heroic Fighters

 It’s been a while since I last posted, partly as I’ve not really had time or space to paint or game - although I have spent quite a bit of time reading the new Old World rules and Army books (more on which another time).  I am trying to get a bit more done though, so here’s a quick ‘work in progress’ update.

First up: skeletons.  I’ve dug out my old skellies from the attic.  Most of these are a good 40 years old, going back to my early Warhammer days and plans, with a few eBay acquisitions over the years. Some have very poor paint jobs, many have never seen any paint all.  I did a batch a while back, but decided to have another go.  Paint jobs are quick and tabletop standard - they won’t hold up to close scrutiny, but I’m happy enough with them.

Inspiration came from the YouTuber Jordan Sorcery, who recently published his own Christmas themed Scenario pack, ‘Dead King Wenceslas’.  Maybe I’ll finally have them ready for a game next Christmas…

I’ll also admit that my mind has turned to a ‘Barrow Kings’ themed take on Tomb Kings for Warhammer.

Above is the full box, almost all originally from Grenadier Models.  There’s a funny story to this as well; just before lockdown I lost my glasses, had to get a new pair.  Those broke when my daughter sat on them, and I’ve had no glasses for about two years now. Dug this box out of the attic just after Christmas, opened it… and there were my dratted lost glasses!  At least I can see properly again.

Also about to take their place in the projects queue are the models from the Heroic Fighter of the Known World box set produced by Citadel many moons ago, which I have finally reunited from the various boxes they were stored in.  More on them another time but, for now, here are the very varied paint jobs they currently have from the old days (no giggling at the back, I was very young at the time).

Sir Brut, Manfred, and Harald the Hammer.  Manfred got an update in about the 2010s, and is still probably some of my favourite blending and highlighting work, so he will likely remain largely as is.  Sir Brut’s not bad either.  Harald was painted by my brother, so will mostly get a tidy up as well.

Ulrik Ukrikson and Gladius.  Ulrik’s already been consigned to the Dettol pot…

Vlad Krakhead, The Moon Duke (probably my favourite model of the bunch) and, last but not least, Lord Aquila - who has also taken a dive into the Dettol to remove that lovely Humbrol gold enamel paint.

Orctober wrap up

Orctober is over - what did I do with it?  Well, I didn’t take it too seriously, but did use it as motivation to get the bulk of my Orc and Goblin army tabletop ready.

Alongside the Wolf riders, bolt throwers and warlord, that mostly meant a lot of basing. Many of the models are still in old paint jobs, either my own from many moons ago, or as they were purchased secondhand, but they look coherent enough now.

Still about 20 goblins to do, plus I still have some more EM4 orca, and I need to sort some black orcs of some kind, but there is a table ‘legal’ army there now for both WFB and Fantasy Warriors.

Two bolt throwers, including a Notlob original

20 orc boys 

One of my giants (orc for scale)

The Wolf riders - will count as boars for WFB purposes

14 orc archers

Warlord and two shamans

20 more orc boys

A somewhat grisly standard

The three trolls

Another giant

Warlord!

 My Orctober efforts continue with this rather marvellous Nick Lund sculpted Orc Warlord (formerly from Grenadier Models, now available from Forlorn Hope in the UK).

My attempt at the classic Citadel ‘angry orange face’ shield.

Sometimes sculpts get criticised for being too static, I’ve done it myself.  But this one shows that this needn’t be an issue.  Perhaps a better way of putting it might be that some lack ‘intent’.  This guy may not be moving, but only because he has decided to plant himself right there and not move.

The Wolves are Running

And with that quote from The Box of Delights, the Orc Wolf Riders are complete.

As I mentioned in my previous post, these Nick Lund sculpted wolves aren’t the most realistic looking models.  These aren’t the wolves that David Attenborough gets you to empathise with, these are caricatures from Europe’s collective nightmares, with a fondness for construction minded pigs, Grannies and girls in red cloaks for their dinner.  That said, a realistic style paint job worked far better on them than I thought it would.

The white and black wolves were the request of the Little Miniature, I think the black is the more successful of the two.

The orc sculpts are of variable quality - the musician in particular is pretty weak, but I think the spear armed orcs look great.

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Wolf Riders

 First of the Nick Lund sculpted Orc Wolf riders complete from head to toe.  They’ve turned out OK considering the age of the sculpts.

A couple of bolt thrower crew got bases too.

Orctober, Wolves and Kittens

A bit of a Work in Progress post.  I don't usually bother with Orctober, but this time it got me thinking.  I seem to have sort of by accident collected the core of a very 'Oldhammer' Orc and Goblin army, but it needs some work.  In particular I have some wolf riders really need some attention, and it seemed a good excuse to give myself some motivation to tackle them.

The trouble is that, although I love Nick Lund's dwarves, orcs and goblins, I don't think he bothered with any reference material when sculpting wolves!  They are very much a caricature of a wolf.  With my obesession with realism (see my previous post on the griffin), I've really not known how to tackle them, so a bit of googling was in order.  The most useful I found was by Artis Opus, but I really didn't know how this technique would work out on these very stylised models.

 

OK, pretty well so far.  Onwards and Upwards!

Once I can get the new Evil Overlord (sometimes know as 'Waffle') off the painting desk that is...

Sorcerer (Fantasia Style)

Former Grenadier Models Wizard, now available from Forlorn Hope Games.

A lovely little model, full of character.  He looks to me like he would be prone to launching into long, overly detail (boring) explanations of the finer points of a spell, while the rest of the party gets beaten senseless by goblins.

If the colour scheme looks familiar, that’s because I realised part way through that I might have been inspired by a certain mousey Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  However it happened, it was a chance to practice painting red robes.  This time I tried a different technique I’d seen online - GW Mephiston Red base, burgundy contrast paint for shade, the highlights with Vallejo Bloody Red and, finally, some edge highlights with VJ Rose Flesh.  Overall pleased with the result, but it could benefit from a Matt varnish to tone down the shine

He’s just big boned!

I'm not 100% sure of the origin of this chap.  He was purchased from Forlorn Hope Games, described as a Giant Troll, and cast in resin.  Forlorn Hope have a lot of the old Grenadier Range, and the style of this just screams 'Nick Lund' - from the way the mail of the fists is sculpted to the face, which is a dead ringer for the old Grenadier War Trolls - but I don't recall seeing him before.

The pose is quite static, he's ugly as a welder's bench, and the face detail is very soft and putty like but, you know what, I like that.  He's got a lovely old school vibe, and really has that 'stupid' monster look.  He was also a delight to paint, taking almost no time at all (it took me longer to get around to the base).  He's also pretty big - bigger than the former Grenadier Barbarian Giant.

Here he is with a friend for scale.  A former Heroquest henchman (just painted up and destined for ebay).

And here's that henchman again in a bit more detail