Maxim Bang

After spending what turned out to be weeks painting a unit of White Wolves, I fancied something simpler and quicker. A painting sorbet if you will.

My thought alighted on this chap.  One of the original Squats, a Rogue Trader Space Dwarf.  This one went by the name of 'Maxim Bang' in the adverts as I recall.

He was already undercoated, so I could get started immediately, and he was done in an evening.

A fun model to paint, and a pleasing result.

Knights of the White Wolf

Work on the old school Empire Knights continues, this time a small unit of Knights of the White Wolf, Templars of the Cult of Ulric.  A much smaller unit that the knights Panther, but still took a while with all the interruptions of Christmas - my painting area had to returned to its original purpose of a dining table!

I have painted a unit of White Wolves before, converted from the plastic knights kit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_grey_area/602634864/in/album-72157594344276325/

As with the Reiksgard and Knights Panther, I wanted to reflect the 'classic' paintjobs, but in my own style.  Here's how they looked on the cover of the box when released under 4th edition Warhammer.

I decided I wanted to go with the very white pelts, which fits the name and the look of actual Arctic Wolves (which ironically are smaller than their other wolfy brethren), and the darker armour.  I was unsure about the red horse armour; the only other time I have done completely coloured armour was for my daughter's 'blue knight'.  I also find large areas of red challenging, and I found the original colour too bright.  In the end I decided to try it out as a challenge, and use a darker shade of red.  The white hammer shafts were right out though, they look ridiculous!  

I don't quite have one of each model produced.  Whereas most of the knight ranges consisted of a Grand Master, standard and two 'trooper' models, the white wolves had three basic models.  I still need to source the one holding his hammer two handed (I've already done the Grand Master in my old unit).

 

 

 The old GW models look to have been painted in a shade of dark grey, but I wanted to stick with metallics.  The look I wanted was of armour that had been well cared for but still exposed to the elements.  Historically 'munition' type armour was often heat treated, making it darker, and/or rubbed with grease of lanolin to protect it from tarnishing.  The result is a dark metal, with a hint of brown.  To achieve the effect I started with a black undercoat, then basecoated with GW Boltgun metal.  To this I applied washed of Nuln Oil and Agrax Eartshade.  I then used Vallejo Chainmail Silver to highlight any parts of the armour that would rub and wear.  The unpainted parts of the horse armour were treated the same way but without the Eartshade, so that it would look subtly different.

The barding was, in theory, simple.  I used Vallejo Game Colour Red Gore for the base, highlighted with a GW red.  What I hadn't accounted for was putting thin red onto a black undercoat!  It took around half a dozen coats to get even coverage on the large areas.  On the neck of some models it actually helped to develop shading, so pros and cons overall.

The standard is scanned and printed from the original White Dwarf article, as with the other units.

Pretty pleased with the result overall!

Next up I think will be a nice simple single figure as a 'palette cleanser'.

Knights Panther

It's taken a while, what with interruptions from life, work, and a bout of Covid that went through the whole household - me and the missus are double vaccinated, so no worse than bad flu, although we still both get tired easily a few weeks after.  The Little Miniature was largely symptomless, and managed pretty well considering she was stuck indoors and away from school and friends for two weeks.

Anyway, continuing with my efforts to paint as many as I can of the Empire miniatures from the mid 1990s, here is a unit of the Knights Panther.

I'm pleased with the overall result and look of the unit.  Whilst I generally enjoyed painting them,  they certainly took much longer than the Reiksgard I did a while back, and not just because it's a slightly bigger unit.  The models overall 'look' is much more ornate than the Reiksgard, even thought there are still only a limited number of poses (two knights, a standard bearer and the Grand Master).  The armour has more detail, the crests are much more fancy and complex, and you have those Panther pelts to paint up as well.  Of course I then made my life more difficult with the colour choices.

Speaking of colour choices, it was an issue I spent a while pondering.  The Knights Panther are supposed to be a fairly wealthy secular order, so I used a lot more gold detailing on the armour, on the fluting and on visors etc.  I think they contrast nicely with the more austere and uniform Reiksgard.

Although generally painted with a blue appearance these days, this order's earliest appearances used black and gold themes, starting with John Blanche's well known painting, and then onto their first appearance as a well described unit in the 3rd edition army list published in White Dwarf.  The blue colouring seems to have started to appear when they were first sold as a boxed unit for Warhammer 4th edition, and has stuck ever since.  In the end I went with the blue theme as a contrast to my other Empire units (which mostly use the black and yellow of Averland) and because, well, I just like the colour!

John Blanche's famous image

As represented in White Dwarf issue 147

 

The mid 1990's 'Blue' period

The banner was scanned from White Dwarf 147, printed out and then glued.  I could have gone with a more blue version from later illustrations but, in keeping with aiming for that early '90s vibe, and to provide a contrast to all that blue, I went with this one.

The Knights Panther, a brief history

 

If you're interested in the history of this order in terms of the game fluff and narrative, the Wiki is a good place to start. This is more about there appearances in my own memories of Warhammer.

The first reference I recall to the Knights Panther (and I don't have the book to hand to check this unfortunately) was a very brief line in Ravening Hordes, the army list book for the second edition of Warhammer.  They then got referenced again in the 3rd edition 'Warhammer Armies' - where they were mentioned as one of the secular orders of 'Hohensknechtes' that are a unit option.  It was about this time that the first named Knight panther model appeared, a multi part metal model (torso, legs and arms).  It wasn't until issue 147 of White Dwarf that they started to get a fleshed out background and dedicated range of models, when the Empire got a whole new range of models and army list (arguably the precursor to the modern army list/books).

Panther, Leopard or What?

 

Just as an aside, those hides that the knights are wearing, which are described as coming from Araby, the Old Worlds expy for North Africa/the Middle East, would be more likely from a Leopard.  The nearest real world equivalent we would refer to as a 'panther' would be the jaguar, which is native to South America, the Old World's Lustria.

So why aren't they called the Knights Leopard?  So glad you asked...

The panther actually turns up a lot in medieval heraldry as a legendary creature (sometimes depicted breathing fire).

 

 

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112849863 

'Panthera' is also the genus (biological classification) that includes most of the big cats.

So well done GW, someone knew what they were talking about on this one!

Knights of the White Wolf next!

Grand Master of the Order of Knights Panther

Exactly what it says in the title.  Games Workshop circa mid 1990s (and still available recently in finecast), this one's metal and purchased second hand.  Not the smoothest job, a few awkward corners, and the surcoat isn't sculpted in a way that takes washes and highlighting that well.  Got there in the end though!  He will be joined by a full of knights from the same era soon (hopefully).

The dratted plastic horse are always losing tails, this one is no exception, and I don't currently have enough replacements.

 

What a big Chopper!

Yes, another ogre.  This time from Marauder Miniatures, the company set up by Trish and Ally Morrison, but cast and distributed by Citadel.  The Morrison's sculpting style is a bit cartoonish, big hands and exaggerated features, but it works well for the range of ogres they did.  The faces in particular are very characterful, and the landsknechte style outfits make for a distinctive look.

 

I used three layers of contrast paints for the flesh, which in hindsight I think was one coat too many.  Live and learn (I did the flesh at the same time as Golgfag, subject of the previous post).  I've not 'rusted up' the halberd and breastplate too much.  The uniforms suggest a but more organisation to these chaps than the more feral 'C' series ogres, I reckon someone is helping them at least keep the rust off.  I tried to use a combination of washes to give the effect you sometimes see on metal that has been treated (usually with some kind of fat) to rust protect it.

 

A surprisingly uncluttered sculpt, considering the clothing style.  This was a pleasant painting job.

Love the detail of the pet rat on the hat!

Golgfag (yes it's another ogre) - and intimidating shields

Did you know I like painting ogres 😁?

This one, whilst perhaps not my favourite pose by any stretch, is a bit special, as it's Golgfag himself!

For those of you not steeped in far too many years of Warhammer Lore, Golgfag's Mercenary Ogres were one of the original Regiments of Renown produced by Citadel Miniatures, and Golgfag himself is a now somewhat legendary figure.  Boxed sets of a whole unit (well, kind of, they'd have barely been noticed in the table in later editions), typically complete with leader, champion, standard, musician and, usually, one type of regular grunt.  They were given backgrounds and stats in White Dwarf.  The first (pre-slotta base) regiment had a pretty good Golgfag, in a rather inspired pose holding his mace aloft (which I wish they'd taken inspiration from for this one), but some frankly really quite poor rank and file models, so they were duly given a second edition.

 

The third edition were horrible campy grotesques from GW's worst period (when everything got painted red), yeugh! 

There's a pretty good write up and history of the models on Stuff of Legends (and here's version two, we don't talk about version three).

This chap is from the second edition.  They came with the plastic slotta bases and were sculpted in the style of the rest of the 'C' series ogres, albeit slightly smaller (originally coming with 25mm wide bases rather than the 40mm I've used here).  The special bit is that fact that he is now the last model from that set that I've collected!  From my brother buying the standard bearer in the '80's to this one being competed has only taken just over 30 years, well worth the wait!

The face was painted with contrast paints, highlighted.  I went with three coats this time and I think it was a little too much, he looks slightly 'oily' in some of the creases, but you live and learn!  The base is a little bare as I ran out of my usual static grass, and the new batch I got looks a bit more artificial than I would like.  I can just about cope with that on single models, but it would stand out here when ranked up with the other models of the regiment.

 

 

 

Rear view.  You will note that the shield is bare.  Do you find that there is some particular thing about models that you find intimidating?  For me it is getting started on any large, flat surface that needs decorating, particularly shields or banners.  It's not that I can't do them (that A Level in Art has to be useful for something), I just get a bit panicky about coming up with an idea for a design, and then suffer a lack of confidence in my ability to pull it off.  I know I will come back to this and sort it, but it will be another day when I feel inspired. 

 

 

Pleased with his chopper (ooer!).  The edge highlight was achieved by scraping my fingernail along the edge to physically remove the paint.

 

And here he is with the rest of the gang.  Painted at different times, with varying paints. techniques (and indeed levels of skill) and materials, but I think they hold together pretty well all the same.

And no, I do not have an ogre problem.  I can stop whenever I want...

 

Finally...

As for the latest version of this fine mercenary...  WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING GW?? (Go on, google it and wonder!).

Chapter 2: Roast Mutton

Finally managed to acquire the third of the former Grenadier UK Trolls.  He was missing his spiked club, and the end of a thumb, but small price to pay for, well, a small price to pay on eBay!

The problem was, what colour to paint him.  The last one I did was green, and turned out very nicely.  Trouble is my oldest one was in human flesh tones, quite well done for when I did it.  I could do the new one green too, but then I would have to repaint the other one.  That would give me three trolls in the same colours, but somehow that didn’t seem right either.  The solution was to make use of the situation and paint the new recruit an entirely different colour!

The club came from the Grenadier Barbarian Giant, but more on that another time...

Pretty pleased with him overall.

And here's the inevitable group shot of Bill, Bert and Tom in all their glory.