Inq et nunc - Inquisitor Janez Belec

Inquisitors come in all shapes and sizes. I've always been fond of those in the Eisenhorn mould - radical-leaning and a bit world weary. Those with a more subtle nature rather than being god-like warriors.

One of John Blanches concept sketches for a veteran Inquisitor from The Inquisitor Sketchbook really stands out to me:

Here is an imposing character in a commanding pose. He carries a cane almost as a mark of office. I love the echoes of Don Quixote and that slender bionic arm.

Harry the Hammer & Friends (Part 1 - John Blanche)

I'm lucky enough to live within striking distance of Wargames Foundry, and was very pleased to visit the Harry the Hammer & Friends exhibition on it's opening day.

The exhibition runs to 12th December 2021 and comprises art from the private collection of Bryan and Diane Ansell. The exhibition features some iconic pieces from the early days of Citadel and Games Workshop by artists including John Blanche, Ian Miller and Wayne England. 

Arming the Brothers - Chaos Cult Shooters

Members of the Benevolent Brotherhood keep a wary watch as Demagogue Jakob carries out doorstep conversions.

With my new Necromunda campaign kicking off next week, I am busily finishing off the last few fighters I need to complete my starting roster. I've made the decision to sacrifice reliability in favour of bodies, so my cultists are by and large going to be unarmoured and equipped with unreliable reclaimed auto-weapons - pretty fitting for underhive muties I think.

Techno techno techno - Meching up Aenur

There's a fun little competition been running on one of the Facebook groups I'm a member of. The basic premise was to take the model of Aenur, the Mordheim Elf Hired Sword, and convert it to sci-fi. Entries are starting to roll in before the 30th September deadline, and seeing as I've just posted my resulting figure, I thought I'd share it here too.

Evo over at Port Imperiale very kindly donated an Aenur for my attention. If you're not familiar with the figure, this is what Aenur looks like unaltered:

My initial reaction was to do something Eldar-y, but then I decided I wanted to try and push things a little further from the original figure. After some thinking, I put together a little visual mock-up of what I wanted to try and do, in the form of an Adeptus Mechanicus tech priest:

Wyrm Emerges

But see, amid the mimic rout,
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes! -it writhes! -with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.

 



- The Conqueror Worm by Edgar Allen Poe

 

Original Art - Part 7: Ian Miller's Scavvy Concept Sheets

Ian Miller is intrinsically linked with the early art of Games Workshop. His iconic and often disturbing images set the tone for many Games Workshop publications, including Rogue Trader and Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness. Ian has long since left his work with Games Workshop behind, and is a respected and well-recognised artist outside of the sci-fantasy genre.

Six months or so ago, my friend Graham Apperley got in touch with Ian and arranged to buy a few pieces of GW artwork. I had always assumed Ian Miller's pieces were well out of my price range, but when I was given the opportunity to buy the sheet below, I jumped at the chance:

Sheet 2: Note the flamer crew, robotic dogs and preponderence of weird prosthetics

What you are looking at is an A3 sheet of concept sketches for "Hive Gang Scavvies" by Ian, drawn in 1989.

The Art of Graphology, Part 2 (or 'another day, another exciting package')

I'm still not sure what I think about signed GW items. I figure that anything 'modern' is unlikely to be of much interest, give the prevalence of signing tables at open days and conventions, as well as Games Days. That said, I do like keeping an eye out for older items. Last month I picked up a signed copy of Warhammer Armies, and earlier today another couple of GW publications dropped through the letterbox, having been scrawled on by GW staff.

For the princely sum of £14 including postage, I bought a copy of the 1994 (2nd edition) Eldar codex, and the 1998 (3rd edition) Dark Eldar codex.

Codex Eldar, 1994

Codex Dark Eldar, 1998

Warhammer Armies Book and the Art of Graphology

Last week I paid £38 for a copy of the 3rd edition Warhammer Armies book. This copy in fact:

Warhammer Armies. Average ebay price ~£15

You might (quite reasonably), ask why I paid £38 for a book (albeit in good condition), that normally sells for around £15. Well the answer was a little line in the item description:

"Signed at Games Day '89 by lots of then-GW staff - John Blanche, Tony Cottrell, Brian George, Bil, others whose names I can't decipher."

Stormbringer RPG 1987 - An Inexpert Review

I'll start this post off with a caveat. I'm not an experienced RPG player - in fact it's been 10 years since my last Dungeon crawl, and I think I've undertaken fewer than 10 quests ever.

So why, you may ask, am I writing a post about the Stormbringer RPG, based on Michael Moorcock's 'Elric' novels, jointly published in 1987 by Games Workshop and Chaosium Inc.?

Stormbringer. Cover art by Peter Jones

 

Owning John Blanche Originals

It's taken me a couple of decades to take to the work of John Blanche. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s I viewed his artwork as too loose, his figure proportions and perspective were off. His increasingly orange work jarred. In short, I didn't like it at all.

With that said, over recent times, I've grown to love John's work. I realise now that his vision has been an incredibly strong driver into the look and feel of Games Workshop's universes, and underpins much of what I enjoy about the background, artwork and miniatures.

In recent times I've taken to picking up odd sources of John Blanche's work where I can; books like Ratspike, White Dwarfs; you know the sort of thing. Even the odd local magazine! Gothic Punk is an excellent resource if you want to check out John's work.

Gothic Punk on tumblr; probably the best online resource for John Blanche artwork

John Blanche interviewed by Leftlion magazine

So, Leftlion magazine (for those of you who don't know), is Nottingham's free arts magazine, regularly distributed around select cultural venues (museums, cafes, bars etc) across Nottingham. There's also a nice website for the Nottingham arts scene: www.leftlion.co.uk

I happened to see that #55 (Oct/Nov 2013) features a cover by a rather notable fellow - a certain John Blanche. It also features an overview of Games Workshop, and a 2-page interview with John himself. Interestingly, John refers to himself as an illustrator rather than an artist.

A typical John Blanche illustration, full of gothic imagery