FM27v2 Half Troll Chieftain painted by The Work of Shaitan

Alternative Armies has been working steadily to restored the mighty and well remembered early 1980’s figures of the legendary British company Asgard Miniatures.  While we still have a ways to go we have returned nearly two hundred poses by Nick Bibby, Jes Goodwin, Tony Ackland, Stan Pochron as well as John Blanche and Mark Weston among others.  These are split across several ranges on the website but today we are in the Fantasy Monsters (FM) Range with a treat!

One of the most eagerly anticipated restorations (aside from the NB2 Nick Bibby Dragon) was FM27v2 Half Troll Chieftain and while Studio Maxi tackled it beautifully on our website there was another take which garnered quite a bit of attention.  We are proud to present to you the paint work of Ned Gladdis otherwise known as TheWorkOfShaitan on Instagram. Our thanks to him for this.

The brushwork on this miniature is so fine it almost looks alive with armour which would ‘ping’ if you struck it with an arrow!

Ned is in progress of completing ranks of Broo for Runequest and his FM27v2 has taken its place as its Beastlord.  Superb!

Thanks for your Time.

Ogres from the Oldhammer Collection of OliHot27

We are delighted to be able to show you some painted miniatures from the extensive ‘oldhammer’ collection of OliHot27 over on Instagram. He is a keen collector of the restored Asgard Fantasy Monsters Range but this time it is his VNT Alternative Armies and Fantasy Warlord castings of Ogres that are the subject.  

The Alternative Armies VNT (Various Nasty Things) codes are VNT18 Orrid Ogres II and VNT19 Ogre Cavalry sculpted by Phil Lewis in 1991 while the Fantasy Warlord are 16100 Ogres from 1990.  All are metal except for the riding rhino which is now presented in resin. 

The painting style of OliHot27 suits these classic miniatures really well and his Instagram is well worth a dig through for a look.  We were most happy to be given permission by him to use his pictures on our website too.

Thanks for your Time.

Asgard Orcs by Jes Goodwin restored part two OR25 to OR40

The time is here! Asked for and now on the website the second part of three of the total restoration of Jes Goodwin’s classic Orcs made for Asgard in the early 1980’s. Sixteen codes as single miniatures, plus get the wolves and riders as singles as well and a warband set of all with a good saving too. 

Painted by Studio Maxi with hand painted shields in the style that such superb miniatures deserve we present OR25 to OR40.  Wolf Riders for the speed as well as brutal Black Orcs and cowardly Slave Orcs and lastly the Clan Orcs. So much attitude and style in every one of them. 

These Orcs work really well in 28mm scale. Great for any system.  Every miniature has an image of its front, side and rear plus a height gauge as well.  

These follow on the mighty restoration of part one which brought you twenty four Orcs the bulk of the infantry.  Above is OR2 Great Orc Spearmen from that first lot of releases.

Some of the finest Dwarfs of the 1980’s also by Jes Goodwin. Singles and a full set with saving. 

The Dragon Lizards!  Sculpted by Nick Bibby for Asgard seven different creatures restored as well as a complete set with saving.  These 1980’s classics now also have the D7 Dragon Lizard Mount (good for any Human sized riders) on its own with saver options for units.

Alternative Armies is committed to restoring all that we can of the Asgard ranges and Tabletop Miniature ranges too. We have been at this for several years now and we want to thank all of you for your support and kind words in this mighty project. Part Three the final part of the Orc range will appear late in 2024 with a boom and the biggest value set of all. 

VNT2 Wraith on Pteradon a classic 28mm code now with wonderful brush work by Hackminipainter. Choose from the pack or parts of it.  More pictures on the site.  Watch the darkened skies!

Lastly and thank you for reading this far our Summer Sizzle Event will begin officially later this week.  No further releases until 3rd September but until then an automatic (you need do nothing but add to cart) discount of 20% off all placed orders.  Note this discount is on top of any discounts on products on screen like warbands and saver packs.  You will also get the last two any scale Devilish Imps automatically in all packages sent out too.

Thanks!

3D Roleplay IV Con AAR and Prizes given 2024

Alternative Armies was delighted to again sponsor the great American convention 3D Roleplay; now in its fourth year. This After Action Report comes from Hank who organises these two days which focus on the cool golden age of metal miniatures and proper fun! Read the lead up to the last time on our BLOG if you want to know more. 

 

 

Last time we sponsored with 28mm Ion Age miniatures and this time with 28mm Monsters and Creatures giving the guys some excellent prizes. Here is Hank’s after action report and for those keen you can follow the convention on Intragram on their account. Also this year there was a professional photographer on hand and the photos in this article are his. See Jordan Conway for more of his work or if you want to hire his talent. Take it away Hank: 

 

 

(Click on the pictures to make them much larger)

 

3DR Con IV - Official Recap - May 4th & 5th, 2024: This past weekend, the 4th annual Oldhammer convention 3D Roleplay Con (IV) in Portland, Oregon (USA) took place. It was the best one yet & truly a fantastic time! So much love & enthusiasm for the 'games of old' & the fantasy wargaming hobby as a whole. 

 

 

3D Roleplay Con is an annual Oldhammer gaming convention championing the golden-era of fantasy wargaming & roleplaying, with an emphasis on 1980’s editions of Warhammer, Rogue Trader & the like... Folks travelled from as far away as Vancouver, BC to roll dice & trade old lead miniatures with like minded gamers. 

 

Around 40 people this year gathered at the quaint convention hall in southeast Portland around 9am on Saturday, May 4th. Instantly, folks were rolling dice in a game of Rogue Trader from 1987 in a scenario that pitted space pirates & Imperial marines against one another, whilst an alien menace (catachan devil) stalked them both. 

 

 

Next, there was a Warhammer Ancient Battles game of Saxon Pagan invaders warring against King Arthur and his legion defending Mount Badon. Then, we had a game of the 54mm Inquisitor take place. From there, a custom skirmish scenario of Warhammer Fantasy Battle (3rd Edition) took place. It was called "Where Eagles Dare" and involved poachers trying to pilfer the eggs of giant eagles on a lonely hillock known as "Eagle's Drift". 

 

On Saturday evening, we ended the first day of the convention with a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Scenario 1986 by Carl Sargent, "The Grapes of Wrath," where five adventurers uncovered a nefarious chaos plot to ruin the harvest of a prosperous village south of Middenheim. 

 

 

Of course, there was a hard fought Mordheim tournament on Saturday & Sunday all day, as well! 

 

On Sunday, there was another game of Rogue Trader in a custom scenario that involved the starship thief & cardcheat, Abdul Goldberg, on the run from Imperial agents & bounty hunters. 

 

 

There were game demos of Warmaster going on during the afternoon, as well as the original Adeptus Titanicus game from 1988. 

 

We're really lucky to have such a great community of folks attend 3DR Con, year after year. I couldn't ask for a better group of 'Oldhammer Warriors'! 

 

We're looking forward to 3DR Con V in 2025! - Hank Richardson 

 

 

We hope you enjoyed this AAR and if you would like Alternative Armies to consider sponsoring your convention or event then please contact us on sales@alternative-armies.com giving us location, date, event title and details. 

 

 

We can offer you prizes! Above are a couple of the monster prizes sent to this convention FL11 Wizards Party and VNT32 Splendorous Djinn.

 

 Thanks for Reading.

3D Roleplay Con IV 2024 sponsored by Alternative Armies

We have continued our sponsorship with prizes and an event discount code for the great ‘oldhammer’ event 3D Roleplay IV the fourth year of great times with games and miniatures. This time our sponsorship prizes are 28mm Fantasy packs as last time it was 28mm Ion Age packs.

Here are the details of the convention if you are keen on attending.  You will be most welcome.  Go HERE for the website and to get tickets and HERE for their Instagram account.

Smile Station in SE Portland

8210 SE 13th Ave

Portland, OR 97202

May 4th & 5th 2024

3D Roleplay Con is an annual Oldhammer gaming convention held in Portland, Oregon (USA).  Championing the golden-era of fantasy wargaming & roleplaying, with an emphasis on 1980’s editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 40K: Rogue Trader, Realm[s] Of Chaos, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay & the like.  Started in 2021, 3DR Con is meant for lead-miniature enthusiasts to get together, roll dice, trade miniatures & enjoy the classic games of the Oldhammer era. We play narrative, old-school miniature wargames & roleplaying games.

Event prizes include FL11 Wizards Party along with our Rock Monster and Tree Demon with a special appearance of the remastered Spendorious Djinn too.  All worth fighting hard on the table for I am sure you will agree.

If you would like Alternative Armies to consider sponsoring your event then please contact us by email on sales@alternative-armies.com and tell us who you are, when it is and what sort of prizes you would like.  Keep conventions and tabletop play alive!

Thanks for your Time.

NB2 Dragon a tale by Mark Stevenson collector of Asgard plus 80's pictures!

It is our great pleasure to present an article written by Mark Stevenson who runs the Asgard Miniatures group on Facebook and who has been invaluable in Alternative Armies efforts to restore these classic 1980's ranges of miniatures and models.  This is his story of his love for Asgard, his collection and his encounters over forty years with the mighty NB2 Dragon sculpted by Nick Bibby.

 

 

I first started frequenting the Asgard miniatures shop in the late 70’s, buying the odd miniature from the DA and FM ranges to supplement my games of D&D. Then I clearly remember walking into the shop and seeing this MASSIVE dragon ! Must have been 1982 and they were displaying a built NB2. At the time it would have cost a good few pounds – well beyond my reach back then!

 

This was followed by a gap of some 30-odd years where life came between me and minis and D&D, until in about 2016 I found a box containing some figures and a bunch of old White Dwarf magazines.

 

Nostalgia prompted me to research what happened to Asgard. Finding they were out of business I used eBay to add to my collection, eventually deciding to try to find every miniature they made (and paint them!)… I’ve only a handful out of about 650 to find now. 

 

Of course the big ticket items – the Dragon and the Giant – were not exactly popping up…. until one day I saw some bits on eBay which I recognised…and at an affordable price! Thus I found my first NB2, albeit in an extremely sorry state – bent, bashed and with bits broken off. 

 

 

With the aid of photos from Richard Scott I was able to repair and rebuild it into the Red Dragon above. Nick Bibby kindly signed a plinth for this one too. 

 

A couple of years on and Richard decided he did not need two Asgard dragons (the fool … why on Earth not!?) and sold me a second, which became the Green Dragon. 

In the meantime I had started up the Asgard Facebook Group, using a photo I had found on the internet. 

This was a diorama made by Michael Immig – check his work out in WD 100 – called Donnerechse (Thunder Lizard). Imagine my amazement when this later also appeared for sale ! Dragon number 3 !

Of course, 3 dragons were not enough – so along came number 4 – boxed with the rider, saddle and original paints. 

Number 5 followed. Neither numbers 4 or 5 were built, and I sent number 5 to Alternative Armies to use for remoulding purposes. 

 

On the other side of the effort to restore the model they kindly sent me the first pre-production casting of NB2 of theirs which I painted up as a golden dragon. 

 

 

Having seen what a great job they did with the Dragon I just had to buy another one of the 200 numbered limited edition run in metal and thus… Along comes number 6. And blow me down ! just found another on eBay – so number 7…. Seven Asgard Dragons ! – There will be 5 painted (4 by me plus Michael’s). I will keep the boxed original and Alternative Armies Ltd edition as they are, as display pieces in my collection. I even asked Gavin Syme and Sam Croes to sign the new one on the box.

 

This print of the original box cover (which is on the limited boxes of the new run too) is on my wall and is signed by all involved.  Have a gander at those signatures.

So there you go a total of seven of this Dragon and as many as any sane man might want.  Well perhaps!

 

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We thank Mark for this story of a life time of collecting and the joy of owning mighty fire lizards.  In the second half of this article we present some pictures of different takes on NB2 Dragon as well as historical photos from 1982 as well for you to enjoy.  Some from Mark's collection and some from the internet and Lost Mini Wiki too.  

Published by Penguin this book introduced many young men into the hobby in 1982.

A French magazine which had NB2 Dragon grace its cover in 1982

An NB2 Dragon under assembly on Mark Stevenson's work desk.  See FM23 Slug behind it?

NB2 Dragon painted by Richard Scott note the rider in place

NB2 Dragon painted by Ketil Trout and mounted on a rocky plinth base

You can find him and follow him on Instagram.

 

NB3 and NB4 Dragon Rider and Dragon Saddle painted by Paul Sanderson

Thank you for your time.

GBS