Famous Familiars: Homonculus and Mystery Imp

Yes, I am back that soon! We had an unexpected afternoon together so it was spent out in the garden with Citadel paint and cross-stitch (obviously not together). Feeling rather inspired and keen to give my new paints a whirl, I set about working on the two remaining Famous Familiars I found recently in an old box of art materials. 

I know, I know... the bases are not great, an ill timed gust of wind blew superglue and sand all over the place just as I was finishing off the models. But they will have to do until I buy some modelling files and clean them down. I've also forgotten my old recipe for doing bases and have been experimenting with various combinations to get a uniform look. After all, I might one day manage to retrieve my original collection of painted figures and I'll want them all to match. 

Looking back at the photographs, I can feel that I am improving. Both figures were painted in single sittings with a break in between. I've been finding getting consistent colours a challenge, especially when highlighting but I can see the improvement before me as I type these words. I've reduced the amount of white to create highlights... boy do I miss Bleached Bone!

The red on the hat and shoes of Mystery Imp I am most pleased with. They took about ten minutes to complete and use Red Gore as a base, highlighted with Blood Red and Hobgoblin Orange. Proper old school shades right there. His cloak is Worm/Imperial Purple highlighted with a little white. The green tail poking out from under his robe was also a quick little paint- here I used my proxy Goblin Green, followed by Bilious Green and Sunburst Yellow as a highlight. Long term readers will know I like to work fast and get figures finished in a few hours.

The very same recipe was used to paint up the body of the Homonculus. With Worm Purple highlighted with White to finish his long hair do. I'm disappointed that the photographs don't capture his barnet as I was able to pick out the strands of greasy hair with a little effort. Another improvement over that first godawful skeleton. 

Working with all three classic paint sets means I have access to a lot more colours and can use many of them in conjunction. The brown bag didn't come out as well as I hoped and I've got a dwarf figure cleaned up from the 'orrible lot Graham sent me recently next on the painting table to try and get my head around leather. 

All in all, a fun and constructive afternoon. With Easter around the corner I'm planning to get some decent hours in over the next few weeks in the hope that my skills improve further. I've also got Chris's paints to sort through and use too. 

Until then,

Orlygg

Ogroth Darksoul and paints, pots and more paints...

 

I am sure that you've heard the news about sad Paul Sawyer's death. His era in charge of White Dwarf was excellent. There was just so much hobby content under his watch and White Dwarf was a proper magazine that took a good while to read through. I enjoyed the famous 'Tale of Four Gamers' that inspired me some years past to create an army with friends. In fact, it was his departure from White Dwarf and the rather rapid decline of the magazine (remember the Giant issue?) that ultimately lead me to collecting the older '80s era stuff in the first place. 

I've spent a large part of the day in my garden making the most of the spring sunshine. I set myself a challenge while I was out there... to paint Ogroth Darksoul using Bilious Green within a time limit. I gave myself two hours and this is the final result. I'm not to sure about the finish on the shield but he has a zany charm about him and trying to use such an archaic colour from the '80s was fun too. 

As I said last post, I am trying to move away from the same old tried and tested colour schemes that chaos warriors get lumbered with. 

I'm pleased with the way he looks but I'm still struggling with technique. I can't seem to get up to speed with huge gaps between painting figures. I'm doing much, much better with the eyesight now though, thanks to those lens so everything sloppy you see here going forwards is entirely down to my declining skill level. 

As you may have guessed, the Monster Set is now out and seeing action. With my next figure, I am going to branch out and include the Creature Paint Set again. I am truly living the 1988 dream. 

Chris got hold of me to say he had a few old pots of classic paint gathering dust and did I want them? As an enthusiast who enjoys working with decades old paint I jumped at the chance but didn't expect the sheer number of pots I found to be in the box. Thank you Chris so very much, you and so many others have made a real difference to my life and I thank you enormously. 

Also included was another sprue of my beloved Skeleton Horde which I hope to build over Easter. With so many paints now in my possession I should be able to do them some justice (I hope). 

Chris... I salute you,,,

Here are just a few of the colours that been donated. I'll have a proper sort out shortly and we can have a little look how I've fared so far creating the painting line-up of the mid to late 1989s. There are a few mysterious shades in there I am not so sure about and I hope that you eagle-eyed readers might be able to identify them. 

More soon,

Orlygg

Ulvar Vileblood, Greetings from Texas and filthy goblinoids

Hello everyone. It has been a long two weeks for me. Parents' Evening took its toll on our free time here as did the needs of my children. As I said before, I am now Robert De Niro most weekends, so you'll see me taxi-driving around East Anglia ad nauseum. 

A week or so ago I was chatting with Stuart about the Warriors of Chaos project and he was arguing a case against just going for the same old same old colour schemes. He supplied several old Dragonlord paintings from the Dragonlance fluff as examples, though it took some time until I could really have a go at putting his advice into reality.

You can see the finished result above. Ulvar Vileblood is a tricky figure to photograph so apologies for the slightly blurry image that opens this post. The image I took inspiration from is below.

Originally, Ulvar had yellow greaves matching his shield and helm but the figure seemed to lack a final touch, at least to me. So I repainted the legs with Red Gore and highlighted with Blood Red with increasing amounts of Sunburst Yellow. I made full use of the blues from my newly restored Monster Paint Set (thank you again to all of you dear readers involved with that) to work up his armour, a process I enjoyed immensely. This was largely due to the lovely Spring weather we had yesterday which resulted in me spending several hours outside with 'My Favourite Miniature' while she cross-stitched. 

So what do you think of him?

I am in two minds. I like the brightness of the figure and the simple look of the colours however, it seems a little too Marvel for me to be totally sure. Ulvar looks like he could be strapping on a jetpack and chasing down some Infinity Stones with Robert Downey Jr. The finished miniature doesn't sit alongside my more recent work either all that well either due to the more comic book colours but as I've only finished a few miniatures my views could change in time. 

A few more completed figures from the range will give better context.

I also heard from Mack since last post, who was kind enough to send me four more skeletons from the Horde. All the way from Austin Texas too... Mack, thank you for your generosity in sending these over as I believe that I have all I need to finish that initial project come the Easter holidays. He included this little note that made me smile and the sight of the armour pieces from the Skeleton Horde sent me racing back to 1989 for a heartbeat or two. A priceless moment in time.

Mack, I salute you!

Thanks to Mack's generosity I should be able to build a few armoured champions to lead the shamblers or perhaps do something more interesting with the single plastic skeleton horse Bree sent me a few months back. 

Graham F emailed me a while back to confess he had a shameful collection of old figures in appalling condition that he was never going to paint. They were mine if I was willing to clean them up and restore them as I did with the liche and the wizard. When Graham said they were in a bad way he wasn't wrong. They arrived last week in a sealed plastic box that had leaked something out into the wrapping. They stank to high heaven of ghastly chemicals, stale cigarettes and off cat food. They were stuck together with some extremely sticky residue too. I dried them out in the sun for a few hours and dunked them in the Dettol. I'll update you how well they turn out next post.

Yuck!

Despite their shocking state, thank you Graham for your kindness. I salute you too!

Finally, 'My Favourite Miniature's' younger child wanted to have a go at painting a figure yesterday. He had shown quite a bit of interest in what I had been doing along our old window sill so I gave him an old Stormcast Eternal. He was very happy to try out a classic Woodland Green shade from nearly forty years ago and wanted to show you all. So here he is...

Orlygg

Original Citadel Paint Sets, Warhammer First Edition and Researching Ulvar Vileblood

 

It has been a busy time for old Orlygg. The dreaded duo of work and family commitments has reared its ghastly head and kept me from my true occupation: the collecting and painting of little lead men from the 1980s - or those figures that share the peculiar 'style' of those times. 

Even so, I've been able to spare a few moments to start researching the Chaos Warriors I plan to paint in the near future. There really isn't much out there online about the early Specialty Sets( which reminds me of the days when I first started this blog with WFB 3rd edition) However, I did come across this lovely old advertisement in the back of the Second Citadel Compendium showing a little more history of the Citadel Colour sets I find so wonderful. I must say, despite years of research I've never seen this 'Paint Set 1' ad before nor had I ever seen any surviving examples for sale. Judging by the photographs, the bottles match that of my trusty Citadel Colour too. 

Though, weren't those John Blanche pieces painted with enamels? 

So I had a little explore of what we used to call the 'World Wide Web' and had a lovely time discovering all about this obscure little range. Starting with the ad-infested nightmare that is the 'Games Workshop Wiki'  I found some clearer images, though the accuracy of the site left much to be desired. No wonder those Youtubers produce so much dross about the history of GW if they rely on sites such as this. If you dare to click on the link I have provided you will 'learn' that the Space Marine paint set was released in 1986 - a full year before Rogue Trader was even published, and the two early sets that pique my interest arrived in the world in 1988!! Nonsense obviously.

Still, I didn't know that my beloved paint sets were released in 1984 so it was good to have that confirmed. Interestingly, there is a little painting guide in the Second Compendium written by a young Kevin Adams that is worth a nostalgic read. 

Still, I managed to get two decent images of the boxes there.

 

Chancing a look at the 'BIN hell' that is eBay these days, I found a seller with the second set. Just the empty box mind you. But it gave me a chance to look at the set in more detail. There were several Set 1s for sale too, as can be seen here so perhaps that set was more popular back in the day. On the reverse side of these boxes are a full colour description of the paints inside and as I suspected, they match the Colour and Creature sets we all know and love here. 

As you will no doubt agree, having these pictures in my possession will help me match those remaining shades I don't have access to at the moment, namely Shining Gold, Red Gore and Ghoul Grey. A true Brazen Brass from this era still eludes me so if any enthusiasts out there have a pot hidden in the depths of their collection please let me know and take a little snapshot for old Orlygg. As my Chaos warriors date from 1983, I can now say for certain that the shades in Citadel Colour/Creature paint sets are 'legit' colours for our purposes. 

Having matched my favourite paints to the earlier '80s, I've found myself increasing intrigued by First Edition Warhammer. Having always assumed it was rubbish and that preslotta was crap it seems I have missed out on a wealth of interesting ideas, art and miniatures. How wrong I was in my arrogant youth when my drawers (furniture ones) hung heavy with slotta-based classics to dismiss the era. Still, it leaves a whole wealth of material to explore and pore over in the coming days. I've spotted a slightly mislisted (though totally 'preloved') copy of WFB1 online and I've put a sneaky bid on it. I'm sure that 'My Favourite MiniatureTM' won't mind me a 99p indulgence away from our quest to save up for a loft conversion. At least, I hope not...

On to my appointment with one Ulvar Vileblood. And what a wonderful name he has too. With a name like Vileblood one would imagine him to be somehow poisonous or diseased. Perhaps that will give me a little inspiration when it comes to colour schemes. Again, having a look online there really wasn't much out there to go on save the soLegends example and some wonderful work done by a fellow blogger by the name of Mars-Miniatures who painted the whole set in 2017. 

        

Both have a metallic theme going on which I think I will avoid as my paints aren't brilliant in this regard. At the moment I am rather stumped at how to approach these figures... one thought is to chose a basecolour as a theme and work around that. Then again, I'm a big fan of red chaos warriors so maybe a scarlet and black scheme would suit the figure? As I said earlier, with a name like Vileblood perhaps a venomous green is more apt?

Choices, choices...

Before I go I'll leave you with this... I love the strapline 'Citadel Colour: Fantasy Reality'. This was obviously meant to be part of the branding of the paint range and its a shame they dropped it as I kind of like it. It also goes to show, that after decades of collecting, writing and blogging about '80s Citadel/Games Workshop there are still fun little facts to discover. 

Orlygg

Co2/1d White Wizard from 1983

 

A quick post today for the start of a brand new month. March has arrived, the fields are full of hares happily hopping here in Essex and the sun shines down on a hapless hobbist who is trying to take a decent snap of his wizard.

An extraordinary turn of events for someone who a few months ago didn't even own a paint brush!

In the end, the sun was too bright to get a decent snap so I retreated inside and used the rather ancient textured wallpaper in the front room as a backdrop. I really need to get around to printing some more scenes out like I had years ago.

Trouble is, I'm just too busy at the moment to spend any quality time with my beloved miniatures. This weekend I have my teenage children who required me to be Robert de Niro (a taxi driver) and ferry them around to their social lives. Even so, I managed to get the based finished of this lovely little figure.

He has taken me long enough as well. He was started a week ago during half-term week. He also stands as the final figure to be painted with my recreated 'Citadel Colour' set. With my next project I plan to upgrade to the monster set and try and improve the way I paint and shade different colours. 

I've picked the first two figures for my next project already. I've just cleaned and based them up, though I plan to do a little research on these early figures before I start work. I'm intrigued to see how enthusiasts painted them back in the early '80s. And of course, how more modern fans of old '80s preslotta have treated them in more recent times. 

Until then,

Orlygg

Famous Familiars: Walking Book and Stilts

 

Hello everyone... I've been busy painting those two old figures I found in the attic and I am glad to say that I have finished them. There is still one more to go, which I've started but not yet finished from the little cache I uncovered so hopefully you will be seeing that figure soon. 

I know, I know that the picture above isn't the best snap. I took it with my phone out in the garden as normal but I think my photography skills aren't like they once were, especially compared to the images you see below. In the future, when we have clearer skies I'll take some better snaps for posterity. I'm glad I photographed all of my work years back so I have a clear record of what I achieved now that my old painted collection is no more. 

The Old Orlygg was a pretty decent painter, though at the time I didn't feel it. Funny that... wish I had the same grasp of colour and skill with a brush now.

I painted the Walking Book first and I was pretty pleased with how the feet came out, though my flesh mix was too pale in the end. I really need to stop adding white when I highlight... its such a bad habit that results in washed out highlights but I guess its something I need to relearn over again. I ruined the look with the sand basing, so for future models the sand is going to be glued on the figure before work begins to try and avoid that pitfall. 

The Walking Book's pages pleased me, I was able to freehand lines to resemble writing quite easily though I miss my inks of yore when doing this. Watered down '80s paint doesn't quite have the same vibrancy. I might come back in the future and rework this model, especially the base and the toe nails.

Stilts was a different story, in fact he was a revelation. Something just clicked in me when I was painting his body and I felt that my old Realm of 80s style was suddenly back. I messed up the hooves somewhat with the basing and that certainly needs a little rework when the third familiar is ready to show to the world. But what do you guys think? Has progress been made from that initial plastic skelly?

Its nice to look back at my old work to learn some lessons. For the next figure I need to work on three areas:

1) Sort out the basing first and looking at these old figures has reminded me of the yellow wash I used to put over the top of a base to tone it down. That is a pretty quick fix. 

2) Stop using white as a highlight. With the Monster Paint Set mostly restored there are some nice alternative shades in there... though I might just bite the bullet and look for something more modern in Ian's astonishing gift. 

3) Attempt a deeper colour vibrancy through careful mixing and basecoating. I'm pretty sure I achieved that with Stilts. Its funny, thinking back all these things used to 'just happen' without much thought. The green flesh I'm so pleased with 'just happened' with the Stilts figure too. 

Armoured Mite and Daemonet are two big inspirations for the next figure. I was pleased with the metal mace on the Liche and love how I produced such a dark, greasy look with the Mite. I'm pretty sure it was Chainmail with lots of black and blue washes with two layers of highlights. Basecoat and bright silver on the edge work. This is how I'd like to get my armour and metals looking in future. I love the blue and purple of the Daemonet - clearly white hasn't been used to produce any basecoats here... boy it really is a bad habit (: I'd like to work with purple (the Monster Set has a lovely shade) and maybe try to get a better red look too. 

Daemonette, Beastling and Toad were other figures I once had. Again, there is lots I'd like to relearn here. Looking at Toad first, it notice I've used spot colours to provide contrast to the green skin... something I would love to try again... I remember as I type that back then I used a lot of colour harmony with the paints I mixed up. Certainly something to add to my list of improvements. Hair is also foxing me, and the White Wizard I've been working on certainly shows this. Looking at the Beastling its now obvious I need to go darker with my shading (too much white again, methinks) and try and pick out the look of the hair rather than what has been sculpted. Finally, Daemonette. Looking at her I'd say more red in my flesh mix. I've already tried this with the White Wizard so we will see next post how things go there. 

Phew... lots to achieve next month. 

I'll leave with my old Creeping Claw. If memory serves, this was a speed paint. With a rotting flesh base by the looks of things. At the time, May 2020, I wasn't happy with the result. Now I'd dearly love to be able to produce something like this. I guess I'm having nostalgia for nostalgia... how funny...

The next chance to paint will probably be next Saturday morning, so expect more from me next weekend.

Until then, all the best everyone.

Orlygg

Citadel C17 Liche, Paint Sets, Warriors of Chaos SS1b and an old friend rediscovered

 

Despite catching something 'orrible from school, most likely Covid, the first few days of my half-term have been a pleasant mix of relaxation and more relaxation. 'My Favourite Miniature' and I had no children at all for four solid days so took the opportunity to spend some time at home. We listened to '80s classics on the radio, watched daytime TV while she worked on her giraffe cross-stich and I got on with some painting. 

I've found that the window sill in the lounge is far better source of than the kitchen. With the weather bright and beautiful here, I've had day after day of lovely sunlight to work by. Aided by my trusty optivisor I found myself starting lots of different figures but not really finishing any... I guess I got a bit carried away. 

Still, I finished the Liche this morning and managed a quick snap in the garden as I was taking out the rubbish. When I have a little more time I'll take some better pictures. You might notice something else familiar about the picture up top... but more about that later. Hopefully, the Leadhead Who Cannot Be Named approves?

The Liche was painted with my set of nine paints and has lots of depth to it. I wanted a faded, just out of the crypt kind of look. After all, one day this chap will lead my Skeleton Horde so he will have to look his necromantic best. My brushwork is coming along though my biggest issue at the moment is not being able to get the water/paint ratio quite right. Its either too wet and doesn't leave enough pigmentation or its too dry and looks flakey. 

Still, he is done and I'm working on my skills once more. 

Daffyd contacted me a while back about some old lead. He, like us all, had a bit of a crazy splurge buying up all kinds of stuff online before realising his true passion: dwarves and skaven. He offered to forwards on something from his leadpile. This turned out to be the SS1b boxset from the earlier '80s. With my skills not yet up to doing the Skeleton Horde justice, further preslotta models are just the sort of project that I need. These old castings are far more forgiving than those era defining plastics. 

Opening up the box, everything that should be there is all present and correct. I'll just have to order some more bases to start work on these legendary figures. These are some of the very first Chaos Warrior figures from Citadel and they are very different in style. Harry the Hammer (or should we say Uthmog Elvenbane?) is nestled down the bottom of the tray. These are varied and exciting sculpts for an '80s enthusiast as I am sure you will all agree. As soon as my preslotta wizard is finished, I plan to start work on all 10 of these. Though a couple of the models need a trip to Dettol City before I begin. 

Daffyd.... thank you for your generosity in helping this old blog slowly stagger back into life. You have made me very happy indeed. I salute you!

Jon1066, like Ian before him,  joins the ranks of godlike glory for sending these two paint sets to me. Getting your hands on things like this really are lifechanging and its hard to put into words what it means to me. I am so, so grateful to you Jon.... thank you so much for these. Oh, the nostalgia of opening these up the other day. I was back in my late '80s bedroom again... and nearly forty years on these simple paints inspire me deeply to paint classic Citadel and make it look as good as it did on the back of the boxes...

I couldn't do it then, and I'm still struggling now.... Jon1066 I salute you for helping me with another step on the journey. 

             

These sets are a bit more complete than my temporary jobs I spoke about a while back. Its clear to me now that I misjudged some of the colours in the Citadel Colour boxset but thanks to Jon I've got that 100% correct now. I added my Chaos Black to this set to finish things off. As you can see, if you are interested in these things, I got Bronzed Flesh a bit out and Woodland Green was too light. Still, with these sets now I my possession I can approach the next batch of figures with a little bit more '80s authenticity. The Monster Paint set looks to be in a good state too, with both Titiliating Pink and Bilious Green in good condition. Brazen Bronze though has deteriorated as these old metallics are want to do. One of my next steps is to try and work out what shade this was and find a suitable match. 

Jon was also kind enough to chuck in a RT01 Space Marine Sprue and a Space Orc trooper. Wow! Again, thank you Jon. You know, I've never actually put my hands on one of these classic sets. I've never even painted up one of these old marines before, though I have got some very, very grotty cast offs in a bag here. It seems some Rogue Trader painting will be on the cards at some point too. I wonder if these original plastic marines are more forgiving than Skeleton Horde? 

Speaking of the Horde, Mack from https://supergalacticdreadnought.blogspot.com/ dropped me a line to say that he had a spare sprue of the final four skeletons needed to complete the original 24 models. They are somewhere in the postal service but Mack you need a salute too. Thank you to helping me achieve the near impossible. Check out his blog when you have a minute or two as there is loads on there to enjoy. 

Finally, I had a spot of luck the other day. I was up in the loft clearing out one of the many boxes of stuff we have acquired on our 'adventures'. What I thought to be a box of my kids' old artwork was actually hiding the remnants of my old painting set up. I guess someone just tipped the lot into the box and then dropped it off at my residence shortly after I was told to leave my home. The few paints I was using have long dried up and the paintbrushes were in a terrible state, not even suitable for drybrushing! However, underneath them lay what was left of my old scenery board originally constructed for the Good, the Bad and the Rusty White Dwarf game. Additionally, my old bag of foliage and a hedge I had been using to photograph the final models of my old life. 

The keen eyed, and long time reading, grognards of this blog will have recognised this set up with the Liche at the start of this post. It was wonderful to stumble across this lot again and I am so pleased it hasn't been lost like so much else. Though my foliage has lots much of its spring and some of the red colour has stained the other stuff its priceless to have a little bit of my old life back with me. It also means I can take some better photographs of my models as my technique (hopefully) improves.

Finally, squashed into the bottom of the box was an old takeaway container full of pens. Amongst them were a small selection of models I had been working on in May 2020. I hadn't actually got any further than base coating them really. They were bent and chipped but they were mine. 

I'm off to paint them now... and finish that wizard. 

See you soon and thanks to everyone who has helped me, and this blog, get back on its feet. 

I SALUTE YOU ALL!!

Orlygg