McDeath: Greevant Clansmen (Citadel Barbarians) and a Cardstock Winwood Harbour

Five Citadel Barbarians. I really enjoyed painting these. Some of these models have been in my collection for quite some years so it is pleasing to finally complete them. 

All hail thee, thanes of Oldor! I have returned from the last efforts of the school year and now find myself on the first day of my summer break. Five and a half weeks of free time await me and I have several Oldhammer projects on the go to fill those hours. The first project that requires my attention is the primary phase of my McDeath recreation. As long term readers will know, I had to curtail the ambitions a little but I hope to be able to put on the first scenario - Winwood Harbour - at BOYL next week! 

I have just completed work on five old Citadel barbarians (top photograph) that will represent the rank and file clansmen on Clan Greevant. These I started on Monday evening, and despite having to work three days this week they are finished. As before, I stuck to my tried and tested 'speed painting' techniques I developed recently. I also opted for a limited palette - which helps create a coherent 'look' between figures as well as reducing the amount of time I need to spend mixing colours. 

Curiously, I left these figures out in the garden for a while as I was sorting out the needs of my temperamental three year old and when I returned I found that several of the bases had warped slightly in the sun's heat! Can you tell which ones? Later on I intend to replace these bases but as time in short they will have to stay in place. Funny how not all of the bases melted in this way, isn't it?

Greevant clansmen are set upon by an enraged group of McArno revellers. Apparently, the brutal streetfight was caused by a disagreement over whether porridge should have salt in or not! 

I must admit to having taken a liking to one of the new Citadel colours. Kislev Flesh is an excellent base for paler skin and I used it extensively across the five miniatures. I never use paint direct from the pot though and mix my own base colours. For the four 'nordic' style clansmen I added a little brown and red to the mix and highlighted with bleached bone. Khan - the model to the far right - I treated differently as he looks 'eastern' to me. I added yellow instead of brown to this mix but still created highlights with bone. The result was a rather dusky look that fits the character of the model. 

Last time I spoke about McDeath I told you about my little foray into building cardstock scenery. I must confess to really enjoying putting the stuff together. I still find it highly satisfying to carefully cut out the pieces of the models, score the edges and attaching them. They are surprisingly strong if you re-enforce them with card bases too, though don't go standing on any of them. One of the downsides to card buildings are the white undersides showing through. Using black paint, I filled all of these in. The results are pleasing to my eye and make the models seem more 'finished off' if that makes sense to you. 

I didn't have access to the original card buildings for McDeath. I have the pdf as I planned to build proper scale models of each building in time for the Oldhammer Weekend. The pressures of work caused that idea to be moved to the backburner however. Instead, I printed off the remaining buildings I needed for Winwood Harbour: two sod houses and the warehouse. They are slightly paler than the originals, but they will do. Once they are on the table and surrounded by painted miniatures I don't anyone will really notice. 

Only two miniatures remain and I have everything I require for the first scenario. They are the final pair of McDeath Clansmen and the await me downstairs. I hope to have them complete in a day or two. 

Orlygg.

The McDeath Project: Julia McEwman's Invasion Force

As regular readers here will know, I am currently embroiled in that end of year teacher thing that involves hot weather, report writing and the imminent end of term. Hobby time (or should that be Oldhammer time?) is in short supply, but I am still determined to get Stage 1 of my McDeath recreation ready for BOYL3. 

And here is that stage. Julia McEwman's clan.

In the original release, Julia's army was pretty much made up of a single miniature. The clansman with the sword raised above his head. I didn't fancy painting twenty odd of the same model so instead chose to use barbarians instead. I think they still have the rugged charm of a highland Scotsman, though. Luckily, I owned quite a fair few Citadel ones and bought up the modern Foundry castings of the ones I didn't have. 

Lets have a look at what I have got painted then. 

This first block contains a couple of female barbarians I had painted for other projects. Can you spot them? Pushed for time, I chose to paint the remaining seven models using my 'speed painting' technique. In the photograph above I don't think you can tell which minis I spent hours and hours on, and those I raced through much.

What helped, me work through the models at a fair old pace was reducing the palette to brown, flesh, yellow. gold, silver and black, with red as a spot colour. I also used the classic wargmer's 'production line' technique and concentrated on one colour across all of the models, only moving on to the next shade when every model was done. This was a little grueling to be honest, but the finished effect was well worth the extra effort. 

Having finished these characters some months ago, its pleasing to finally group them together with the rest of their forces. From left to right we have; Fergus McEwman, Julia McEwman and the fearsome Juggo.

Again, the perceptive among you may notice two barbarians that I had painted before in this unit, but the rest are made up from Foundry castings or original Citadel. Again, I opted for the same palette as with my female troops, but added a green style tartan pattern for the trousers. Not every model has this pattern present, but I think using it helps suggest a little of that 'Scottish' theme that needs to run through McDeath. Again, these were all speed painted. 

I built the banner in my usual way and set myself a single hour in which to finish it. I have access to the original McDeath boxset so it was a simple case of copying the McEwman's design from the handout onto a square of paper. 

I think it works well. 

A large number of the models have shields. I used plastic Citadel circular versions for the female unit and Foundry metal versions for the male. There was no other reason for this choice but supply. As speed is very much the key with this project, I didn't concern myself with fancy shield painting for these but concentrated on simple, colourful geometric designs. 

My two 'rear shots' here will show you how I approached this. 

Okay, I have about twelve miniatures left to paint for this part of the project, so I better get a move on. Hopefully, I can get another model complete before breakfast. 

Orlygg

Citadel Barbarians!

Bryon Anvil and his Valkyrie bodyguard

I finished the little group of barbarian models that I started a few weeks back today, and managed to grab two minutes away from the needs of the wife and kids to take a snap of them. They are for use in the forthcoming Oldhammer game at Slayer Gaming in Mansfield on the 28th February. A game that bucks the trend of huge battles, as instead of bringing a whole army and fielding it players are encouraged to deploy much smaller forces. Even a single figure if the player so desires! Warlord Paul is GMing the game for us and I am really looking forwards to the meet up. 

Why barbarians? 

Obviously, they are a considerable step away from the stuff I usually take to games - and experimenting with new ground is an important part of any hobby. I have always been a fan of Robert E Howard's Conan stories after finding a battered copy of his tales in a second hand book shop in 1995 and fancied exploring the themes of bare (no doubt heaving) bosoms and mighty thews. 

The bare-breasted girl on the far right served as my test piece. I was keen to do something with flesh tones beyond just adding white. This was fine for my chaos models as the pasty-skin look is favourable to Slaanesh (and Chico) but not really for sun burned, mighty thewed barbarians. I used a mix of red and dark brown to shade the flesh itself and then worked back up to the original flesh tone - which was the new Citadel one called Kislev Flesh. I added a little Foundry Boneyard 9c to the final highlights and attempted to blend them all in. 

The rest of the colours I kept pretty much consistent, preferring to use a limited palette to convey the primitive nature of these savage types. I used spot colours of blue and green here and there to add variation. The bases were completed in my usual way. 

I haven't fully decided on the background for these figures yet, beyond the name of the chief and I hope they don't suffer the curse of all newly painted troops when the game begins. 

Orlygg

Getting Going Again...

As I type this I am but 1,688 page views away from hitting 1,000,000 visits to this blog in just under three years. Barmy isn't it? There is clearly something about my rambling that you dear readers enjoy and I thank you for that success. 

I have recently been directed to various places where its seems that not everyone is so in favour of this blog and I. Apparently, everything I write just gets up one or two people's noses. 

Sadly, they are not just re-sellers and eBay con-artists either, but as the old saying goes: 'you can't please everyone all of the time' but I am happy to please the vast (and I can really say vast) majority of you in that regard. 

So thank you all so much for all your comments and support over the last few years. I hope you enjoy all the stuff yet to come. And I do have something special heading your way to celebrate that 1,000,000th page view and reward all your loyalty to the rhubarb I type. 

Wait and see.... Only 1,602 page views to go!

Look at the state of that!

Its my workspace at home and I must honestly say that it is in of a bit of a Spring Clean. As I have said before, these dark winter months are hardly inspiring for the miniature painter and I rarely get much work done this time of year. But some recent events have inspired me to get cracking again.

1. The Dark Future buzz going around the Oldhammer online community.

2. And Warlord Paul's upcoming game at Slayer, which I hope to attend. 

For the Dark Future stuff the challenge I want to set myself is simple - convert a modern die-cast vehicle into something suitable for the highways of an alternative reality. Oh, and do a blog post on what I learn. Clearly, by the response to my republication of my old DF material here the game is very popular once again. I will have to do something similar with all the Rogue Trader stuff I had on my other old blog.

For the second, the game in Notts I need to put together a small force of miniatures for use in this game. I was going to paint up some Empire Militia but for some reason thought of my little bag of barbarian models that have gathered dust in my collection. I have been meaning to do something with them for a while and fancy a small scale project for the coming weeks.

After a quick rummage, I located these four classics. Their backstory will be something along the lines a of a barbarian chief, his wife and their two warrior daughters... 

All very Robert E Howard!

Orlygg

Only 1,563 page views to go!

Acceptable in the '80s: White Dwarf 95 Miniatures Retro Review

Today, we are delving into the pages of White Dwarf 95 in a little more detail. We have already discussed the Warhammer Launch Article and the Sabbat Flexi Disc in past posts, so we can move on to the miniatures with no further distraction. This issue had an especially high number of colour adverts for Citadel figures, perhaps due to the coverage about the new addition, and included some real classics. What I find particularly interesting about these ads is that they often came with a little background, or a story and often some new rules. You could order the model, or pick it up in a game store, and just play with its straight away, with no need for further purchase. 

Ruglud's Armoured Orcs

I am sure that you agree with me when I say that this unit are an absolute must for any orc and goblin collector or retro gamer. I had been after these boys for quite a long time before I managed to pick them up ( along with a few other bits and bobs) at the Bring and Buy sale at Salute this year for £14. Sure, they were hideously beaten with a range of peculiar paints but nothing that a bit of dettol wouldn't fix. There were no crossbows though, sadly.

So what of the models themselves. You have a set of four character models and a random series of troop models. The troop models all have subtle changes; a head, a weapon, a body etc and these help to create a sense of variation amongst the unit. All these troopers are armed with a halberd/spear and have a stud for a shield. As you can see from the photo, the shields should be big and brightly adorned with Arcane Armorials.

The character models are also nice. The musician (armed with a human bone drum of some sort) is well sculpted and characterful, as are Ruglud and his champion. Special mention should be made of the goblin standard bearer. I love this particular model. He's small, he's sneaky and his got a bizarre suit of armour as a standard. The reason for their heavy armour is nicely explained in the background too.


Dogs of War

There are some quite well known and some not quite so well known models in this set. Observant collectors will recognise the casualty from Dave Andrews diorama I posted some weeks ago and Adolf from the Advanced Heroquest diorama. As with many of the models produced at this time that Dogs of War are varied and packed full of character. There is a nice range of weapons on offer too, from standards like halberds and swords, to pistols and bows.

The painting is suitably bright as you'd expect from 1987, with a smattering of shields decorated with Arcane Armorials. Overall, a lovely group of miniatures that I'd love to own and, eventually, paint up. The range of poses makes many of these models suitable for heroes and leaders for units. I'll have to keep my eyes open for more 'standard' humans in the future.

Chaos Beastmen

Ahhh! Beastmen, when they were truly beasts and not just goat headed bodybuilders. I have quite a few of these in my collection, in fact the majority, with only a few alluding me. What makes this early release of beastmen so special is that many of them are based on creatures subsequently dropped from the sculpting process but appropriate to the mutations available in Realm of Chaos; dog heads, crocodiles, birds and lizards all appear here. Of course, there are some real classics, especially Hesh, who is my favourite beastman sculpt of all time.

Nice varied use of colour too. Lots of ideas for colour schemes here. One thing that really turns me off Warhammer in its current form is the uniformity of chaos - they all look the same! To me, the whole point of chaos is to be mutated and different from the beastman you're standing next too. Well, this set gives you that and plenty more. Another absolute must for the collector, especially those interested in collecting or gaming with Realm of Chaos.

Elven Personalities

These nine mounted models show you just how far GW have moved from the original concept of the elves. Here, the models have shades of Celtic, Native American and Eastern Mysticism running through them and I feel this makes the models appear more exotic and less human. These days, elves are just posh looking armoured blokes with pointy ears. There is still that '80s punk vibe going on with some of the hairdos and colour choices (I for one love the rainbow mohican) and these models are far better painted that those we have seen before, I can sense that hand of one Mike McVey here.

There is a nice mix of wizard, champion and general models here, armed with a nice range of weaponry. Do I have a favourite here? Definitely Ashen Peace Maker because he looks very military looking and would do sterling work leading my wood elves one day!

Better get on eBay then!



Dwarf Flame Cannon, Orc Command Group and Dwarf With Inferiority Complex!

At last! A series of models about which I can say 'I have them!' The dwarf flame cannon was one of the first retro models I picked up a few years ago when I started to feel dis-satisfied by the current ranges. The dwarfs have slipped so far from the original form (which I consider to BE a fantasy dwarf) that the short fellows had disinterested me for years. I know its a word I keep repeating, but its the character of this set that makes it so endearing. The dwarf lighting the cannon hiding his face, the two crewmen crouching down holding their eyes... Lovely, lovely humour that actually tells a little story. Seeing these nicely painted up makes me itch to dig out this little set and give it a good paint job. Additionally, full rules are given as part of the add, meaning you could pick up the blister and get the unit on the table with no further trouble.

Next we have the iconic orc command figures by Kev Adams. As regular readers of this blog will know, I have painted up this set to lead my plastic Warhammer Regiments orcs. There are quite a few variants of this initial set and they are all worth having and are, frankly, a job to paint.

Finally, the dwarf on stilts. Another example of that wacky sense of humour! I've seen this model many time on eBay (and I believe that there are more than one version of it) but have yet to see the wonderfully nasty goblin sawmaster. I'd pay a few bit for him if he came up!

Barbarians and Chaos Hounds

I've always found this set a little 'meh'. There are some really good sculpts here, especially the females but some of the more muscular males leave me unimpressed. I'd pick up one or two of them just to paint up but I'd be unlikely to take my collection much further.

The Chaos Hounds on the other hand are classics and I own many of them. Thankfully, I recently managed to get my hands on the chaos warrior packmaster to help lead them as these models are scarce. The hounds do turn up quite regularly and are worth buying up. Being chaotic, you can have some real fun painting up their coats in all kinds of bizarre colour choices and in gaming terms that are LETHAL. Dan fields these against my Slaaneshi warband and game after game they cause me problems aplenty.





Prince Ulther's Imperial Dwarfs

This set has classic written all over it! Regularly appearing on eBay for very high prices, though the models can be picked up individually if you're willing to do the research. All I can say about this particular Regiment of Renown is that I want them in my future dwarf army. I intend to paint them up in exactly the same colours as shown here. These are one of my favourite dwarf releases of all time!

Why do I like them so much compared to more recent releases? Its the beards. The beards are much more 'dwarf like' with these early sculpts, a cross between an unwashed biker and a viking, and the figures themselves look tougher and more believable. I prefer armour and weapons on 'good' races to be fairly realistic, leaving the more fantastic stuff for chaos.

Another nice touch, as I have said before, of this release is the little background story and full rules giving you some insight before you drop your money on the table.

Phew! That was a lot to talk about. Fantasy releases were certainly the priority in this issue.

So, how many of these do you own and more importantly, how many have you actually painted? Do you dislike any of these models enough to avoid them from all time?

Orlygg.