WFRP'd: What the @*&% is WFRP'd? The History of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

Hello all. You may have noticed me waffling on a great deal about Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay recently and if you didn't know, the game is now in it's thirtieth anniversary. With such an august event looming large in my mind, I thought it appropriate to get blogging about this marvelleous game as quite frankly, no-one else seems to be! 

Now, we shall be continuing through the history of the game in much the same way as I have been doing with the Acceptable in the '80s series with Warhammer Fantasy Battle Third Edition. Only, I have blogged about several parts of the WFRP canon in the past under the title WFRP'd. As you have no doubt gathered, I am going to be continuing with this series in the coming days and I thought it apt to make reference to some of the other articles I have published relating to the game. 

And there are three. 

The first concerns the first supplement for WFRP, namely the Enemy Within Box and the starting adventure 'Mistaken Identity'. This is one of my favourite ever supplements that GW released. 

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wfrpd-enemy-within.html

Out of the garden deals with the background of the Warhammer world's gnome population and provides details to allow players to roleplay these diminutive characters. Phil Gallagher's article if bustling with detail that many of you may not know about Gnomes in Warhammer. 

Well worth a read!

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/wfrpd-out-of-garden-or-roleplaying.html

And finally, Graeme Davis launches the game in morbid style with 'On the Road' - the first two scenarios (if you can call them that) published for WFRP. 

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/wfrpd-on-road-warhammer-fantasy.html

Enjoy! 

Orlygg

A Harbull Surprise and Other Miniature News!

Has fryingpan, will travel...

Those writers who talk of secrecy and silence often speak of the benefit of 'hiding in plain sight'. Of being there, and yet not being there. Unseen by the eye and unnoticed by the masses. The same it seems can be said of Death on the Reik characters as my photograph will testify.

Yes, that is a different version of Harbull, who I have just painted by the way. Now some of the other Death on the Reik characters get armed versions two, such as Wiener and Johann below, and Kirtsen the thief. These were (and still are) well advertised as such in the collecting world. 

Tooled up on the Reik

But I was totally amazed to find, quite by accident you know, that the same can be said for Harbull the halfling! Like his companions, he has been beefed up a bit with the addition of a steel helmet, a chainmail coat and a short sword. 

He is even named Harbull on the tab. 

I think that discoveries like this well illustrate what many of us find so fascinating about collecting these old miniatures. There are just so many of them, and you can learn new things about ranges that you may have known about for years and years. 

So it seems that only Malmir lacks a second incarnation... Or does he? IS there another version of a chunky elf looking a bit like Elvis out there? Who knows!?

Do you have any of these models for sale or trade?

On a completely different subject, my early forays into gathering together all of the Blood on the Streets miniatures is going well. I have even received two models through the post already. The busker model with the monkey I traded with Jon Boyce for an old RT adventurer model while the leper came as a gift from the very generous Rochie Rochford. 

A big thank you to you two! 

I have several other deals on the go at the moment that should secure several more of these figures for the project but that doesn't mean if you are reading this and you can help me on my quest you don't need to get in touch. Please do!

The first two new models in the range!

Orlygg

Enemy Within Scenarios: Harbull (plus Malmir gets a new haircut!)

I have had a busy week, and will no doubt have another busy week next week, largely due to the demands on us teachers this time of the year. But blessed half-term is but three weeks off, the first Saturday of which I shall be playing a game of Third Edition in Nottingham, but the remaining days will see more time to focus on painting. 

I have managed to grab some man hours to work on Harbull, the adventurous halfling, and decided to work on painting brown once more. Though not as rich as Malmir's boots, I felt that the brown of the halfling's travelling clothes looked suitably weatherworn and battered. I created a little contrast with this by adding the carroty mop of hair, the pale satchel (no doubt full of food) and the blue scabbard of his dagger. 

To be honest, he was never my favourite character nor is he my favourite player character miniature, but after painting him I feel a little warmer towards him. I also made good my promise to change Malmir's hair colour, and he now looks even more like Elvis than ever.

Hang on a moment? If you squint, Harbull looks like a shorter version of Sir Elton John! 

Two rock 'n' rollers for your Oldhammer money! 

The Enemy Within: Shadows Over Bogenhafen Character Miniatures

Having just finished a small group of elves as part of my Warhammer Bestiary project, I am keen to start another painting challenge. Of course, I could just get cracking on the Fimir which is next in line, and well I might, if it hadn't been for the sudden arrival of Johann in the post. As you can see from the image above, I now have the full set of the Enemy Within characters (Shadows Over Bogenhafen) to get painting with. 

However, as I was preparing the models lots of questions started rearing their leaden heads. This got me thinking about the oddities that can be learnt from looking at ranges of models as you go about collecting them. So, what can we learn about this little band of mid '80s adventurers?

Here they are. Quite an expensive lot if I put them on eBay I suspect. In fact, these models are some of the most expensive I have ever bought. As you will know, I am a £4 man when it comes to the price of the average miniature but it didn't pay any more than £17 for any of these models, and some I got for much, much less. Looking at them here they seem rather unremarkable, but if we look closer things become a little more interesting. 

Johann, named 'Rowlocks' on the tab, Weiner and Harbull, to me anyway, all seem to share a design that make me feel that they were produced at the same time by the same person. Of course, I have no proof of this and I maybe wrong but I feel pretty confident that this is the case. 

Flipping the miniatures over shows us that two of them were designed in 1985, according to the date stamp on the tab. Though Johann is undated.

Now you would imagine that the other three models in the range would share a common look wouldn't you? After all, it makes sense that all of the characters would have been put into miniature form at the same time. A quick look at Wanda , Kirsten and Malmir makes me think otherwise. The design 'feel' of these three models is not as consistent as the first three, is it? 

Flipping the miniatures reveals that these three models were designed in 1987. Two years after the the original three! Is it just me that sees this as rather odd? After all, why would you create three models in support of the Enemy Within and then wait another two years to produce the rest? Additionally, Wanda and Kirsten were not originally intended for the Enemy Within, but are part of the Townsfolk/Villagers range of 1987. Malmir appears in the standard Elf range too. 

Actually, Malmir is an interesting model when looked at in context. He is a lot more chunky than the other models and has a distinct Marauder feel about him. Hardly the elfin troubadour, more like a bloke who works on the roads! As an aside, Malmir also has a distinct Elvis look about him. I think it might be his sideburns. If you look at the picture above, you can see how I have sorted the models in respect of style. Malmir is very much on his own. 

Now, before some of you hardened Citadel Collectors start pointing it out, there was a later, Death on the Reik set of adventurer figures. This range had new sculpts for Weiner and Johann but the models were stamped as part of the Fighters range. Now, I suspect that these were conversions of pre-existing models with a new head, though I have discounted the possibility of that process just being a had swap due to subtle differences on the two models.

With Weiner, that subtle difference is the direction that the character is looking in as well as the direction of helmet.

The differences are even more pronounced on the Johann model, as you can see from this picture. Its clearly a resculpted head.

And the dates? Yes you guessed it, 1987! Roughly around the same time that the villagers were made and the original Shadows set was released, not to mention the Death on the Reik set. 

This leaves me with one question. Were there originally other models for Malmir, Wanda and Kirsten? Are they waiting to be found by Steve Casey amongst the vast hordes of Bryan Ansell's collection? Could they be part of the 'not good enough to be released' box that the Citadel Collector often tempts us with?

The answer isn't as important as the fact that I will leave you with. Sometimes the actual collecting of a range or set can produce some intriguing puzzles and questions. Have you ever noticed anything strange among your own collections?

If you have, then I would love to hear about what you have discovered!

Orlygg

Thank You For Johann 'Rowlocks' Dassbut

I have been after this particular miniature for many years. He is the final Enemy Within character that I need to complete the collection that was released in support of the early Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supplements. I had an idea some time again that required these miniatures that can now begin to be realised as I received Johann in the post today, on my birthday on all days!

The trouble is, I have absolutely no idea who sent him to me! The packaging was rather damaged by water on its way to me and the senders name and address rather smudged. So if you sent this to me, then thank you! Not knowing who you are makes it rather difficult to express my gratitude so I am going to do it with this blog post. 

Look out for Johann in the near future with a coat of paint on him. 

Thanks again!

Orlygg