Acceptable in the '80s: Marauder Releases from White Dwarf 120 and 121

With the weather being so hot at the time of writing, I have found it hard to do little but laze about on my holidays and cook tasty meals for my family. Oldhammer related work has ground to a halt. Things seem a little cooler today, so I am back at the desk, though my goal at the moment is review the next releases of Marauder miniatures rather than wield the paint brush. Right then, where are we in this journey through Warhammer Third Edition? These releases featured in White Dwarf 120 and 121 and saw the introduction to something that got many of us fantasy nuts drooling - Marauder regiment and army deals. 

Issue 120 saw the arrival of some more Dark Elves into the range, or more precisely, Witch Elves. I find these models rather chunky and frankly, rather manly. The Bob Naismith Dark Elves are much better in my opinion, and far more lithe. I traded some away a few days ago to Stuart and am now lamenting their loss. Still, their absence from the collection just gives an excuse to buy some more in the future. The paintjobs are little better and have a distinct whiff of the 'Red Period' of painting that followed the 'Classic' Bryan Ansell years. 

Things improve further down the page with a second visit to the incredible Marauder dwarfs. I have written about these before and I have stated that they are probably the greatest dwarfs ever cast. My opinion hasn't changed since my last visit to the models and the standard bearer is a thing of beauty, both for the actual sculpting and its exquisite paint job. In fact, the entire command range are practically perfect and shame the entire modern dwarf line all the way to the headmistress' office. 

Finally, we have the Orc stone thrower. Considering they are not by Kev Adams, these greenskins are really rather good, though shades of the Man Mangler remain. I would be happy to own this model and paint it up for my Goblinoid army, as I expect would many of you. 

It being the very late 1980s at this point, colour photographs in magazines were still expensive and black and white was still used extensively- its funny what you forget, isn't it? Sadly, we have no photographs of the remaining Witch Elves, nor the goblin regiment but what we do have is an intriguing reminder of the Marauder Blade painting competition. Its often forgotten these days and I wonder what happened to all those blades?

And so we are on to White Dwarf 121 and the first army deal from Marauder. I loved these as a youngest for two reasons. One, the painted models. Two, the background context that the army was put in. Many of the models on show here were previously shown only as line drawing and its fantastic to see many of them, even though some of obscured in the second rank. Two models here catch my eye as being worth a mention, namely the Deathcap Hero (in a classic pose for a single cast model) and the brilliant standard bearer. 

And here is the rest of the force. Gorgeous when arrayed together. The perfect mix of riotous colour and conformity which, perhaps rather surprisingly, works as a whole. Of note here are the excellent Marauder shields, which are a mixture of freehand designs and painted cast patterns. The price is enough to make you weep all these years later, £50 for 78 Dark Elves, 4 Warhounds and a FREE Darklord and Deathdealer on Cold Ones. I for one, recall pouring over this article and vainly attempting to construct a plan that would see me having £50 to spend on them. I failed, as I expect did many of you! Still, it just goes to show, GW did once do deals.  

A simple army list has been included at the end of the article along with an intriguing ad for Abandon Art. These days Fantasy and Science Fiction tropes have become rather mainstream, especially in the world of computer games and have in many cases become rather generic. One bald 'Space Marine' looks much like another in games like Mass Effect, Gear of War and so on. Fantasy has had a similar fate, though there have been exceptions, like the startling original world of Morrowind in the Elder Scrolls series. Adverts like this remind us that back in the later '80s Fantasy was much less mainstream as it is now and subsequently was treated a little more seriously. A quick glance at some of the artists involved is impressive and I would certainly love to walk through the gallery to this day! 

The final image shows off the Warhounds in further detail. I haven't got much to say about them really apart from pointing out that the dogs do look a little 'cute'. When compared with the Troll Slayers you can catch another whiff of the 'Red Period' with the dominance of that shade, and its cousins, in the paint schemes. I rather like the Troll Slayers, don't you?

What is interesting is that the Painting Competition I mentioned earlier seems to have been renamed in the past month. Its now the 1990 marauder Blade Painting Competition. It sounds MUCH more impressive doesn't it. I wonder who won it and what the winning entry was? 

Anyone know out there?

Orlygg

A Warhammer Bestiary: Goblins!

It was hard not to resist the allure of the goblin while interviewing Kevin Adams. Luckily, goblins were the next stop on my Warhammer Bestiary painting project so I searched through my collection for a couple of early Goblinmaster miniatures. 

These two models represent a common goblin (the model on the left) and the lesser known chaos goblin (on the right) and were some of the few pieces in my collection. I was hard to get decent light today where I usually photograph models due to the inevitable rain outside, but I think they will do.

These were fairly quite paintjobs. I base coated the models as I usually do before washing over the entire piece with a green/brown/chestnut ink wash. These creates the depth that is so important in models and also helps me spot all of those little details. It was then simply a case of beastcoating and highlighting each item that required it. 

My method for goblin skin is quite straightforwards. I mix a little yellow ink in with the original Goblin Green paint and highlight up from there, adding white to the mix until satisfied. I use purple along any lips that are on the models and then highlight this by mixing in the goblin green highlight. 

I chose red scale armour for the chaos goblin, linking him perhaps to the worship of Khorne (or whatever the goblin equivalent would be) but chose the traditional browns and blacks for the common goblin. As a word of note, I used a chestnut/brown/black ink wash to dirty up the chainmail and metal pieces on the models to give the goblinoids that filthy look that their race requires. 

How do you think I did?

Orlygg

Acceptable in the '80s: Iron Claw Rock Lobber and Goblins, Skaven, Combat Cards and Warhammer Townscape.

Apps aren't always the easiest way to communicate. I fancied trying out the Blogger app available on the iTunes app network on the wife's iPad. I wrote out a long and detailed post about the releases below. It was erudite, amusing and informative. Sadly, it didn't save as the app is poor at best so you will have to put up with this far inferior re-write I am afraid. 

As you may know, we have been exploring what Citadel put out for Warhammer Third Edition through issues 104, 105 and 106 of White Dwarf. In truth, these three issues are of great importance to fans of the era because they saw the release of two very important supplements, namely Slaves to Darkness and Warhammer Armies. They also contained a wealth of fantasy models, mostly chaos, but there were also a number of ads for further Iron Claw miniatures, sculpted by Bob Olley.

Now we have discussed Olley's work before. Though we neglected to discuss his goblin range, focusing on his Gothic Dwarfs and Undead models of 1987.

His work is best described as the 'Marmite' of miniatures (those of you not an Anglophile or resident here in the UK need to know that Marmite is a vegetable starch product used on bread and toast- its distinctive taste divides opinion, people either love it or hate it, a view not lost of the manufacturers) with collectors and old school gamers either raving madly with frothy lips about his work or casting their eyes away in disgust as soon as one of his strangely fungoid models appears in front of them. Back in the day, I did not like his work at all. But as I have become used to handling more models as I grew older, I learnt to really appreciate his distinctive and original style, especially in today's market of near generic sculpting. 

Olley's goblins are fun and varied. They have the sense of depth and realism that most of his work shares. The models in this selection contain a wide range of suitable weapons, from spears and axes to the iconic ball and chain. The clothes too are suitably goblinoid, and a special mention must got to the wonderful mushroom (or should that be toadstool?) inspired hat! Less sneaky than Kevin Adam's work, these sculpts don't lack charm however. These greenskins seem to have a rather cowardly menace to them (if such an oxymoron is possible) but they rank up nicely alongside their Citadel brethren, indeed they were later incorporated into the line when Iron Claw was dropped. 

Of special note here are the shields. There are some lovely designs here for any old school style painter who wants to begin work of developing a free hand style. Not as complex as the shields of Blanche or Dixon, these examples are no less than effective. 

The stone thrower released as part of the Iron Claw range has been discussed before. Though I doubt many enthusiasts have had the chance to read the fluff that was published for it, nor have a quick gander at the Warhammer Armies rules box so it has been presented for you below. 

However, we haven't talked about the skaven models in the lower part of the colour ad. These expand on the models released in 1985 with some additional models. Now, these are not really War Machines are they? More gun powder and chemical based weapons. All are worth collecting, and in my view, these models remain the best ratmen the Citadel have ever produced. The skaven Jessail is worth a particular mention as these models are quite collectable. 

Before I sign off, I thought I would share with you these two ads. Both are a sign of what is to come on this blog, as both releases are worth posts dedicated to them, namely the Citadel Combat Cards and Warhammer Townscape. 

As always, if you have a memory or an opinion to share about anything discussed today, please do.

Orlygg.

On the Tangent of Goblinoids

Chaos fills my painting area. Both literally and metaphorically. You see, I am an untidy artist who leaves paints, brushes, new lead, off cuts, half finished miniatures and more littering my table. My wife contributes further, dumping anything she considers 'not her's' on the heap. Around this chaotic clutter I work.

On chaos models.

Occasionally I paint something different. Like the Tzeentch daemons I painted a few months back or an undead character. Yesterday, I found myself wanting to paint something different alongside the chaos thug unit I am working on. Now I have a varied and copious lead pile.

So what to choose?

Inspired by a thread on the Oldhammer Forum, I choose a simple goblin. It had been awhile since I had painted a greenskin so the prospect was an attractive one. I was also interested in working on painting different shades of brown leather, and Goblinoids are usually bedecked in browns, so I selected a model, cleaned, based and primed it.

But what of the colour scheme? I knew that I wanted to try out some new basing ideas, especially after the fascinating discussion we had a few posts back and that brown would be a key colour of the clothing. How was I going to paint the goblin's skin?

Obviously, I was going to go for colours sympathetic to my Old School approach to painting. So I flicked through a couple of 80s White Dwarfs for inspiration for greens. I soon realised that there were as many interpretations of how to paint a goblin as there are shades of green, though yellow seems to have been a popular choice in the mix back in the day.

I had a look over my previous efforts of greenskin glories and realised that I had used a range of different colour schemes over the years. Here are some of them.

In the end I went for Goblin Green as a base. Over this I washed old Citadel Green Ink from the Expert Paint Set. Once this had dried, I picked out the details of the skin using the base colour once again. Into this base I mixed Sunburst Yellow and a little yellow ink, building up the highlights until I added a little white for the final highlight. This gave the skin a greeny yellow hue which satisfied me. For the eyes I used Blood Red and the lip Liche Purple. Over both I washed diluted Purple Ink to give the face some sinister depth. The eyes were tidied up with Blood Red once more before I painted a dot of orange as a pupil. The lip received a highlight of white and purple... And it was done. All I had to do was paint the clothing and weapon and I was done!

Now, I got a huge amount of inspiration from the bases discussion and hope to start another one about painting orcs and goblins, so I am going to ask you to contribute your recipes for painting green skins below. Additionally, if you are one of those LURKERS who keep themselves to the shadows and you have some nicely painted old school Goblinoids that no-one gets to see then email me at realmofchaos80s@yahoo.co.uk or provide us with a link below.

So then... Orcs and gobbos... how do you paint them?

Orlygg.

Acceptable in the '80s: White Dwarf 94 Miniature Releases Retro Review and Plague Cart Rules

I really enjoyed the retro review I did regarding the work of Bob Olley and I discovered that there are plenty of Olley fans out there but some agreement that some of his work is a little, what's the word, passable. So I have decided to continue. We are sticking with the same issue as before, White Dwarf 94, and I have reproduced for you all the releases of that month. 

Talisman Dungeon 

First off, a double set; Talisman Dungeon and Mercenaries. Let's start with the models released as part of the Talisman range. I have recently (by which I mean this week) seen a fairly complete set of these models going for about £100 so they are clearly still a popular series of sculpts. Now, those of you who don't know, Talisman was (and still is) a board game in which the players taken of a character type in a quest to gain possession of the Crown of Command. Though the game can be played without metal miniatures, such was Citadel's nature in the 1980s, a set of models was released for the game and the many subsequent expansions. I came late to the party, purchasing the third edition of the game when it was released in 2008, and played many games of it with my wife and it remains to this day the only GW game that she will play. 

The miniatures in the range are varied and well sculpted, I own only one of this series, the red robed inquisitor in the centre of the page, and are full of character. They would make fantastic character models for third edition games as well as interesting painting challenges in their own right. My favourite model? Most definitely the Sprite. I love the tones of green and flesh on this piece and it is certainly a scheme I would like to copy some time in the future. 

Mercenaries

The second set are entitled Mercenaries and are again nice a varied. With fourteen models in this set they would make a very characterful unit for third edition. I have a particular fondness for NOB who seems to be positively waddling forwards ready to engage his next opponent. Sadly, I have never seen any of these on eBay nor do I own any of them. I suspect many of these sculpts were added to the later FIGHTERS range but I have no evidence of this at present. There is little fantasy on show here, which suggests the hands of the prolific sculpting force known as the brother's Perry. The obvious nod to medieval dress would have made these models useful for historical forces as well as fantasy ones. 

Nick Bibby's Giants

Ahh! Nick Bibby's giants! I am a big fan of Nine Fingers and have said so publically before. I think that the model has a wonderful dynamism and its body is perfectly positioned. I cannot say the same for the other sculpts in this range. Wither Wattle, who bears a strong resemblance to a young Bob Naismith, is okay and obviously shares much in common with the Nine Fingers sculpt in terms of positioning but I just cannot stand the model of Bottle Snottle! Its the really, really crap hand, massively out of proportion to the rest of his body, that puts me right off. He looks like he has spent a long, long time in prison with a giant stack of 'magazines of gentleman's interest' and little else to pass his time. The fact that his weapon, a rather fetching stone headed club,  seems rather incongruous to the rest of the model cements the fact that this model is always going to be passed over in my collection.

Plague Cart and its rules

The Plague Cart on the other hand is an absolute must for my Undead army. I have slapped a bid down on this beauty more than once only to be pipped at the post. The wheels may be familiar to keen eyed enthusiasts, for they are the very same ones that appear on the skeleton chariot that I have been working on recently. The model has some interesting rules too.

The cart can be used in any game. You roll a 2D6 at the start of each turn; on a 2 or a 12 the chart appears on the middle edge of the left or right table edge (an equal chance of either). It then moves in a straight line across the battlefield at 4" per turn, leaving through the middle of the opposite table edge. The insubstantial cart may pass through obstructions and even units of troops. It causes fear in all living creatures with 6", and terror in any living creatures through which it passes. It is immune to non-magical attacks. As it goes, the spirits rise from the slain, following it wailing and moaning.

The Plague Cart may be summoned by a level 3 Necromantic spell, summon plague cart (cost 12mps) passing across the battlefield. It gains the following powers when it encounters an undead army.

1) Undead creatures with 12" are immune to instability.
2) Any living humanoid slain with 12" rises as a zombie behind the cart with hand weapon and appropriate rules. Each model is marked (perhaps with plasticine) and is under the control of the undead player.

Plague Cart

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	3	0	4	4	5	3	0	-	-	-	-

Spectral Driver

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	4	0	0	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5

Special Rules: As a normal spectre, the creature is armed with a scythe.

Command Groups

These command groups are ideal for pairing with the rank and file troops of the plastic Warhammer Regiments, a relationship that I have always felt was a deliberate one on the hands of Citadel. I love all the sculpts in this range and own one of two of them. I have the goblin shamen, the elf standard bearer, the skaven champion and elf the musician. I would certainly be interested in obtaining the rest of these models, especially the goblin leader which I feel to be one of the finest gobliniod models Citadel has ever produced. The dark elves are suitably militarilistic and the skaven leader is an absolute classic sculpt of Jes Goodwin that was, until relatively recently, still available to buy from GW.

The paint schemes or these models is also highly inspirational for me. The distinct blue and purple of the dark elves, the bright greens and golden yellows of the elves, the dirty, heavily shaded browns of the skaven and the sickly greens of the goblins are THE colours I like to use in my paint pallete. This is because this page of White Dwarf is one of the best examples of the colour scheme and painting style of three of the most important third edition armies.

The Gob-Lobber and the Gob-Lobber Appeal

Classic '80s Warhammer through and through! The second of the Perry engineered sculpts on today's post. The addition of some gruesome goblin heads turns this from being just another catapult into a wonderfully zany weapon that just begs to be fielded in all dwarf armies. Some of the crew members were recycled for use in other later dwarf war machines, though others were only available with this set - such as the dwarf cook with a pig on a spit (sadly not pictured here) and the pipe smoking commander.

I am lucky enough to have won this particular war machine recently. If I remember correctly for the rather cheap sum of £7. Sadly, I didn't win the crew that went with the machine but they tend to crop up quite often so its only a matter of time until I have my hands on them too. However, I am missing the wheels! I was wondering if any Oldhammerers out there could do me the kindness of lending me a wheel from this model so I can take a cast of it and create some greenstuff copies. If you could, please contact me and I'll be eternally grateful!

Orlygg

Acceptable in the '80s: Iron Claw Miniatures, Yay or Nay?

I am sure that you recognise these beastmen. The classic metal Realm of Chaos releases from the late '80s that, in my opinion anyway, have never been bettered. These models really do typify what I imagine a beastmen to look like; not just a mere goat head humanoid but a hideous, mutated mix of different animal bits. I also like the fact that the range, released over several years and incorporating earlier models, really do reflect the Chaos God they are supposed to follow while others are appropriate for all and any. 

Now the reason I am talking about these beastmen can be clearly seen on the first row. The nurglesque beastmen with a distinct style. I own a few of the them and have even painted some of them up for my Nurgle Warband. It wasn't until fairly recently that I realised that the sculptor of these models was Bob Olley and that he had a range all of his own 'back in the day'. They were called 'Iron Claw' and like 'Marauder' were produced by Citadel and sold through Games Workshop. 

His sculpting has a distinct style that is hard (for me anyway) to put into words. Gnarled, fungoid and swarthy are words that spring to mind but they don't quite do his work justice. I find that the models don't paint easily. Lots of creases and folds to challenge the painter. Its like each of his miniatures has a strange, uneven texture that, though lifelike, is hard to paint. But that's just me. To understand the range further let me quote Solegends directly;

"Iron Claw were a range of miniatures designed by Bob Olley. First announced in White Dwarf 91, the first releases were the IC201 Skeleton Guard in White Dwarf 93. They were manufactured and distributed by Citadel and appeared during 1987-8. When Bob and Citadel parted company many of these pieces were assimilated into the main Citadel lists. The Goblins and Black Orcs, for instance, formed the bulk of those pictured in the 1990 Fantasy catalog."

I have collected below a range of scans from various sources of some of the miniatures he produced during his time at Citadel. I must confess, I don't actually own a single one of these models and my opinion on them is mixed. Some of his work I find really impressive while other stuff doesn't raise the passion to collect or even paint them. 

Let's begin with these Dwarfs. Or should I say Gothic Dwarfs. I am not quite sure what a Gothic Dwarf may be but these models are certainly original. The first thing that strikes me about them are the helmets. Quite unique are they not; wings, horns and turbans that are rather distinctive. There is a strong nordic sense about many of these sculpts as well as a Russian feel, especially the last model (bottom right) though the miniature on the opposite left looks positively arabian. Looking at them, they make me think of a Victorian performance of 'Ride of the Valkyries' performed by midgets. Perhaps that is what they mean by Gothic?

I certainly would be interested in collecting this little set. There's 13 in the series (including two standards) so a little 12 piece unit would be possible. The piggy back pair would make a fantastic unit champion or leader and you could invent some suitably amusing rules for them. One thing I don't like about the set are the shields. I really dislike moulded on shields. They look too thick for my taste and tend to lack a flat, paintable surface to do skull or ugly face designs on.

As for painting quality of the models on show I'd say they had been handled nicely. Lots of bright, 80s blues and oranges but lots of depth too, most likely created through subtle use of inks. I'm going to steal the brown and yellow cheque design from the Kislevite looking chap on the bottom right for a future model.

The skeleton guard. As the quote from Solegends tells us, these were the first Iron Claw releases. Again, the miniatures have that gnarled, swarthy look (as gnarly and swarthy as a skeleton can be I suppose) that is typical of the Iron Claw range. However, I feel these skeletons to be rather more 'daemonic' looking than the standard Citadel sculpts. There is a fair about of dark comedy about some of the early Citadel skellies, as those of you will know if you own the lovely skelly who is holding up his own skull, and the later plastic and metal examples are rather, souless, but that, perhaps, was the point. These sculpts look really evil. Strange helmets also prevail here. More wings and horns that are distinctly Olley.

I am not too keen on this set, so I'd probably pass. I much prefer the standard Citadel metals and will always favour the good old plastic Skeleton Horde figure or the Nightmare Legion for my choice of skeletal troops. I probably take a couple of the Grim Reapers and definitely the standard bearer, but that's it.

The painting quality is okay here. But there are too many bright reds for my taste. I prefer my undead to clothed in drab browns, blacks and greys. The bone is certainly interesting but there are so many ways to paint them. The evil crimson eyes are a nice touch too, certainly worth emulating.

I really don't like this set. Why? The feel like they have been knocked up really quickly. But that may just be the image so I'd have to have a closer look to make a final decision. I must say though, the mounts look more interesting and varied than the Citadel ones, so I'll have to reserve judgement there. Apart from a few of the Grim Reapers, these models have a bit of a mongol vibe going on. Certainly original in style then!

This is my favourite of the releases discussed in this post. I love the swarthy feel to Olley's goblins. They look suitably menacing too, though they still have that darkly comical feel. This is a kit I'd certainly like to see in my Orc and Goblin force, even though it looks like its been largely put together from pieces of the Goblobber and the Man Mangler. The totem on the front, though only painted silver in this example, would look fantastic worked up in a nice goblinoid green and the small shields are just begging for some 'orrible John Blanche style faces to be painted on them, don't you think?

So then. Do you have any Iron Claw miniatures in your collection? Are you a fan of Olley's work? I must confess to having absolutely NONE of these models in my collection - they are not high on my want list, but some of them certainly would be snapped up if I saw an example at the right price.

Orlygg

Wolf Riders Completed!

I've finished the unit and here they all are based and ready. I have another five riders to work on later; these will be armed with bows but I'm ready to move on to something a little different. As you may know, I am currently working on two 3rd edition armies; Goblionoids and the Undead. With two units now completed for the greenskins its time to return to my beloved skeletons- but what shall I paint next? 

Anyway, here are a few snaps showing the wulfboyz in all their glory.

Wulfboyz on the charge! 

 From the rear!

 This is the last wolf rider that I had to finish. He is hefting a rather large spear there isn't he!

 A shot from the other side.

And a final rear shot!

Right, I'm off to raid the lead pile!

Orlygg.