The Glass Cabinet

For my birthday a few months ago, I was kindly given a glass cabinet by my wife, in another new display of her accepting my hobby and giving it some space to be shown in the house. This is quite a momentous occasion for me too, having not really publicly shown my hobby off before. It is in the downstairs bathroom though..

So here it is now mounted on the wall and starting to be filled with some of my smaller projects:

Blood bowl Orcs and a couple of Fighting Fantasy tributes:

Gaslands at the top, Buried Giant tribute and a human warband

More Fighting Fantasy tributes along the top (characters from the novels and choose your own adventure series) and of course the Freeway Fighter. Wood Elf blood bowl team beneath:

A barbarian warband based on Frank Frazetta's art and some (unfinished) Star Wars miniatures. 

Some 40k Rogue Trader along the top:

Classic Chaos Beastmen (150pts).

This blog was originally set up, some years ago, to chart my progress in creating a Nurgle army from the classic Lost and the Damned tome. Along the way I have been easily, inevitably and enjoyably sidetracked by a plethora of new ideas, miniatures, games systems and competitions, but for now I've decided to come back to the project and try and complete it! Ive finished my Warhammer 3rd Edition Chaos Allies Contingent, which have the same basing, so I looked back at my many incomplete Lost and the Damned units and decided to tackle the unit which needed the least amount of work.

I had painted half of these classic Chaos Beastmen some time ago, and I remembered collecting them so that they were a disparate, ragtag bunch (certainly not just goats), of different shapes, sizes and races and of course choosing some of my favourite sculpts from this era along the way.

Here’s the now completed unit:

I've painted their skin with a variety of tones, trying to unify them slighlty by keeping the colours slightly drab and pastel like, and as always allowing the basing to tie them together further. 

The banner is painted from an image in Fighting Fantasy's Army of Death and is held by a Beastman that was regularly headswapped in Dale Hurst's iconic Tzeentch warband from White Dwarf 135, something I had always wanted to do since I first saw the article in 1991 and here I've done so with a new, plastic plaguebearer head added to the Citadel lead body. 

Here’s the original illustration  by Nick Williams, as found in Fighting Fantasy: Armies of Death:

The last part was to construct a movement tray, which is really more of a display tray to hold the unit together. More on how I do this in a future post.

So then that’s 14 Beastmen, with standard, making a total of 150pts.

Value and desire: hobby purchases

With a fair few parcels arriving most days in the build up to Christmas, I can happily sneakily buy a few hobby purchases that arrive amongst the boxed gifts without much chance of the wife catching me! Aside from a few Contrast Paints I haven't bought anything at all over the past few months, but over the last week I have treated myself to two models from my Most Wanted List and, two pieces of 3D printed scenery and one laser cut one:

There was a fairly heated debate on the Oldhammer Trading Facebook page where someone had (I am led to believe) bought a job lot from another collector for a very reasonable price and then re-listed some of the unwanted models on the same page for a much higher price. He claims that he buys so many models that he could not remember the initial purchase price and lots of other people chimed in saying that he was wrong to increase their sale price.

Now these are vintage, lead Citadel models and the latter group of fellows were upset that he was using a Facebook page to inflate the price of the miniatures (he was called a "scalper" I believe) on a page where the proposed aim is to ensure that collectors get the old school miniatures they want for a reasonable (non-Ebay price). That's the context and I can certainly see both sides of the argument. But for me it is an interesting discussion on inherent value, demand and ownership.

For example. I have desperately wanted to own an iconic, Citadel Thrud model for many, many years. I have missed out on several Ebay auctions, trading pages notices etc, either due to being out-bid or sniped for the former or simply late in seeing the sales post for the latter. An upcoming painting competition which focuses on the sculpts of Bob Naismith made me really, really want to get his Thrud miniature even more, so I broke with my own philosophy and did a BIN on Ebay for £20. I quantify it by thinking what else I would easily spend £20 on? Well, the 5 Contrast paints I bought for a start. And the few pints I had on Friday night, or the quick stop at the Co-Op to buy some provisions for the kids packed lunches. So in context, £20 for something I really want and will spend a good amount of time on in the future, seems about a good price (even though I know I could probably get it cheaper if I persevered).

The second item is a model I've desired for almost as long, simply because of the dynamism of the sculpt; it's an old Citadel Fighter model named Cedric. Again the Naismith competition made me seek out a copy of it with greater fervour and I actually placed a request/advert for it on the afore-mentioned Oldhammer Trading page. Lots of likes and comments later (incidentally about how there is a 40k version with a bolt pistol, how someone once owned one and how someone else create a diorama with this one and the 40k version) and eventually someone came forward and said they had one spare. And here comes the question of value. It was quite clear that there was a demand for it, but the seller asked how much I would pay for it. What is it's value? Clearly I was keen to buy it, so should it be the same value as the Thrud? Well there's less lead so there must be less value! Don't be silly. Is it scarcer than Thrud? (there were a lot of Thruds on Ebay but none of Cedric), perhaps that's just a temporary scarcity, but they are both 30 years old? So I completed an advanced search on Ebay (where else to go?) of previously sold versions of the model and showed the seller the price ranges for which they had sold - which happened to be between £4 and £8. But this seemed too cheap compared to my Thrud purchase. So I completed my correspondence to the seller with the line: "but this is your model, so please price it as you see fit". He graciously offered it to me for £7.50 including postage. Thank you so much!

So I have both models, which in itself is great and actually when you think about it, some achievement. This all happened within a week of the concept of the idea ("I really want to buy Thrud and Cedric to make a diorama") to "can I find them and buy them for a price I can afford"? Now you may think that these prices are higher than your value of the miniatures but I really wanted them. And get them I did, two miniatures that are made of lead (intrinsically low value) and sculpted about 30 years ago. Amazing that they are still amongst us and that easy to get hold of - within a week! What would Bob Naismith think about the fact that his old Citadel sculpts are still of interest and hold a value that is much higher than the cost of their material. His hand as a skillful sculptor (and the association with GW) has clearly added value in this case.

The third, fourth and fifth pieces I've obtained in the Christmas post are two 3D sculpted scenery models, also purchased on Ebay for £8 combined and a laser cut house. They have been on my watch-list for some time, because I couldn't decide whether to scratch-build them or buy them. I love creating my own scenery and know that I could have done a good job and had fun in the process, but the other side of it is that it just takes so much time to build and paint, that I may never get it done behind the growing list of other projects I have. So in this case I decided that my time was more valuable and my desire stronger to own the scenery than make it.

But of course the value of a miniature does not just start at the desire of the buyer and end at the point of purchase. I hope to add some intrinsic value to the pieces of sculpted lead by painting them to the best of my ability and to set them both in a little diorama with some of my model-making skills. Does time+skill= extra value? I don't really care too much, but for me a painted mini on display or being gamed with is so much more valuable than an unpainted one lying bare in a collectors box. In fact going back to the original argument on Facebook, this was my written opinion:

"Surely the owner of the miniature can determine the model's value. It's monetary one, it's aesthetic one (to me being painted > not painted) and it's functional value (to me gaming/display > dormant, unused in a box)."

Jesus, that's slightly embarrassingly written, but then I always think that when I reflect upon what I write (which is quite often why I don't proofread, as sometimes, on relfection, I overthink and would actually prefer to delete the whole piece).
Anyway, I am also sympathetic that the Oldhammer Trading Page was set up to ensure people could be re-united with the models of their youth at an affordable cost, the setting of the price of a miniature has to be determined by the owner of the miniature. If there's no demand for it at the price set, then they can adjust it.

The (now deleted) thread on Facebook piqued my interest and tied in with the two models I have bought this week, hence the monologue of this blog post. Of course all of this philosophising means fuck all if my wife ever works out just how much I've actually spent on my models over the years, (although she is sympathetic to their importance to my down time, she simply cannot understand why I don't sell them off after I've painted them); I'd worry that the value of our relationship might be tested and imagine the ultimate ultimatum: "it's them or me!" Yikes.

So anyway, what's your most wanted miniature?

Chaos Dwarf Renegades

This is one of my favourite pieces of box art from Games Workshop back in the 80's, by John Blanche of course. The triangular composition gives a imposing height to the Chaos Stunties (what is the Master of Madness standing on at the top?) and the contrasting black armour with warm oranges gives an apocalyptic feel to the image. It feels a bit like a last stand for the Renegades, weapons drawn, back to back facing in different directions as they bid to make their stand against an advancing foe on the battlefield.

I've often wondered about their background and my initial knowledge was scant; I remember that the Old Dwarfs tunnelled deep and further North, until some went too far and were cut off from their brethren. The incursions of Chaos came and those isolated, North Eastern most Dwarfs became tainted by the touch of Chaos. So I've tried to do a bit of research about the Renegades in particular. Are they Renegades because they have turned to Chaos or are they renegades within the Chaos Dwarf community? White Dwarf 79 shows their release which hints at how Dwarfs have previously been seen as incorruptible:

And White Dwarf 80 gives us this more detailed information:

On Norse Dwarfs:

"The power of the Chaos Gods had touched and polluted the minds of the Dwarfs and they had turned to the worship of those foul, unfathomable deities. The other Dwarfs shunned them, but the gods were kind, gifting their more dedicated warriors with untold power, honouring them with the mark of chaos. Today the Chaos Dwarfs honour the gods in turn, shedding blood, pursuing slaughter for it's own sake, spilling libations of blood and burning their captives so that the gods may taste the stuff of life. In the Old World they hire out as mercenaries or join with bands of wandering chaotics, Warriors of Chaos or Beastmen.

Chaos Dwarfs are less swarthy than ordinary Dwarfs, their skin is pallid, greenish or even dead white. Their hair is normally black or very dark. Armour and clothing is black and they dress and behave in a manner similar to other Warriors of Chaos"

The last segment is most precious for me, I enjoy reading, as a painter, about how these characters/miniatures may appear, so when I come to paint I'll have some concept of how Chaos Dwarfs were imagined by the design team. Of course, this is not the be all or end all and I usually go my own way when painting, but I do like the description of "pallid and dead white skin, black armour" (which of course this ties in with the box art again) and inspires me to paint my own collection in this style.

 Finally on the back of the boxed set it says about the Renegades:

The box art illustration of course shows each of the eight Chaos Dwarfs that come in the boxed set and upon further investigation I remembered that each of them was named; Master of Madness, Khazek Doomlord, Foaming Mad Furrikson, Doomaxe the Dreaded, Mad Marik Trollbiter, Drum and Drome Ollsen, Napper Grundrin and Pulper Spikehead. This old habit of naming little miniatures gives them a little bit of extra character as I can imagine how some of them have acquired such titles and of course ties in with some of the Chaos attributes they have been given and sculpted with.

I never owned the boxed set as a kid, even though I always wanted to, but as an adult I have now collected the eight models and have started to paint them with my research in mind. Here are the eight Renegades (note the variation of metal colour - the three brighter ones are obviously much later in release, the duller ones much more likely to be from the 80's castings):

I considered recreating the box art by having the Master of Madness on a palanquin, or even raised on a stony outcrop with his guards less raised either side of him to create the triangular composition, but decided against this is in the end as I wanted to create a unit of them. I couldn't just field 8 Chaos Dwarfs, and because I love the models so much, I ended up collecting a few more to create a unit of 20. The Chaos Ogre was left over from a previous project and seems to fit in quite well with the short ones.

Here you can see how I've started to sculpt some Chaotic shields, using some of the illustrations from the Realms of Chaos books as inspiration. The standard bearer may well carry a banner that pays homage to the original box art by John Blanche..

Painting is underway, you can see some wip in the background of the above shot. Until next time...

Very Lost and very Damned

Having just completed a major project in my Retinue Table Challenge, I now feel a bit lost as to where to begin with my next, even larger hobby project. At the same time I feel somewhat damned by a whole load of projects that I have already started...

So, focusing on just my Fantasy projects (the sci-fi/40k stuff is much smaller in scope and can be worked on in-between the bigger concepts), I decided to get out all my models that are ready for painting to see where I want to go next. It's a bit overwhelming...

My Lost and Damned Army and all it's Allies:

Some close-ups:

And to break it down into more manageable targets, this next set of photos is just purely the Lost and the Damned Nurgle Army:

And this next set is a Chaos Allied force from Warhammer Armies (seeing as how the Lost and the Damned Army list does not allow for Minotaurs, Chaos Dwarves or Centaurs):

Whilst it was fun to get all my models out and put them together to see them ranked up, it does present me with a real challenge in terms of getting them all painted during my life-time. You'll notice a fair few gaps within units and this is generally where incomplete conversions will sit. There's also some much larger models to add - a Giant,  a dragon and a GUO. 

I'd better get cracking...

The Lost and the Damned Retinue Table Challenge

After a few years of collecting, converting and painting, I've completed the original goal of this blog - to create an entry for each of the possibilities of the Lost and the Damned retinue table. One of the great outcomes of this project was that I could choose some of my favourite models to paint in relatively small batches and combine this with my love of converting if their were not any models that captured my imagination. Thankfully Citadel kindly provided a whole raft of characterful models in the 80's so these were my go-to choices.

To celebrate this feat, I've eventually gotten all of the models out that I painted for the challenge (whilst the family were out) and photographed them all together (some task - as was writing this post) and then taken a photo for each of the individual groups too. So here we go:

All 19 possibilities for creating a retinue for my Chaos Warbands

There's minotaurs, orcs, a chaos sorcerer, mercenaries.

A Shaggoth, Nurgle Beastmen, brigands, harpies, a troll and some (generic) Beastmen.

Some Elves, Chaos Warriors, Goblins.

Centaurs, Chaos Dwarves, Skaven and Human Runaways.

Ogres and Cultists.

The retinue options all posed together like this almost create an army, which of course is one of the next steps in my quest. But I do like the chaotic, rabble-like and disparate factions here and the fact that they aren't ranked up units as such, more a collection of individuals who have banded up with other racial and like-minded peers and formed an uneasy alliance together.

In case you are unfamiliar with the Retinue Table (quite obviously my favourite aspect of the whole Realm of Chaos project), here is the table from which you can roll up your Chaos Champions followers:

And here's each of my interpretations of the text:

1. 2D4 Human Mercenaries and Captain.

I had to go for the classic Citadel fighters - although these are the Foundry version, I love their rag-tag appearance and the model for the captain was an obvious choice, with his imposing broadsword and authoritive pose. This posse have a future role in my project work, a larger mercenary group named Rasham/s Forgotten Bandits (The Blotted). Expect to see additional models and the start of a baggage train..

2. 2D6 Human Runaways.

From the same stock as above, but choosing the less well armed models for this group. Painted in the same colour scheme as above so that they can eventually join the Blotted, I like the idea of how these thugs have deserted a larger group (perhaps a unit of an army), cobbled together some possessions and weapons and made their way through the lands as minor bandits. They probably all hate each other and are desperate to be a part of a larger movement. Easy pickings for a Chaos Champion to recruit them.

3. D4 Minotaurs.

Proper Chaos now. These beasts are all from Citadel's Minotaur Lord range and have all had a range of conversions and adaptions made to make them slightly unique. These add to the chaos attributes they are likely to have and are deliberately painted to have a variation of bright and pale skin tones.

4. Dragon Ogre Shaggoth

There was a lot of converting and re-sculpting on this beast. Based on a more modern GW model, I Nurglified him with a Plaguebeareresque head (horn and one eye), re-sculpted a rotten old belly, gave him a rusty flail and of course added a carrion crow companion. This model was heavily influenced by the converted Dragon Ogre as found in the Lost and the Damned book.

5. Troll

Such a cool Citadel troll, he didn't need any converting but did deserve to be raised a little higher to make him more imposing and add a bit of swamp around him. I can't imagine his aim will be impressive with that rock, but certainly enough to squash anyone who comes to close. His stupidity is somewhat tempered by his little Nurgling advisor.

6. Chaos Sorcerer.

A whole range of  models that I could have chosen for this entry, but went with the most obviously Nurgle in appearance, complete with brand Nurgle logo on his forehead. I can easily imagine him pledging allegiance to a Champion of Nurgle and bringing his own stench and range of sorcery to the proceedings.

7. D6 Orcs:

Orcs were my original collection as a young teenager and I re-visited some of my favourite models to warband together. I knew these would eventually be part of an allied force so I went with a command and a couple of lackeys for now.

8. D6 Bandits.

I decided to use Chaos Thugs for the Bandits as I already had the models and didn't want to have too many humans as per the first two entries. Two of these have been converted - the leader was an orc and given an ogres's head and the ogre given a more grisly horses head totem for the banner. I like having added height in a rabble like group so I think the ogre model fits in (and adds muscle to the group of bandits). I imagine these bandits to be pretty successful at their trade.

9. D4 Harpies.

A deviation from the collection of classic Citadel miniatures here. After much thought I realised that I just did not like the classic Harpy models and also struggled to find any modern ones that worked for my aesthetic. So it was to the conversions I turned - Lord of the Rings goblins with a variety of wings from Reaper bones and randoms from my bitz box. I also wanted to try and create some height for a flying unit, so perched three of them on rock formations.

10. D4 Ogres.

The ultimate mercenaries, Ogres are a mainstay of a chaos retinue. And of course I knew exactly which models I would choose for this. These classic Jes Goodwin sculpts were a dream to paint and they just ooze character. The gaudy nature of their clothing was to represent their obvious skills as money-earners, but perhaps not the best taste in attire.

11. D4 Centaurs

Again I found the classic Citadel centaur models a bit weedy and bland, so I went and converted some chunky Nurgle versions. I had to cut up a fair few good models - a plaguebearer from the palanquin set, a warrior, beastman and Bob Ollet Black Orc to be precise and marry them to some plastic lizardmen of all things. Heresy of lead and plastic combined! Loads of other additions were applied and this group may be one of my favourites - they look pretty dynamic.

12. Culists and Magus.

One of the great things about this project was that it gave me the chance to collect some models that I've longed to paint, without having to paint too many at once (this can easily turn me off). These Red Redemptionists always turned me on and fitted in perfectly with the similarly masked sorcerer. Paint jobs to match and a homage to a Fighting Fantasy illustration on the banner and the job was a good-un. 

13. D6 Goblins

I must have painted about 17 million Goblins in my lifetime, so it was quite refreshing to only have to paint six for this group. Although I think Goblins generally like to band up in bigger numbers, these Marauder Goblins have enough attitude to be short on numbers and have even drafted in a shaman to aide them. The leader is known as Blag.

14. Chaos Thug/Marauder/Warrior.

I like the concept of the path of chaos and how a relatively lowly thug can catch the eye of his patron through his battlefield endeavours and rise in prominence and performance. From thug to marauder to the ultimate fighting machine, a chaos warrior. From left to right: thug, warrior and marauder. The further progression along the path, the better the armour and the more mutated you become. Perfect. 

15. D8 Skaven.

The last group I painted for this challenge, I chose some of my favourite Jes Goodwin Skaven sculpts. Seer, slaves, leaders, bombadier; they're all in there under the leadership of a larger and more modern (and slightly converted) Skaven warlord model which I quite liked. Again a bit of extra bulk and height makes it visually and narratively more interesting.

16. D8 Chaos Dwarves.

The classic Maruader troll slayers were used for the Chaos Dwarves, largely because I wanted a unit of beserkers and also because the models have a lot of character (the Citadel Chaos Dwarves are expensive too). I went for gaudy and pale colours again to tie in with other units and also to create a less uniformed look; the colourful hair creates an impression of chaos anyway.

17. D6 Beastmen

A nice little collection of disparate models, a chaos hound has joined some traditional beastmen models and a Marauder minotaur has been re-purposed as a leader. He needed some zebra stripes too.

18. D6 Dark Elves

This unit again gave me the opportunity to choose some of my favourite elf models and re-purpose a few other models I had lying around. A couple of old Citadel wardancers were my first ever elves to be painted and then I added some more modern witch elves. Great poses all. I then found a Mordheim elf who had the appearance of an assassin and also found a vampire model who was given a couple of new weapons and seems to ft right in with the others.

19. D6 Beastmen of the Patron God (Nurgle obviously)

The final group are a real kitbashing of plastic models. I went to town on the converting of these as part of my BitzBox Challenge and these are all made up of a variety of parts and kits. The paint scheme helps them tie in with the rest of the retinue, but they are by far the lightest group to carry as the only ones without a hint of lead.

Thanks for reading! Oh and I'm intrigued - what's your favourite?