Harry the Hammer & Friends (Part 1 - John Blanche)

I'm lucky enough to live within striking distance of Wargames Foundry, and was very pleased to visit the Harry the Hammer & Friends exhibition on it's opening day.

The exhibition runs to 12th December 2021 and comprises art from the private collection of Bryan and Diane Ansell. The exhibition features some iconic pieces from the early days of Citadel and Games Workshop by artists including John Blanche, Ian Miller and Wayne England. 

Harry the Hammer & Friends (Part 2 - Ian Miller & Others)

Part 2 of the pictures I took at the Harry the Hammer & Friends exhibition at Wargames Foundry. This time Ian Miller and other artists.

Thrust and Parry - the Sword Master

After finishing off my arrogant lordlings from the other week, I was left with a third figure from the Vespero's Vendetta set. I didn't want three long-haired duellists, so I picked up a few bits to see what else I could do with him.

Happily I'd been gifted some 3D printed shields (thanks Mike!) from someone else's somewhat more extensive Citadel Guard project. It was a simple job to grab another head and add the shield to give me a much less flamboyant (and possibly more effective) swordsman!

Arrogant Lordlings - Citadel Guard Duellists

Part of the fun I've been having with my Mordheim / Frostgrave warband is selecting models for a particular role. Whilst it would be easy to have a rag-tag group of models with no visual coherence, I'm trying to add to the warband with models that fit visually and thematically. Cloaks are one of the dominant features on the Lone Wolf Citadel Guard, so I'm trying where possible, to ensure that my models are wearing cloaks. As a secondary criterion, I'm aiming to primarily use sculpts by one of the Perry twins.

In Mordheim, shields are a sub-standard option. Ideally you want your swordsmen to be armed with a sword and dagger as a minimum (or sword/axe or sword/mace). In Frostgrave, the Treasure Hunter soldier is equipped with a sword and dagger. There aren't that many cloak-wearing two hand weapon wielding Perry sculpts around, but I recalled the mid-1990s regiment of renown Vespero's Vendetta. A couple of those guys would be perfect!

Recruiting for the Citadel Guard - More Mordheim Additions

In my first post about my Lone Wolf Citadel Guard Mordheim / Frostgrave / generic fantasy skirmish project, I covered the first five models of the warband. I was hoping to round the warband out to a solid ten-strong, but have instead just completed another three models. Don't worry though, I have plans for at least another eleven models, including wizards, rangers, swordsmen, something smaller and something bigger!

This time round I've painted up a further trio of Guardsmen - a second champion, another halberdier and a swordsman:

The Citadel Guard - A New Mordheim Expedition

I'm not entirely sure when it was that I started getting interested in Citadel Lone Wolf range. I'm not by inclination a fan of pre-slotta miniatures, or a long-time devotee of the Lone Wolf books. But at some point, I looked at Citadel's 1984 Lone Wolf miniatures, and thought they looked cool.

Image from Stuff of Legends.

As these things go, I acquired a couple of the Citadel Guard. Then, perhaps a few months later, a Guard Captain. At some point last year I picked up the Bandit. And then I started formulating the idea of a little warband of the Citadel Guard. I could do a few head swaps perhaps. I could add the Bandit with some other crossbowmen. I could commission John Pickford to sculpt me some heads and shields.

A Duo of Marauder Citizens (#makeatrish)

Over the last couple of months, ex-Marauder and Citadel sculptor Trish Carden (previously Trish Morrison) has been sharing a host of memories and pictures of many of her sculpts on Facebook. This has revealed that Trish has been responsible for many more classic figures than many people believed. As a celebration of Trish's output, the Oldhammer Facebook group has run a painting challenge titled #makeatrish. Below is my entry.

BOYL 2017 (Part 2) - Saturday Gaming

Very possibly you'll already seen some of the excellent BOYL 2017 coverage elsewhere on the net (try Crucium Giger or Dear Tony Blair or Shadowkings), but it only seems right and proper that I give an overview of my weekend. After a Friday of fun at Warhammer World, I arrived with Erasmus Papafakis ready for gaming.

 

Olivia

First order of the day was to see how Olivia had cast. Who's Olivia? Olivia is the commemorative event figure, sculpted by John Pickford for the event, and cast by Foundry. I took on the task of organising the sculpting and liaising with John.

An Interview With...Illustrator Des Hanley

If you've been involved in the Games Workshop hobby for any length of time, you can't fail to be impressed from the lush and plentiful illustrations littered across their publications. From the early days in the 1980s, through to the present time, GW has literally published thousands of wonderful pieces of artwork in rulebooks, sourcebooks and novels. Each piece adds to the atmosphere of GW's fantasy worlds, and many are instantly unforgettable.

40k Chaos 'Abaddon & Cypher' (Des Hanley)

Des Hanley is one of the illustrators who responsible for some of this output. Working as an illustrator for GW from Oct 95 to Feb 1999, he worked on a wide range of projects, including Warhammer army books, Warhammer 40,000 codicies and the Battle Fleet Gothic game. Des has been kind enough to subject himself to being interviewed on his career in illustration and time working for GW.

My Top 10 Minis Of All Time

Last week over at the Oldhammer Facebook group, Juck Vaughan posed this very succinct question:

"What are your top ten pieces of all time?"

The question generated quite a bit of interest, with plenty of suggestions. I myself waded in with a list of 10 miniatures of my personal favourites. Think about the implications of the question though - is it really possible to select just 10 figures? Imagine that you are being forced by your wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, partner or significant other to sell your entire collection of figures. You have been granted a small concession and can keep, trade or buy just 10 figures which are representative of your time in the hobby.

Three Cultists or Other Peoples' Painted Models

I know there's a wide range of opinion regarding painted models. Some people purely want to game in the most efficient way possible, so basic painting or even commission painting is the way forward. Personally, I want to look at models in my collection that are mine; I built them, I painted them, I play with them. Every so often though, I come across a model that just begs me to buy it. Last year, it was a small selection of figures painted by John Blanche; the other week it was some figures by Andy Ritson offered for sale on the Oldhammer forums.

I can't claim to know that much about Andy other than what MarkH wrote in the trade thread:

Back in the day (the early to mid 80s) visitors to GW Sheffield would have seen some rather nice models painted by a chap named Andy Ritson. Andy used tube acrylics and was back then on the cutting edge of the art. Those of you who have seen the 'Mad Max' display game in recent years and in the 80s will have seen the talent of this gentleman.

Sadly, I have no idea which Mad Max display game MarkH is referring to, and I've never been to GW Sheffield, early to mid 80s or otherwise. That said, I was immediately taken by these three lovely figures:

Discover New Blogs...

Earlier in the week JB over at the fantastic Leadplague nominated me for a Liebster award; a blogging version of shared love if you like!

As a nominee, the award encourages bloggers to share information about themselves, and to nominate other blogs they feel their readers should check out. If you haven't already checked out Leadplague, make sure you do!

The Liebster Challenge
The challenge is to do the following:
- Share 11 truths about myself
- Answer the 11 questions posed by JB
- Tag 11 new bloggers

Lets get cracking shall we?!

The Art of Graphology, Part 2 (or 'another day, another exciting package')

I'm still not sure what I think about signed GW items. I figure that anything 'modern' is unlikely to be of much interest, give the prevalence of signing tables at open days and conventions, as well as Games Days. That said, I do like keeping an eye out for older items. Last month I picked up a signed copy of Warhammer Armies, and earlier today another couple of GW publications dropped through the letterbox, having been scrawled on by GW staff.

For the princely sum of £14 including postage, I bought a copy of the 1994 (2nd edition) Eldar codex, and the 1998 (3rd edition) Dark Eldar codex.

Codex Eldar, 1994

Codex Dark Eldar, 1998

Original Art - Part 4: The Tony Ackland Acquisition

I always like it when big special delivery boxes arrive at my door!

 

But what's inside?

One or two of you might have seen seven pieces of original GW artwork on ebay last week. Not too many of you though, as after nearly a week of being up for sale, only one had a bid. All seven pieces appeared to be by Tony Ackland, as one auction showed Tony's name on the protective cover, and all the others had reference codes e.g. 'TAxxxx'

I was quite keen on picking up one or two of the pieces, and decided to contact the seller to see if he would sell direct (I know, not entirely the most ethical way of ebay buying). Not only was the seller happy to do this, but it turned out he had 23 Tony Ackland originals he also wanted to sell. After a little bit of negotiation, I purchased all 23, and here are the contents of the box:

23 pieces of GW history