There, I have said it.
It is a fact that has shamed me for some years now. Space marines, eldar, elves, dwarfs, undead, necrons, daemons... but never a greenskin! And this is despite owning a great number of them over the years. In the past, my poor goblinoids were often cast aside, or swapped or stored or just plain forgotten. Well things are about to change because I have finally got my hands on another one of the keystones of 80s gaming.
Citadel's Warhammer Fantasy Regiments!
This box set contained 60 (that is correct, 60!) plastic miniatures. Yes, the sculpts were basic but I have always felt that they had a certain primitive charm. They were simple to put together (had the option of changable heads and weapons), easy to paint but above all they were cheap. All my friends got a box or two and we swapped miniatures to create quite sizeable (to us anyway) armies of quite atrociously painted miniatures. Citadel did command groups (4 mini's; champion, leader, standard bearer and musician) for each of them, so it was quite simple to build up large regiments quickly. Unfortunately, things were a bit one sided- with dwarfs and wood elves on the side of 'good' and dark elves, goblins, orcs and skaven weighing in for 'evil!'
Can you guess what I gave away?
Orcs!
And the goblin archers.
Having received this set in the post I have decided to lay the old shame to rest and slap some paint on a orc. In the interest of nostalgia, I copied the colour scheme off the box and found that I really enjoyed painting the simple, white plastic model.
Here is the result!
So I am going to do a whole regiment of them (well 10!). I have an 80s orc command group in my collection so I intend to paint them up too. In fact, after rummaging through my lead pile I have discovered that I own Ruglud's Orc Archers, 10 wolf riders, 10 plastic goblin archers (from the regiments box set) and two man manglers. Enough for a small 3rd edition army!
However, I need to finish up the Nurgle warband first. I have been working on the remaining thugs (I have abandoned the dreadful model with the chequered shield- its just too crap, even for Nurgle!) and have begun the second minotaur.
Quite a lot on the painting table then you may say? Thank goodness I've got some help!
My two year old son hard at work painting up a Slaaneshi chaos warrior (1985) by the Perrys.
You've got to start them early!
Ahhh...warhammer regiments :) it was "the" first box of minis i bought as a young boy getting into the hobby, great value.
ReplyDeletei still remember my grandmother taking myself & my school pal into the city for the morning. after i took possession of it my friend & i both sat under a display counter in a duty free shop, looking excitedly through its contents as my grandmother perused the rest of the shopped for useless girl stuff :P
also as a side note, i recall GW re-released this box set a decade or so later. They'd halved the mini count, but not the price....cheeky buggers.
Those early plastics are rather rewarding to paint. They're quickly done and with minimal fuss! Nice results, too! Especially like the shield, and that your sprog joined in on the fun. Looking forward to that. Mine is 15 months, so no real interest in minis except for chewing and chucking, which have both been averted so far. =)
ReplyDeleteYou know I don't think I have ever painted a greenskin either!!! I am just getting back into painting and war gaming in general so I think I will have to paint one. There was a stack of them that came with my new paint kit. Maybe I will start there :)
ReplyDeleteCheck out my blog at terrainproject.blogspot.com for a post on it :)
Later on the came in boxes of 5 of each model. That is what I bought in Canada in the early 90s. I traded away some, but most are still in a box. I painted all the goblins and a single Ork which I used in a Mordheim gang.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/muskiemckay/4981182939/in/set-72157622094863135