A quick update on the behind the scenes work on Antiquis Malleum, Eastern Front Studio's upcoming retro inspired range of fantasy miniatures. The Grandmaster of Chaos himself, Anthony Ackland, has been busy working on the problem of mutated beastmen. Having played close attention to all the suggestions interested parties have made, he is beginning to produce a selection of concepts to illustrate beastman in their myriad forms.
Not just the goatheaded man type.
Here are two of his concepts. Have a look.
As before, feel free to make any comments or suggestions about the images I am sharing with you. Remember though, that these are concepts for miniature sculptors and NOT pieces of illustrative art.
I, for one, am looking forwards to getting my hands on some of these models in the not to distant future (hopefully)!
Orlygg
Looks brilliant. Actually, i really like the short-hafted axe - makes him look really savage
ReplyDeleteI really like the batman. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteThey're evil and beastly, just how they should be. Imagine a warband full of them!
ReplyDeleteThese concept pieces are fantastic they're just the right blend of cool/creepy. Question for you ( and this may be WAAAAAY to early ) do you know if they plan to cast these minis as a single piece or if they will be in different parts so we can mix and match to create our own crazy chaos concoctions?
ReplyDeleteThere are discussions for both at the moment. It really depends on casting I think (though I am not an expert) at the present time. More news as I have it!
DeleteCan't wait to get my hands on these beauties.
ReplyDeleteIf we're looking for honest opinions, I'm thinking there's an element of the emperor's new clothes about all this stuff. It's good to see people having a crack and doing something retro and different, but critical thinking seems to have gone out of the window.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify my position, this is favourite blog on the netz and I love it to bits. But I think the blind support for the new designs is diminishing the worth of Oldhammer.
Apologies. I don't want to come across as negative for the sake of it. That's not my intention.
At the risk of feeding a troll I thought the point of "Oldhammer" was to relive the fun of older rule sets not to collect specific models. Would you not play with someone because their army wasn't painted to you standard?
DeleteAlso, who is to say that these models wouldn't be used for another game system? They would be just at home in a game of A Song of Blades and Heroes or perhaps Hordes of the Things.
Feed the troll? Yeah, nice one mate. So a troll is now someone who simply puts across an opposite view? I simply don't like the concept art and the resulting miniatures, hence my first post. And I can't help but feel that a lot of people are being swept along because of the names involved. It has to be good if Tim Prow is sculpting Tony Ackland's artwork right? Well not necessarily. Well not in my view anyway. I personally wouldn't buy them as I think they're ugly. And I'm quite happy to say that here because it's the best place to talk about it outside of the facebook group or frothers or something.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for you not liking the sculpts, if that's not your cup of tea, fine. But I'm sorry, bringing in the entire group as being misled or jumping on a bandwagon for liking something you don't sounds trollish to me. You also stated that works like this are bringing down the Oldhammer movement as a whole which I also feel is rather harsh.
DeleteI don't want to squash your opinion if you don't like them, that is the point of this post, these are just concept sketches and they want to know what you think. What parts of the sculpts don't you like? Are the dimensions off? What would you do to make them better?
They're just not very good sculpts. They look rushed, poor quality, poor ratios, the lot. There's emulating 'Oldhammer' and then there's stuff that is just pretty fugly. As a for instance, if I was trawling eBay for some old-skool citadel and saw this stuff, I would browse on by. They don't sit too comfortably in a style that resembles citadel or marauder. They are chunky and awkward. The wavy swords are awful. The armour is too busy. The whole lot. If these were old figures I think they'd be viewed as a misguided, unloved range. The fact they are a new run piggy-backing on the Oldhammer vibe means they're getting stacks of coverage and lots of praise when at another time they might well have drawn a different reaction. They could be FAR better..
DeleteAnd yes I am suggesting people are putting misguided praise on the concepts and greens. But that doesn't make me a troll. I'm just giving an opinion in a place I'm able to.
Oldhammer is interesting as it's organic. There are no real strictures. But all that said, I don't like these pieces at all. And I like chaos.
I take back the troll comment and apologize if I offended you. Now that I see where you are coming from I can understand why you commented the way that you did. I was originally taken aback by your 1st statement which, to me, sounded like you just wanted to go against public opinion.
DeleteAs for the aesthetic of the models we obviously have different tastes. I am not an original "Oldhammer" gamer myself, I came into the hobby much later than you obviously did so I don't have the same attachments to the original sculpts. However, I do like the concept art as a whole and if this does come to retail ( as I hope it does ) I would consider purchasing these models first in contrast to hunting and pecking my way through ebay to find a cohesive army.
I am glad that you two managed to solve your dispute amicably. Personal opinion is personal opinion. Ultimately, if you don't like then don't buy. Antiquis Malleum, and the miniatures you have seen here, are not connected to Oldhammer in anyway. Mick Leach has been inspired by the community but the work is stand alone and should not be considered to be endorsed by the 'Oldhammer Community TM' in any way. They are NOT Oldhammer miniatures. Just miniatures that happen to be designed by Anthony Ackland and sculpted by Tim Prow. Two industry veterans whose work is very relevant to this blog. Hence they are included when there is news to share. CP Models got the same treatment by me when they released the Hooked Horror miniature by George Fairlamb because I felt that readers of this blog would be interested in hearing about the project. I felt the same about Antiquis Malleum as I do for several other ranges that I will help promote when the time comes.
DeleteOrlygg, cheers for allowing opinions on your site. It's my first stop when I start browsing. Keep up the good work. And you're right to do whatever you want about whatever you want and support whomever you like. Whilst Malleum isn't Oldhammer itself or even directly endorsed, it does benefit from the association. And Prow/Ackland are legends. Prow's painting was a massive inspiration when I was a teenager. Still is actually. Ackland's art is part of my yoof as well. And I'm glad a place on the web is paying homage to it all.
DeleteVaughn, cheers for understanding. Nice to have got it off my chest. It's a horses for courses thing.
What else? A capuchino...
ReplyDeleteExcellent!