White Dwarf 118 'Eavy Metal Special

Issue 118 of White Dwarf builds on the previous editions momentum and propels us forwards into ever more glorious realm of old school painting. The content kicks off with two pages of of work by Mick Beard and Steve Mussared, both winners in the 1989 Golden Demon awards. Both have been (and would continue to be) frequent contributors to the pages of painted content in the magazine, and gazing through these pages it is obvious to see why.

On the first page above there are some fantastic conversions which inspire me everytime I look at them to get creative with old school Citadel daemons and champions. For starters, I love the Tzeentch champion on the flying disc, complete with ducking dwarf and ruined wall. Fantastic stuff! Even better are the converted genestealer and fleshound, which with a little work become excellent Khornate daemons. I will certainly be trying out those ideas in the time to come. 

This second page contains more of these fantastic conversions. The mutant orcs just go to show what can be achieved with some fairly standard, generic models (here the Ruglud standard trooper), some wire, milliput and a bucketful of imagination. I spoke to Warlord Paul recently about adding some chaos orcs to my Khorne army and these models really inspire me to do something similar. Look out for that in a future post! I also love the bloodletter with a fleshound on a lead. Another fantastic idea that will be very easy to realise. However, my daemonic armies are a long way off at the moment, with a Khorne, Slaanesh, Undead and Goblinoid army all slowly being constructed. 

Dale Hurst, another Golden Demon regular, joins the team in this issue. Here we see a full page of his work. I must confess to not being a big fan of these particular paint jobs. I think its the large areas of fairly flat colour but I am sure that many of you will disagree with me. One thing that does interest me about this selection of models are the inclusion of the magical cubes on the Tzeentch disc riding champion, certainly something to try out myself at some point. 

Dale's Bloodbowl troll is much more to my liking here, and the filthy green he has opted to use really fits in well with the rather filthy background that these creatures have in the game. The skaven we have seen before I am sure but the lovely Bretonnians are new to me as part of the retrospective anyhow! I really like the mounted wizard in this range and must confess to having never really noticed it before, nor can I recall seeing it very often on eBay, though having said that I will probably find three the next time I look! The converted skeleton on horseback is outstanding and still holds its own today but the real prize on this page is Paul Benson's astonishing Palanquin of Nurgle. Benson was, and still is, one of my favourite old school painters, and this is entirely due to his destinctive style. No-one have ever quite painted yellow like him! 

The science-fiction games of the era get some love on this page and the two Titans look fantastic. One thing I love about the RT and AM stuff that was present at this point in the company's life was that the colour schemes and iconography were not yet restricted by 'proper' designs, so subsequently you get original compositions like the terminator with the back banner. 

Heroquest leads the way here, and those models look to be the original McVey paintjobs that were used in all the promotional materials. Again, Paul Benson's work stands out here more than a Mile away, and I can think of no other painters but Blanche and Gray that have such a destictive mastery of colour and style. The Skaven with the jessail is just exquisite! A great shield design can be spotted on that orc champion and it is certainly one that I shall be one day stealing. The standout model here for me is the converted chaos spawn, made up of the ever useful bloodletter body and a Lord of Change head. Such a simple exercise which has produced a great result! 

Hope you all enjoyed this nostalgic look and have been inspired by what you have seen. 

Orlygg.