Last month, I posted an article about Wayne England's seminal Dwarf Longbeard force here on the RoC80s. If you missed that post, or are keen to read it once more, it can be found by following this link. Now Wayne's ears must be burning once more as I have heard from the Wargames Foundry that there is a very good chance that he may be attending the event on the 1st and 2nd of August. I have a little rudimentary post set up detailing this years extravaganza already, and shortly I shall be updating it with this exciting news and moving it to my pages section on this blog.
In celebration of the news, I have tracked down the further reference to this very early '90s force from across the expanse of the internet (ie - followed the links I was sent by other fans) and have shared them here once more. The images shown here come from issues 144 and 148 of White Dwarf, so right from the end of our Third Edition period, and are really an enjoyable read if you are a fan of these models.
So let's have a look at things in detail, shall we?
First up we have this new unit of clansmen with absolutely excellent shields. The white and black contrast on this iconography works extremely well and is ultimately highly inspiring. You may also notice a clever conversion or two, most notably the dwarf siege weapon crewman with this large spear replaced with the pole of a standard. A very simple conversion to execute on a model that is still extremely easy and cheap to get hold of. I shall be trying that one at some point for sure. Something else worth considering here before I move on is the presence of TWO standards in the single unit. This I really like and will again be stealing this idea. The thought that units would only wave one banner is rather silly now that I think about it. The more the merrier!!
This page chronicles the force in a little more detail and shares with us a rather rare sight, even in the glory days of '80s Warhammer: a dwarf wizard! Now many of you will know that the short ones were not famed for their magic casting prowess, preferring to excel underground with mining and tunnelling. If you scan through the simple list here you can get some idea about how Mr. England was structuring his force. Its nice to see a well painted version of the dwarf bolt thrower too!
The original article goes on to share so detail about how the units seen here were put together and include a marvellously painted unit of Marauder spearmen. As we know, these are some of the finest dwarf models produced by anyone anywhere - and its fantastic to see them painted up so well and in Wayne's collection. What you will probably have noticed that the colour scheme has changed from blue, white and black once more. This time green is the scene!
This colour scheme trend continues with this page published (I believe) in White Dwarf 148. Here we can see that old stalwart the Dwarf Flame cannon in league with a Bretonnian cannon to give this dwarf army a little more punch.
And to leave you... Two images (again from WD 144 and 148) showing Wayne's army in action - back in the days when the Warhammer World had reasonable looking trees!
From the look of those spear shafts, this could be the beginning of the Red Period!
ReplyDeleteOh, the Red Period! Where you part of it? From what I can remember, I lost interest after the tone shifted after Bryan sold up. I moved on to the Amiga and got gaming for about 5 years of so. Once that had run its course, I walked back into a GW and was disgusted by the bright, kiddy friendly paintjobs, art and whatnot. I walked out pretty quickly and it was eight years until a tried again. Not for me all that red!
DeleteMy first issue of WD was #134, so I saw the Red Period begin, alas.
DeleteIconic army. The dwarf vs Empire picture appeared in the 4th edition rulebook, along with a bunch of other early GW photos. It was these that captured my imagination and got me hooked - I wanted every miniature in every photo!
ReplyDeleteI felt similar delusions of grandeur. Only, my delusions involved buying the huge armies I could see and getting them painted up to GW standard. Its still a delusion!
DeleteWayne England is a legend. I shamelessly copied this army even down to the wizard. It was a real shame they didn't do another follow up.
ReplyDeleteHave a look at the wall paintings Wayne did at Stoke Hall. Incredible stuff!
DeleteLove the old skool Elf army! I have to get my elven cavalry painted up, as I have about 6 of those minis gathering dust right now. Any idea what the Elf hero mini is?
ReplyDeletePossible conversion based on one of the Eternal Champion range?
DeleteIt's a conversion. I seem to recall there is an old white Dwarf article where Mike McVey (whose army it is) showed what he did to make it.
DeleteYes, #141 is the issue with McVey's wood elf army and his conversion and painting notes.
Deletewow, I vaguely remember them from those issues, lovely army, that shot of them against the (new) Empire army really was evocative of that era.
ReplyDeleteYeah, one of the first signs of what was to come. Lots of minis that were posed the same and looked the same. ):
DeleteThanks for this. I loved that dwarf army and read that issue of White Dwarf until it fell apart. Great blog all round, it's nice to see actual writing these days.
ReplyDelete