Saturday 16 May 2015

The Albion Adventures: Oldhammer at the Wargames Foundry Photo Report



I had the good fortune to spend most of today (16th May 2015) at the Wargames Foundry, in the very good company of some fine Oldhammering fellows. Now the purpose of this post is not to give an in depth account of the excellent game of Third Edition we played, I shall leave that to those far better equipped to do the job, but should instead be seen as a photo report of the day.

However, before we begin it is important to thank all of those responsible for the event. Namely Paul Mitchell (for devising the scenario and running the game) and Bryan and Marcus Ansell, who kept us supplied with tea, coffee, cakes, crisps, sandwiches and a treasure trove of classic Citadel figures all day.

A mighty thank you is deserved! So THANK YOU. 

Paul's scenario had us returning to the politically infused land of Albion. This time it was all about democracy, with an amusing and fast moving game all about the need to escort voters to a polling booth. The puns flew so thick and fast that you had to duck. Here you can see the initial set up for the game - we were allowed to be bribed by potential candidates. Magic items can really tempt a man!
Another shot of the early stages of the game. As I remarked to my fellow enthusiasts - I really enjoy seeing lots of different painted miniatures on the table, especially when their paint jobs vary widely in style. Can you spot my nicely painted Lady McDeath?
My dragon turtle got a chance to chomp on a few unwary adventurers. Steve Casey's nicely painted barbarians can be seen emerging from the river on the left. 
The scenario saw us protecting voters on the way to the polling booth. Things didn't quite go to plan for this group of halflings as Spot the dog advances on them!
Some of Nik Dixon's elves tackle a large monster after crossing the rather rickety bridge. 
Richard Irvine positions his warband deep within the murky waters. He had brought with him a rather nice unit of dwarf miners and sappers. Long term readers may recognise this large table as the one we used for the Warbands game back in 2013. 
Living legend Bryan Ansell arrived after a few heated hours of gaming with a box of treasures to share with us. He had, among other things, all the latest pieces off Kev Adams' workbench. 
A here is a closer shot of Kev's genius. What can you see?
Here is a much better shot of the 'Warmonger' character model from the packaging material from the same range. He has a rather silly name that no one could remember. 
Bryan also brought in many of the beastmen models from his iconic Warhammer Armies force. Sadly, the Golden Demon sleeveless t-shirt was nowhere in sight. There was a rather fetching tea towel though. 
One of the first things we spotted on the tea towel was this converted ostrich man on horseback. The rider is of course Citadel, though the mount is by some unknown American manufacturer from the 1970s. Any guesses?
A Warmonger Orc Witch. My favourite new model from Kev Adams. I must remember to pester the Foundry to get this cast up ASAP. 
I am not sure what this actually is beyond the fact that its a WIP. 
This is an interesting gem. A 1974 Tony Ackland sculpt of a dinosaur that is finally going to see production. 
A distinct lack of Blu-Tak confounded Bryan's plans to display all of the greens for our viewing pleasure. 
Check out the detail on this Warmonger musician!
Once we had finished oggling the greens, we moved on to the box of classic minis in earnest. I took the opportunity to take some closer snaps of a number of these models, many of which pre-date Warhammer. 
Lots of different beastmen from Bryan's chaos army. These are so old that they seem strangely new - they are just so different to anything available today. Horseman, who was later produced as a slotta, can be seen third from right. 
The weird and the wonderful and the famous and infamous. The model on the left was converted by Bryan and painted by John Blanche. 
I am not sure about all of these miniatures, but the model on the far left is a 1987 beastman and the model on the far right is a Citadel chaos goblin. 
Ahh, back to my first love: Realm of Chaos era stuff. This model was one of the independent daemons in The Lost and the Damned. 
A nasty insect/man conversion. 
Anyone got any ideas about this one?
I am pretty sure that this model appears in several 1980s publications. Perhaps Heroes for Wargames? I was really exciting to handle this particular model as its been a favourite for decades. 
Twisted beastmen and broo. I love the way the brighter colours contrast with the greys of many of the models. 
Slugman (far right) and friends...
Here we have a work in progress two headed terrorbird with goblin rider. There is apparently a three headed version of this creature coming too....
Bryan was also keen to share some of his more recent concepts. Here we have an ogre with a face on his nose.
Concepts for the forthcoming Warmonger Beastmen range.
More beastmen concepts
Steve Casey noticed a similarity between these two models. It was certainly something we hadn't noticed before. Variant? Conversion?
As always, the Foundry display cabinets were full of classic Citadel gold. Here we can safely drool over some of the Judge Dredd range from the 1980s, as well as some Rogue Trooper pieces. 
The original Leman Russ with wolves, Rogue Trader adventurers (yes the ones from the original advert) and the space zoats. 
Rogue Trader scenery pieces and bits and bobs.
Classic Warhammer figures, many of which appeared in the Third Edition rulebook, Advanced Heroquest henchmen, Lords of Battle and so on. 

17 comments:

  1. Yep - a great day out! Thanks again to Paul for organising it all and to Bryan and Marcus for their fantastic hospitality once more.

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  2. Bryan has to be convinced to not only put these miniatures on the table as yopu've shown but to roll some dice with them! Looks like you had an awesome day.

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  3. After you left, Marcus showed us the mouldmaking and casting process in the factory afterwards, while we were waiting for the bus. Great end to a great day!

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  4. Great pics Orlygg!

    Worth staying around for Robot you lucky so-and-so!

    Cheers all for a great day.

    May the Albion Independence Party/Democratic Liberals coalition bring an age of peace and prosperity!

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  5. Wow, thanks for all the great photos!

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  6. Wow! Great pics and looks like a great day out. Frothing wildly over the old and new stuff! The tiger like mount is an old Heritage / Texas miniatures piece btw.

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  7. Crikey! Some wonderful pictures there: looks like a great day was had by all.

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  8. When I see stuff like that I wish I lived in the UK. Seeing the table again gave me a laugh as my son had great fun knocking the trees off it when we visited foundry back in late March.

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  9. THe converted model in the photograph with 4 beastman - the four-legged one with horns in striped black and yellow - reminds me of the conversion that was explained in the 1st citadel compendium.

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  10. Wow! What a wonderful treat to see close-ups of Bryan's Beastmen!! Thank you for posting the photos of these! Mr. Ansell's Chaos army is still the ultimate Classic Warhammer Army is my mind. It must have been a tremendous thrill to pick up and savour these treasures!!

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  11. Great stuff indeed. I think the unknown mini is a C38 Beastman called Birdman.

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  12. What an awesome day, that Deamon with the bug-eyes is cool, I've never seen him before?!

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  15. "A here is a closer shot of Kev's genius. What can you see?"

    Not a lot of genius, TBH.

    I get that people liked this stuff back in the eighties and nineties, and that Oldhammer basically exists on a wave of nostalgia, but it's this kind of hagiography that convinces me it goes a bit far. Too much of all that is too crude, too weirdly posed, too misproportioned. The sculpting's like the back-of-the-school-jotter doodles by the 'cool bad kid' in class. (who was cool when you were ten) Scrolling down to a few other of those photos doesn't exactly dispel the effect.

    Standard response for this kind of comment might be 'so why are you here?' (Among choicer epithets) I'm wondering that myself. I did have an interest in Oldhammer after abandoning 'modern', overcommercialised Warhammer, to see what kind of 'purer' fluff, rules, gaming and stuff I missed by getting into the hobby too late. But y'know, it strikes me like the 'Golden Age' of a lot of things, including other nerdy hobbies: less baggage and monetisation, more wonder and potential, but actually a bit rubbish decades later.

    So, I'm off. Bookmarked deleted, won't bother you anymore. Just... guys, just because modern GW's a mess doesn't mean you have to completely regress. It's in the blog title, but but the eighties are over. (And for the sake of palaeoart, so's 1974)

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  16. Personally I still like these weird and grotesque miniatures from Kev Adams. Sure there are "better" miniatures available in the market, but an oldhammer guy like the old school style. For example: Many like the Rackam Confrontation miniatures, sure they are fine sculpt, but personally I like more the Warmachine miniatures, certainly more stubby. So an oldhammer or oldhammer style miniature could be crude, too weirdly posed, too misproportioned... but what's the matter? I like it because this is the oldhammer style ;)

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