A Summer of Citadel: Imperial Dwarf Grum

 

My next figure is this lovely old school dwarf. He was a bit of an unfinishable as I started work on him at the beginning of the year. I just couldn't get that chainmail to look the part. As I've said before, I want my painting style to be in the vein of the design studio in the late 1980s, just before Mike McVey's glorious blending took over the scene (I'll never be as good with the hairy wand as him). 

In the end it was a decent black ink wash over a dry-brushed Mithril Silver base that achieved the look I was seeking. Once it was dry, I dusted back over the top of the mail with silver once more. Then adding thin lines of black ink around the creases and folds of the armour and where the equipment joined. I've started to mix Blood Red, Foundry Brown Oche (thanks Ian) and Bleached bone to create a leather colour and I'm keen to explore what that mix can do. 

As you might guess, I am VERY pleased with the way the face came out. Flesh is one of my targets for improvement and here my colour mix worked well. Bronzed Flesh with a little Red Gore added, then the highlights built up by adding Bleached Bone. A nice rich tone. I left the eyes on this one and his grunting, squished face looked quite characterful, even for a dwarf.

I used Blood Red and Sunburst Yellow as a spot colour on the decoration around the top of his chainmail cap and on his shield. I used one of my greenstuff copied shields and matched these tones on it. I wanted a battered and well worn look (as my greenstuff casting had a lot to be desired) so stuck to a simple geometric pattern which fits the historical feel this figure has. Being a Perry sculpt, the rich historical vibes are no surprise. 

Though hard to see in this photograph I was also pleased with the gold colour I mixed up here. I used shining gold mixed with a little Blood Angels orange and the result was nice a rich. A brown ink wash helped provide depth over the top. More work is needed here to and I think my ogre model will be a great opportunity to play around with this. 

As is becoming traditional with the project, I'll delve a little into the history of this figure. He is one of the Imperial Dwarfs from 1985. This is an excellent range of figures who appeared in many later 1980s publications and dioramas. Looking at these models now I regret not paying more attention to them in my collecting days. They are characterful and varied which is just what we like here at RoC80s. 

I'm sure many of you have enjoyed painting up or pushing around these little chaps over the last 40 years. I suspect that isn't going to change any time soon for those of us lucky enough to have any of these fine models. 

Orlygg

A Summer of Citadel: War Machines Labourer 2

 

One of the things I miss the most about my former collection was my original WHFB third edition rulebook. I spent decades pouring through it's pages. Each illustration or line of text a gateway back to a piece of my past. It even had it's own unique smell. Dust and imagination. 

This figure reminds me of that rulebook. On one of the early pages there is a photograph of a cannon crew and this rather strapping chap is part of the set up. With this memory in mind, I set out to paint my version of him but he didn't really come out in the way I'd hoped. 

He looks too buff... 

It is clear I need to work on my blending but he has a gnarly charm about him with more than a little Kingdom Come Deliverance to boot. I enjoyed painting him but his skin needs smoothing out somewhat. I'll probably go back to him later on to reduce the rather comic book shading around the muscles of his torso. But he is painted... and I can move on to another figure tomorrow. 

He has a surly looking face... almost like he wants to argue with you. He was part of a series of models released in 1987 alongside loads of historical war machines - linking with Warhammer Siege no doubt. 

There were quite a few war machine crew released by Citadel and this chap, hereby named Labourer 2, had a colleague in the pages of WHFB3. A chap with a mallet scratching his head. I always wanted that figure too. I'm pleased to say that a handful of these old Citadel crew are available from Foundry including the chap with said mallet. 

It was difficult days painting. My teeth, which need ongoing treatment, were playing me up something chronic and I couldn't quite find the old mojo for painting. But we persevere in the grognard game don't we?

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Orlygg 

A Summer of Citadel: C04 Thief Pre-slotta 'Thug'

 

Hello dear readers,

I'm back from a bit of an hiatus. Mostly end of term school stress and house development. Since we last spoke we've had a patio laid,  the house rewired, been surveyed for wall insulation and I've had to have some wisdom teeth extracted! All while dealing with the never-ending drag of the end of a school year.

Through it all I promised myself that once the holidays arrived, I'd try and paint a figure a day over the long summer break. And this post is the first in what I hope will be an extravaganza of painting I'm calling 'The Summer of Citadel'. Sure, there are a few days here and there when I'm away with MFM but I'm pretty much aiming high in the painting front. After all, I am keen to improve my technique after my five year long 'lost weekend'. 

Top of my list is fleshwork. The first few figures in this project will hopefully allow me to hone the old skills in painting skin. Hence why we are looking at this wonderful preslotta figure from the early 1980s. He has bags of character and loads of menace. Which I like in a miniature but not in a person. I opted for darker skin to start with as it felt more challenging and a good starting point. I used colour harmony for this figure with a little bit of Swamp Brown mixed in with everything. It took a while to get back up to speed but with a reduced palette I actually found it easier to work with. I'm hoping that the tones convey flesh well and I am pleased with the way he has come out. I even managed to dot the eyes!

I gave him a splatter of blood on his club as a final touch. Tomorrow I'll try a figure with lighter skin, and then perhaps some orcs or goblins to really sharpen up my skills. We will see where this adventure takes us...

His solid base says 'thug' but he has an interesting history. 

First released in the early 1980s as part of the C04 Thieves range as a rogue, he was later listed (in France) as a pirate and he really does have that kind of look about him. 

See here he is in the good old 'they used to hand-draw the models' days. If you didn't know, the model with the crutch below (Ruffler) is a homage to Steve Jackson. 

And here he is again during the later days of being able to afford a camera in the studio. Some of these models are rather rare now but they have bags of character... which is very much something I am keen to work with when painting over the next four or five weeks. I mean, I love my skellies but they don't have much charm about them.. beyond the whiff of the grave. Our 'thug' model is given centre stage here. 

By the Realm of Chaos era in the later 1980s, he has been repurposed as a club wielding chaos thug. The slotta version of this figure is different with some conversion work on the head and legs to make him less piratical and more chaotic. Obviously. Can you spot him here? Club 4 is our man. 

What is incredible, is this figure is still available to buy in 2025. He was one of the many 'historicals' Bryan Ansell took with him after he sold Games Workshop in 1992. He is called Stocky Joe Dent these days and likes to hang around with the Steve Jackson look alike figure and few of the others. I know all this because I can remember many moons ago being shown this set by Bryan himself. A few months back while Stuart was networking at the Foundry stand, I slipped away to check to see if this pack was still on the racks (no pun intended) and it was... looking back, I should have bought it for the other pirate style characters but the memory of discussing it years ago was enough. 

Well, let's see what tomorrow brings. I have a few figures in the queue. Circumstances have changed in my old life and I received a rather battered box of my belongings a few weeks back quite out of the blue. A bulging bag of classic figures, old scenery pieces and even some painted remains from my McDeath board. All rather unexpected... Of course the stuff was all pretty smashed up but I may try and restore several pieces if its possible.

More tomorrow...

Orlygg

Realm of Chaos Era Blue Horror

 

Crickey its hot!

But I managed to paint something completely different with what was left of yesterday and today. Not that I am feeling very inspired to do much more at the moment. I was sticking to my paintbrush, the seat and my worktable all at once.

And my paint kept drying up!

Still, I got this classic Kevin Adams sculpt painted though I messed up one of the feet with yellow ink when finishing the base. I really must be into the habit of doing the texturing before the paintwork.

This one was fun to paint. I kept things simple (as you should with these daemons) sticking to a simple blue base and just highlighting up with Bleached Bone and later on, Skull White. For interest, I used purple ink for the mouth and worked the tongue and eyes up to pink by adding more and more blobs of Bleached Bone. 

He seems suitably chaotic. 

Much like the next few weeks here in Essex. I've got an old Jes Goodwin ogre I found a while back alongside a few of these horrors. I've cleaned him up and based him. I fancy something big and brash after so many skellies so will be working on him if and when I get the time. 

Stay cool out there, 

Orlygg

Restoring the Skeleton Army (Part the Fourth)

 

As some have you have surmised, I've been a bit busy recently. We've had a new bathroom, new windows, a patio is due next week and as for the wiring.... we've needed to find another £5000 on to of our budget once the walls were chased out. And then there is the matter of the heatwave here in England that shows no sign of abating. My classroom has been pushing 30 degrees most days over the last few weeks and keeping the children safe and cool has been a challenge to say the least.

Even so, I've dabbled with my figures. Often for five or ten minutes at a time and I've managed to complete another three skellies. 

I've stuck to my guns and used the same method we are now familiar with and I've continued to try out different shield ideas as you can see here. Mot too sure about the red backed shield now I've seen it photographed - it looks a bit squinty but I'm happy with the other two. All three of these shields are my greenstuff copies and I've continued to leave them with black boarders like Phil Lewis did back in the 1980s. 

Here's the whole bunch all together. I'm currently working on the next three models and when they are complete I'll be a third of the way through the infantry. Remember, I want the whole project complete before year's end so even though life has been holding me back a bit, I'm still making progress of a sort. 

The bases are not making me happy though. I'm going to paint something different today and play around with the system. I want them to look brighter than they are at the moment to help life the models a little. I'd rather repaint seven bases than thirty. 

I'm sure many of you have heard the sad news about the death of GW oldie and ultimate Robin Hood, Tim Pollard. Long time readers will recall my interview with him twelve years ago and his revelations of the whereabouts of many old school GW pieces of art. It was very sad to here yesterday that he lost his battle with cancer and especially poignant that his wife, Sally, also died of this terrible disease some years ago. 

I suppose Tim's biggest contribution to classic Citadel was his amusing and highly irreverent naming conventions for many of the mid-eighties figures. With my favourites being the c18 Zombies... who cannot love Pek-Gregri, Peeled, Bowelburst and of course Gavin!!???

Restoring the Skeleton Army (Part the Third): Phil Lewis and Colin Dixon shield tributes

Good evening all...

The radiators have been ripped out and we stand ready to skip the bathroom. Tomorrow is the last time I'll have a shower and toilet for a while (eek!). The plumber reckons two weeks to finish the new bathroom and while he is working, we are having the wiring in the front room sorted while we await the new French doors. With thick, oak flooring due and new plasterwork also enroute it is going to be an expensive couple of months!

It is also going to be a busy couple of months. We have the school inspectors in AGAIN next week. The religious type this time rather than OFSTED, who we dealt with back in October. I work in a CoE school and every five years or so our religious implementation is examined. Additionally, the school reports are due in a couple of weeks to boot. Basically, not much time available for Orlygg to Old School. 

Still, I used the time I had this afternoon wisely. A few days ago I was moving boxes around ready for next week when I found the small stack of donated White Dwarfs. Plucking up issue 101 reminded me that this is the issue where John Blanche waxes lyrical about '80s shield painting techniques. Way back when at the start of my blogging career this issue was highly influential in me developing my 'Citadelesque' painting style... in fact the famous tutorial on the first page that let's you into the secret of painting an 'Ogre Face' was what finally made the penny drop for my freehand painting.

Flicking through, I noticed a couple of nice shots of two plastic skellies from the original Skeleton Horde set by the looks of it. One painted by Phil Lewis and the other by Colin Dixon. Such a clear presentation of two classic paintjobs inspired me to have a crack at some tribute shield decoration while strengthening my freehand skills. 

Dazza36 suggested I experiment with Acrylic Resin with my press mould a few weeks back. Well, my order arrived and I've been testing this new material out. Though not as tough and hardwearing as original greenstuff, it does pick up the detail like nothing else I've tried. So far, I've cast up a couple of shields as you can see in the second picture. I'll be moving to this stuff once I've worked through all of the greenstuff shields I've made as its faster drying. If there are any experts in this stuff out there reading - can you mix more powder than water and get a stronger material? Does this stuff even work like that?

MisterC - he who donated the incredible Skeleton Army - also sent a fair few paints with the boneyard boys. Truth be told, I've been rather too excited with my new forces of undeath to investigate too closely at the paints. Having now done so, I've been pleasantly surprised to find the other three paints from the Metallic Paint Set. They are all still quite useable, save for what I assume to be Burnished Gold which has separated and clumped together like many a shiny pot from the past. 

So, once again... MisterC... I salute you for these wonderful additions. I could be wrong, but I am fairly sure I now have all of the original early Citadel paints sets completed. Just need a modern Goblin Green from Coat d'Arms to replace my dried up one. 

Anyway, on to my skellies and their shields. In the images below you can see the original inspiration and my attempt at the design. I didn't want to straight copy but get a feel of the design. I lack the skill of these two classic painters of yore sadly. 

This one is by Colin Dixon and I've dubbed it 'Hair Skull'. I'm not sure if the background is actually a nice barnet for a grinning boneface but I'm going for it all the same. I painted the skull first using my usual method and then added the strange swirls. Looking back, I see I need a darker brown background to this design (I plan to have another crack and this at some point) and I need the 'hair' to taper at the bottom of the shield rather than circle round. But I'm pleased with the result. 

Phil Lewis, the former lensmith of WD, is responsible for this cracking design. I've called it 'Blue Hair Skull'. Again, I wouldn't mind another attempt at this one soon but I'm fairly pleased with the result. Sure, my example is more Jim Robinson from 1980s Neighbours than Phil's big toothed troublemaker. And my pupils are much too large as well. Though the keen eyed of you will notice that I've added the bronze studs too. 

And here they are, alongside the other motley lot from my Restored Skeleton Army. So far its just four fairly mixed figures. With twenty-six more models to go I'm going to have plenty of opportunities to try out those classic shield designs as well as source a few more. Of course, if you've got a shot of a decent design from an old WD please do send me word of where to find it. I'd love to try out some more vintage ideas from the masters.

Orlygg

The Return of the Elven Animal Keepers

 

Games Workshop have re-released the old Elven Animal Keepers as part of their ongoing 'Old World' range of products and my order was waiting for me on my doormat this afternoon as I arrived home from work. 

I hadn't expected them until Wednesday.

To be honest with you I was skeptical of the release and of GW themselves. Being an enthusiast of the Citadel of old when you could ring up mail order and buy individual titan guns from years previously, surely modern GW couldn't offer old Orlygg anything?

I'm happy to say that I was wrong. 

It is a great release and I'm really pleased I took the plunge and bought a set.  Let's have a closer look...

Obviously the packing is not on par with the glory of the '80s cardstock, but I wasn't expecting it to be. And as you can see, polystyrene (can that even still be used?) inserts to protect your beautiful models have long departed in favour of a plastic case where your models slide around and bash each other. No difference from a blister pack of old I suppose. Even so, I loved opening up the box and seeing all the models for the first time. I was trying to remember the last time I bought something from GW... I think it was the Famous Familiar set they put out 10 years ago or more, along with the elementals. 

For a second, the weight of the box mislead me to thinking they were resin versions but a quick rattle of the delivery box allayed my fears. As you can see here, the figures and beasts are just as crisp and engaging as there were way back in 1987 when Jes Goodwin first sculpted them. 

And look at that tab!

GW1987... it is brilliant to be able to buy models from our era fresh from the casting room and this will be a real blow to the eBay scalpers. The bear figure alone goes for far too much money. I am glad the gamers old and new now have access to these models. Interestingly, these figures are totally new to me. I never saw them back in the day or owned them myself. I think I can remember seeing them amongst Bryan's collection, I will have to check my photos. 

The full set. Gorgeous models and a real surprise. I have to admit to being impressed and I'm tempted to order the Bugman's Cart (incidentally, also on the advertisement I've used to open the post) next. Obviously for someone without a leadpile of any significance, such a release is a godsend. I'm now in a quandary as I'm supposed to be working on that Skeleton Army... 

Steady Orlygg... don't get carried away.... 

Obviously, a set like these needs painting up in tribute of the Citadel originals. But that will be a project for the summer holidays when I've been driven mad by bone, rust and skulls. 

If any of you are on the fence about these I'd heartily recommend picking up a set. It is not often that I say this, but 5 stars to GW for releasing these models and getting them to me so quickly. 

Orlygg.