Heroes for Wargames: Concept Art

Welcome back to Realm of Chaos 80s. Those of you who regularly frequent the Oldhammer Community over on Facebook may well be aware that I have recently come into the possession of this incredible book; Heroes for Wargames by Stewart Parkinson. The book, which is not a GW publication, was produced in 1986 with extensive support from Bryan Ansell's Citadel Miniatures and contains a wealth of fantastic material.

I was always aware of the book, certainly since I began this blog last year, but I hadn't really paid it much mind, that is until Zhu posted an article about the book in respect of the famous 'Maggie Banner' that is photographed within. He'd linked to copies on eBay and I couldn't help myself and bought a cheap copy (its rather battered and water damaged) that is fit for my purposes. The book doesn't contain much text to further enlighten the knowledgeable enthusiast of '80s Citadel, but the images are enough to blow your mind, especially if you have not seen them before. 

Now, something that I have learnt in recent months is that as soon as we discuss something here in the Oldhammer Community, the items of our concern see an increase in price on eBay. Or, items, which are already limited by their age, become far more difficult to obtain. From what I have heard since buying my copy of Heroes for Wargames is that availability for a decent price is already an issue...

So I have selected a number of areas to discuss about the book. A 'highlights' overview if you will, but I have left enough stuff untouched so that if you do get your hands on a copy at some future time there will we one of two surprises remaining. 

Today's post concerns that excellent range of concept art that the book contains. Pieces by well known Citadel legends Tony Ackland, Jes Goodwin and John Blanche leap from many a page. I have included a few of them below as they relate to actual produced models in some way. This is a relationship I find fascinating: that journey from idea to three dimensional completed sculpt, a process that was physical and didn't involve a computer at all. 

Perhaps that is why these old models have that 'soul' we all love, eh?

The Spined Dragon is, in my opinion, still the finest dragon ever sculpted. A highly sought after model for Citadel Hardcore collectors and second only to the Citadel Giant in price. A gorgeous, gorgeous model. Heroes for Wargames contains the original concept sketch my Tony Ackland. 

Here it is...

What is impressive is just how close Nick Bibby's finished sculpt is to the concept art. Have a look at the miniature below and compare...

This just proves how talented the staff at Citadel were. Ackland captures the character of the dragon in his sketch (which, knowing Ackland, was knocked up pretty quickly) and Bibby's skill not only creates the beast in miniature form, but adds further detail to it in the process. No wonder he went on to become an internationally renown sculptor in large cast bronze. 

Then there is the work of Jes Goodwin. His distinctive style of concept work has never changed. It has always been exquisite, much like his sculpting. If you've spent any time around Citadel miniatures in your time, you will recognise his work on sight, something that is true to this day, though his output is no way as prolific as it was back in the '80s, sadly. 

Well, here we have some early concepts for Chaos Warriors. 

Though elements of these concepts appeared on Citadel models, I don't think (and please correct me if I am wrong) that these two sketches ever became miniatures in their own right. But the core elements are there; horns, oversized boots, fur, dangling chainmail and, dare I say its, spikes... What a shame there are no skulls, eh?

The models shown below were made. Here we have two concepts from the skaven range that Goodwin worked on extensively during 1985. Its the first figure that I am most interested in. I own a converted version of him and used him during my RoC campaign last year. 

Look below for the model that was produced from this concept. Its all there, isn't it?

Even John Blanche's concepts are presented, and there are pages and pages of them inside the book. I have selected this set as it contains a figure that I recalled seeing in Jason Fulford's Slaaneshi warband. Can you spot it?

John Blanche's Runescape Broo concept art.

Jason's Broo.

Could you find him? A kind of 'Where's Wally?' Oldhammer style. 

Orlygg.

Acceptable in the '80s: Strategems, Ruses and Ploys: Warhammer Third Edition Tactica!

Nestled away among the pages of WD 101 is this rather short article. Its only two pages long in fact, and with a lack of pretty photographs or fancy graphics it is easy to miss it. What we have here is a short piece written by Peter M Haines concerning how best to win at Warhammer Third Edition.

Yes, that's win. Not take part in a structured, narrative led campaign where winning and losing is an arbritary notion unheeded by the players. Could this article be the first sign of what was to come? A harbringer of the tournament mentality (and by this I mean the mindset, not tournament gaming as a concept) that would blight GW games from the mid 90s onwards?  

Also, as many of you will be aware, I am building up a Khorne army for WFB3. What advice on its construction could I gleam from these two short pages? 

Well, let's investigate and found out, shall we?

"With the release of 3rd Edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, fantasy wargamers finally have a definitive set of rules." This is certainly a strong sentiment. And one that I agree with, for my fantasy wargaming needs that is. WFB 3rd is so ingrained in my soul as a fantasy battle system (and background) that no other will do... Its a personal thing, so please don't condemn me for it. I've tried other systems and just don't enjoy them as much. After all, WFB 3rd has a 25 year head start and I own thousands of Citadel miniatures from the period that are just screaming out to be played with. Now I am now foolish enough to use the quote above as a lumphammer with which to beat other systems, or even later editions of WFB, with; I know that Haines was preaching to the converted, not to mention writing from GW's house magazine. 

But he does go on to make some interesting points and share some old school tactical advice which may well be of some use for us Oldhammer Generals - especially with many of us heading to The Foundry this summer to play games of Third. The first thing Haines talks about is as relevant then as it is today, certainly in the minds of uber-armylist authors: cost effectiveness! He states that for every 100 points you spend on your army, you should hope (with a little luck and skill) be able to deal with 110 points of enemy action. This certainly makes sense. Haines uses the example of Chaos Warriors and Chaos Marauders, two very similar units but ones that vary wildly in points cost. Remember, Chaos Warriors were rock hard in 3rd Edition, they were (as they still should be) the elite of the chaos mortal warriors, not mere cannon fodder to be fielded. Marauders don't quite pack the punch of Chaos Warriors, but they are indeed far, far cheaper. This got me thinking about my chaos army I am working on at the moment. My plans for building the force are based on the armylists in Slaves to Darkness and Warhammer Armies, and too be honest, I am working through the lists in an attempt to field each of the list units. This drives my painting and collecting, but if I was to ever look at creating an army to play an extremely tactical game, those chaos warriors may well find themselves busted down to marauder level. 

Chariots also get a discussion. Now I have two painted examples of these. An undead one and my Khorne Chaos Chariot. Now I have yet to field either in a game, so I am largely unfamiliar with the rules as they stand in the WFB3 rulebook. Haines gives a good point though, for these units will be super expensive and would have no doubt created in my mind a sense of them being invulnerable. Then comes the trolls. Now this is something that I do have experience with. Good old Throgg, the troll in the Throng of Exquisite Pleasure, has been field in many skirmishes but insists on failing his stupidity test every time. It has happened so often that it has become a running joke between Dan and I. However, Throgg once managed to stay on task long enough for vomit the contents of his stomach over Dan's warhounds (killing one and severely wounding another, before causing half his warband to flee in terror of his sheer size. Stupidity is a curse, and a damn fine rule too. It brings a real sense of uncertainty to battles, which of course, makes the playing of a conflict more realistic, as throughout history there are examples of units not doing what they are told, with mixed outcomes. But for a more serious game of WFB3? Are they really worth their points?

Next, the article moves on to discuss Army Balance. "Warhammer Armies can contain such diverse threats where you have left yourself open to one type of attack." Well, this is certainly true of my Khorne army. Its slow and relies on close combat. Fast moving troops and missile troops could well be a problem for it, though I have a chariot to counter such things, and of course my Chaos Dwarf artillery. 

"The important consideration here is effective range. This is the sum of the unit's movement and damage range. If the unit is a melee unit then use its charge rate, if it is a missile unit count only the distance it can move and still fire. Try and achieve a balance of ranges to ensure that you do not get stuck at any distance . The average range of your troop types will tell you the optimum point to begin your attacks from." Hey, this a a great idea and not one that I have had before. Is it mathhammer? Or just clever gaming? Hmm, I am not so sure... He makes another interesting point about armies that rely on elite humans, as they are expensive troops but lack the ability to soak up damage with low toughness and wound scores. Better keep an eye on those thugs then!

When talking about character models, he gives an interesting piece of advice. "High level heroes are also a consideration. Equipping them with a magic weapon that flies enables them to choose what they fight. They may even choose to go after enemy mages!" Hmm, the generic magic items in the back of Warhammer Armies need careful perusal it seems, not something that I had thought about doing before! The use of magic items seems very important in Haines view of WFB3, after all you must 'ensure that you have one melee unit that sorcery cannot destroy.' As far as I can tell, magical support via items or standards is the only way to do this.

The section on battlefield strategies is also of great interest. Here, Haines states that you should always have at least one flying unit. Well, this is going to be easy to do if you field a dragon or some other flying beastie, but magical items will do the same for characters as will spells for sorcerers. As well as going on about the standard strategies that can be used on the field of battle. 

To conclude, what can we draw from this article? Certainly the 'to win' ethos existed in the later '80s and Warhammer Armies was created to support competitive gaming, though the word tournament is curious by its absence. What can we Oldhammerers draw from this? Well, I am going to go out on a limb and say this. When approaching battle, with our painted forces before us, we should make every endeavour to take the role of the commander of that army. He'd want to crush his foe, wouldn't he? So we should embrace the narrative slice of gaming goodness that we are taking part of, but we should never skimp on the character driven need to 'win' in the context of the story we are acting out. 

As always, this article is open for discussion. Have you anything to add to my incoherent ramblings? What did you think of Haines' article?

Orlygg.

Realm of Chaos Khorne Army WIP

Good morning dear readers! I bought the wife an iPad mini and fancied trying out the camera software that came with it... What better excuse to take a few snaps of what I have been working on lately, namely models for my Khorne Army. I also included an army shot or three.

On to the models then...

The famous chaos marauder with hands on hips. I had to include him because I feel he's so iconic. Did you know there is a rare helmeted variant of this model?

This was a 99p eBay special. I didn't even bother to strip this one down, just washed over the armour with purple and black inks and drybrushed silver over the top.

Experimented with Go Faster Red with this model. I didn't really like the result, but there you go.

Pink horror, to join my blue one. These models are great fun to paint.

Finally, three snaps of the painted part of the army. I reckon I must  be a third of the way through now.

Well there you are. I did a rough tally of points using Warhammer Armies and Slaves to Darkness and can tell you this army will probably weigh in over 4000 points when its finished, perhaps more! One thing that I love about old school armies is the lack of uniformity. When each model has its own colour scheme and outline the slightly artificial nature of monopose, and semi-monopose, armies is reduced making the force seem, well, more believable. 

 As always, any thoughts and opinions are very much appreciated.

 Orlygg.

Acceptable in the '80s: May 1988's Warhammer Releases

Issue 101 launched Bloodbowl 2nd Edition and contained the final non-GW related article published in WD. One hundred issues of roleplaying was over!

Welcome back to the ongoing series of articles entitled 'Acceptable in the '80s'; the history of Warhammer Third Edition through its releases, supplements and literature. This time, we will be wandering down the dusty lanes of May 1988 to come face to face with chaos and the greenskin menace, oh, with a rare article for Warhammer Siege with some fantastic Russ Nicholson (he of Fighting Fantasy fame) illustrations.

So let's tarry not!

Chaos Thugs

These are one of my favourite Citadel ranges. The chaos thugs were produced over a number of years by a wide range of sculptors. Amongst their varied ranks we have work by Jes Goodwin, Mark Copplestone, the Perrys, Trish and Aly Morrison and the very Scottish, Bob Naismith to name but a few. As you might expect with such a pedigree of creation, the range is rather eclectic and varies wildly in quality. There are also a large number of variants, with heads, bodies and weapons being interchanged wily-nily and so, thugs make an ideal and fascinating set of models to collect. 

In fact, it was a pack of thugs that were among the very first models that I ever owned. I still own them, and was just painting one of them this very day. It was not one of the examples above, however. By this time, Citadel were beginning to phase out naming individual models and gave them instead a number. This would later change to a number code. 

Right then, the models shown above have some real classics among them, particularly 1, 2, 4 and 21. I am sure that you agree that the thug in the bone armour (21) is a wonderful sculpt and is worthy of champion status (it was later released as such if I remember correctly). I own quite a few of this range, and you will be seeing some of them in my WIP Khorne and Slaanesh RoC armies as I work on them. 

As for the painting - what can I say? The air was obviously pretty thick with aerosol spray when many of these models were painted as some of the schemes are pretty loathsome, but chaotic as hell. There are also some rather nice shield designs, especially those sported by models 8 and 13 that I shall definitely have to steal in the future as I have a load of models that need shields. 

Orc Bolt Thrower and Chaos Warriors

I have discussed the Orc Bolt Thrower before, though it is nice to see a painted example. As ever, Kev Adams produced a characterful bunch of orc models, though model 2 had a far longer life than the other miniatures here, appearing in blisters into the early '90s. 

The Chaos Warriors are, like the thugs, a mixed bag. Many of these were re-released models from the mid '80s and again, like the thugs, have a number of variants for many of these models. In my opinion, most of these sculpts are ghastly, though there is an absolute classic in number 10, who would later appear on the Combat Cards. The 'Eavy Metal boys must have been high as kites on car-body paint spray when they painted some of these- look at those wild colour schemes, including some ink of bare metal insanity!

There was a bit of fluff produced alongside the Bolt Thrower, including a little not for Warhammer Armies. I publish it here for those of you who are lucky enough to own this model and want to field it with a little extra guidance. Additionally, there was a final article produced alongside Warhammer Siege. Written by Nigel Stillman, I include it below for any Oldhammerer's eager for siege warfare.

Orlygg.

Eldritch Epistles: Realm of Chaos Excellence by Steve Casey

Steve Casey, of Citadel Collecting fame, has launched a new blog after running into difficulties with his previous website. If you love vintage Citadel, Oldhammer and all things retro, this will be the blog for you. Steve has shifted over the pictures he has taken of Bryan Ansell's collection and intends to update the collection shortly. Looking at what he has on offer in his first post, the focus may well be on Realm of Chaos era miniatures!

 Check out these for a taster!

Here's the link to his blog

http://eldritchepistles.blogspot.co.uk/

Follow it, now!

Or the Ruinous Powers will flay your souls from your corpses!

You have been warned!

Orlygg

Warhammer Third Edition Reference by Dreamfish

I noticed that there has been a discussion on the Blood Forum about a Warhammer Third Edition reference. This got me thinking, as I was sure that I had a pretty detailed, non-copyright, version lying around somewhere. A quick hunt through my computer and I found this reference by Alex Koning.

EDIT: WHO TURNS OUT TO BE OUR OWN DREAMFISH.

I cannot recall where I got it from, but big thanks to Alex for putting it together. I hope some of you fellow Third Edition gamers get some use out of it.

I present it here as an embedded document as I am aware that some of you are having problems with Scribd  accounts. If you want a copy, just email me and I'll send it out to you.

Otherwise,

enjoy.

WFB3 - Reference v1.2 by orlygg

Orlygg.

Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness 25th Anniversary Celebration: Orlygg's latest paintjobs

I've been suffering with Painter's Block for about six weeks now.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't draw up enough enthusiasm to get painting. There was no real rhyme or reason it this, I just couldn't get my act together.

Well, I am pleased to inform you that this period of inactivity is now over. With all the snow that the UK has suffered (yet again) this weekend, I set my self up at the painting table and got on with it. I found myself to be rather prolific and I managed to get quite a few models finished for my Khorne Army.

I am sharing them with you below. As always, I used original Citadel colour from the '80s (interspersed with a few Coat d'Arms replacements) and the associated ink range. I used a simple 'look and snap' digital camera and the colours are a little muted, but I think there is enough for you to get the idea. 

Chaos warrior with halberd and shield. Old school shield designs are a favourite of mine, and it painted this one to match the colour of the model's armour.

An 1985 chaos warrior with a double handed axe. This one lacked a shield, so I tried to free hand a face design on to the shoulder. I was reasonably happy with the result. 

Chaos warrior with axe and shield. I used Andy Craig's advice to work up an original shade of red. The discussions I have had with him have inspired me to move away from selecting colours 'out of the pot' and create my own shades. 

Chaos Marauder with half pike and shield. A old design on this one, if I recall correctly I did it for an article on shield painting last year and had yet to find a good use for it. 

Chaos Dwarf Bombard and Crew. Love this model. I used the colour scheme from the old Realm of Chaos packaging as inspiration here. I have just started work on the bazooka crew from the same range. 

A Blue Horror, painted in respect of Kev Adams (who, or course, sculpted these back in the late '80s) who was attacked in his own home last week. Here's hoping he recovers soon and gets back to producing models as good as this one again. 

I've got a couple more chaos warriors and marauders on the go, so expect to see them soon, as well as more Tzeentch goodness in the guise of a Pink Horror and a Flamer. 

What you reckon to my efforts? Any tips or advice really appreciated.

Orlygg.