Man-Mangler Crew and Night Horrors 'Werebear'

Hello all! 

I've been soldiering through with the old teeth the last couple of weeks. Not much progress sadly and living with chronic pain isn't easy but I try to be positive and enjoy the odd Citadel figure when time and health allows. After setting myself an amusing challenge with Stuart at Salute, that I could buy and paint a man-mangler in the time it takes him to receive and sell his mint in box example, I 've beavering away at that classic model. 

I am sure you are all very well aware of Kev Adams definitive take on the sculpt from way back in the day*. Initially, I was thinking of doing a straight homage to that slice of history. The thought didn't hold for long though, and I fancied just painting the kit with the same whimsical freedom I have anything else. Though the model is built and underway, only these two crew are completed. Both finished and photographed today. 

This first figure is 'Da Boss' and was sculpted to depict the leader of the war machine's crew. He has a lovely orcy face full of character and a rather menacing whip on hand to dispense 'encouragement' on his hapless underlings. Great fun to paint with lots of different textures to work on. I tried to give him a barbarian feel that suits these goblinoid gentlemen. The orcs of this era exhibit a sense of crude intelligence and gangly viciousness that was slowly bred out of them in later years, turning them into mere brutes. 

I'm very pleased with his skintones, having worked hard over the last 18 months to capture a little of my former painting glory. My mix is simple. Goblin Green, washed over with Citadel Green Ink and then highlighted with a Goblin Green and Sunburst Yellow mix, with Bleached bone added for the final highlights. I've long been trying to get that classic '80s orc look without using Bilious Green. I think I've finally achieved it. In future, I hope to slowly build an undead army and a orcs and goblin one. Setting yourself goals like this help to ensure you don't ever meet them and just veer off wildly in another direction. 

Long time readers will understand and appreciate my inconsistencies. 

This second figure was painted first before the commander and was my test piece for orc skin. He is holding a stone munition, at least I interpreted it as a stone ball. I have based this on the replica trebuchets and other war machines I have seen at our local castle in Hedingham. As a kid, I was a proud owner of this kit and used to paint them in rusty, metallic colours. This time, I fancied a change and will stick with stone for this model I think. Earlier, I was talking about the seminal Kev Adams version of this model. When doing my research I noticed a jutting and stubbly chin on this figure, something rather unusual on an orc... I mean, can they not grow beards? If so, why are they so feral and underhand yet find the time for a clean shave each morning? 

Another mystery of '80s Warhammer I guess. 

Anyway, it turns out that this figure has the stubble sculpted on so was clearly something Kev Adams had in mind. It would have been fairly simple to just to paint over his jaw and ignore it, but I embraced the designer stubble and worked it into my paint job. I have always given my orcs and goblins a pink/purple lip. I've seen people use blue too. I don't know why but I feel it adds character to them. I always do their eyes red as well, which I think is fairly standard with a yellow pupil for extra menace. 

Nice fur briefs you are sporting their sir... I've long been keen to work on the drybrushing skills so used them on these rather fetching undies. I imagine this chap is either rather derelict of funds or is just hot from all that stone lugging. I've been trying to move away from just using a dark brown for wood so opted for a more yellowy club thanks to Orc Brown and Bleached Bone. 

With three more crew to finish and the machine itself to complete watch this space for further updates. I'll no doubt be distracted by all my new shiny bits and pieces I've been buying recently. MFM spends a lot of her time on a well known app selling off her unwanted items and buying new ones. On a whim I checked to see if classic Citadel was available there too... turns out it was! 

A few hours later and I was the owner of a number of classic figures. Boy, did it feel good to be buying figures properly again after so many years. I enjoy the hunt and picking up stuff for as little as possible. Obviously, these behaviours may help explain my rather eclectic approach to collecting! I've found that there is a lot of pre-slotta available alongside some later '80s classics. She's been teaching me how to use the app and get the most out of it. Had a bit of a spend up today so I've told her to keep her phone away from me for a while. It is so nice to do things like this together and she seems interested in tracking down interesting models and cutting deals. 

One of the first things I bought was this Night Horror. 

Not one of the more well known figures from the range. But a real joy to paint. He took about thirty minutes for start to finish and was completed with a real flourish of work. Obviously, the bulk of the work is drybrushing and I used pretty much the same recipe I had been using for wood on those buildings a few weeks ago, the only difference being that I added depth using Brown and Black Ink. I used fleshy tones around the mouth to add variation to the colour scheme and yellow eyes to give him that bestial look animals have. 

He was a great fun figure to paint up an further develop those drybrushing skills. I hope he stands up to the other horrors that I once painted if I ever get the chance to reunite my collection. I've got my eye on a few more and they would obviously fit in well with that undead army I've been working on forever. I really must crack on with those plastic skellies! Perhaps when my teeth are fixed and can concentrate on things a little better. I have big plans for this blog and my hobby life. A spectacular gaming table and two decent sized armies to fit over it. All backed up with lots of random allies and monsters. 

Enough of the dreaming Orlygg. 

And by the way, I lost that challenge. Stuart has sold on his Man-Mangler. 

Speak to you all soon...

*Some of Steve Casey's photographs of the classic model for your reference and mine. I'm looking forwards to having a crack at those shields when the time comes... it wouldn't be the man mangler without them, would it? 

More Dwarf Engineers, C22 Adventurer's Cart and Orlygg @ Salute 2026

What a wonderful hobby holiday it has been! Easter has roared on by but I have cracked on and got plenty of Old School projects completed. Here's hoping I can keep up the momentum once I am back at school. With the brighter weather and longer evenings I am hoping for a fair few more figures than last year. 

As I mentioned last post I had finished off this fella but didn't get around to doing and proper photograph. So here he is... Pickaxe (I forget his number) and he is a splendid chap. He painted up quickly and was thoroughly enjoyable to do just like the other dwarfs in this range. I stuck to my usual limited palette and just cracked on. 

As I have said, I've been most pleased with my tonal work with brown with this batch. I've been using Bestial as a base and simply adding red, yellow and orange to the mix to create different tones. All are highlighted by adding Bubonic Brown, Orc Brown or Bleached Bone. 

I took the same approach with this model. Hammer 1 in the catalogue. He was another quick and satisfying paint though the candle flame was damaged while I Was cleaning him up and needed a little bit of repair. Hope you cannot notice!

The candle was great fun to paint and didn't take long. It was a breath of fresh air after all of those samey colours. Not sure what magics sustain the flame. With my luck any lit candle would quickly blow out with the tiniest of a gust. 

Incidentally, these two figures were released in 1987 as part of the Citadel Collectors Series. Reference CC-1315 they came with a small collection of tools. This was range of favourites put out around the release of 3rd edition. I had no real inkling that such a series of blisters existed until today, which just goes to show that after many, many years of research they are still things to discover about the wonderful world of Ansell era Warhammer. 

They rank up nicely too, as you can see here in this group shot. I didn't realise that I could must so many figures from this range even with my meagre leadpile. A small unit like this might not be able to achieve much on a battle field but they look great all standing together. 

Look at this for a bit of luck. I found my old McDeath Scenery recently and this was amongst the odds and ends. It is the c22 Adventurer's Cart or the original version of it anyway. There was a second, later model based on the same premise. No sign of the muleskinner though sadly.

Trigger, the horse, was unscathed but the cart had been crushed and required gentle persuasion to bend it back into shape. Not that you can notice I hope. I washed the dust off the surfaces and gave it a subtle drybrush of Bleached Bone. 

This model seems to fit the mine and the engineers so will be associated with the new scenery piece going forwards. 

Saturday saw me attend Salute once more. The show was just as vibrant as ever though its sad to see the long decline of pure historical games continue. Stuart was kind enough to take command of the driving this year so I was the passenger. So bit thanks to him. 

One modern range that caught my eye was these wonderful He-Man style miniatures. Something that could easily (bot no quite) sway me from my love of '80s Citadel. 

I was pleased to see that She-Ra even got a figure alongside Spirit. Wonderful models and certainly  something I may look at in more depth in future when the Citadel runs low. 

As always, Foundry was an important visit. I was able to pick up another pack of the recently released unreleased Citadel spearmen. I plan to build a unit of these stirling chaps at some point so having another pack was essential. I also managed to snap up and fair few other ex-Citadel figures that Foundry put out over the years I was away too. 

It was fantastic to see Tim Prow again and oggle over his incredible Diehard Miniatures range. These are more than enough to tempt me away from Citadel and I picked up some more choice pieces from him. These were easily the best quality metal models at the show and judging by his packed stand, I am not the only one who thinks so. 

He has started to put out units of figures that look superb. 

Orcs....

Chaos...

Undead....

When I don't have to spend hundreds of pounds every month on doing my home up I will hopefully find the funds to pick up these units for they are lovely and fit in with what I am trying to achieve. Look out for his future Kickstarters too! 

Finally, we saw Geoff again and saw a beautifully made table exhibiting his Oakbound Games 'Woods' system. Easily the best looking table at the entire show and lots of details to help inspire my own spectacular gaming table that I hope to complete in August! 

Well, back to school tomorrow. Groan, but I do have a new man-mangler and pre-slotta giant set aside for my next projects and once the Workshop is in better condition there are those skeletons to crack on with too.

Until then, 

Orlygg

Modelling Workshop: Hills and Mines

The Warhammer Cottage unleased a wave of creativity in my friends and I the winter it was first published. Old cereal packets, plastic tape boxes and oodles of cat litter sand were sacrificed as we constructed sprawling villages. These buildings would be spread across Russell Parson's snooker table, hedges made from lichen scraped from local stones and walls made from piles of pebbles.

It was over vistas such as these that my childhood battles were fought. Everything on the field at once. No army lists. No victor, for we never managed to complete a battle in the short amount of time we had. Just setting everything up and basking over the glory of it all was often enough for us.

Still, by the time White Dwarf 132 plonked itself down on my doorstep, fatigue had started to set in. Glancing at the complexity of the dwarf mine shown above, we all promptly gave up and moved on to other exciting things, like Advanced Space Crusade. 

Having thoroughly enjoyed the process of building the Warhammer Cottage and Townhouse I was keen to continue the trend and build the mines and hills after shirking my duty all those years ago. This project would really stretch me and prepare for this summer's extravaganza of making a more permanent gaming board. Here was a little task that would teach me what works and what wouldn't work in fantasy scenery.  

And here is the result. Eager dwarfs prospect a new seam of glittering gold. You can see them here having just brought a heavy mine cart of the stuff to the surface. The keen eyed of you will notice another engineer has joined the ranks of my latest bunch. The structure was built exactly the same way as my carboard and foam board buildings were. Only, I didn't use black as the basis of the wood. I used the same recipe that I used for the extended Cottage last month or so. Bestial Brown, Orc Brown and Bleached Bone. The gold, if you are wondering, is smashed quartz from my driveway. 

Keeping things as authentic as I could I even used original 1980s polystyrene which I found under our old boiler. It was removed last October and MFM spotted the stuff sticking out from under its hood. I rescued the valuable material and took it down to my workshop. Thankfully, I had the sense to nab some before my workshop was closed off by kitchen. I shaped and worked the stuff using a bread knife and sand-paper just like the article suggests. 

One thing I did learn was not to buy gold paint. Or any other metallic paint either. I was using straight Mithril Silver straight out of the pot and mixing it with yellow, orange and brown to make different metallic hues. It worked a treat though the highlighting of the ore in these photos is lost by the lighting conditions. I plan to go back and make them a little more obvious at some point.

I have a forth engineer who never made it to the party. I ran out of time to finish him but you'll see him soon enough. He was the most battered of the figures I had and his candle had been badly damaged. This I repaired easily enough but what he was coated with very difficult to remove. Presumably some kind of enamel paint. Not even the Dettol was strong enough to shift it!! I had to break out the Nitro-Mors!

He was fun to paint and I used even less of my paints than before. I'm really enjoying getting to grips with these dwarf figures and I hope to get my hands on more of them in the future. Humans/Dwarfs verses goblins is the backbone of Warhammer Battles during this era, something I am keen to explore if I have luck. 

We will have an proper look at him when  the second engineer is complete but for now he is happy enough to hold his mattock and brood over the treasures still unclaimed in the caverns below. 

The two outbuildings were also constructed and painted in much the same way. They are useful little dwellings or any battlefield really and will no doubt be used widely in future. Readers with very long memories may well spot some of my older scenery pieces here, I used them way back when with my McDeath project. I was able to restore them recently and I was pleased to get them out again for a new project. They are all from Foundry.

The tiled roof shack. I wonder who lives in here?

And the canvas roofed shack. Obviously, where they keep the explosives! MFM needs a noble mention now as it was she who gave me her binka to roof the structure. I used garden string as rope too, gluing the lot down with Superglue and drybrushing furiously. I had no access to modelling clay though the process described in the article does interest me. You roll the stuff out, shape and sculpt it in position over the roof of the model. Certainly something I hope to try in future so we will probably see another version of this model one day. 

I also had a crack and making a hill in much the same way. I lack flock and static grass or indeed modelling sand to attempted to use polyfilla. The result is okay and I was happy apinting the surface in all manner of shades of green but I am not sure they work in natural light. Still, I know what NOT to do when I complete the gameboard in the summer and the hills and mine can always be repainted.

NOTE: these sheep are also from Foundry and were recently rediscovered by me. They didn't need any repairs having survived the years away unscathed. These too, were used in my McDeath period. 

The finer details in life often make it worth living. Here you can see my mine cart and gold store up close. Both of these were scratch built by me using the details in White Dwarf. I am most pleased with the wheels on the mine cart as I now know how to make them. Like all fantastic ideas it was really rather simple. Hole-punched card for the larger circle and a smoothed down skeleton shield boss from the famous Horde and Army boxsets. Smaller sprues sliced up served as the basis of the bolts too. 

The three piles of gubbins are all from Foundry too. I painted these up as a small group a few days ago as they add flavour and character to my mine. 

To round things off here I a full scale shot of my new scenery piece. What do you think? As I was saying I'm not too sure of the green of the grass. It is a little chalky for my tastes (probably a boyhood on the Jurassic Coast) but I tried to make it look more natural by adding some patches of flock and static grass. My supplies of these are minimal but I learnt years ago that less, is very much more in this business. 

I used card as a base and sadly it has warped a little. You can probably see the curvature in this picture. I intend to weigh down the model with heavy stones once I am back in my workshop. A good few weeks under some weighty pebbles will hopefully remedy the situation. I am aware that old grognards know a trick or two so if you have and methods for straightening out cardboard please do let me know. 

Isn't it walls, hedges and fences next? 

Orlygg

Dwarf Engineer with Shovel 1 and Goblobber Commander

 

More of those projects I mentioned last post have been completed. Though not as many as I had hoped for. The landing of our stairs collapsed today and I had to spend some hours repairing it. Cutting out the old broken planks and hastily replacing them with something temporary. This cut deep into my hobby time. 

Still, two figures were completed today. The first is this happy chap. He seems to have struck gold. He is, of course, one of the dwarf engineers that were released in the second half of the 1980s. They may well have been linked to the released of Warhammer Siege or they may well have just been nice models. 

No-one can really recall. 

This fellow, known rather unimaginatively as Shovel 1, has the whiff of the Old West about him. You can see the obvious influences of the frontier about his personage with that yokel beard and sloped hat. He is also thumbing a nugget of gold and no doubt hopes that he has struck it rich. 

Like many of the dwarf figures he is full of character and fun, with an obvious nod to wider popular culture. He was fun to paint and I used the same fairly basic set of colours to complete him. You may remember that the doorway to my workshop is currently blocked by cabinets and so forth for my new kitchen. 

I understand that these models are quite collectable, no doubt due to the amusing nature of their design. Hardcore gamers would have little use for these figures otherwise as I can't imagine that they'd look all that spectacular in a larger unit. I'm not sure if Warhammer Armies had a unit card for engineers. I am sure one of you fine fellows will tell me. 

Here's the complete range if you are interested in further research. I have a few other models from this range now and I was hoping to get them finished to join these two fellows. But those dreadful stairs ruined my plans. 

The second figure today is the commander of the Goblobber. Though with his large hammer he could easily pass as an engineer. Without the said war machine, he might as well serve that purpose in my collection. He was fun to paint and far less fiddly than the previous figure. I went all Kingdom Come Deliverance with his colour scheme too. The gambeson and hose are all painted in fairly typical medieval colours, which these figures ape. 

He has obviously had one too many Bugman's Bests in the evening judging by his bulging belly. He was an easy paint and rather enjoyable too. I am pleased with the way the browns have come out here. I've been struggling for a while to get leather looking interesting. Its all been a little to uniform and uninspired. With so few colours to choose from I've had to mix far more shades together and this has resulted in some more vibrant tones. Certainly something to take with me as I crack on with other models.

Never paint straight out of the pot. 

And here is the commander is his original form. Not too sure why the dwarf sitting on the pile of goblins heads is sporting a pink bandana. But it was the eighties and such things did occur. Just not normally in the Warhammer world. As you may have guessed. These figures will play a role in my next post. A certain modelling workshop is nearing completion. Only two tiny parts remain to be painted and these engineers will finally have somewhere to hang out. 

Until then, enjoy that pink bandana. 

Orlygg

Citadel FF5 Fiend Factory Winged Demon with Whip and Sword/ C31 'Balrog' 1982

I've not been idle this Easter. I promise...

I have had a myriad of projects on the go, this one just happens to be the first completed and ready for blogging. I have to thank The Lead Head Who Cannot Be Named for this model. He is another one from that grognard's deep drawers of chaos. When he arrived, this model was in a terrible state. Smeared with enamel paints and suffering from damage to his sword and whip not to mention a touch of the dreaded 'lead rot' around the base and wings. As you will know, I'm happy to restore those models that have sat in leadpiles for decades. 

Happier still if I can bring them back to life from near death!

To resurrect him, I drilled the soft metal with a pin vice (using PPE equipment and plenty of ventilation), filed it all down and smoothed over the damage with green stuff. I then paint over with a layer of superglue to seal my work.  A good thick layer of white acrylic paint over the stop has prevented any further decay, I hope. 

I've owned several of these models over the years but never got around to painting one. So I was pleased to finally have the chance. As I said, this example was pretty beaten up with lots of damage to the casting, especially the wings due to age and wear and tear. But I am happy with the result. 

Unlike others, I avoided the obvious trope of sticking to the LotR source material. I wanted a more '80s style paint job similar to the 'Citadelesque' approach I've been leaning to. If you want to see a far better version of this model and one that closely adheres to the source material, then check out the work of matthewjkullivan. His version of this model is probably the seminal one and is painted with a skill and eye for colour I could never match. Have a look here...

This model is a very early piece by Citadel. From 1982 and was one of their biggest and best models of that early era. A one piece casting in lead, the form exudes power and presence in a way plastic printed multi-part kits of our high tech age cannot. Depicting evil in art takes skill and the eye of an artist. This model has all of that in spades. I cannot work out the sculptor of this model, though many enthusiasts point the finger at a young Bob Naismith. If you are after further details check out the Lost Mini webpage. 

There isn't a great deal to go on research wise. This fellow first appears in the 2nd Citadel Compendium as far as I can tell, though he may have appeared in one of the issues of White Dwarf running Table Top Heroes first. It's hard to fathom as my collection of White Dwarf magazines doesn't stretch this far back. I'm free to be corrected if any readers are more knowledgeable about the provenance of such a classic model. 

Here's his original ad. Its worth noting that the same model that would later be issued as 'Clint' the Treeman for McDeath was released at the same time as this model. Truly vintage. 

My painted job was restricted by the condition of the model. It was also affected by my workshop being inaccessible. Our new kitchen was delivered last Wednesday and the storage space in front of the workshop door was chosen as the resting place of cabinets, a sink, an oven, microwave and dishwasher as well as all of the worktops and what-not. I managed to liberate a handful of paints and a few brushes before the delivery was complete so had to work with what I had. 

As I said at the start of this post, I am working on several projects at the moment and this one was a bit of change. So I went all out on the colours. Deliberately going a bit crazy and zany with the colour choices. I was having fun! Except for the whip, which was a right pain to paint. I tried out several schemes before giving up on all of them and just going for black. When I have some more time (as some better brushes) I might come back and touch things up a bit there. And smarten up the painting around the highlights on the wings. Who knows? Any of you dear readers have any suggestions of what I could do?

Orlygg

The 1990 Warhammer Townhouse Project

Hello to one and all. 

It has been a fairly hectic two weeks since my last post. Normal story - school (in this case, reports), dentistry (receding gums) and home improvements (ripping out the ghastly old kitchen and replastering ready for the new one to be fitted) and so on. That doesn't mean that I've been idle... quite the opposite in fact as I've been busy working away on the second stage of my White Dwarf modelling articles project. 

Last time the seminal Warhammer Cottage was the star of the show and this time it's close cousin, the Warhammer Townhouse Mk1, gets it's time to shine. In the end, I constructed four models and experimented with the final two largely to see what I could achieve with random household items and DIY favourites that all of us have lying around the house. 

Here, check out my endeavours.

Obviously, I am pleased with them. All of these models are constructed from foamboard, balsa wood and the carboard from old cereal packets. The chimneys are made from the plastic tubes you get on new paintbrushes, snipped to size and superglued on. The walls were textured with watered down polyfilla or in the cases of the rendered buildings, pure polyfilla smoothed on. As before, I used some 'less is more' modelling flock to add a little character and colour variety to the models. Plasticard was cut to size and used as a base, adding strength and security to the scenery pieces. 

Let's have a closer look at the models.

This was actually the final model in the sequence so I was very confident constructing it. I felt secure enough to experiment, hence the balcony style windows and the brickwork. I added some freehand designs to the plaster to give a little character but it all looked a little false. A little distressing and weathering helped to tie the detail in and add a little realism, at least to my eye. The roof was made with strips of cereal box card snipped with scissors into cladding. The zigzag pattern on the roof came from an old piece of kid's wool winding card. What do you all think of the freehand design? Should it stay or go? 

This was the second model I produced and I felt the urge to experiment with the layout of the windows and support beams. In my mind, these buildings would have all been uniquely different, even in the fantastical setting of '80s Warhammer. So why not mix things up a little? Again, I used the other side of the wool card to decorate the roof and used a decent sized blob of PVA to hide a small error around the chimney with flock. Surely no-one will notice?

This was my initial build and the closest to the example given in the article. Everything about the construction of this model was identical to the Warhammer Cottage save about ten years. You may have noticed my handpainted doors. I ummed and erred about how to present these and in the end decided to paint them in the style of the Warhammer Townscape doorways. That publication, and the card buildings from other earlier ranges, are a huge influence on me. Not sure if I have quite got the colours right yet so watch this space to see if I can improve things further with future buildings. 

The paving slabs were created in exactly the same way as the roof only I used a slightly different colour mix when painting them, just to give some much need differentiation to the slate grey tiles. 

For me, this is the classic Warhammer building. I'm sure that I will build more in future as they feel very therapeutic to construct. Go on, have a go too!

Though the plans for this model appeared in White Dwarf 131, the previous issue showed off some of the studio's attempts a month earlier. One of those models was a thatched roof job that caught my eye. You can just notice it to the left handside of the photograph I used to begin this post. Obviously, my skills are not a patch on Dave Andrews or Phil Lewis of old but I still fancied a crack at one. And its probably worth pointing out, I've never tried to create a thatched roof before in my life.

Perhaps it shows?

Anyway, I f you are interested in how I built the roof it is simple. Wire wool. I simply cut the stuff to size and stuck it on with a hot-glue gun. Over that, I painted pure PVA and them several coats of black acrylic paint - the thick stuff from art shops not the Citadel stuff I use for miniatures. The final touch was to drybrush in layers of grey before washing over with green and brown glazes.

The shutters, again inspired by the examples given in WD130, are just snipped cardboard painted and weathered as normal. I tried another 'Townscape' style doorway too, complete with keyhole - which I went back and added to the other models. 

I didn't provide side views last post so I am doing that now. Here you can see the different placement on ancillary windows and beams as well as detail of the brickwork. Again, this was achieved in exactly the same way as the roofs. 

I used the readymade pollyfilla that comes in a tube to create the texture for all of the walls. Either watering it down and applying with a brush or smearing it on with the card spatula. This kind of rendering is extremely effective and well worth experimenting with if you haven't tried it before. 

Trust me, it was my first time. 

And the final sides of the buildings. Which leaves us with one unanswered question. What to do with the windows? I've left them black but I've seen other people paint on glass or tint them in different ways. Some people have used varnish to give the windows a glassy look. If any of you dear readers have any tips for this please do pass them on, I'd love to return to these and my cottages at some point for the final touches. 

Right, first day of the Easter holidays tomorrow. So plenty of time for me to hobby at long last. With the articles in White Dwarf 130 and 131 now complete on my little odyssey its time to open the dusty pages of White Dwarf 132 and attempt the Mines and Hills of the dwarfs.

Wish me luck. 

Orlygg