What has the FF2 Lord of Darkness and Lae'zel from Baldur's Gate 3 got in common?

Necrotic nerves... that is what was holding me back all this time. So you can imagine how eager I am to crack on a get some miniatures painted. And games played. On my PC not over a spectacular gaming table, though that will come, I promise. 

Oh, and I'll need a couple of armies to actually fight over the thing. I'm settling on Orcs and Goblins and Undead at the moment. As both seem easy to get hold of without comedy prices and in my old age I'm finding them the more characterful and interesting of models to paint.

Though I must admit to having enjoyed a few hours of Baldur's Gate 3 again. I feel I can enjoy the game now I don't have to worry about flare ups and toothache all the time. Though I wasn't a fan of D&D back in the day, we had WFRP for goodness sake, I was always partial to their computer games. Eye of the Beholder on the Amiga was INCREDIBLE and I have played it through numerous times, even killing the beholder once. I was rather bemused back in my youth to just get a screen stating... well done... especially after that classic opening sequence and sombre music. 

My favourite of all the characters is Lae'zel. And I could never have guessed there would be a link between her and the first model I have painted up in a while. But there is... so read on a find out just how tenuous Orlygg is going to be. 

Let's slip back a few hours. It is evening. MFM wants to watch some telly and tells me that it won't be something I'd like. This means that I'll need to go elsewhere so to my little portable painting set up I go. The workshop still looks like a clan of goblins have squatted in it.  Which one shall I choose, I thought. Something poignant yet simple. Something that can easily be completed in a single sitting while I weep at the thought of how many figures I could have bought with the £1000 dental bill... oooh, errr... a single chaos champion on eBay prices eh, resellers?

Thankfully, recent purchases I have made discreetly online have started to arrive. And the first package to plonk on my doormat for many, many years was this classic Fiend Factory figure. How I enjoyed the thrill of tearing off the postage material! How I lamented that model inside didn't reek of THE DETTOL. That means I'm going to have to clean it up myself. And the figure itself was in a poor state. Clearly mis-cast back in the early '80s he had quite a few blobs of lead and other grot about him. I cut away as much as I could be found the going tough. It was pretty much solids lead. Filing some of it down worked for a while but I was still left with lumpen masses around his crown and a jumble of something hanging down from his cloak near his mace. In the end I just incorporated the flaws into the model the best I could. 

Is it noticeable?

This model saw his first release in 1982 as part of the Fiend Factory range. You may recall me painting up both the Winged Demon with Sword and Whip and the White Wizard in recent times which are also part of this series. In truth, I don't know much about these models are they were well before my era of GW. I was only three years old when they were initially released and they certainly didn't appear in any issues of WD that I read as a child. So discovering many of these models now has been fantastic especially considering that link to everyone's favourite CRPG with a 3 in the title. 

Fiend Factory models were produced from around 1979 to about 1983. Many of them being designed by readers of White Dwarf as well as many well known enthusiasts of the time. Ian Livingstone created fiends for the range, as did British writer Charles Stross. Among many achievements, Stross created a creature or fiend he named the Githyanki. I for one had no idea that this now famous fantasy race saw their debut on the pages of the embryonic White Dwarf! I wonder if that is a fact known by the modern 'managers' of the magazine? 

At that time, GW held the license to publish Dungeons and Dragons products in the UK. The editor of much of this range was Don Turnbull and it was planned to publish the famous Fiend Folio in the later half of 1979 as the Second Monster Manual. Many of the monsters in this book were based on submissions from White Dwarf. Though Turnbull completed the manuscript with plenty of time to spare, legal wrangles and business squabbles kept the publication of the supplement on hold for nearly two years. The Fiend Folio was eventually released in August 1981 by TSR themselves. In fact, this helped them launch their own division here in the UK.

As I said earlier, Much of the material in this book, numbering 128 pages, was drawn from submissions from White Dwarf. The Assassin Bug, Grell, Giant Bloodworm as well as drow, kuo-toa and firbolg were all included along with many others. An unforeseen consequence of the legal wranglings was that Citadel Miniatures, who possessed the contract to produce gaming miniatures based on White Dwarf articles, had to pass the copyright for the Fiend Factory models back to TSR, who themselves had a contract with Grenadier models. So the 'Factory' style models disappeared from the Citadel shelves. 

With slotta-bases only a few years away, these old solid based classics were soon to be replaced with their more dynamic cousins. The earlier ranges fell away as Citadel grew larger and larger and started working on its own internal written material and background. It is interesting to note that the First Edition of Warhammer was released around this time too. 

Still, The FF2 Lord of Darkness remains a classic of the 1980s fantasy scene. He was clearly a very popular figure judging by the number of copies of him turning up for sale today. If you like preslotta miniatures, and even if you don't, it is well worth the time tracking down one of these wonderful figures. I don't know about you but I think he'd back a great statue for a scenery piece somewhere?

I plan on including him in my undead army somewhere once those skellies are finished. I had three on the painting table right now but can't stop myself being drawn away by other more intriguing models. Apologies!!

Speak soon,

Orlygg

Using AI to illustrate miniatures: Slop or Not?

                                       

                                                   

This little scene was the final attempt I made. By this point I'd worked out how precise you had to be to get the results I wanted.

Over the last week I have undergone one hundred a sixty minutes of dental surgery, over two occasions, and spent some miserable days recovering. The treatment appears to have been successful and despite the cost I am hopeful that my long standing problems are now over. During my short period of convalescence (today) I discovered a strange app that offers the miniature enthusiast, or indeed toy affectionardo in general, the opportunity to animate their painted figures or toys with ease, all from a single photograph. The app is called Nauk Nauk if you are interested. Google it.

With little to do but fiddle around on a screen, I wiled away a few hours exploring what could be achieved with a little AI. Now I know the stuff gets a bad press and jolly right too. It has changed the internet forever and smeared its slop over nearly everything, most notably the morass that is Facebook. Misinformation is widespread and some of it so ridiculous you'd doubt the stuff even believable... but some people obviously (and against their better judgement, it seems) do. At the time of writing, the UK is experiencing all the drama and deceit of a political election which is making things worse. Our longstanding political parties are in freefall, after years of bungling, and we now have two equally extreme parties eager for our attention. Reform. And the Greens. Sadly, both are lead by some pretty unsavory characters... hang on! Surely this is material for a Warhmmer Scenario pack in the style of Orc's Drift or McDeath!?

I digress. 

So after a few hours of fiddling around I had managed to animate some of the photographs I've taken over the last few months and shared here. To be honest, I was quite amused by my efforts though many of them were hopelessly senseless and contaminated with the dreaded 'slop'. I'm sure you've clicked on a few of my efforts by now if the technology works here on Blogger.

The trouble is, AI is here to stay. It isn't going anywhere and it makes me wonder what it has in store not only for the hobby of miniature wargames but in our Citadel Miniatures/Games Workshop in the '80s and early '90s hobby in general.

Appallingly bad text seems to be a big part of it. Something you won't be seeing here. Yes, those spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are all mine. And they have been for all these years too. Though, I am not responsible for the walls of spam that clog up media like blogger. 

This was my first attempt. Not bad to start with but then the slop took over and confused the sword and whip. Slop indeed. 

Now I am all for the human element. As many of you dear readers have said, freeform writing is something that needs to be celebrated and cherished. None of us want to see (or read) more of that awful text guff that filters down to us all. Why are there so many lists? Endless adjectives and semi-coherent links. But photographs of enthusiasts' work?

Is that different? 

Is AI used to illustrate the models we are buying helpful or unhelpful if it makes it easier for companies to upload their products, especially with so many one-man-bands and small companies around our field of enjoyment? And, does it give us a different way of presenting and enjoying our own lovely old lumps of lead? 

It is interesting to note the GW has gone on the record to state that they are banning AI in their design process. Something that I whole heartedly agree on. Artificial intelligence is no replacement for a keen, artistic eye or voice. But as a tool to present something, very much like a photograph or video. Is that different? Can it be excused if the rest of the elements are all honest work? 

I don't doubt that the AI bubble will burst. The more you look into it, the less it appears it can actually do reliably. I had a right old hoot today asking AI who I was. I typed in 'Who is Orlygg?' and got some wonderfully incorrect responses with some saying I had died and others stating I was an alias of a completely different person. Of course, working in education we have had a few AI companies in showing off their technology. Including a woeful 'teacher' on a screen. The company had completely missed the point that 90% of learning is the relationship between the pupil, his or her peers and the teacher and the kids made fun of her by asking what the AI would do if they got out of their seats and messed around or fell over and needed a plaster. Or if their dog had died that morning. Or they had no lunch. The nice-lady-from-the-AI-company piped up at said that of course there would need to be an adult in the room too. 'What, the teacher then?' Chirriped a seven year old quite innocently. 

But I digress, again. 

Sorry. 

This Night Horror werebear came out alright. I think using tools like this are viable if they are used appropriately to bring out the character of a model or key event in a narrative wargame.

Is it wrong to combine AI with our beloved '80s fantasy-fare? Is it blasphemous? Will the long-dead grognards that went before us stir unsoundly in their tombs if we paint up a dwarf warrior and use AI to animate him for presentation or fun, even? Facebook certainly did. While working out how to upload these videos with my computer I shared my work on various platforms to see if I could get it working. One of those places was the Oldhammer Community FB page that I created all those years ago. Now, I don't have much to do with it these days. I was always happy to let others make it what they wanted it to be. But the repugnancy my video received there was quite surprising. No discussion allowed. Just deletion. I can remember a different time. A time when we talked about stuff that was new and intriguing rather than just reacting to it. But fear of change is real. And its hurts those of us whole are nostalgic for a time that no longer exists perhaps?

I saw my little videos as being tastefully done, as best as could be presented using the technology available. Was I being naive trying to capture the spirit of the models and the era they belong to using modern technology? Are the animations produced of my own models, paintjobs and scenery less worthy due to the form of media I choose to use? If I had painstakingly animated by Skeleton Horde models using lots of Blu-Tak and stop motion animation would I have been criticised just the same?

Well, I guess we are all going to find out soon! This technology is very much on the rise and more applications will be no doubt found for the clueless luddite at home to either tinker with or enrage themselves by. It is not going anywhere guys. I'm sure working in the classroom is going to put me in the forefront of it all. Kids love this stuff and they see the creative possibilities in it all. MFM's two boys loved seeing my models come to life and it made them all the more real. One of them even asked to paint up a figure and do the same. Is AI a possible new gateway into our ever changing hobby?

Am I wrong to toy with it? Maybe.

Did it make me feel better while I recovered from surgery? Definitely.

Is it something I'd use again on Realm of Chaos 80s? Probably not. 

I'm intrigued where this is going to go, especially with apps like Nauk Nauk out there. I know it is a tool for action figure fans and lego nuts but there is plenty of Warhammer on there, though mostly modern stuff. I very much doubt someone will go through the trouble of producing something specifically for tabletop miniatures but anything is possible I suppose. With us all spending huge amounts of cash on little lead men we aren't going to be stumping up the cash and investing in a start-up!

Anyway, I'm off to take my medicine and rest easy. I've got a stack of unfinished models to paint, research to continue and another interview to type up. See you all soon! Old Orlygg will be back to normal services soon enough.

What will the world be like when I do?

It is changing that fast!

And please don't be shy with your opinions about AI and wargaming in general. I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts no matter where you sit on the subject. 

I tried for ages to animal my beloved skeletons from the Horde. This was the best I could do. Jason and the Argonauts this is not. 

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