The Return of the Elven Animal Keepers

 

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

I hadn't expected them until Wednesday.

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

I'm happy to say that I was wrong. 

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

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

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

And look at that tab!

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

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

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

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

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

Orlygg. 

Restoring the Skeleton Army (part the second)

Half-term just flew by. We've got a fair bit achieved inside the bungalow too, mostly stripping away layers upon layers of ancient wallpaper from the lounge and corridor. Everything was papered it seems, and then painted over in thick, 1970s and '80s house paint, ceilings included. With the new bathroom due to be fitted the week after next, and new flooring and plasterwork imminent after a window replacement... it is full on (and expensive) at Orlygg Towers.

As you can see, I still found time to work on the Skeleton Army project. The two models you can see above are my test pieces now that all thirty infantry models have been fully restored. And what a job that was! As you may have seen, many of these models were snapped or damaged in some way with nearly all of the weapons missing. I think I counted five complete models in the entire assemblage. 

Many of you dear readers have supplied me with bits of plastic skeleton or complete frames over the last few months. Every donation has been carefully put away and used to rebuild this magnificent regiment. I've even had a go with the infamous plastic skeleton armour pieces to create a skeletal champion to lead them. I used a mixture of poly-cement and greenstuff to repair splits and breakages, going as far to sculpting simple joints on the shoulders of those models who lack them. A pin-vice was handy to drill out suitable holes here and there to affix to my armless skellies. 

Oh, and the sprues I built up for the Skeleton Horde remain unused, so the Horde models will too see the light of day eventually. 

The hodgepodge of materials means that my army is a little lopsided in regards to arms. I have far more scimitars than I do anything else and only two spears. Not that you can notice once the models have been assembled and ranked up. I must confess to being impressed with some of the posing done by the former owner, very dynamic. Inspired by this, I set about wherever possible having plenty of swords and axes in the air or shields held out in front as if preparing to receive a charge. 

After a few days of tinkering all of the models were repaired. The next pressing concern was the shields. Did I have enough for a project of this size? A good rummage through supplies found that I'd barely meet the needs of my troops. Beyond bankrupting myself purchasing old shields on eBay for £7.99 for four I would be limited in scope.

But, I'd found an old press mould kit in the attic. I'd barely used it back in the heady Oldhammer days of my old life so thought, 'why not try and see if it is possible to press mould some of my favourite old plastic shields?' 

The mould itself was bought on Amazon a long time ago. It is activated by hot water. Simply boil the kettle, drop in the material and wait a few minutes. The mould becomes very, very soft and easy to manipulate. I used the back of a spoon to roll the stuff flat and level before returning it to the hot water. I then selected a few suitable '80s shields, scooped the mould out, laid it flat on an old coaster and pushed the shields into the material. Not too hard mind, I found the a slow, gentle bit of pressure got the best results. 

I trialed a few different methods that can be seen here. First up, PVA glue. I simply poured the stuff over the impression and left it to dry in the sun. I repeated the process three or four times over a day or so and the first few shields you can see above in white were the result. Too brittle for our purposes really, and I found the the glue curled as it dried. Next up, I experimented with new fangled 'air drying clay' from one of MFM's kid's craft sets. Lovely detail on some of the shields bit it was quite brittle and hard to cut. The small elf shield on the bottom row was the most detailed of this run. I was expecting the clay to be hard and smooth when cured but it was actually just a kind of foam. This stuff could be useful for other projects, just not with these shields. 

Finally, I reverted back to greenstuff. Initial experiments where far too thick, as can be seen with the top row, but over time I realised that less is more when creating these kinds of press moulds. I'd roll a little bit of putty, wet the inside of the mould and just push down hard. Detail was often lacking until I really worked the putty in my hands and run it under a hot tap. The greenstuff was then very elastic and made the clearest casts, as can be seen above next to the original shields. Nail scissors and a sharp blade made short work of any unwanted greenstuff. 

I'm pleased to say that the two test-piece skellies in the first photographs both have my press-cast shields on them. Can you tell the difference? 

And does this make me a recaster now? (;

Here are the two restored figures alongside a skeleton a did a few weeks back fresh from the sprue. I've kept the painting method the same only I now drybrush on the ribs. I have way too many models to painstakingly paint each chest and it seems to work well. I'm no longer using the old Citadel Brown Ink to shade either, instead I'm using the Windsor and Newton Sepia I mentioned last post. With the metallics, I've experimented with some of the other inks to try and create a orangey rusty effect on the shields and weapons too. 

The next stage in this project is to get a few more test models complete to really refine the process. Then I've got to basecoat the new arms and skulls I've taken from pure sprues. I'll be using Orc Brown to do this. I'll then wash the lot of them with sepia ink in one go. Then its just slugging on with the painting of the remaining twenty-eight figures. 

With an inexhaustible supply of shields to paint now, I'll be cutting down on the monotony playing around with some new designs, including an attempt to reimagine some of the actual shield designs painted by Colin Dixon et al back in the 1980s. Of course, I still have a fair few metal figures from you kind readers to get distracted by too. 

Onwards,

Orlygg

Orlygg on Orcs and Inks

The holiday's have arrived and the thick dust that settled across our home has been borne away. We've had the builders in this week to rip out the homemade fireplace we inherited with the house and replace it with a modern log burner. It is nice to make progress with our run down house. The bathroom is next and I had to spend an eye watering amount of money to purchase all of the fixtures and fittings for that task. MFM is of course happy that after so many trials and tribulations we have begun work in earnest.

Secretly, I'd love to be spending the money on 1980s Citadel and retro inspired goodies galore. But I refrained, sensibly. I have however been getting the paints out and found myself in a conundrum. Just how do you paint an orc?

You might recall, I was sent a bunch of sticky, stinking models a while back. One of them was the green-skinned chap you can see atop this blog. The others were all riders and without any mounts they will have to go back into my lead scatter (its too small to be called a pile) until suitable models can be found. 

I must admit to finding him a challenging model to paint. Not because of any real detail, or lack of skill... but because I couldn't fathom why it didn't look like an '80s orc. Part of the problem is that I don't have a huge amount of greens to choose from. My proxy Goblin Green is on its last legs and I don't have much Ork Flesh kicking about to squander. I'm kicking myself now, considering I was standing in front of the Coat d'Arms range last month and didn't do anything about it, save my Bleached Bone. Lessons learned for the future. Anyone know a reliable website that sells Coat D'Arms paints?

In the end, I used Scorpion Green - a '90s classic still in its hexagonal paint pot. It was way too much of a vibrant colour to use without mixing in a little brown and yellow. But with this as a base I worked up the figure trying to improve the quality of my flesh painting skills. In the end, I think I added one highlight too many, judging by the photo above. But I knew there was till much work to be done to produce more consistent models. But still, he didn't look right. I knew what I wanted, a orc who'd fit alongside the ranks of White Dwarf circa 1989 but just couldn't achieve it. 

So he sat on my painting area for a while. Fast forwards today, and I was up in the attic sorting stuff once more. Near the last box full of bits and pieces I found the other half of my final painting set up from my old life. Much like before, it had been very evidently just tipped into a box and dumped into storage. There were a number of broken and half-finished models from summer 2020 all of which I can now complete but there were also a selection of my old inks!

Here is my old school ink collection as it stands now. I've managed to rebuild most of the set with only Chestnut Brown missing. I've even begun some boring comparison work comparing the '80s shades with the ones I got in the early 2000s. You can see them here in the hinged black top pots. Some a wildly different but others, especially the blues, match closely. Thanks to Chris sending me quite a few stopper bottles of ink I can compare those too. I remembered Andy Craig telling me that they used Windsor and Newton inks in the Design Studio during our era so I've got a couple of bottles of those too. I've not ever used them but I'm happy to try anything these days. Have a sepia ink that will be a good proxy for Chestnut Brown and I hope to test this colour out on some plastic skellies soon. 

Returning to our friend the orc, as soon as I splashed on a bit of '80s green ink he came together. I used it to shade various parts of his body and even added it to a little purple mix to highlight his lip. I'd clearly forgotten how important the inks were to getting the look I'm after. 

Going forwards, I'm going to try out this mix for my next goblinoid. Goblin Green/Ork Flesh base coat, shaded with class Green Ink with the darker areas touched up with a green and black in mix. I'll then add yellow and bone to the base in stages and then work up the flesh, trying not to over highlight the muscles. Do any of you have a preferred process for orcs and goblins... I'd love to know because I'm not satisfied with what I have at the moment.

Also, this orc gave me the opportunity to play around with armour as well and I used blue and black ink washes to stain the chainmail and give some lived in grit to his helmet. I think they are helping me reached back to my old style. The trouble is, without the actual old painted figures in front of me it is hard to make comparisons and remember what I did in the past. I'm certain I've painted figures I've forgotten about now.

I did find an old photograph of my painted stuff. 

Look...

This picture must be from 2015. So ten years ago and I know I painted much more than this. I cannot see any of my beloved McDeath project that I was so close to finishing either so perhaps it was taken before I began that project. 

I do know that this cabinet was emptied of my belongings and then used outside to hold plants. It was rained on throughout the winter of 2020 and I last saw it looking rather saggy and decrepit a few years back as I was collecting my kids. A sad end for a cabinet that house my figures for so end. 

But where are the figures themselves? Anyone seen them for sale?  

Here's to building a new collection of figures, and perhaps one day, getting a bigger cabinet.

Orlygg

Restoring the Skeleton Army (Part The First)

 

And on a penny, life spins you in a different direction. It stops you in your tracks and makes you rethink a part of your life. Today was just such a day for me. Chris sent me a package and it contained the battered remains of the classic 'Skeleton Army' box from 1989 as well as another stash of old school Citadel Colour paints. 

To say I was amazed was an understatement. If truth be told, I received the package when I was out of class and supposed to be doing something completely different with my time. But I must confess spending a good ten minutes just pouring over the treasures Chris had sent me.

Chris, I am so, so grateful for this and it will seriously change the direction of this blog and my hobby time. For now, I have an actual army in embryo. Something to work with to get myself back on the table after beginning from nothing six months past. 

Chris.... I salute you and I'll salute you again!

This collage shows most of the contents of the Chris' package. The top half shows off the additions to my old school paint range with several unopened pots of Blood Red, a fairly standard paint that gets a lot of use from me. There are also more obscure tones such as Night World Blue which I confess I have never heard of before. Classic pots of ink were also found inside with some brown, red, purple and blue now in my possession. The inks are an essential ingredient in getting the 'look' of an '80s style model and I'm looking forwards to using them and matching them to other inks on the market. A real bonus was an unopened pot of Bolt-Gun Metal that hadn't turned into a solid mass of gunge. I've been matching many of the old school colours I have to the enormous amount of paints Ian sent me a while back and have some real success. 

The bottom half shows the extremely worse for wear Skeleton Army in all its glory. There are enough pieces to make at least nine skeletal horses and there are at least thirty-four useable skeleton infantry. I have seventy-five percent of the plastic chariot too, with Chris writing to me to say that the missing wheel may still be discovered in his stash. When you add cavalry bases and over twenty Citadel shields there is a lot to take in. I have numerous broken bits of skellies too and about twenty hand weapons of various types. Four skeletons are mint and can be painted up pretty much immediately.

You can appreciate why my jaw hit the floor of the staffroom. A young lady teacher walked past me bemused at my joy. I tried to explain but '80s era Warhammer is like 'Nam. 

You had to be there.

This collage shows the collection in more detail. None of the sprues are complete but there is more than enough remaining to produce a decent mounted unit and nearly all of the armour pieces are present. Thankfully, most of the long lance arms are in very good condition. The actual skeletons themselves are in a sorry state with only four of them being complete. The remaining twenty-odd figures look to have had their weapons snipped or whole arms removed. Presumably for some long ago conversion project but I think I have enough loose weapon arms here to restore the lot. 

The keened eye will notice some green based skellies which look to me to have been an earlier set. Most likely original Horde figures by their paintjobs and round shields. Still, they are better finished than the first set of these models I completed back in the 1980s. They appear to have the remnants of Arcane Armorials on the front of them. Some of which may be salvageable. 

There is a single metal model here too. A C34 Wraith Rider - complete with old Citadel flying base. Chris wrote to say he was looking forwards to seeing what I did with the model. I have to say, I agree with him whole heartedly - for I can't wait to see what I do with it either!!

As I said at the beginning of this post, sometimes plans get thrown up in the air and you head off into an previously unexpected direction. Today is such a day. With Chris' generosity still lifting this grognard's soul, I have decided to fully restore this set and bring this Skeleton Army back from the dead (see what I did there?) over the next months. I'm giving myself the time limit of New Year's Day 2026 for these models, and my Horde figures (who are all mint pieces needing no restoration) to be fully painted and ready to field. That's a little over six months. With my time commitments often tugging me elsewhere that is going to be some doing but fate as decreed that in less than a year after returning I would have a small undead army from nothing is frankly unbelievable. 

I had another project I was just about to commence with too, which you will also see soon. It's another great love of mine from '80s Warhammer that I've written about many times before. And of course, you will continue to see metal figures from my small stash being painted up when I need a break. 

So I'll end with another massive thank you to Chris for sending these treasures to me. Some might see them as just a pile of plastic tat to but to me these old crumbling plastics and are precious link to an era I love and a crucial escape from the relentless challenge of doing up a rundown house.

'Stage One' of this project will be to rebuild the infantry and repair much of the damage these bone-boys have suffered over the years and get them undercoated once more. I could do with some advice on basecoat sprays... anyone using a decent white for batch spraying? Please let me know if you have any recommendations. 

I really can't wait to start!

Orlygg

PS: If you've got a spare plastic skeleton wheel to spare please do let me know (;

C17 Reaper skeleton: Does Undeath have a colour scheme? And some more goodies...

Has it been another week already? Work has begun on our archaic home after so long. MFM and I have been stripping decades old wallpaper, pulling down dusty curtains that are probably older than us and clearing out the hideous bathroom to make way for tradesmen to begin work. Without boring you too much, we are having new French style doors, a new bathroom and the old fireplace ripped out and replaced with a more economical and environmentally friendly woodstove. Later on, we will need to replaster and lay flooring but it is all hands to the pumps. On top of all that, we just had SATs week in school and it is the last day on term on Friday.

As you will no doubt imagine, there hasn't been a huge amount of time for hobby. We did the garden today, and I got to play with some of the new tools we have had to purchase (though the lawnmower finally packed in) but there were a few hours spare this afternoon to get the paints out a crack on with a figure.

That super-gent extraordinaire (Sleepysod), who if you recall we met quite randomly at Salute a few months back, had a few spare skellies kicking about and he sent them my way. Opening any package is always fun but I was dumbfounded to see one of my all time favourite models in my hand. The Reaper skeleton from the C17 range. I've always admired this figure since seeing it the the WHFB Third edition rule book in one of the battle scenes. He never ever seemed to end up in my collection despite years of looking and so it was wonderful to finally have one of those 'never did get your hands on 'em figures'. 

Huge thanks to Sleepysod for being so generous AGAIN and I will have to salute him once more. Sleepysod.... I salute you for really brightening up this old grognard's life with a tiny, scraggly, skinny piece of lead.

I approached the figure in much the same way I would something from the skeleton Horde. Orc Brown base, Chestnut Ink wash and then highlight with Orc Brown and Bleached Bone. I'm still debating about adding a super-highlight of Skull White at some point on the skulls and hands of my boneyard brothers (especially now I can actually paint half-decently again) but the jury is very much out on that at the moment. 

I've got some pretty grotty metallics to work with here. It is well known that the old '80s silver and gold paints condense into a solid mass of gunk. Even so, I have a few survivors. Even so, I have to bite the bullet and get my hands on something more reliable. I've even heard some good things about the modern Citadel range!!! If any readers have any recommendations for silver and gold replacements please do let me know. 

Despite the challenging state of some of my paints, I dry-brushed over the tatty chainmail in Bolt-Gun Metal and washed with Chestnut Ink and them some Hobgoblin Orange for rust. It didn't really take to the chainmail itself though it worked well for the blade of the scythe. You may remember that metal work on my skellies is something I was keen to work on? 

Originally, I went for blue rags. But it just didn't look right. The shade was just too bright and happy, at least to my eye. This got me thinking... does undeath actually have a colour scheme? For me, black, bone, white, brown and orange seem to work and reflect the tattered remains of long dead corpses rising from their graves. I know others go for a more brightly coloured approach... and bizarre as it sounds, I am fine with bright, almost garish colours on a shield or banner. But never actually on an undead figure.

Surely I cannot be alone in my fastidious ways? 

Here are the rest of the figures that Sleepysod sent me. All now sleeping in the Dettol bath. I'm sure that the second figure from the left is a Marauder skeleton. I adore the musician model as well, with the multi-skulled drum set. He's most likely going to see paint before the end of the week as I'm rather excited about painting him up. Only problem is those drums... a bone finish or gold? Decisions.. decisions eh?

I also have to salute Stuart this week as he sent me a package of bits and bobs. Mostly modern castings of some Asgard classics. More about them in the future. But, Stuart... I salute you too. I'm intrigued by these early figures as I know very little about the range. I'll do a little research when time is more available and perhaps try and older old school paint approach with these... right back to the early '80s! 

One final note, Stuart let me know about the '80s Wood Elf beastmaster re-release over at the GW website. We spent Saturday morning messaging each other waiting for them to go online. If you haven't seen it yet, all the old animal keepers of old have been cast back up with their new Wood Elf Old World range. I must admit to having taken the plunge and bought the set. I'm optimistic about their quality. While I was on the site, I noticed a few other '80s classics were hanging about. Bugman's Cart among other things.

Ooh, I haven't checked to see if there is anything decent in the undead section! 

Speak soon,

Orlygg

Skeleton Horde: Simple Skull Shield Old-School Tutorial

Here is the simple skull shield design in question proudly affixed to my first Skeleton Horde spearman. He looks rather pleased with his flashy new shield doesn't he? Or her...

Afternoon all, and apologies for the quick snap of my latest Skeleton Horde recruit. It was rather bright when I managed to find a few moments to snap the final touch (though first picture) for this old school tutorial post. And I noticed I'd blobbed a bit of white on his right knee somewhere along the way. I'll have to fix that some time in the future. The Samsung camera on my new phone doesn't want to take decent photos of little plastic or metal men for some reasons. Probably my own ineptitude. 

Still, it serves as an example of what today's post is all about: an old school style tutorial. These days social media is awash with videos detailing 'paint like me' techniques. They leave me cold really and I can't get much from them, largely because the style of painting they promote is not the same classic style I want for this blog and my models. I much prefer the older way of doing things (this is a retro blog after all) and I expect a few of you readers will feel the same. 

Lord Caerluel inspired this post. We were discussing my first batch of proper skeleton figures and the hand painted shields I love doing and the suggestion of a guide to painting them arose. Well, what you are reading now is the sequel to that conversation. The audience of this guide is the novice old-school painter who has never tried anything like this before. I was once such a painter and used to look on in envy with those enthusiasts who seem to just knock out great hand-painted designs time and time again, seemingly without trying.

After pouring over many an old White Dwarf mag and a fair few false starts, I started with a John Blanche inspired face many moons ago and never looked back. Learning to paint again over the last few months, I found that freehanding designs for shields came back much faster than all of the figure based stuff such as drybrushing. Perhaps because I was working on a static flat area... who knows...?

So please do persevere if you really want to try this kind of painting out. It is a cliche I know, but if I can do it any one can. 

TIPS AND TRICKS

1) Work fast. I find that the key to painting shield designs is to keep all the brushwork fluid and fast. Don't hang about. A quick stroke looks more natural and 'artistic' than a wobbling bit of freehand. 

2) Use inks if you've got them for line work and water down your paint - this will help with the fluidity I just mentioned. Drying paint doesn't seem to move well on any surface but then I would expect you all to know that already being the grognards that we are. I don't want to teach you to suck eggs. 

From top left - stage 1 - 6

Stage 1: Clean up and undercoat your shield with the desired paint then apply your basecoat. I went for Skull White followed with Blood Red with this example. I fixed the shield to a 20mm base with Blu-Tak for easier handling. 

Stage 2: Dark ink wash over the top to add shade, dirt and age etc. I used Chestnut Ink for this but any shade will do. Use something that matches your base colour. 

Stage 3: Block out a rough shape of a skull using ink. I used Shadow Black but any suitable dark colour works. When creating a skull shape look for some reference material in the style you want. Painting an oval shape and then widening just above the halfway line is also effective. 

Stage 4: Basecoat for the skull, ensure you leave an edge. I used Orc Brown for this but any suitable tone will do. This colour will serve as your mid shade on the finished skull.

Stage 5: Black ink is used to roughly shape out the eye sockets, nose cavity and teeth of the skull. Don't worry if things look sloppy here as you will be painting over most of it later on. 

Stage 6: Bleached Bone highlights. Try and pick out the basic shape of the skull at this stage. Define the eye sockets, nasal area and the upper and lower jaw. Don't worry about the teeth. Leave some of the Orc Brown in a few places for shading. 

From top left - stage 7-12

Stage 7: 50:50 mix of Bleached Bone and Skull White to continue the shading of the skull. Focus on the same three areas as before. Then use a final highlight of pure Skull White around the brow, nasal area and the left hand side of the skull.

Stage 8: Black Ink clean up. Shape the eye sockets, nose and teeth to your liking. Once this is dry, use Skull White to sharpen up any further details. For instance, I added the nasal bone at this point.

Stage 9: Blood Red is used to work up the background to a more vibrant tone. Basecoat the shield edge with your preferred metallic colour (you can also use black, which looks effective -highlight this with Ghoul Grey or an equivalent). I used Mithril Silver here.

Stage 10: Wash over the metallic edge and create a little shading around the edge of the shield interior with Black or Brown Ink.

Stage 11: Highlight the edges of the shield rim with Mithril Silver and carefully dot the bolts around the edge. 

Stage 12: Highlight the edge of the shield in orange (or a lighter shade of your base colour) and blend the tone into your base but be careful not to obscure the shading around the rim edge. 

And voila, you have a shield. It is now just a case of waiting for it to dry and attaching it to your figure of choice. Once you have mastered the basic skull shape (have a few other goes at doing this basic design) you should feel confident enough to experiment. Try painting a skull without the lower jaw, or with vampire teeth or even my personal favourite: a residual eyeball in one of the sockets!

I hope this little tutorial inspires someone somewhere to have a go at freehand painting. Nothing sets a miniature firmly back in our era that a good anarchic hand painted shield design in my opinion. 

So what is stopping you?

Orlygg

ME82 Hobbit Personalities: Gollum, a fistful of lead, a proper mag and a new painting set up!

 

Hello again. It has been an odd few weeks for me, and very busy. I've been supporting my mother after my Nana passed away and mistakes have been made with the funeral arrangements which mum found distressing. Quite a bit of the last few weeks and most of this past bank holiday was taken up with dealing with it all.

Still, I found time today to get some miniatures painted and was eager to get Gollum completed and alongside his adventurous fellows. I've got a proper set up now (thanks to the ongoing house renovations) which should be fairly permanent for a year or more. Gollum was the first figure I worked on in this new space. I've taken to standing up to paint, which is largely due to necessity - my work station space is quite high and we own no stools as of yet. But I've not found it hard to adjust to a new way of doing things and my back is much the better for it.

Gollum was great fun to paint. He gave me the opportunity to work on my flesh painting skills - something I used to take pride in. For his flesh I mixed Skull White, Electric Blue and Bronzed Flesh together to create a base which I highlighted with Bleached Bone and a little Skull White. I was aiming for a suitably pale finish and Peter Jackson's take on the character was very much in my mind. I wanted him too look almost wraithlike after all those centuries under the mountains being warped by the power of the Ring. I mixed in a little Brown Ink with my initial basecoat to create the depth shading. 

His loincloth was my new favourite shade; Snakebite Leather with Bleached Bone highlights. Again, this was shaded with Brown Ink. His lip saw a little Worm Purple glaze while his eyes are Sunburst Yellow with a little Bleached Bone on the top. I debated with myself whether to paint pupils on him... the jury being still out but I tried to base this paintjob on my image of the character. Since Mrs. Baker first read me the story when I was 10 years old, Gollum has always had luminous eyes. Hence my decision.

The fish was picked out in Ork Flesh and then just highlighted with Bleached Bone. With hindsight, I should have gone for blue as the tone of the fish is now lost alongside the completed base. But it is a minor issue. I feel with this figure the general trend of improvement has continued, which isn't bad considering it has only been five months since I started painting again.

What do you guys think?

David Cammack and Andrew MacTaggart both sent me some bits and pieces over the Easter/Bank Holiday period and I need to thank them both here for their generosity. Sadly, David's things are lost in the postal system somewhere with me being on the receiving end of a dreaded Red Ticket and the post office having no idea where the package has gone. Still, David.... I salute you for being so kind and here's hoping those little treasures make there way back to you eventually. 

Andrew MacTaggart sent me the bunch of random Citadel you can see above. Some lovely clanrats, some Chaos thugs and an Oriental Hero... I've never had one of those before and I look forwards to investigating that range in the future. Those Advanced Heroquest models really quite excite me in a reclaiming your boyhood kind of way. I recall enjoying painting these up when one of my step-brothers got the boxed game way back in the 1990s so they will be on my new painting table alongside my skellies. 

Andrew... thank you so much... I salute you too! 

GregG emailed me a while back saying he had a surprise for me and he wasn't wrong. Knowing that issue 108 of White Dwarf was the signature issue in my Citadel journey and finding he had a spare, he sent me the duplicate last week. It is fantastic to have this issue back and flicking through the venerable magazine was wonderful. Every word held a memory and there is so much inspiration for old Orlygg within the pages. 

GregG I salute you as well! Thank you!

Finally, my new retro set up was completed this Bank Holiday Weekend. I have combined my love of '80s Citadel with '80s and early '90s computing. My C64, Speccy and A500 mini now spend much more time actually being used rather than collecting dust under the bead. To celebrate a workspace all of my own, I had a good run through the FUN levels of the original Lemmings. I really enjoyed listening to the tunes while I was working on Mr. Gollum, though they were perhaps too happy and zany for the former Mr. Smeagol to approve. 

More skellies next time I hope.

Orlygg

ME82 Hobbit Personalities: Gandalf the Grey

Good evening dear readers of the Realm of Chaos (80s). Or indeed, good anytime of the day this post reaches you. I'm been somewhat distracted by family matters of late, so I haven't been as busy as I have wanted to be. With another Bank Holiday around the corner, I may find some more time in the not to distant to get the next figure in this range painted: namely Gollum himself. 

Today with have the majestic Gandalf to talk about, and as you can see I've dared have a shot at painting in eyes as the final finishing touch... the first time I've attempted that little trick in many years... what do you think?

Despite buying some more brushes at Salute, I am still using my original veteran hairy wand. I'm a little put off replacing it because it is the last remnant of my old blogging life. No doubt, it's bristles will eventually fail and the new brushes will have to be popped from their packaging.

But that was not today. Additionally, this Gandalf figure is the first I've been happy enough with to post multiple side view shots.

As you can see here. I've been pretty traditional with my approach to this figure. Faded blue hat, silvery beard and grey travelling clothes are all archetypical grey wizard. I thought the flesh too was painted better than dear old Bilbo. Again, Bleached Bone has been my saviour here. 

As you may be able to tell, I quite enjoyed painting this figure and am pleased with him. I can see that my highlighting on clothes needs further practise but it is a huge difference from my output earlier on in the year. I've been tinkering with getting gold right after puzzling over the pommels and grips of the Skeleton Horde's handweapons. Gandalf's pipe (no doubt preplugged with Old Toby) gave me the opportunity to do this. Gold base, orange/chestnut ink was and simple highlight. I picked up some Humbrol metallics in acrylic in Hobbycraft and have been giving them a whirl. As you will know, I'm looking for viable alternatives to the decayed metallics from my beloved '80s paint sets. 

I was pleased with his bag. It looks like a decent leather colour and makes a useful contrast to all that grey and blue. I've found that I really appreciate Snakebite Leather and like Bleached Bone before it that shade is becoming a stalwart. Trouble is, I only have one pot of the stuff so matching it to some Coat d'arms paints in the future is a must. If anyone out there knows of another match, please do let me know. 

Just a whistlestop today in Middle Earth...

As I said, I have my eye on Gollum and some more skellies in the not to distant future. If I can scrape more wallpaper off the walls I might be a proper set up yet.

Wish me luck!

Orlygg 

ME82 Hobbit Personalities: Bilbo

 

Here we have a true hero. Bilbo Baggins. Legendary figure of childhood for many of us and a hero who no doubt persists into adulthood. I was lucky enough to have a teacher, Mrs Baker, who read my classmates and I much of the Hobbit in 1988. She told it with real gusto, with comedy voices and breathless delivery. Techniques I use today when reading to my class, though sadly I've never had the opportunity to study the hobbit in any depth with pupils. 

One day perhaps...

As you will know, I picked up the ME82 Hobbit personalities a few weeks back in a retro shop. They were mis-listed and unloved. Naturally, Old Orlygg snapped them up with enthusiasm in order to clean, restore and paint these lovely little sculpts. 

Bilbo proved a challenge, but a pleasurable one. I gave myself two hours to base, shade and paint the figure and just went for it with a similar gusto as Mrs Baker. He is clearly dressed for combat in the Mithril armour and brandishing Sting... so presumably ready for combat during the Battle of Five Armies. 

Getting a decent finish on metal is something that still alludes me so I used this figure as a bit of practise. The armour was Mithril Silver followed by a black ink was (a little water was mixed in) and a subsequent Hawk Turquoise glaze over that. I then highlighted with Mithril Silver once again. To give some contrast, his belt was picked out in Shining Gold and given a Brown Ink wash. I highlighted the gold with Mithril too. 

His jacket was Blood Red mixed with my new favourite paint - Snakebite Leather. I simply highlighted the coat back to red with a little Bleached Bone thrown in for good measure. The sleeves of the tunic were painted Ork Flesh and again were highlighted up with Bleached Bone but the photography has made them seem more brown than they actually look to the eye. 

His flesh was my usual mix of Blood Red and Bronzed Flesh but I duffed up the shading here and made it too light, especially around his hands and feet. A future target for me is to try and develop a richer tone for flesh. 

Finally, Sting was painted with Woodland Green, highlighted with Bilious Green and a little Bleached Bone. I gave the blade a thin glaze of Hawk Turquoise to blend it all together. 

The base hasn't come out as nicely as I thought it would, but no matter. Once the other figures are finished I can tweak these and try and make them tie in a little bit. 

And so ends Easter. I got little Bilbo here painted, along with three skeletons and an Epic Great Unclean One. Not bad considering MFM and I have been stripping our home of decades of wallpaper and paint, much of which is combined together. After two and a half years of brutal saving, the restoration of our home has begun. We aim to have the heating ripped out and fully replaced, including all of the pipes and old radiators. A new boiler somewhere outside in our derelict back garden too. New French doors, a patio, the chimney breast reduced with a new solid wood stove to boot. 

Oh, and we are having a new bathroom!

So over the next few months there is going to be a lot of coming and going from this blog. I'll put the computer away somewhere safe when major work commences but there should be suitable warning to you all long before. I don't intend to 'go dark again' for quite some time.

Here's hoping with all the ripping out and clearing, MFM might be persuaded to find me a little permanent spot for a retro set up... fingers crossed. 

I have started Gandalf now, so hoping can get him complete shortly. 

Until then...

Orlygg

The Skeleton Horde: First painted figures and free-hand shield designs

Using the original paints really helps capture the 'Eavy Metal feel of the old pages of White Dwarf.

I have hoped over the last few months, that Easter would bring me time to enjoy plenty of natural light and some free time to get some of those wonderful plastic skeletons painted. As you may recall, I had a crack at one way back in January and it was a total disaster. 

I had obviously forgotten how to paint. 

Over the last few months, old Orlygg has cracked on (with a lot of help from his friends) to reach this point. Three properly painted skeletons. As you can see, these boneyard brothers look much, much better than that desperate first attempt. 

One thing I didn't want to use was white. I felt that I'd overused white on those earlier models when highlighting. So the final highlight was going to be Bleached Bone all the way. Having picked up a couple of pots of the stuff at Salute, I've spent the last week tinkering with my recipe. So I don't forget, and if any of you dear readers are interested, this is my go-to method for the Skeleton Horde. 

Skull White undercoat. Orc Brown basecoat. Brown ink shading around ribs, skull, hands, feet and other joints. Second Orc Brown coat to tidy up the model. Finally, Bleached Bone over eighty percent of the figure. 

Very simple I know, but I think its highly effective. Considering there are another twenty figures left to do for the Horde whatever method I employ needs to to fast and foolproof. 

Let me know what you think of my progress. 

Nothing says Old School Citadel than homebrew painted shield designs. I really missed my old archive of WD when painting these shields, those old mags are just bursting with inspiration. 

While I was working on the figures the issue of shields came to mind. What would the Horde be without an array of hand-painted designs? Though I lacked the original shields for undead, I had several of same period examples to use. By chance, the first three I found were all the same size. As I was feeling a lot more confident about working on fantasy models, I just cracked on with some skull designs just like I did in the old days. 

The results are clear to see here. 

I chose Sunburst Yellow, Bilious Green and Electric Blue to be the background colours. As I progress, each new skull shield will have a different colour background. Of the three I've done so far, I'm most pleased with the yellow. It gives me Advanced Heroquest vibes for some reason. The skulls were quite straight forwards in the end. I used the brown ink to create the basic shape, highlighted with Orc Brown, then Bleached Bone before picking out the final details with Skull White. I found the white helped separate the bone of the shields with the bone of the skeleton figures. 

I hope you like the shields as I feel that there is a lot of the 'Old Orlygg' about them and that I am slowly rebuilding my knowledge and skill about how to best paint these classic models. 

pro-Painted plastik Warhamma Skeleton RARE 198'0s £14.99

For context, I've included my first attempt at a plastic skeleton. It looks like one of those old 'Pro-Painted' figures you used to see on eBay... I wonder if that tradition is still a thing? 

If you've followed me over the years, you will know that I cannot stick to one thing for very long. There are just too many beautifully imagined figures to work on, even in a tiny collection such as my own. I want to do some more of those Specialty Set Chaos Warriors in the near future but what has really caught my eye are those Hobbit Personalities I picked up a few weeks ago. 

They are the next figures on the table and I am hoping to get them finished before the end of the Easter Weekend. 

Wish me luck,

Orlygg

Orlygg at Salute '25, Bryan Ansell Remembered, Tim Prow's Diehard, Oakbound's The Woods and POWER-UP!

 

Lurching from our fetid graves (okay, our houses) early this morning, Stuart and I made a surprise return to Salute - Europe's largest miniature gaming show. Long ago, we were regular visitors and this year we decided to go on the spur of the moment (okay, a couple of weeks ago). I took the liberty to prebook the parking tickets and what was touted to be the 'Official Salute Car Park' on the website but in reality we just drove in and the barrier lifted to allow us to pass. We stuck the car in a quiet spot and made our way upstairs. 

Joining the queue, we had an nice chat with an Australian Grognard taking time out of his holiday to visit the show before we had our tickets scanned and received our swag bags. Peeing in, we saw it was the usual mix of special models, freebies (Stuart loved the mouse-mat) and advertising. With permission from 'my favourite miniature' (from this point on referred to as MFM) I had a modest budget to spend on brushes and other sundries that may help me improve my much maligned painting ability.

I was very pleased to see the late, great Bryan Ansell remembered by the South London Warlords. We spent some time looking at and discussing the set up some enthusiasts had put together of Bryan's 1980 quirky classic ruleset, Laserburn - a foreshadowing of Rogue Trader if you didn't know. 

The game was quite large in scale and we went back a few times to see how things were progressing. During this time we were lucky enough to bump into some old faces. I saw James Holloway, a long standing member of the BOYL events, and we discussed the importance of a little bit of creative anarchy in gaming. Something very evident in the Laserburn game and perhaps something lost in the modern world of miniature gaming. The generous Sleepysod, a regular contributor to this blog (and supplier of useful archaic items), was also there and it was nice to meet him face to face and thank him for his efforts in helping this blog getting going again. We also spotted artist extraordinaire Tony Hough from afar but never got the chance to chat to him this time though we did see a sole Oldhammer T-shirt wearing chap wandering the show. It was nice to talk with him too. 

This year's magazine contained a worthy article about Bryan and his enormous impact on miniature gaming not only in the United Kingdom, but also worldwide. I don't recall GW marking his passing in anyway so this was respectful and important tribute. And its always nice to see the Mighty Avenger picture from Warhammer Armies. 

Tim Prow had his Diehard Miniatures in tow. I was pleased to see how well his independent endeavour was going. The stall was packed from most of the time we were there and it wasn't hard to see why. Tim's sculpts are fantastic and are easily the best sculpted fantasy figures out there today. Many of those models are my preferred single cast sculpts that brim with character. I had my eye on a number of pieces but my modest budget only allowed for two beautifully designed Necromancers. Stuart threw in a suitably swarthy orc as a thank you for driving. Tim was as energic as ever, showing off future Kickstarters and painted models with plenty of help from his daughter. 

A closer look at those models. You will all know that I have a bit of a love of the undead. And with the Horde slowly growing it is necessary to start think about other models to suffer from instability with them. I am particularly fond of the skeleton with magical skulls radiating from his hands. 

Geoff Solomon-Sims, a true hobby veteran and an extremely talented craftsman of fantasy models, was manning his Oakbound Studio's 'The Woods' stand. Easily the most imaginative and creative models at the entire show and I could have purchased many of them. Again, some of these models are the all important single cast figures bursting with zany ideas and faerie magic. His limited run boxed game, complete with Heroquest style board pieces, was selling very well and there was a wealth of painted figures on show. Some of the larger pieces caught my eye and I hope to have the chance to paint a few of those in the not to distant future. It was also nice to see the Oldhammer Paul Douglas there too, one of the early pioneers of this brand of retro-gaming and a veteran of BOYL. 

Here is a closer look at the two figures I selected from the range. It was nice to see more of his fimir inspired models here too. I am a big fan of these swamp dwellers and I look forwards to getting this chap based and painted soon.

Today may have been all about wargames figures but yesterday was a retro extravaganza. MFM took myself and her son to the Science museum to check out the POWER-UP show. It is one of the paid exhibitions being put on there (I think £12.50 a ticket) but the event provides you with unparalleled access to the history of computer and video gaming. 

Inside you will find an enormous range of PC and console games (including a 16 player deathmatch of Halo: Combat Evolved) and of course the 8 and 16 bit systems that created magic in the early days. VR options are also available with an intriguing VR Tetris games that I was rubbish at. 

This Amiga made a welcome sight. I spent some time rather lovingly tapping the keys and feeling the warmth of the grate. Its been over 30 years since I last sat down with one of these and those long years just melted away as I dove straight back into DMA Designs' legendary Lemmings game. I received the Cartoon Classics edition of this machine way back in the early 1990s and this puzzle game was a real highlight of the experience. The game seems easier now and the solutions to many of the stages came back to me quickly. But being so popular, I couldn't remain on this glorious slice of 16 bit history for long. 

Sensational and worth the entry price for me!

The author of this blog gets to grips with the C64 version of Frogger. This was the version of the game I had as a kid in the '80s. I've got retro consoles of the C64 and Amiga and have been looking for this particular game for ages. A joy to play once more due to its immediacy and simplicity. Of course, the decades fell away and I recalled all my old strategies. What was noticeable in talking to other enthusiasts around me, is that younger gamers seem too preoccupied with joysticks and what not on these older machines. Using the keys was so much more effective and I enjoyed this particular walk down memory lane. 

Well that is my write up of the last few days. Here's looking forwards to a quieter Sunday and the chance to try out the new paint brushes I picked up at Salute. I also managed to track down some Bleached Bone paint from the Coat d'Arms range so I can crack open and pot and see if I have remembered how to highlight properly. 

Until then, 

Orlygg