Citadel C17 Liche, Paint Sets, Warriors of Chaos SS1b and an old friend rediscovered

 

Despite catching something 'orrible from school, most likely Covid, the first few days of my half-term have been a pleasant mix of relaxation and more relaxation. 'My Favourite Miniature' and I had no children at all for four solid days so took the opportunity to spend some time at home. We listened to '80s classics on the radio, watched daytime TV while she worked on her giraffe cross-stich and I got on with some painting. 

I've found that the window sill in the lounge is far better source of than the kitchen. With the weather bright and beautiful here, I've had day after day of lovely sunlight to work by. Aided by my trusty optivisor I found myself starting lots of different figures but not really finishing any... I guess I got a bit carried away. 

Still, I finished the Liche this morning and managed a quick snap in the garden as I was taking out the rubbish. When I have a little more time I'll take some better pictures. You might notice something else familiar about the picture up top... but more about that later. Hopefully, the Leadhead Who Cannot Be Named approves?

The Liche was painted with my set of nine paints and has lots of depth to it. I wanted a faded, just out of the crypt kind of look. After all, one day this chap will lead my Skeleton Horde so he will have to look his necromantic best. My brushwork is coming along though my biggest issue at the moment is not being able to get the water/paint ratio quite right. Its either too wet and doesn't leave enough pigmentation or its too dry and looks flakey. 

Still, he is done and I'm working on my skills once more. 

Daffyd contacted me a while back about some old lead. He, like us all, had a bit of a crazy splurge buying up all kinds of stuff online before realising his true passion: dwarves and skaven. He offered to forwards on something from his leadpile. This turned out to be the SS1b boxset from the earlier '80s. With my skills not yet up to doing the Skeleton Horde justice, further preslotta models are just the sort of project that I need. These old castings are far more forgiving than those era defining plastics. 

Opening up the box, everything that should be there is all present and correct. I'll just have to order some more bases to start work on these legendary figures. These are some of the very first Chaos Warrior figures from Citadel and they are very different in style. Harry the Hammer (or should we say Uthmog Elvenbane?) is nestled down the bottom of the tray. These are varied and exciting sculpts for an '80s enthusiast as I am sure you will all agree. As soon as my preslotta wizard is finished, I plan to start work on all 10 of these. Though a couple of the models need a trip to Dettol City before I begin. 

Daffyd.... thank you for your generosity in helping this old blog slowly stagger back into life. You have made me very happy indeed. I salute you!

Jon1066, like Ian before him,  joins the ranks of godlike glory for sending these two paint sets to me. Getting your hands on things like this really are lifechanging and its hard to put into words what it means to me. I am so, so grateful to you Jon.... thank you so much for these. Oh, the nostalgia of opening these up the other day. I was back in my late '80s bedroom again... and nearly forty years on these simple paints inspire me deeply to paint classic Citadel and make it look as good as it did on the back of the boxes...

I couldn't do it then, and I'm still struggling now.... Jon1066 I salute you for helping me with another step on the journey. 

             

These sets are a bit more complete than my temporary jobs I spoke about a while back. Its clear to me now that I misjudged some of the colours in the Citadel Colour boxset but thanks to Jon I've got that 100% correct now. I added my Chaos Black to this set to finish things off. As you can see, if you are interested in these things, I got Bronzed Flesh a bit out and Woodland Green was too light. Still, with these sets now I my possession I can approach the next batch of figures with a little bit more '80s authenticity. The Monster Paint set looks to be in a good state too, with both Titiliating Pink and Bilious Green in good condition. Brazen Bronze though has deteriorated as these old metallics are want to do. One of my next steps is to try and work out what shade this was and find a suitable match. 

Jon was also kind enough to chuck in a RT01 Space Marine Sprue and a Space Orc trooper. Wow! Again, thank you Jon. You know, I've never actually put my hands on one of these classic sets. I've never even painted up one of these old marines before, though I have got some very, very grotty cast offs in a bag here. It seems some Rogue Trader painting will be on the cards at some point too. I wonder if these original plastic marines are more forgiving than Skeleton Horde? 

Speaking of the Horde, Mack from https://supergalacticdreadnought.blogspot.com/ dropped me a line to say that he had a spare sprue of the final four skeletons needed to complete the original 24 models. They are somewhere in the postal service but Mack you need a salute too. Thank you to helping me achieve the near impossible. Check out his blog when you have a minute or two as there is loads on there to enjoy. 

Finally, I had a spot of luck the other day. I was up in the loft clearing out one of the many boxes of stuff we have acquired on our 'adventures'. What I thought to be a box of my kids' old artwork was actually hiding the remnants of my old painting set up. I guess someone just tipped the lot into the box and then dropped it off at my residence shortly after I was told to leave my home. The few paints I was using have long dried up and the paintbrushes were in a terrible state, not even suitable for drybrushing! However, underneath them lay what was left of my old scenery board originally constructed for the Good, the Bad and the Rusty White Dwarf game. Additionally, my old bag of foliage and a hedge I had been using to photograph the final models of my old life. 

The keen eyed, and long time reading, grognards of this blog will have recognised this set up with the Liche at the start of this post. It was wonderful to stumble across this lot again and I am so pleased it hasn't been lost like so much else. Though my foliage has lots much of its spring and some of the red colour has stained the other stuff its priceless to have a little bit of my old life back with me. It also means I can take some better photographs of my models as my technique (hopefully) improves.

Finally, squashed into the bottom of the box was an old takeaway container full of pens. Amongst them were a small selection of models I had been working on in May 2020. I hadn't actually got any further than base coating them really. They were bent and chipped but they were mine. 

I'm off to paint them now... and finish that wizard. 

See you soon and thanks to everyone who has helped me, and this blog, get back on its feet. 

I SALUTE YOU ALL!!

Orlygg