Original Citadel Paint Sets, Warhammer First Edition and Researching Ulvar Vileblood

 

It has been a busy time for old Orlygg. The dreaded duo of work and family commitments has reared its ghastly head and kept me from my true occupation: the collecting and painting of little lead men from the 1980s - or those figures that share the peculiar 'style' of those times. 

Even so, I've been able to spare a few moments to start researching the Chaos Warriors I plan to paint in the near future. There really isn't much out there online about the early Specialty Sets( which reminds me of the days when I first started this blog with WFB 3rd edition) However, I did come across this lovely old advertisement in the back of the Second Citadel Compendium showing a little more history of the Citadel Colour sets I find so wonderful. I must say, despite years of research I've never seen this 'Paint Set 1' ad before nor had I ever seen any surviving examples for sale. Judging by the photographs, the bottles match that of my trusty Citadel Colour too. 

Though, weren't those John Blanche pieces painted with enamels? 

So I had a little explore of what we used to call the 'World Wide Web' and had a lovely time discovering all about this obscure little range. Starting with the ad-infested nightmare that is the 'Games Workshop Wiki'  I found some clearer images, though the accuracy of the site left much to be desired. No wonder those Youtubers produce so much dross about the history of GW if they rely on sites such as this. If you dare to click on the link I have provided you will 'learn' that the Space Marine paint set was released in 1986 - a full year before Rogue Trader was even published, and the two early sets that pique my interest arrived in the world in 1988!! Nonsense obviously.

Still, I didn't know that my beloved paint sets were released in 1984 so it was good to have that confirmed. Interestingly, there is a little painting guide in the Second Compendium written by a young Kevin Adams that is worth a nostalgic read. 

Still, I managed to get two decent images of the boxes there.

 

Chancing a look at the 'BIN hell' that is eBay these days, I found a seller with the second set. Just the empty box mind you. But it gave me a chance to look at the set in more detail. There were several Set 1s for sale too, as can be seen here so perhaps that set was more popular back in the day. On the reverse side of these boxes are a full colour description of the paints inside and as I suspected, they match the Colour and Creature sets we all know and love here. 

As you will no doubt agree, having these pictures in my possession will help me match those remaining shades I don't have access to at the moment, namely Shining Gold, Red Gore and Ghoul Grey. A true Brazen Brass from this era still eludes me so if any enthusiasts out there have a pot hidden in the depths of their collection please let me know and take a little snapshot for old Orlygg. As my Chaos warriors date from 1983, I can now say for certain that the shades in Citadel Colour/Creature paint sets are 'legit' colours for our purposes. 

Having matched my favourite paints to the earlier '80s, I've found myself increasing intrigued by First Edition Warhammer. Having always assumed it was rubbish and that preslotta was crap it seems I have missed out on a wealth of interesting ideas, art and miniatures. How wrong I was in my arrogant youth when my drawers (furniture ones) hung heavy with slotta-based classics to dismiss the era. Still, it leaves a whole wealth of material to explore and pore over in the coming days. I've spotted a slightly mislisted (though totally 'preloved') copy of WFB1 online and I've put a sneaky bid on it. I'm sure that 'My Favourite MiniatureTM' won't mind me a 99p indulgence away from our quest to save up for a loft conversion. At least, I hope not...

On to my appointment with one Ulvar Vileblood. And what a wonderful name he has too. With a name like Vileblood one would imagine him to be somehow poisonous or diseased. Perhaps that will give me a little inspiration when it comes to colour schemes. Again, having a look online there really wasn't much out there to go on save the soLegends example and some wonderful work done by a fellow blogger by the name of Mars-Miniatures who painted the whole set in 2017. 

        

Both have a metallic theme going on which I think I will avoid as my paints aren't brilliant in this regard. At the moment I am rather stumped at how to approach these figures... one thought is to chose a basecolour as a theme and work around that. Then again, I'm a big fan of red chaos warriors so maybe a scarlet and black scheme would suit the figure? As I said earlier, with a name like Vileblood perhaps a venomous green is more apt?

Choices, choices...

Before I go I'll leave you with this... I love the strapline 'Citadel Colour: Fantasy Reality'. This was obviously meant to be part of the branding of the paint range and its a shame they dropped it as I kind of like it. It also goes to show, that after decades of collecting, writing and blogging about '80s Citadel/Games Workshop there are still fun little facts to discover. 

Orlygg