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?