A Second Summer of Citadel: A Box of Delights, Great Spined Dragon slain, Lord and Lady McDeath and a Zoat

So the summer has finally arrived for those of us classroom dwellers, only to disappear quite promptly. Gone are the blazing hot days of misery where we sweated half to death in Victorian built classrooms and here are the endless days over grey, overcast skies. Ah, the British summer. Still, things have suddenly changed here at Realm of Chaos 80s as my long lost collection of painted figures has made it back to me at last!

Now this blog isn't going to go into the hows and whys. All I am going to say is that I am delighted that they are all back in my collection. Nearly twenty-five years worth of painted models that were last seen in the display cabinet in my former home. However, the years have not been kind as we shall see. I intend to restore, repair, repaint all of these models in the coming months and photograph them properly here. I've also created an instagram companion to this blog after much nagging from Stuart where I will be sharing the photos too. I have models from the classic '80s era, the Silver Age and quite recent by the looks of things (recent being about 2019, lol).

Here's the link if you are interested in Instagram. 

Right, I have begun this post with a lovely picture of a beautiful model. The Limited Edition Fantasy Zoat from 1987. I am sure those of you who love your WFRP will recognise the shape of this figure as being very similar to the famous illustration from the rulebook. The model appears briefly in White Dwarf 89 and was sculpted by Bob Naismith. It is a lovely single piece casting full of character. Simple but highly effective. Citadel put out a number of zoats over the early years, both for Warhammer and Rogue Trader. But this is by far the best of the bunch. Opinions can vary about these models, with some enthusiasts calling them rather ugly but for me they are one of Warhammer's more intriguing and bizarre creations. 

It was also the first model I plucked out of my 'box of delights' as I am calling in. More a pile of despair in reality considering the damage done, but I am confident most of it can be repaired and restored. This Zoat model survived untouched which was probably because he was right on the top. He needed nothing more than a quick dusting off and he was off to the workshop for his photoshoot. 

Here is the reverse shot. I was rather struck by how good I was at painting by this stage of my career. I've used drybrushing and layering to get the best out of him and stuck to naturalistic colours too. I'm rather past it now but it is interesting to look back and try and remember the skills I once had! I'm also very pleased with the colour choices. A bright, scaley green, a yellow belly and the reddish hew of the staff is a bright, eye catching scheme I'd definitely use if I have the chance to paint any further draconid type creatures. 

The McDeath's have arrived everybody. I have the full set of these as far as I can tell, save Sandra Prangle, though I use a rarer figure than her as a proxy. Many have fallen it disrepair through neglect but these two figures were unscathed thankfully. Out of the two figures, Lady McDeath is the better sculpt in my opinion. She has a wonderful colour scheme which I took directly from the late, great John Blanche's masterful painting. Female characters are rare in this era of Warhammer and those that we have are a joy to paint and field. In time, and if I can restore all of the figures from this range, I wouldn't mind playing through the scenarios again. They are great fun. McDeath was more of a pain to paint. Gold armour! My nemesis!! But I think I have done a good job here. The free hand stuff on the shield still holds up now and I can remember not wanting to cut off the shield boss when working on him, something I had been prone to do in the early Oldhammer years when old figures were much more easy to source. Now everyone thinks a standard dwarf or gobbo is just as rare as these two figures.  

I'm not quite sure exactly what Lady McDeath is supposed to be wearing. There is a Tudor feel to her clothing, especially around the bodice which would make sense considering the link to Shakespeare. Her shoes though strike me to resemble '80s Reeboks or even Brothel Creepers from the '70s. Very odd but great fun to work on. Her crown perhaps foreshadows the grimdark of the future with the spikes but they are nicely understated here. In many ways, McDeath is just a standard fighter figure save for his helmet which as a War of the Roses crown-helm feeling to me. A nice nod to history there and as I have said over the years, the more seeped in history a fantasy figure is the more believable and relatable it becomes. 

 

By now, I am sure you have been wondering about the package my collection came in. A battered old Amazon box that was falling apart at the seams. No support, no wrapping, just dumped in a box and crushed by goodness knows what. My standard bearers have all be badly damaged as have many of my plastics and larger, multi-part models. The Great Spined Dragon's wings are badly broken and detached. Yet, incredibly so many have survived with little more than a few scratches and dents. Lots of weapons are bent and arms missing. The bottom of the box (which I haven't got to yet in my careful, archaeological excavation of it all) is littered with snapped of shields and bits of skeleton horse figures. 

Here are some of the first models I removed from the initial layers this morning. All of these will be checked and repaired in the coming days, starting with the simplest jobs and then working up to the spined dragon itself. Not that I'm not painting up new stuff as well mind you. In the workshop I have selected a series of excellent figures from my growing collection that make interesting painting projects. I will, of course, try and continue on those skellies too. 

A miserable dragon. Slain by Amazon of all things! Not that you can see it in this picture but both wings are badly damaged. When I got the model this was the case and I built up a plasticard and greenstuff skin to support the wings. All of this will need repairing and repinning. The paintwork itself looks untouched though. More on this project in future posts.

Right I'm off. I've got a few simple pieces to get painted today to get the creative juices (now mostly dried up) flowing. I'm hoping to be more ambitious with my painting after last year's Summer of Citadel was rather uninspiring. I know I was learning to do everything again but I feel I've made sufficient progress to do more. 

Speak soon,

Orlygg