A Summer of Citadel: Restoring a Nightmare Legionnaire and Arcane Armorial Shield

I had my daughter staying with us this weekend and among other things made the journey up to the National History Museum. The heat has returned and I was sweltering in my new hobby room within minutes of entry. Despite these factors, I managed to restore this old boney. The Leadhead Who Cannot Be Named sent me a fistful of minis a while back that were in an appalling state of affairs. Lead rot, dried enamels, dust and grease. Most of them are soaking in a bucket out of the way at the moment as the smell of them is beyond the pale. Dettol will be incoming for the lot later in the year.

My original painted Nightmare Legion in the early days of Oldhammer. 

I pulled this figure out of the top of the mess as it still had it's base on and wasn't as filthy as others. Long term readers of this blog may well remember I painted up the entire Nightmare Legion set years back. I used a black and white scheme, so these figures are well known to me. I didn't want to go the same route again and had a couple of old shields with some transfers on kicking about, again donated by you wonderful readers.

I'm quite pleased with the restoration. It was quick and easy. These figures are quite primitive even by '80s standard and the casting was rather battered. I used my normal bone mix. Normal chainmail mix too, with a little blue/black ink for shading and age. The shield was more interesting to work on as it was partially damaged. Only around the edges mind you. If you squint carefully you can see I just blocked out the damage in black and painted on the suggestion of bare wood. 

Not bad at all for a speedpaint. Though posting this figure up tonight made me realise that I have been rather conservative with my painting choices. Nothing fantastical really. Luckily I have a few more interesting pieces to hand that I have on the painting table once the cooler weather arrives next week. I also have based and prepped a couple of nice old fighters too. 

Last post a couple of you mentioned storage in my embryonic workshop. I have rescued these two wooden shelving units for just that purpose. The top one was used by the previous owner of the house to store nails, screws and bolts of different sizes in jam jars. This will need as thorough scrub down and clean before it sees use. Below you can see the second unit which is in a much better state of affairs. To the right, you can see the old 1970s classroom storage cabinets which will be used to pack away the bulk of my re-established collection. 

See you all soon,

Orlygg

 

A Summer of Citadel: Lune and a retro den...

Plenty of house sorting work has kept us busy over the last few days. Mostly stripping seven layers of painted wallpaper from the walls of one of the bedrooms. We borrowed a steamer from a neighbour which sped things up but there is still a great deal of work to go. On top of this, I have been given particularly strong antibiotics for the dry-socket which have left me feeling rather unpleasant - though it is preferable to the nuclear throbbing in my head.

Today, I finished off my final familiar. This one is called Lune and his is perhaps the most famous of the tiny range. You may well be aware of the famous painting by John Blanche called Mona and the Moonman which is still part of the Ansell family collection as far as I know. The character in the painting looks far more sympathetic that the sculpted miniature, though they share many similarities. 

Have a look... 

My colour scheme followed as closely as I could with a luminous yellow head, red scarfy thing and trousers, green doublet and black shiny boots. His face is far more mean and evil than the figure in the painting and his 'tin opener' has been considerably enlarged. 

I am far more satisfied by my highlighting this time too. Though I used my not very good Samsung camera to capture this figure, rather than the posh natural light filter on MFM's smartphone. So I guess you might not be able to notice. 

In other news... Now that the rewiring is complete and new doors have been fitted on the outbuildings I have a new retro den all at my disposal. See this door? It leads into what has been over the last thirty years or so a carpentry workshop. It is pretty grimy and dusty and was full of junk. I spent today clearing out rickety workbenches and associated grot. A private firm will dispose of a chunk of this debris and the council are coming for the larger parts. Once this is complete, I shall thoroughly sweep out and clean this space and begin to use it to rebuild my Citadel collection. 

I'll have room for everything I could wish. I used it today and the sense of space was inspiring, even at this embryonic stage. I plan a photography area, painting station, scenery store, Dettol clean up space and so on. I've even retained a large piece of wood to build a decent sized skirmish table. And who would have thought it all possible this time last year!? Before you panic, no lead will be stored here and everything else is sealed inside plastic boxes. So any possible damp (not that I've seen any sign of that over the last 18 months) will not be a threat. 

I'm hoping to sneak out here tomorrow at some point to get another figure finished. MFM will be very happy to know that all the 'toot' will be safely out of the way now and not cluttering up the house. 

Until then, 

Orlygg

A Summer of Citadel: C26 Feudal Man-At-Arms Sterben/Casualty

Just a quick paint today. We had a tradesman round to replace the battered garage door and make a couple of our outbuildings more secure. and working with him took most of the morning. The afternoon was spent at the dentist getting my dry socket cleaned out and repacked. New antibiotics too.

Still, it was fun to work on this injured, or even dead, chap. As with the Feudal Dwarf, I got to play around with painting chainmail. I used a black basecoat as before and drybrushed over in layers of brighter silver. Proper medieval fans can no doubt name all of the different parts of the armour and having played a little Kingdom Come Deliverance I may be able to do the same. The gambeson was Bleached Bone with a little Snakebite Leather mixed in, highlighted up by adding white. His surcoat I kept a simple green as I'm still not ready for complex pattern work.

I am pleased with the gold colours on the hilt of the blade and his great helm. Brown and orange inks help a far bit when shading gold and I'm still experimenting with this. Thanks to WD of the early 2000s, I know to give any gold a tiny silver highlight here and there. 

Mixing PVA glue, scarlet ink and Red Gore together, I created a glossy blood tone and dabbed it painfully around poor Sterben's wounds. He is now ready for a battlefield which needs a few extra touches.  

Most of the C26 range is available from the Wargames Foundry in various packs, though not all of the figures have made the light of day yet. It seems that this chap has long been one of the them. You can pick him up alongside another very early Citadel model from their website now. 

A Summer of Citadel: Bloodbowl Halfling

I started today's figure a while back when my teeth were really bugging me and finished him this afternoon. He is, of course, one of the classic old Citadel Bloodbowl halflings - just like in my title. I've always loved the character and style of 2nd edition Bloodbowl and that is largely due to my boyhood memories of friends who also loved the system. One of my mates, a clever but troublesome boy who we all called Moley (because his dad said he looked like one) loved this system. I have a few happy memories of visiting his home (which always smelt of washing powder, funny how recollections can be so acute) and watching him painting and collecting these models in the late '80s. 

We also played a fair few games of Bloodbowl but he was a little bit of a cheat and twisted the rules to suit his side. I was aware that this was common, even then, but let him have his way just so I could admired that old astrogranite board and his numerable figures. I can recall the Deathroller, Dungeonbowl, a dark elf team and lots and lots of dwarfs. 

He didn't have any halflings though. 

The other friend I had was a chap called Robin who had a fair bit of cash if I remember correctly and we bought a copy of Bloodbowl together and I painted the set up. I also bought loads of the old metal figures but our interests waned and I sold the lot. Not the first time I made that mistake. 

He didn't have any halflings either...

As I said earlier, the situation with my former life has changed somewhat recently and I am more hopeful of retrieving my old collection. This isn't the place to talk about the why and the wherefores but I'm positive about finding much of it. Two bulging bags were recently returned to me and they were stuffed full of old Citadel fighters, Wizards and a bag of Bloodbowl bits. Nothing as nice as this figure but a few other choice candidates for this project. 

The colour scheme came from my memory of these models in White Dwarf. I was really pleased to see those original figures in Bryan's old collection at the Foundry on Friday. Here look, I snapped a image on my naff phone camera.

My scheme is close enough but my face is poorly executed. Something else to work on in the not to distant future there. Though in all fairness, this model was not in the best condition and had had a rough old time of things. Obviously he'd been thrown too many times by the trolls and minotaurs who are said to enjoy such antics. 

But I am pleased with him. Additionally, I love the simple execution of the lettering. A white base with a thinner black coat on top. I have a couple more of these figures still to finish so I might see if I can copy that style to practise the old freehand. 

After yesterday's Daemonette, I feel I'm getting better with the fleshtones. I'll try and find a few figures with interesting faces to work on shortly. Perhaps even that ogre I started a while back. 

Until tomorrow,

Orlygg

A Summer of Citadel: Daemonette

Inspired by the thousands of miniatures on display at Wargames Foundry I set to work this morning on my much delayed Summer of Citadel. The sky was clear and the weather was hot and so I set myself up under the shade of a parasol and got cracking. Much of the day was spent prepping some of the figures I picked up yesterday and dabbling here and there. 

Small models like the Famous Familiars are perfect for me. Interesting, well designed and sculpted and of course imaginative and full of character. Their tiny proportions also make them easy to complete in a single sitting, which is something I rather enjoy. Perhaps its the years away, but I enjoy sitting down with bare metal and a few hours later, another completed model joins my tiny collection. 

This figure, daemonette, has been painted by me before just before my 'Lost Weekend' of five or so years. I repeated the colour scheme from memory to help push my flesh painting skills, which regular readers will know is my main focus at the moment. 

I think she has come out quite nicely. Better than my last attempt even. Here have a look. 

I did paint the eyes on this model but relented. I blacked in the sockets as she lost her sinister nature and veered to near to potential Onlyfans model. For me, this sculpt is supposed to represent the dangers of lust and wantoness for unwary wizards. I like the black emptiness of her face betraying the impending doom for any magic user daft enough to summon such a servant forth from the ether. 

Orlygg

Oldhammer Weekend 2025

 

The summer sunshine was out in support of the annual BOYL even held at the Wargames Foundry today. Stuart had suggested a trip on a whim a few days back and we drove down not really knowing what to expect. My last event was 2018 so it had been a very long time since I last walked through this famous arch. I am very glad I did.

My teeth declined fairly soon after my last post and I ended up back in the dentist's chair. Dry socket and an infection where the wisdom tooth was removed. As you can imagine, I didn't have the will nor the want to get on with my 'Summer of Citadel' after that so this trip was a welcome distraction. 

Just like I remembered there was a small selection of event figures available. Lots of ex-Citadel figures including some nice unreleased Bretonnian models from the 1991/2 era. Some well sculpted and characterful spearmen found their way into my shopping bag, and they still retain the old slotta base which is unusual for Foundry. You may have noticed a familiar looking dwarf dangling there as well. A couple of strange 'variants' of the famous Combat Card Dwarf Wizard have been cast up. These are unknown in their providence and apparently there were a couple of other castings with different hats. 

These models are intriguing and so made their way into my shopping bag too. 

It was nice to see Tony Yates again and look through his art and talk about his old figures, some of which can be seen here on the table. I was pleased to see many old faces from back in the glory days; Warlord Paul, Paul Douglas, Erny and Snickett (the Gillson brothers), Steve Beales, Garth James and Richard Irvine as well as many others. 

I also saw Diane and Maria Ansell as busy running things as ever and had a quick word with Marcus after so many years. 

Stuart and I had a lovely chat with Geoff Solomon-Sims and a few other people over lunch and it made the trip very worthwhile and pleasurable. 

Though we only attended on the Friday, there was plenty to see and lots of big games to enjoy the spectacle of and the atmosphere was friendly and supportive. 

Like any true grognard, attendees were keen to share their models and discuss the activities that were put on. I spotted a couple of games of Third Edition being played and spied some excellent models. 

Including these last minute painted skellies! I loved the simple colour scheme and the bleeding heart shield design. Certainly something for me to steal for a future skeleton. 

A group of gamers were playing through the McDeath scenarios which brought back memories of when I attempted to collect the set and paint them all. I even played Winwood Harbour in 2015 at Foundry. I couldn't believe that so many years had gone by since that project. 

I also spotted some other old favourites such as Starfleet...

And some kind of Heroquest based game going on, not far from the original models nestling as they do in one of the cabinets. 

By far the best game I saw was Geoff's high production values version of the old Combat Card games 'Attack' and 'Charge'. He famously tracked down and painted all of the figures used for the Goblinoids and Fighters Combat Card range and was using these and a custom made board to run these ancient games. I can remember playing these in my back garden as a youth with the cards and blobs of Blu-Tak to hold them up. Geoff's version was much better looking. 

Of course, The foundry still holds a large number of classic and historic Citadel miniatures and it was to see these I primarily attended. Hidden away in one of the side rooms there is a cabinet that holds Ivan Bartleet's Chalice of Doom...

...and his Chaos War Altar. 

Displayed around them were some of the old Citadel Dragons of yore...

...alongside their partner figures. These were poignant to see as the artwork for these models were brought out by Bryan Ansell the last time I visited the Foundry.

This John Blanche piece showing some 1970s elves escorting a giant prisoner. I had been chatting to Nurgling (another ancient blogger for yesteryear) who quipped that the giant has since been demoted to ogre due to scale creep. This diorama goes to show that even ancient old school affectionardos like me can still discover something totally new on a trip out. 

Nurgling had spread out a number of unwanted items and bits and bobs on a table nearby and we noticed that the infamous Gobsmasha model illustrated in an old White Dwarf was sitting disregarded in front of the Citadel Giant. Again this was great fun to see and to note just how well the model had faired after so many years... Those flags and banners look like new... not very orky I know. 

I am sure you have all heard of the sad death of Matthew Street by now. Another loss for the old school Citadel community. I spotted this old artwork he did years ago and couldn't believe that 2017 is now nearly a decade ago. 

As always, I enjoyed looking through the 'Cabinets of Chaos' as I always did. I spotted these old Realm of Chaos era conversions which sought o show the different mutations available in Slaves to Darkness. 

These unreleased wizards also caught my eye... I'm fairly sure I painted the chap with the frog once too. 

Finally, I was proud to see that the Midlands Troll I painted for Bryan all those years ago was still inside the main cabinet, not far away from the Combat Card dwarf I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I never got a figure published in the late 1980s early 1990s White Dwarfs as I was utterly rubbish at painting then. But I did get a figure here. Probably the greatest thing I achieved hobbywise. 

The day passed so quickly and was so much fun. If there are any future events to be held here by the fine people mentioned in this post I would certainly consider attending. With two more days left of games, lead and more there is still time to make the trip down if you have never made it before, or if like me you haven't been for years.

Big thanks to all at the Foundry and all the people who brought this very special event to life.

Right, where's my paintbrush... I'd like my Summer of Citadel back please...

Orlygg

A Summer of Citadel: Imperial Dwarf Grum

 

My next figure is this lovely old school dwarf. He was a bit of an unfinishable as I started work on him at the beginning of the year. I just couldn't get that chainmail to look the part. As I've said before, I want my painting style to be in the vein of the design studio in the late 1980s, just before Mike McVey's glorious blending took over the scene (I'll never be as good with the hairy wand as him). 

In the end it was a decent black ink wash over a dry-brushed Mithril Silver base that achieved the look I was seeking. Once it was dry, I dusted back over the top of the mail with silver once more. Then adding thin lines of black ink around the creases and folds of the armour and where the equipment joined. I've started to mix Blood Red, Foundry Brown Oche (thanks Ian) and Bleached bone to create a leather colour and I'm keen to explore what that mix can do. 

As you might guess, I am VERY pleased with the way the face came out. Flesh is one of my targets for improvement and here my colour mix worked well. Bronzed Flesh with a little Red Gore added, then the highlights built up by adding Bleached Bone. A nice rich tone. I left the eyes on this one and his grunting, squished face looked quite characterful, even for a dwarf.

I used Blood Red and Sunburst Yellow as a spot colour on the decoration around the top of his chainmail cap and on his shield. I used one of my greenstuff copied shields and matched these tones on it. I wanted a battered and well worn look (as my greenstuff casting had a lot to be desired) so stuck to a simple geometric pattern which fits the historical feel this figure has. Being a Perry sculpt, the rich historical vibes are no surprise. 

Though hard to see in this photograph I was also pleased with the gold colour I mixed up here. I used shining gold mixed with a little Blood Angels orange and the result was nice a rich. A brown ink wash helped provide depth over the top. More work is needed here to and I think my ogre model will be a great opportunity to play around with this. 

As is becoming traditional with the project, I'll delve a little into the history of this figure. He is one of the Imperial Dwarfs from 1985. This is an excellent range of figures who appeared in many later 1980s publications and dioramas. Looking at these models now I regret not paying more attention to them in my collecting days. They are characterful and varied which is just what we like here at RoC80s. 

I'm sure many of you have enjoyed painting up or pushing around these little chaps over the last 40 years. I suspect that isn't going to change any time soon for those of us lucky enough to have any of these fine models. 

Orlygg