Acceptable in the '80s: Travelling Players, Warhammer Regiments, Men at Arms, Elf Warriors, Minotaurs and the Nippon Rocket Crew... Phew!

Welcome back to our nostalgic dip into WD 96. The December issue of White Dwarf was packed full of Citadel releases with most of the sculpts appearing in full colour. Soon this was to become fairly standard, with new models appearing in painted form before a black and white version was shown in the back of the magazine. 

Travelling Players

We've hit one of the BIG BOYS of collecting with this set. The Travelling Players make up part of one of the most sought after sets of Citadel miniatures on the scene today. Often described with the umbrella term of 'Warhammer Townsfolk' (though some sets were advertised with that header) these everyday folk of the Warhammer World are hot property on eBay with LARGE prices regularly cropping up. When you look at the models on offer you can see why. Each one is different with many sculpts being humorous mockeries of British stereotypes - just look for the Punch and Judy man, St George and his dragon and the rather fetching actor in drag. Gamewise, there is little these models can really contribute in a battle game (other than window dressing for town based games) though I can imagine that these models would be useful for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Over the years I have been tempted to start collecting these figures but always hold back. I know that as soon as I start I will be spending the twilight hours (and considerable ££££) searching from these illusive beauties. Lovely paint jobs of these examples; nice and bright and wonderfully shaded with the 80s Citadel inks.

Warhammer Fantasy Regiments 

I have discussed these models before and you can see what I had to say by following this link... drastic-plastic-warhammer-fantasy. I included the ad as it had some nice colour photographs that some of you may not have seen before.

Dwarfs, Dark Elves and Orcs...

Skaven, Wood Elves and Goblins....

Of particular interest to me are the command teams that were released alongside the boxset. These pictures show off what can be achieved with a couple of boxes of these models and four command figures.

Men At Arms

More proto-historical Perry goodness. This time we have some Feudal men at arms equipped with a wide range of different weapon types. As you would expect from Michael and Alan, we have a great deal of realistic armour and clothing. Looking through the set my mind calls out 'Wars of the Roses' every time I browse through the models. Obviously, for fantasy purposes these models would be useful for any Bretonnian general but are a little too boring for my fantastic tastes.

Elf Warriors

Well here we have the elves. I love this ad as it has such a range of design motiefs. Firstly, you have the classic 80s elf, high boots, hoods, long hair and a celtic whiff. Then come the forebears of the current range, particularly Dubh, with the long mailcoats and conical helms and the flowing haired waifs that wouldn't look out of place among the Wardancers.

This set has some new sculpts among many older ones, including models that were produced for GW's 80s Lord of the Rings range. I am glad to say that I own quite a few of these models but I have yet to paint a single one! This is unlikely to change as Elves are a long, long way off in my order of priorities.

Minotaurs and Nippon Rocket Crew

Nick Bibby's minotaurs were clearly a popular range as they turn up on eBay quite often. Here we have the examples that fit on a 25mm base. Regular readers of this blog may notice that three of this particular set have been painted and posted by me since I began this blog. I can speak from experience when I say that painting these lead lovelies is a joy and with all the little details sculpted on them they can be an engrossing little project. Yes, the names of the models are rather naff and the minotaur lord is a bit toothy but they are mean in game terms and every third edition player should have at least one of these monsters to push around a table.

On to Nippon and one of the few official releases from GW for this mysterious eastern state. Here they are in all their rare glory. I've seen this set quite often on eBay and have lost out several times to other bidders. I don't know why, but something draws me towards this set and makes me think 'buy me'! Perhaps its the relatively rarity of Nippon models or just the characterful 80s sculpts!

Orlygg.

Drastic Plastic: Orcs Complete and The Skeleton Horde

Well, the orcs are finally complete and my first third edition 'regular' (ie, not Realm of Chaos) unit is complete. I had some difficulty with the banner. Initially, I wanted to have a go at the old method of banner construction that was popular in the 80s - the old toothpaste tube rolled up and sliced into a suitable shape. In the end, I went for the sticky label approach, which seemed just as effective but much, much faster. A little superglue and - hey presto! The shields were also simple (the design is molded on) though the moons were a little fiddly to complete.

What do you bloggers think? I took some photographs during the day; one in natural light and the other (when they were completed) with artificial.

Afternoon shot (pre-shields and banner painting) showing finished bases.

Evening shot (shields and banner added)

Natural light is so much better at capturing the colours. Next time we have a sunny morning I think I'll do a photo session with my forces!

This was my first attempt at painting a banner, like ever! Obviously, I continued on the yellow bad moon face with a night's sky background just to add a little extra detail. A black background just looked too plain. Once this was done I realised that a little dark grey edging would be necessary on the banner as it didn't look finished.

Was I successful? Any tips on offer?

Onwards then. Having had a lot of green to paint I have decided to do some thing completely different and go for some undead. That is correct UNDEAD! Not vampire counts or tomb kings- proper undead. These rotting bags of horror were my preferred troop choice back in the day and I amassed quite a collection over the years. Shame that GW destroyed my vision of what the undead were with so called 'characterful army lists' and bizarre rule changes. Not to mention the number of models becoming suddenly obsolete.

Imagine the scene.

The dust finally settled on the remains of the shattered tomb. Like tiny dancing moths, the motes of powdered bone caught the weak light and settled upon the dark, woollen cloaks of the living. Ancient sinews creaking, Vlad rose from his unsleep and smiled evilly. How foolish these mortals were to raise him from his slumbers.


"Why have you woken me?" He asked, his voice like the skittle of dead leaves across cracked rock.


"To raise an army." A helmeted head, chased in gold, replied from the dank darkness. "To ally with us and march unhindered into the Old World."


Vlad smiled. 


"That I can do." He whispered. "My forces need not sleep, need not rest and need not fear death. I can command an endless surge of souless troops who need not shelter nor succour. With each victory, I can swell my ranks with the enemy's fallen, so that brother may well end up fighting brother long the other was thought slain. I can inspire a dreadful fear with my magics, turn the sky black and send forth a choking wind that cuts like a blade at men's throats. I can summon wights, skeletal steeds, ghouls, giant bats, carts of the dead, zombies, varghulf and skeletons armed with spears or swords!"


"What about skeletal archers?" The helmeted one asked in terrified awe.


"Err, no... I can't manage that actually!"


I mourned the demise of the skeletal archer. I loved the old metal models of them (and still hunt for them avidly on eBay) and had loads of the plastic ones. For some reason these simple troops epitomised the undead army for me, and then one day... they were cruelly cast out of the list only to turn up again as rather naff '90s Tomb Kings models.

I have chosen one of my favourite GW releases to work on next. The Skeleton Horde, released around 1986 and painted very memorably by Colin Dixon. I loved this kit as a child. So evocative and a great many happy memories putting this and its sister kit, Skeleton Army, together. Perhaps its just me, but I felt that GW went backwards with the next skeleton kit they released - the cartoony one with the massive hands and flat, boring skulls.

Here is the original WD ad...

And the box art, an equally memorable image (which was recycled for other releases- such as the WHFRP supplement, The Restless Dead) by the prolific (especially in the '80s), John Blanche.

Let's have a look at what you got for your £3.95. Six sets of sprues with a range of weapons; swords, axe, spear and scythe and the appropriate bases. Enough to construct 24 skeletons.

Here's a contents shot...

And a close up of a sprue.

So, if I am going to assemble these troops what combination shall I choose? I think I shall save the spears and do a regiment armed with these at a later date, so that leaves 18 skeletons with hand weapons and 6 with scythes. I have a few undead metals that I can use as command models (Champion and Leader) to combine with the 18.

Over the next couple of nights I shall cut out, clean and put together these models. During that time I am going to have to consider my colour scheme for painting bone. Additionally, I am going to flick through my WDs and try and track down as many examples of Colin Dixon's shield designs because I intend to replicate
as many of them as I can on their shields ( and hopefully learn a little along the way!). I'll be posting my research for fellow bloggers to see (might be useful) and may even consider doing a shield freehand painting tutorial if readers are interested.

Orlygg.

Drastic Plastic: Warhammer Fantasy Regiments

I have never painted an orc!

There, I have said it.

It is a fact that has shamed me for some years now. Space marines, eldar, elves, dwarfs, undead, necrons, daemons... but never a greenskin! And this is despite owning a great number of them over the years. In the past, my poor goblinoids were often cast aside, or swapped or stored or just plain forgotten. Well things are about to change because I have finally got my hands on another one of the keystones of 80s gaming.

Citadel's Warhammer Fantasy Regiments!

This box set contained 60 (that is correct, 60!) plastic miniatures. Yes, the sculpts were basic but I have always felt that they had a certain primitive charm. They were simple to put together (had the option of changable heads and weapons), easy to paint but above all they were cheap. All my friends got a box or two and we swapped miniatures to create quite sizeable (to us anyway) armies of quite atrociously painted miniatures. Citadel did command groups (4 mini's; champion, leader, standard bearer and musician) for each of them, so it was quite simple to build up large regiments quickly. Unfortunately, things were a bit one sided- with dwarfs and wood elves on the side of 'good' and dark elves, goblins, orcs and skaven weighing in for 'evil!'

Can you guess what I gave away?

Orcs!

And the goblin archers.

Having received this set in the post I have decided to lay the old shame to rest and slap some paint on a orc. In the interest of nostalgia, I copied the colour scheme off the box and found that I really enjoyed painting the simple, white plastic model.

Here is the result!

So I am going to do a whole regiment of them (well 10!). I have an 80s orc command group in my collection so I intend to paint them up too. In fact, after rummaging through my lead pile I have discovered that I own Ruglud's Orc Archers, 10 wolf riders, 10 plastic goblin archers (from the regiments box set) and two man manglers. Enough for a small 3rd edition army!

However, I need to finish up the Nurgle warband first. I have been working on the remaining thugs (I have abandoned the dreadful model with the chequered shield- its just too crap, even for Nurgle!) and have begun the second minotaur.

Quite a lot on the painting table then you may say? Thank goodness I've got some help!

My two year old son hard at work painting up a Slaaneshi chaos warrior (1985) by the Perrys.

You've got to start them early!