Acceptable in the '80s: Iron Claw Miniatures, Yay or Nay?

I am sure that you recognise these beastmen. The classic metal Realm of Chaos releases from the late '80s that, in my opinion anyway, have never been bettered. These models really do typify what I imagine a beastmen to look like; not just a mere goat head humanoid but a hideous, mutated mix of different animal bits. I also like the fact that the range, released over several years and incorporating earlier models, really do reflect the Chaos God they are supposed to follow while others are appropriate for all and any. 

Now the reason I am talking about these beastmen can be clearly seen on the first row. The nurglesque beastmen with a distinct style. I own a few of the them and have even painted some of them up for my Nurgle Warband. It wasn't until fairly recently that I realised that the sculptor of these models was Bob Olley and that he had a range all of his own 'back in the day'. They were called 'Iron Claw' and like 'Marauder' were produced by Citadel and sold through Games Workshop. 

His sculpting has a distinct style that is hard (for me anyway) to put into words. Gnarled, fungoid and swarthy are words that spring to mind but they don't quite do his work justice. I find that the models don't paint easily. Lots of creases and folds to challenge the painter. Its like each of his miniatures has a strange, uneven texture that, though lifelike, is hard to paint. But that's just me. To understand the range further let me quote Solegends directly;

"Iron Claw were a range of miniatures designed by Bob Olley. First announced in White Dwarf 91, the first releases were the IC201 Skeleton Guard in White Dwarf 93. They were manufactured and distributed by Citadel and appeared during 1987-8. When Bob and Citadel parted company many of these pieces were assimilated into the main Citadel lists. The Goblins and Black Orcs, for instance, formed the bulk of those pictured in the 1990 Fantasy catalog."

I have collected below a range of scans from various sources of some of the miniatures he produced during his time at Citadel. I must confess, I don't actually own a single one of these models and my opinion on them is mixed. Some of his work I find really impressive while other stuff doesn't raise the passion to collect or even paint them. 

Let's begin with these Dwarfs. Or should I say Gothic Dwarfs. I am not quite sure what a Gothic Dwarf may be but these models are certainly original. The first thing that strikes me about them are the helmets. Quite unique are they not; wings, horns and turbans that are rather distinctive. There is a strong nordic sense about many of these sculpts as well as a Russian feel, especially the last model (bottom right) though the miniature on the opposite left looks positively arabian. Looking at them, they make me think of a Victorian performance of 'Ride of the Valkyries' performed by midgets. Perhaps that is what they mean by Gothic?

I certainly would be interested in collecting this little set. There's 13 in the series (including two standards) so a little 12 piece unit would be possible. The piggy back pair would make a fantastic unit champion or leader and you could invent some suitably amusing rules for them. One thing I don't like about the set are the shields. I really dislike moulded on shields. They look too thick for my taste and tend to lack a flat, paintable surface to do skull or ugly face designs on.

As for painting quality of the models on show I'd say they had been handled nicely. Lots of bright, 80s blues and oranges but lots of depth too, most likely created through subtle use of inks. I'm going to steal the brown and yellow cheque design from the Kislevite looking chap on the bottom right for a future model.

The skeleton guard. As the quote from Solegends tells us, these were the first Iron Claw releases. Again, the miniatures have that gnarled, swarthy look (as gnarly and swarthy as a skeleton can be I suppose) that is typical of the Iron Claw range. However, I feel these skeletons to be rather more 'daemonic' looking than the standard Citadel sculpts. There is a fair about of dark comedy about some of the early Citadel skellies, as those of you will know if you own the lovely skelly who is holding up his own skull, and the later plastic and metal examples are rather, souless, but that, perhaps, was the point. These sculpts look really evil. Strange helmets also prevail here. More wings and horns that are distinctly Olley.

I am not too keen on this set, so I'd probably pass. I much prefer the standard Citadel metals and will always favour the good old plastic Skeleton Horde figure or the Nightmare Legion for my choice of skeletal troops. I probably take a couple of the Grim Reapers and definitely the standard bearer, but that's it.

The painting quality is okay here. But there are too many bright reds for my taste. I prefer my undead to clothed in drab browns, blacks and greys. The bone is certainly interesting but there are so many ways to paint them. The evil crimson eyes are a nice touch too, certainly worth emulating.

I really don't like this set. Why? The feel like they have been knocked up really quickly. But that may just be the image so I'd have to have a closer look to make a final decision. I must say though, the mounts look more interesting and varied than the Citadel ones, so I'll have to reserve judgement there. Apart from a few of the Grim Reapers, these models have a bit of a mongol vibe going on. Certainly original in style then!

This is my favourite of the releases discussed in this post. I love the swarthy feel to Olley's goblins. They look suitably menacing too, though they still have that darkly comical feel. This is a kit I'd certainly like to see in my Orc and Goblin force, even though it looks like its been largely put together from pieces of the Goblobber and the Man Mangler. The totem on the front, though only painted silver in this example, would look fantastic worked up in a nice goblinoid green and the small shields are just begging for some 'orrible John Blanche style faces to be painted on them, don't you think?

So then. Do you have any Iron Claw miniatures in your collection? Are you a fan of Olley's work? I must confess to having absolutely NONE of these models in my collection - they are not high on my want list, but some of them certainly would be snapped up if I saw an example at the right price.

Orlygg

Warhammer Novels: 'The Black Sail' Short Story

Sometime ago I posted a discussion concerning the range of novels published by GW Books in the late 80s. This was followed up with a further dip into the classic age of Warhammer fiction with 'No Gold in the Grey Mountains' and 'The Magician's Son' (read them here).

Lead Legion commented that he recalled another short story that was published in WD, something to do with Tzeentchian pirates along the River Reik, but couldn't remember any further details.

Well quite by accident I stumbled across the story. Its called the 'Black Sail' and it was written by Neil McIntosh, who would later go on to write 'The Star of Erengrad' among other titles for the Black Library. The illustrations were done by Martin (no, not the hypnotist) Mckenna and the equally talented Stephen Tappin.

Here's the link.

The-Black-Sail

Enjoy this slice of retro fiction.

Orlygg

White Dwarf Musings, Machineries of Destruction Rules and eBay Doings

WHITE DWARF OBSERVATIONS

I been 're-organizing' my collection this week, hence the lack of posts. Being a father to a new baby means you have little time to paint (just ask Gaj) and even less time to blog. It seems my wife and I are getting somewhere with the feeding and sleeping but its still hard going, especially with all the hot weather. One of the first things that I did was sort out my white dwarf collection. I finally put them into chronological order (rather than just a massive pile) and discovered I had a few issues missing. Off to eBay and this was soon put right. 

So I have issues 90 - 152, though a couple of them have pages missing (140 and 144 respectively) so in the long term I shall be searching for these issues to replace them. Its fascinating to flick through them a see how the magazine (and the miniatures) changed during this period. White Dwarf turned from a Role- Playing magazine into a GW only hobby rag over the period of about 18 months. What is astonishing is the sheer amount of quality games that were designed, produced and released from 1987-1990: Warhammer 3rd, Rogue Trader, Space Hulk, Blood Bowl, Dark Future, Space Marine, Adeptus Mechanicus, The Enemy Within, Chaos Marauders, Heroquest, Advanced Heroquest, Space Crusade, Advanced Space Crusade, Mighty Empires... Basically GW's legacy on gaming, a legacy that has been plundered and rehashed ad nauseum ever since. In those 3 years, 36 issues in fact, practically everything happens. Not to mention reams and reams of additional rules and what not. 

Incredible!

SKELETON WAR MACHINES RULES

One of the things I found when flicking through was this beauty. The original rules for the Skeleton War Machines from issue 95. You can find a scan below. As many of you will be aware I have been slugging away on this model for some weeks now and have almost (I've been saying almost for a while now) completed it - just the Charioteer to go, though Morbius and Screamer need a paint job too. These are individual characters that I shall use to lead other units. Morbius will be the army general and Screamer will lead my skeleton archers. 

THE PROS AND CONS OF EBAY

Something that a lot of bloggers have been discussing recently is the nature of the beast that is eBay; namely, can you still get a bargain on it? True, prices have risen, but then more and more gamers and painters have been turned off Warhammer and 40k by the antics of GW and have returned to more pleasant times. Sure GW is big now, but its is no way as influencial as it was in the 1980s. According to Bryan Ansell, a million metal miniatures were being sold every month by 1986. That's 12 million miniatures for the year 1986 alone. This number only increased as the 80s grew older. Think about it, even on the terms of 1986, that is 60 million miniatures sold from 1986-1990. 60 million! Most of them are still out there considering they were largely made of metal at this time. So its only fair to say there is plenty of stock out there for everyone, hiding in attics, lurking in lofts and creeping around in the back of dusty old cupboards.

I am still amazed that you can pick up mint copies of Dark Future, BloodBowl, Heroquest etc on eBay for around £50. I am also amazed by the ridiculous prices that some people set, particularly on Buy it Nows. I have found that it is possible to filter these out a stick just to auctions, though the prices set by stores such as Troll Trader and Warhammer Trader can be very reasonable. By filtering out the junk, I have made two bargain star buys this week that I wanted to share with you, that prove you can still get decent items online.

I have been after this model for some time as I owned one as a child. I've seen plenty of Buy it Nows, some as high as £50, and frequently lost at auction with prices exceeding £25. I managed to pick it up at just £7. The lead had been thoroughly brutalised with what looked like glittery nail polish and was instantly placed in the dettol vat. I have just checked it and am please to report that the varnish is beginning to peel away nicely.

Secondly, also for £7 I managed to pick up a complete Dark Future vehicle kit. Mint!. It even had a full set of weapons and the driver. Almost unheard of really. You may be wondering why I am buying up a kit such as this... Well, time will tell.

While on the subject of eBay. Have you got a little collection of jam jars like I have?

These have been sitting in the kitchen on a high shelf well out of the sight of my wife. I must confess to merely  dropping in lead as it is ripped from the still living postage and packing. If its painted or covered in glue in goes in. I then forget about it. For months and months. So I decided to bite the bullet and empty one out.

 Now, I am not sure how others do it. I use three old takeaway dishes. The first is for general washing off of the gunk, the second and general clean with a brush while the final one is for removing those small, stubborn pieces of residual paint with a cocktail stick.

A shot of my ill gotten gains.  Undead, chaos, human wizards, daemons - they are all here...

Beastmen, orcs, keepers and a man mangler. Its amazing what you can fit into one jam jar isn't it?

Orlygg.

The Creation of the Oldhammer World Part One

Here is the first part of my initial history of the Oldhammer World as envisioned when I drew the map some days ago. This post hopes to suggest a few threads which other Oldhammers can build on. My influences are obvious; Warhammer Mythos, Lovecraft, Moorcock, Howard and Ancient History. One thing I always loved about Lovecraft was his 'Necronomican' and have created two texts here that we can quote from when creating a sense of history. We want a world that has existed for a long, long time.

I've written it in character but the notable Germanian (the new name for the Saxon Empire, I didn't much like it) historian, Sigismund Saxo.  

THE CREATION OF THE OLDHAMMER WORLD

by Sigismund Saxo

"And so the Tyrants raised their towers, guided by their aeon long studies, 

Until the pearl mantled spires carved the very heavens.
For many ages they resided there, each served by their automatons,
Strange familiars enthused with sorcery and alchemerical formula. 
Until the forces they sought to dominate and bend to their will,
Twisted free the fetters that bound them and were cast out into the world."

Extract from 'The Testament of Bantithi'

The land is ancient. 

Incredibly so... 

The forests, rivers and seas that spread like a mottled blanket across the landscape have swayed, rushed and ebbed since before man and mer made their first pathetic struggles towards civilization. They have survived cataclysms and catastrophe. Fire and sword. The farmers axe and the pestilence's blight.

However, they barely survived the destruction of that most ancient of civilizations- namely the Collapse of the Four Great Houses.

The Age of the Tyrants

Little is known of that impossibly archaic time. What scholars can ascertain, translated from weatherworn carvings and the primitive scratching found on ceramic pottery sherds, is that four great sorcerers rose to dominate the world, and each in turn founded a great house. The nature of these 'houses' is still a matter of great debate among academics but it is generally agreed that these sorcerers settled in the far north of the world and built gigantic towers of startling proportions. Here they dwelt for millennia, bending the power of their magicks to shape and control the natural world around them. There is a little evidence to suggest that at the beginning of the their rule the world was little more than a polluted charnel house, that the landmasses and seas had been cracked and burnt away by some cosmic calamity, with little or no life surviving on the surface of the world. It has been argued that the Four Tyrants competed with each other to form the most beautiful of living things - from beasts, to insects, to mammals and plant life.

In time, the sorcerers began perfecting higher forms of life. Those with simple intellects who could solve problems and serve as a willing workforce for each of their masters. The evidence suggests that these 'automatons' were made in the image of their masters, though nothing is really known about what these sorcerers looked like and that they carried many of their master's values. Work such as this required unheard of amounts of magickal power and the sorcerers retreated into their houses to plumb the depths of the chaotic power of sorcery, each desperate to prove themselves the greater. This quest, as far as we know, lead the sorcerers into dark, blasphemous places that mortal minds, however ancient, should never probe. Raw magic burst forth untapped from this source and while the Four struggled to regain control of the power, its malign influence corrupted their forms and forced massive change of their bodies and minds. This change also affected their automatons and many of the living things that made their home on the lands and seas.

The sorcerers retreated to their towers, awfully altered by this accident. In time, they withdrew further into study, opening the crypt door to degenerate knowledge whose nature is not fully understood, even by them. In time, their automatons formed simple societies of their own, mainly around the gigantic bases of their master's towers. The change has stimulated their minds and more sophisticated forms of language and writing developed quickly. It is from the later period of this development that historians have written sources for, most significantly; 'The Testament of Bantithi' and the incomplete 'Blasphemous Beings'. From these texts, we know that the sorcerers became more and more demanding of their servants, and in time became known as Tyrants. This encouraged many groups of automatons into a nomadic life, and they moved south to populate the more benign lands nearer the equator.

The First Tyrannic War

"Doom strode on armoured limbs as the Dreamer lay scrying,

Within the walls of broken spears, the Dark One drank,

Unnumbered legions clashed by night, as the Purple lay dying,

Betrayed by their kith and kin, The First's tower sank."

Extract from 'Blasphemous Beings'

This mysterious passage has puzzled historians for many years. It has been generally agreed that the Four Tyrants are mentioned here, though not by name. Dreamer, Dark One, Purple and The First. What these titles (if they are indeed titles) suggest is still open for debate and could Doom be a hitherto unknown individual or just a literal use of the word? What can be ascertained from the extract is the result of the First Tyrannic War; that two of the Tyrants were murdered by their kin, namely Purple and The First, whose tower may have been subsequently destroyed. What has come down to us from the oral history of the Dwarfs suggests that this war was triggered by some arcane discovery made by The First that he refused to share with the others. Commanding their automatons into action, their forces clashed across the north of the world. It is believed that Purple fell in battle and that The First, seeing their ally fallen, fled to their tower which, in time, was besieged and razed. The outcome of this struggle saw a long period of peace between the two remaining Tyrants. Again, the retreated into their domains to study their forbidden texts and leech more magick out into the world. What happened to the surviving automatons is unknown, but many geneists have argued that The First's people were the ancestors of the elves and the Purple the dwarfs. Certainly, the history of the Dwarfs suggests this, though the elves have worked long and hard to argue otherwise.

The Second Tyrannic War

Some centuries later the two remaining Tyrants fought each other for reasons unknown. Their squabble is believed to have been so destructive that no evidence of its cause or result remains, save a single engraving found on an enormous stone pulled from the depths of the Ocean of Blades during the building of an artificial harbour.

           "And so the Dark One felled his.... with poisoned magicks. ... and stole his knowledge and ... his people so that their blood ... the earth. They were happy." 

Translation of the Oceanic Carving

What is generally assumed is that the Dark One triumphed and laid waste to his foes domains. Interestingly, there is a reference to a 'they' though who 'they' may be and what part they had in the conflict is unknown at this time. With the Dreamer defeated, the Dark One returned to his realms. Dismantling his tower, he ordered his people to drag the stones to the centre of the northern continent. Looting building material from the ruins of his kin's lands, it is said that a titanic tower was constructed over the coming centuries with the single purpose to channel the power of magick up through it in an attempt to break through into the blasphemous dimension that the Tyrants had been extracting power from for aeons. We know that the Dark One was successful in this ambition but the power unleashed was so enormous not even that arcane sorcerer could control it. His will blasted by its force, the tower exploded in a gigantic bubble of raw magick that scored the very land itself and decimated and mutated the living things upon it. 

This event is known to us as the Apocalypse. 

Part two will chronicle the Apocalypse, the creations of humans, elves, dwarfs, orcs and other men and monsters and bring history up to date with the founding of the Germanic Empire, the Aquilionian Kingdom and the rise of the Zaragozian states.

Comments, suggestions and more ideas to add to the history very, very welcome!

Oldhammer Forums and Skeleton Chariot Progress Part 4

OLDHAMMER FORUMS

Leadheads of the world unite!

Over on the Oldhammer blog (here) the one and only Bruno Galice has only gone and set up a forum dedicated to Oldhammer and retro Warhammer! Follow this link (here) to sign up. Its very, very early days and I think Bruno would be very interested in any ideas you have.

SKELETON CHARIOT PROGRESS PART 4

My daughter woke early and like the caring husband I am I offered to take her downstairs at about 4:30am this morning. Luckily, she slipped off into sleep and I got several hours of uninterrupted painting time before she, my wife and son awoke.

Here are the fruits of my early morning labours!

The chariot still has a few little things to be done. A few more washes on the horns, the teeth tidying up and a little black ink here and there but its mostly complete. Yesterday I mistakenly stated that the skeleton pictured here was Screamer, I was wrong - it is in fact Hellblade! Well, Hellblade is finished and based and ready for action. 

As regular readers will know, I am working on painting citadel style 80s shields. I am working on skull designs at the moment and this is my second ever effort. Not a fantastic picture I know but I think I am starting to get somewhere. 

Golden Gobbos, Realm of Chaos and Skeleton Chariots!

RAMBLING INTRODUCTION

Long time no see...

Its time consuming being a father to a newborn isn't it? My wife and I have worked hard to get our new daughter into some sort of routine and it seems, fingers crossed, that we are beginning to get somewhere. The result of all this hard work is that I have a little bit of time to blog, so this post is a jumble of the things that are on my mind at present; namely A Golden Gobbo, The Realm of Chaos and my Skeleton Chariot.

To begin with the Golden Gobbo!

Well, the Golden Gobbo now has a name - Grommel the Goblin aka Metal 'Ed and I have prepared him a suitable background and stats for his use in your games. He should be fairly easy to convert and paint up. Goblin? Check! Weapon swap for a warhammer? Check! Green stuff pot like helmet with three horns? Check! Paint skin yellow? Check!

Perhaps in the future we should have a 'convert a Grommel competition'? Or perhaps, some skilled sculptor out there can sculpt, mould and produce a miniature of Grommel for us! If that sounds like you, get in touch!

All great characters need a bit of background. As is popular in 3rd edition circles, we must start with a little story like WD/GW did back in the day and follow through with a profile and rules etc.

GROMMEL'S BACKGROUND


"Ooz dat hidin' in dem booshes?" Gruntskilla, true to the first half of his name, grunted. "Iz it anuffer wun of dem stunties?"


"Nah!" Wheezed Grotbot, poking around in the leafy foliage with his spear.


"Iz it a hooman den?"


"Nah!" Grotbot wheezed again, bending back a particularly supple branch to expose a  wretched bundle cowering in the dirt. He poked at the shape absentmindedly with his spear point.


"A girlee elf den?" Grunstkilla inquired hopefully, shifting his enormous warhammer onto his brutishly muscled shoulder, as elven flesh was a favourite.


"Nah, itz a gobbo!" Grotbot determined, lifting the squirming creature up into the air with his spear tip. It dangled there amusingly.


"Ahh, wee can't 'ave propa meat evrey day na, but it'll do!"


      Gruntskilla turned away from his companion and carefully placed his warhammer on a relatively clean patch of ground before scooping up two alarmingly chunky stones. He began to strike their surfaces together. Bright, dangerous sparks began to lick out across the hastily bundled pile of snapped, dry twigs and fallen branches. It didn't take long to feed a healthy flame and dirty smoke was soon billowing around the orc's campsite.
      Stomping towards a pile of filthy paraphanalia that served as their store area, Gruntskilla began rummaging around until he found what he was looking for; a strangely shaped cooking pot. The vessel was clearly made of bronze, but the metal had aged since its heyday and was now a dirty, sooty black, complete with a verdigris chanced pattern. Three horn legs sprouted crudely from its base, the ivory chipped and stained by misuse and exposure to the elements.
       The old orc poured a murky liquid from a leather bag into the cooking pot, once satisfied enough of the liquid had filled the container, Gruntskilla gave the water a customary stir with a filthy, crooked finger before placing the pot on top of the flames. Within minutes, the murky water was bubbling. Grotbot twisted his spear so that the dangling goblin now hung above the steaming cooking pot. The small creature began to wriggle frantically as the heat of the fire began to blister his skin.


"Dusn't da gobbo look a bit funnee? Somefing wrong wif 'is skin, like!" Grotbot mumbled now that their dinner was partially illuminated by the light of the fire.  "Look, itz yella!"


"Wot? Not green?" Gruntskilla grunted in surprise. "Wot we gonna do wiv 'im den? Can we stillz eet 'im?"


"I'v' got crakrot!" the goblin squealed, "eatin' me will giv the diseese to yooz!"


"Whatz crakrot?" Grotbot asked, peering up at their prospective meal.


"Errr.... a terrybul diseese. Makes ya skin go yella and ya bum 'ole close up!" The Goblin squealed once more, wriggling in a forlorn attempt to remove himself from the spear point.


"Makes ya bum 'ole close up!?" Grotbot exclaimed in shock, winging the goblin around in mid air so that he dangled above the great heap of debris the orcs considered their belongings. "Youz betta eat 'im den, Grunstkilla!"


In that moment, the fungus riddled wood of Grotbot's spear gave way and the goblin, yellow limbs flailing, tumbled at speed into the junk. Pieces of rusty metal, old leather hats and a pair of decayed ogre boots flew up into the air as the goblin disappeared into the refuse. The boots, gigantic in their proportions, spun through the air as if on a mission of their own. With a dangerous plop, the boots vanished into the boiling water, unsettling the cooking pot and sending the steaming water gushing across the rocky floor. Like a angry tide, the water slid towards Gruntskilla and Grotbot, scolding their unprotected feet with a boiling vigour. The two orcs, startled by the sudden pain, started jostling each other. Knives flicked quickly into warty hands, the wicked blades striking suddenly at face, throat and eye. 


Green blood flowed thickly, splashing in a viscous streak across the rim of the cooking pot. There was the sound of a deep guttural groan. A second, whispering mutter. Then silence. 


The refuse shifted. A filthy yellow face peered out from the debris and cast terrified eyes this way and that. They saw no danger, only the two still bodies of their former would be consumers. Grommel emerged from his hiding place with a look of extreme relief. He knew he didn't have much time until the sound of the recent fight attracted more orcs. He russelled around in the junk in the hope of finding something, anything with which to disguise himself with. The old cooking pot caught his eye, though it appeared much smaller than when it had been full of water and boiling beneath him. Odd, he thought. Still, it would make a perfect makeshift orc style helmet to help him remain hidden until dawn. Reaching out a gnarled, yellow hand, Grommel grasped one of the shattered horn legs that had, some moments previously, held the cooking pot upright. Slipping it on to his head, the Goblin scooped up the warhammer that Gruntskilla had no further need of. 


"Hello!" Said an impossibly ancient voice! An impossibly ancient, evil voice!


Grommel shivered as he realised that the cooking pot was now stuck to his head and seemed to be talking to him!


"You're mine now!"


Grommel Metal 'Ed is a cursed goblin. Not only is his skin the wrong colour for a goblin (his contemporaries put this down to many things, though drinking too much goblin cider is the most popular), he happens to have a cursed cooking pot stuck on his head!

Yes, that's right! A cursed cooking pot!

Quite how such a humdrum a vessel became bound with the essence of the daemon Kkk'yss'thakk'fyzz is anyone's guess. This lessor daemon, independent to the four ruinous powers, draws its power from the emotions that precede, and indeed, are caused by ill-oman. A daemon of bad luck if you like.

GROMMEL METAL'ED Level 15 Chaos Goblin Hero

Grommel certainly suffers from ill luck, having to go around battle to battle wearing a cooking pot that looks vaguely like a helmet. However, as a side effect to his unfortunate headware (which cannot be removed, much like chaos armour) Grommel experiences shockingly good luck, entirely down to the influence of his daemon rather than his goblinoid cunning as this (an a large, magical warhammer) have kept him alive on many a battlefield. His extra-ordinary luck has made him a sought out hero to accompany many an orc and goblin horde, though undead necromancers, dark elves, skaven warlord clans and even chaos warbands have enlisted his aid in their squabbles and conquests.

Physique: Grommel is large for a goblin but shares all the gangly cruelty of his race. His bowed legs are usually covered in rusty scraps of armour, leather or animal skins which over his shoulders he wears a rotting and insect riddled bearskin. His skin is a bright yellow (which puzzles many of this fellow goblins) and upon his head he wears a strange helmet that resembles, only slightly, an battered old cooking pot. This cooking pot, if looked at in the right light seems to have a leering, sinister face all of its own!

Alignment: Grommel looks out for himself (well, in truth, the daemon Kkk'yss'thakk'fyzz  looks out for itself, through its unwitting agent) and has earned a pretty penny from mercenary work over the years. Quite where all this money goes (his detractors claim its spent on green body paint) is unknown, so Grommel spends most of his days wandering from war to war offering his services to any Evil or Chaotic aligned armies. The distinct whiff of chaos that abides around him puts off any Neutral or Good armies.

Base Size: 20 x 20 mm

Profile: M4 WS4 BS4 S4 T4 W3 I4 A3 Ld7+2 Int5 CL6+1 WP6+1  Points: 55

Special Rules

1) Grommel is subject to all the special rules as printed in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition rulebook.

2) Grommel is an especially lucky goblin. To reflect this, every time Grommel takes a wound roll a D6. On the roll of a 1 or a 6 the wound must be taken as normal, on the roll of a 2, 3, or 5 the wound is ignored (the chaotic powers keeping Grommel safe assert their will over the battle) but on a roll of a 4 the wound is reflected back onto the opponent. Nasty!

3) Grommel carries a magical warhammer. This weapon is enchanted with a feather spell and subsequently is very light to handle. This magical effect does not change the impact of the weapon striking its unlucky victim however. The weapon is considered two handed without the -1I modifier.

GOLDEN GOBBOS REMINDER!

There are only two weeks to go until the closing date of our first painting competition! I wonder how many of you are like me and haven't even started yet! Arrggggg! There are just so many miniatures in my collection to choose from!

If you haven't entered yet and want to, just email me at orlyggjafnakol@hotmail.com.

REALM OF CHAOS OLD SCHOOL WHITE DWARF PAINT JOBS


As I was surfing the darkest depths of the web I found some lovely scans that I thought I'd share with you. They are from the release issue of Slaves to Darkness and contain some lovely artwork and suitably chaotic miniature painting for the forces of Khorne and Slaanesh.

A new take on an old favourite. Imagining seeing a quote from Poe in a White Dwarf these days, eh? This is still an incredible painting, even after all these years. I still wonder why GW don't do big oil paintings anymore!

What incredible colour schemes! These miniatures make me itch with excitement to begin my daemonic and chaos armies sooner rather than later. These miniatures are major inspirations for me and indicate where I'd like to taken my retro inspired painting in the future. Nice to see some Rogue Trader renegades too!

SKELETON CHARIOT PROGRESS UPDATE NUMBER 3

Here are some more work in progress shots of the chariot. As you can well imagine, opportunities for painting have been far and few between but I've set up my desk and every spare five minutes I get I slapping on the Citadel Colour. If you recall, we had a little discussion about what to do with the slottabases connected to horses' hooves; do I cut them off or leave them on? I decided to leave them, cover the tangs with sand and paint them as part of the base. I am happy with the result. 

 I am almost finished with the horses. Just the leather to finish on the first model and a few touches with black ink to add and little depth to the bones. I worked quite fast on this models, just handling them gave me the feeling they were sculpted pretty quickly so it seems only fair to slap on the paint as fast as is possible too. 

 Still quite a bit to do on the chariot. I need to use some black ink to help shade the bone running up the spine and around the wheel hub. The leather too needs highlighting and the little bone details on top of the leather also need painting up. I am not quite sure what to do with the horns. I want a contrasting colour to the boney browns- perhaps orange and yellow?

All chariots need a crew and here is one of the contenders. I think this one was entitled Screamer in the original release. I fancied painting some dark, blood like red on the clothing of this skelly as well as the normal black. He needs work on his clothing and needs a shield fixing to his wrist. And a nice green base of course!

Well, that's all folks... I better head back upstairs and get some shut eye. 

I am on night feeds tonight!

Orlygg.

Another Logo for Oldhammer by Brian Russell

Brian Russell has emailed me a design inspired by the spirit of Oldhammer. Rather amusing in its concept is it not? He has been generous enough to offer the design out freely for anyone to use on their blogs and websites.

Thanks Brian!