Fantasy Visuals: John Blanche - Part IV (the '10s)

Continues from Part III. 

John Blanche's art in the 2010s is not very much unlike that in the 2000s, except that the trends emerged in that period seem to take momentum and impact even more than before. In a nutshell: Blanche, having set up a studio that is able to work by itself, takes more and more distance from the Warhammer products, providing occasional pieces (mostly for the 6th edition of 40K) and a lot of concepts that, although not meant for publication, still make heir way into the Codexes and Army Books. There is, still, a passion that looks back at the '80 in a number of artworks, as if John was remembering old stuff and reworking it into his later art, a quality that is higher than anything in the past ten or fifteen years. 

Necrons (2011)

Nightmare (2011)

Vampire Counts (2011)

Zombie Dragon (2011)

Beast of Nurgle (2012)

Death World (2012)

Exterminatus (2012)

Hour of Darkness (2012)

Imperium (2012)

Keeper of Secrets (2012)

Plague Drones (2012)

Sanguinius (2012)

The Changeling (2012)

The Enemy Within (2012)

The feeling is that creativity is back along with experimentation.  There's less mandatory product sketches from marketing and more stuff that comes from the artist's own imagination. There is an old attention to detail that was almost forgotten after the mid 1990s, this time benefitting from the experience of a navigated artist. The result is amazing.

When Warhammer Fantasy is killed and Age of Sigmar takes its place, John Blanche is only involved in the concept: he will not officially work on it, as his semi-retirements starts.

Kairic Acolyte (2014) 

Nurglings (2016)

Kharadron Overlord (2017)

There is little to no published material of his in the 7th edition of 40K and none at all in the 8th. At this point John mostly draws for himself, for friends and for games he plays. Look at the art below and consider how much it looks like a direct update of the earlier art from the '80s.

 

"Let us dance" 2019

Tarot card (2019)

Innocentius (2019)

Unkown Title (2020)

These days he publishes his sketches through a Facebook page, and he gets involved in many fan projects along with other gamers. Blanche can be occasionally met at gaming conventions around Nottingham, where is often a guest of honour, one of them being BOYL in Newark.

Overall John Blanche is one of the most influential artists in British fantasy art, and certainly the most influential in the history of GW. Even if his art is polarizing and not for everyone, no one can deny that even today all of GW's art exists in his shadow. He is also the only artist that is going to get four posts in Fantasy Visuals on this blog - that was a long ride started a year and a half ago and it took me a long time to go through all his published works. But it was fun, and I learned to appreciate him even more than I did before. I hope you do too!

Leave a comment, if you like, and tell us about your favourite piece from John Blanche. Soon I'll post on a new artist from the '80s.

The Children of the Eight-legged Mother - WQ Silver Tower Grot Scuttlings (2016)

  

Every year around this time I feel guilty for buying Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower and never getting around to paint all of its miniatures. I usually promise myself to do that, start with something and then get distracted by something else. This year it was the Grott Scuttlings. What's funny is that I bought a lot of colourful Contrast Paints, with a plan to do them extra Tzeentch-y, and ended up with this Blanchitsu nightmare of mute colours covered in a variety of inks. This is what Bob Ross would call a happy mistake.

So here's the Children of the Eight-legged Mother: a band of mutant Goblins worshipping a Giant Spider, which they called "Mother". They haunt the forest and come out of dark nights to snatch children away and offer them to their Mother Goddess. Grimdark af.

 

For some reason, these yellowish-tan skinned Goblins give me a lot of 70s/early 80s vibes, something like Rodney Matthews meets the Dark Crystal. really dig that. Anyway, Happy New Year!

The Tale of the Black Troll of Colmart, part 3

  Continues from Part II.

"Oi boss! 'Ave you 'eard of dat Troll living down da ruined village?"

"Da Black Troll? Da one who ate the knights of da Duke? Har har har, dat's a good tale!"

"Dey say 'e's killed some stunties, too! A Trollslayer among dem."

"Did 'e? Sounds we have a real tuff guy down dere, eh?"

Lurpak looked at the leader. Was he having the same thought as he did? He didn't dare to suggest ideas, lest he might think he coveted his position of leader.

"What do ya want den?" asked Ogrod.

Lurpak smiled an unctuous, crooked smile: "Are ya finking the same as I do, boss?"

Ogrod looked at Lurpak, that oily bastard. He definitely wanted to be boss: he was cunning, but not brutal enough. He was a cowardly bastard, that's what he was. What did he have in mind this time? he decided to outsmart him.

"Maybe I am..." he declared.

"Ya're a genius den, boss! With dat Troll in our band no 'un could stand against us, no' even the Duke's knights."

Ogrod raised an eyebrow. That was either a great idea, or a real stupid one. A Troll in his band? Why not? If only he could be persuaded to join them? But how? He was sure Lurpak had a plan already, that greasy knob.

"I already know what to do... can ya guess my plan, Lurpak?"

"Convincin' the Troll will be no easy thing, boss, but if we can get 'im bound in ropes and chains, it's only a matter of time before 'e agrees."

"And how do you get a Troll in ropes and chains without 'him breaking dem?" Ogrod was so baffled he forgot that they were discussing his plan.

"First we get 'im to the ground, den we jump on 'im. 'E can break one, two, maybe free chains, but no'... a lo' of dem."

The Orc boss winced. It could work. It could also turn into a bloody mess.

"Ah, de 'Ell, I can't 'ide anyfing from ya!" he laughed. He could not turn down the offer at this point. After all, he remembered it was his plan.

For this scenario I have a whole force of Goblinoids trying to capture the Troll alive. The victory condition is to have the Troll on the ground (stunned or at 0 W), surrounded by at least 5 models.

The Goblinoids are divided into five units. As usual, I use WFB 3rd ed. rules with some Mordheim additions and a couple of house rules.

" 'Ait, boys. I'm gonna be at the centre," said Ogrod. "I'll 'ave a few of dem Gobboz wiv me, some armed for battle, some wiv nets to slow the beast down."

Ogrod is a lvl 15 Orc hero, with 4 Goblins armed with hand weapon and shield, and three with nets.

"Li'l Shrek will be next to me, leadin' dem Snotz. Dey'll carry what I call da Surprises."

Shrek is a lvl 5 Goblin hero leading 6 Snotlings. They are armed with two Mould Bombs (homebrew rules) - a Yellow Mould bomb (stunning) and a Red Mould bomb (blinding).

 

"Lurpak, ya'll be on my over side, with da Gobbo archers."

Lurpak is a lvl 5 Orc hero leading 6 Goblins armed with short bows.

"On the far left I'll 'ave Gridd with 'is Squigs. Dey'll sniff the beast out of 'is 'ole."

Gridd is a lvl 5 Goblin hero with 3 Squigs.

 

"On the far rite I want my faisful Clift. Good lad. Take da Gobboz wiv da spears and poke at the Troll to push it into our trap."

 

So it was that, a few nights later, the band of Ogrod was nearing Colmart.

"Oi, dem Trolls smell like Squig shit." said Clift. Gridd, the Squig handler, gave him a sideways look.

"Worse dan dat," chuckled Shrek, who didn't like Gridd at all. "Dey smell like Squig vomit, he he he!"

"Shu' up you lot," ordered Ogrod. "Gridd, go 'round the village on da left and find the beast. Lurpak, go on da other side an if ya see 'im gi' us a shout."

Slowly, the Goblinoid band entered the village, expecting an ambush at every corner.

The Black Troll had smelled them, too. It hadn't met Goblinoids for a while. There were many of them, and they were making a lot of noise. It decided to hide (Stupidity test successful), as it usually did, and ambush them at the right time.

Ogrod and Clift were now in Colmart's central square. There was Troll shit everywhere, and pieces of metal here and there: belt buckles, rusted daggers, arrow-heads. A Troll's stomach can easily digest bones, clothes and even leather and usually only leaves metal behind.

Ogrod looked at his vanguard: Lurpak was slowly prowling through the woods on the right, but Gridd had stopped: he was half hidden among the fields and wildly gesturing at him.

"I fink 'e's found the Troll," he said. "Let's move slowly."

The Troll was waiting: where were they? The noise had stopped. It was listening intently to locate his foes, not knowing to be in fact surrounded by them (Stupidity test failed). This gave the Goblinoids the time to get close.

"Be quiet, stupid beast!" ordered Gridd to Orange, who was growling. As an answer, Red also started growling. And the Troll heard that (Stupidity test passed). There they were, hiding among the grasses! It charged, waving his great axe, and brought it down on Purple. 

"Nooo!" groaned Gridd. Purple was his most loyal Squig. Poor, good boy. The other two Squigs jumped at the Troll, but were unable to bite at his legs. Gridd also attacked with his Squig prodder, but didn't dare to get too close to the monster.

"Well done!" shouted Ogrod to Gridd. "Keep it distracted, we're coming'!"

Those Squigs were nasty and they were constantly drooling on its feet. The Black Troll swung his axe left and right but they were jumping back and forth, avoiding it and snapping their jaws at him. It was getting really upset. And that Goblin with that metal spear was getting on its nerves, too...

Meanwhile the rest of the Goblinoids were getting close. Ogrod's Goblins threw three nets, two of which landed on the Troll's back, and one on Orange (1 on the To Hit roll). Lurpak and his archers swung a volley of arrows at the Troll and managed to hurt him (1W). Gridd cursed at them, as some arrows flew too close to his Squigs. Roaring, the Troll freed himself of the nets, but lost precious time (2 attacks). Orange freed itself, too, losing his single attack. Now all the Goblinoids were in position for the final attack.

 

 

"That's it, we're ready!" shouted now Ogrod. "Get out of da way, Gridd!"

The Squig handler did not wait for the boss to repeat that. He turned his tail and flew - that was a mistake, because the Troll saw him (free hack attack) and smashed him to the ground. The Squigs, deprived of their minder, went mad and continued to yelp and bite at the Troll's feet.

"Bring out da Yellow Suprise!" bellowed Ogrod. Shrek looked at the Snotlings and nodded. They started to jump up and down excited, and one of them ran out of the group holding what looked like a large yellowish puffball mushroom and launched it at the Troll...

 The Yellow Mould Bomb flew, a bit too far maybe... it passed the Troll and landed just a few feet away from him (failed BS roll resulted in the bomb landing 1d3'' away in a random direction, effectively 3'' beyond the maximum range of 6''). Then it exploded (the 2d3 roll resulted in an explosion with a 4'' radius), and engulfed the Troll and the two Squigs (ending less than an inch away from Ogrod). A yellow cloud of spores covered the fields, and within moments the Troll and the Squigs were lying on the ground, twitching as if in a dream (everyone who is not a Snotling or doesn't breathe is stunned and to the ground).

The cloud dissipated almost immediatedly (roll of 1 on 1d3 rounds) and as soon as that happened, Ogrod gave the order.

"Pin 'im!" he shouted. "Don't le' it get up!"

The Troll was just beginning to come to its senses, when it was overwhelmed by a mob of Goblinoids - there were Orcs, Goblins and Snotlings, each holding a rope, a chain or a net. He tried to move but could not - his legs and arms were bound and his head was covered with a large bag.

"Har har!" laughed Ogrod. "We did it! And with minimum losses!"

"Actually Gridd and Purple are alrite, boss," confirmed Clift, poking their moaning bodies on the ground (both passed their survival roll on the Casualty Table). "You're a lucky basterd, ahn't you Gridd?"

Just at that moment, Shrek was coming up from the main building, dragging a large, two-handed axe which looked of Dwarfish make: "We found lots of gold, boss, a proper treasure! And this one, too: I reckon it would make a fine weapon for ya. Be careful, cuts like 'Ell!"

So it was that the village of Colmart was freed of the Black Troll that haunted it, but at the same time the name of Ogrod rose to fame. Tales of dread told of a ruthless Orc Boss leading an army of Goblinoids which included the Black Troll. Ogrod the Headtaker, he was named, after his habit of decapitating prisoners with his Great Axe and displaying their heads as grim testimonies of his passage. Not only the lands around Colmart, but the whole duchy of Gisoreux was now in the grip of his fear: whole villages were depopulated, and castles would rather pay tribute than face a siege from the Goblinoids.