Citadel "Stone Troll with two handed axe" (1992)

This is a heavyweight, both in terms of Oldhammer goodness and actual lead weight. Here we have a Michael Perry Stone Troll, issued by Citadel towards the very end of the Oldhammer Golden Age, in 1992. 

Trolls (and Trollslayers) are among the most identifiable elements of the Warhammer setting. Ironically, Warhammer Trolls are directly inspired - as many other monsters - from D&D, but they have such goofy and silly looks that they largely overshadow their more boring progenitors.

All Citadel Trolls were great, but these are my favourites - they dance on the thin line between the picturesque realism of the '80s and the cartoonish silliness of the '90s and they combine them to perfection.

Truly, Michael Perry outdid himself on these brutes - the anatomy is perfect, as are the facial expressions and the character they exude.

Traditionally these Stone Trolls are painted of a bright blue but I chose to do mine slightly darker and muted. I am quite satisfied with the final result - it took a lot of washes and highlights to get not where I wanted, but where I could stop and not be angry with myself.

Ready to smash some stunties, then! Next I am going to post a Trollslayer to keep the Troll some company.

GW Lord of the Rings Castellan of Dol Guldur - painted as a Wraith

 

I am not a fan of the later GW Lord of the Rings miniatures. The earlier Citadel release, in the '80s, had a great flavour. The later one, in the 2000s, retained too much of the movie aesthetics (which I generally revile) and could not be redeemed even by the Perry Brothers' sculpting skills. On top of that, the scale does not match figures from any other producer, including other lines of GW.

However, there are a few figures that shine out of the group - almost all of them original GW creations. One of these are the Castellans of Dol Guldur.

They are essentially low-powered Nazgûl, Wraiths that animate empty armours and old rags. The influence of John Howe's style is obvious.

Now, I do like John Howe, I just think some of his stuff - namely the full plate armour - suits better the Warhammer world than Middle-earth. That's why I painted this guy here to be a Wraith in my home-ruled Restless Dead warband for Mordheim.

It fits as a hero into the retinue of Lavinia von Enzebsurg, which we presented here. This is why he sports the colours of the once-Gräfin, rather than the dull black we associate with undead. I think he came out alright.

Size-wise, he's bigger than Oldhammer miniatures but as an evil hero it's not too much out of place.

Citadel Elric Kinslayer (1986)

Elric of Melniboné is one of the greatest characters in Fantasy literature, next to Conan the Barbarian, Gandalf the Wizard and a few others. He is simply a giant and an archetype for countless imitations who came after him, such as Daenerys Targaryen and her whole dynasty, or Geralt of Rivia.

Elric is oddly similar to Tolkien's Turin Turambar, another tragic hero with a noble pedigree, a complex relationship with his sister and a cursed black sword which ultimately kills him and everything he loves. Both were conceived separately: Tolkien wrote his stories first but they were published well after Moorcock's books, who in turn were inspired by Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword. Tolkien and Anderson had the same inspiration, and that's the saga of Tyrfing, a cursed sword from Germanic myth.

Elric's archetype is the cursed warrior/noble, unfit to be a hero were it not for his magic sword, for whose help he has to pay a dear price; it is an extremely popular archetype, especially with modern audiences. Unlike other characters before him, Elric was the first to draw a parallel between the black sword and the use of drugs, thus adding a new layer to the character.

This miniatures, sculpted by Jes Goodwin, was first released in the BC5 Eternal Champion Box in February 1986. Single character blisters were released in July through September 1987 to support the Stormbringer RPG that Games Workshop were reprinting under license from Chaosium. Elric Kinslayer is one of two sculpts made by GW, the other being Elric of Melnibonéin full armour. 

For the colour scheme, I went with that from one of my all time favourite depictions of the Albino Prince: the Dragon Lord.

Courtesy of R. Matthews' website.

Overall, I am very pleased: this miniature has been sitting next to my desk, already primed, for at least a couple of years and now it is done. This is probably my favourite paint job since the end of last Summer, so I hope to be back to high standards in the current year. I just need the inspiration and the right miniature...

Berengar de Stil - Citadel ME25 Ithilien Ranger (1985)

Here's a later addition to the Coldwood Smugglers: Berengar de Stil, boar hunter and poacher. Armed with bow, spear and a hunting horn, lying in ambush for his prey.

I am in love with the Ithilien rangers from the original Lord of the Rings release of the '80s: this is the second one I find, and I hope I can complete the collection with the third one.

Jurgen the Wolf - GW Middenheimer Youngblood (1999)

I am a fan of '80s miniatures because of nostalgia, but in terms of proportions and style my favourite period are the '90s. At this time better tools and materials coupled with talented artists to generate great sculpts. Sadly, the passage to graphic design and finecast has, to some degree, exaggerated some cartoonish features and taken out the soul that hand-sculpted pieces were so full of.

Mordheim miniatures lack all reference to the great age of Oldhammer but they have a character of their own and this is one of my favourites: one of the two Middenheimer Youngbloods sold in a the blister since November 1999. The fact that it is sculpted by the great Alan Perry is a brand of guarantee.

Our youngblood has a dynamic pose, caught in a dash - either charging or running away from an enemy - and his expression conveys all the excitement and urgency of an imminent fight. He is armed with a nothing but a warhammer and dressed in old farmer's clothes (notice the rip on the knee), carries a large bag and a big wolf's hide on his shoulders. Can't get more Middenlander than this! he also carries a bow and a quiver on his side, because he's a hunter.

I don't play Middenheimers, but this will be a nice addition to the Coldwood Smugglers, in the charachter of Jurgen the Wolf. Young Jurgen is from the village of Isenbüttel, the son of a woodsman; when caught poaching to feed his large family, he escaped the Grand Duchy of Middenland. He met the Smugglers in the Coldwood and readily accepted to join them.

Bretonnian Infantry Command, painted as Standard Bearer of Dralas

I got this nice little miniature on eBay. Could not recognize the code, and didn't record the year before basing it. I just know it's Bretonnian and it comes from a command group. It could easily be Perry-sculpted, as far as I know.

I bought him together with a bunch of other Bretonnian infantrymen, with the idea of creating a group of guards to use in WFRP games. I toyed with the project of painting them all with the colours of Dralas, the homebrew city in the Border Princes where most of my scenarios start. After a long time, only this guy has been painted, and the other will most likely follow in another livery, that of Artesia, the bordering princedoms that usually poses as the villain of the campaign.

Dralas is a port city and its colours are white and blue, like the sea and the foam over the waves. The city sits at the mouth of the river Zaffirio, so sapphire is the stone associated with the city heraldry. The other association is the Sea Serpent: according to legend, Dralas was originally founded by Elves and abandoned in the distant past, then a Sea Serpent set its abode under the murky waters of the ruined elven harbour, until the hero Dalphis slew the reptile and reclaimed the ruins, becoming the founder of the city.

Dalphis lived some 15 centuries ago and since then Dralas has seen many events: the city was a capital and then a subject, it had kings, princes and councils of citizens. Until recently it was ruled by a prince, until he was forced by an elven adventurer and pirate to surrender power and the hand of his sister. Nowadays it is the Regent Gelmir Lindarian who controls the government. This, however, does hardly mean that he holds power: Dralas is a famously seedy port where a lot of deals are made under locked doors, and the real power rarely resides where it appears to be.

The Regent directly controls the Black Guard, a group 30 of mercenaries who helped him conquer the city, commanded by general Achille. The Palace Guard's loyalty is divided between the Regent and the Prince: they are about 30 well trained warriors. The City Guard (90 members) follows the orders of the Regent as long as it gets paid regularly. The City Militia, being the largest force in town (450 members), obeys its Captains, who in turn are nominated among nobles, and so they follow their own interests and are generally raised only in case of foreign invasions.

This guy probably belongs to the City Guard and is therefore the most flexible. He could be used to police the streets, guard locations or escort important people in town. He wears a padded leather jacket and a helm, and is armed with a sword (so he is probably an official) and carries a standard with the city device.

Fantasy Visuals: John Blanche - Part II (the '90s)

Continues from Part I.

In 1991 Bryan Ansell sold his shares in Games Workshop and left the company, and Tom Kirby took over the top management. More interested in the business side than in art and games, Kirby delegated the supervision of these activities to other managers. John Blanche was already Art Director but he was mostly involved in the Warhammer 40K setting, launched in 1987 and quickly gathering fans; but for Warhammer Fantasy, at that time the core business of the company, work had been directed by Ansell with the assistance of many designers and artists. With Ansell missing, Blanche was able to give a stronger personal touch to Fantasy art.

Unfortunately, in the following years many of the earlier artists that had helped define Warhammer left the company: first Paul Bonner and Adrian Smith started to work on other projects, including comics magazine Toxic! managed by Pat Mills; Russ Nicholson and Ian Miller didn't like the way things were managed and soon left as well, and Tony Ackland also reduced his contributions. eventually John Blanche, Dave Gallagher and Wayne England were the only artists left from the '80s team, and England left not long after. The only new addition to the team was Mark Gibbons.

At this time, Games Workshop was starting to become massively popular, and instead of adapting its products to existing settings - like the world of Tolkien, Moorcock, Lovecraft and Judge Dredd - the company found itself as the plagiarized one. In order to defend its business, GW embarked on a policy that changed its history forever: drop all references from other settings and develop their own lore and style, setting it apart from everyone else to better defend it from copycats. It was the birth of the Warhammer IP.

Cover for WH40K 2nd edition (1993)

While in the '80s Warhammer had thrived on the variety of styles on many artists, now the management wanted to have a single, clear style, which John Blanche was tasked to develop. He had to define, in his words, "the visual language of Warhammer". And the grammar of that language was made of skulls, scrolls, giant banners, bulky armours, fancy helms, oversized weapons, mohawks, masks, tattooed latin mottoes, grotesque shapes, mixing of organic and mechanical, leather, bolts and spikes. 
 

Empire Army (1992)

High Elf Hero (1993)

High Elves (1993)

Undead Army (1994)

Bretonnia (1996)

Night Goblins (1996)

Chaos Thugs (1998)

In Warhammer Fantasy, Blanche's touch was, in a way, more limited but also created a more marked break with the past. The realistic and somehow creepy or melancholic touch of previous authors was lost in favour of pure fury and rage: most of Blanche's art on this setting consists of massive battle scenes, where heroic characters fight in messy melees. It emphasizes combat over subtlety, and epicness over horror. Honestly I don't know if this was intentional or simply a reflection of Blanche's more superficial interest in Fantasy: but the departure from the 80s was significant, and it influenced the whole studio.

Skaven Shaman (1992)

Orc (1995)

To be fair, Blanche also worked on some single character studies, but again they were mostly focused on combat, with monsters wielding weapons and keeping aggressive stances. The new mood was set, and Warhammer Fantasy art would never again be the same.

In Warhammer 40K, Blanche's passion was more evident: he produced marvellous concept art that defined the setting forever. Its sheer breadth and variety is unbelievable, and possibly Blanche reached the zenith of his creativity in this period. Compared to the 80s, his style developed into more sketchy and focusing on surrealistic elements, that distort proportions and convey a feeling of grotesqueness and madeness that eventually became a trademark of 40K.

And they shall know no fear (1993(

Golden Throne (1993)

Squats (1993)

Cupids from Necromunda (1995)

 

Ratskin Ganger from Necromunda (1995)

Adepta Sororitas (1997)

Ecclesiarchy (1997)

Cover for WH40K 3rd edition (1998)

Battlefleet Gothic (1999)

By the end of the '90s, both Warhammer Fantasy and 40K bore the mark of John Blanche. One, in my opinion, more successfully than the other. The following decades would see each develop according to the groudnwork done in the '90s.

And for what concerns John Blanche, everything is detailed in Part III.

Galentil Wavesinger - Citadel Wood Elf Horn (1991)

These days I just can't get enough of Sea Elves, so I'm painting a lot of them: the aim is to build a warband and eventually a small army to bring to conventions. 

This particular figure was issued by Citadel in 1991 as part of the Wood Elf Command, under the name Horn 2 and the code 074213/28C. It was sculpted by Jes Goodwin. It bears many similarities with an earlier figure, part of the Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers (1987) and was possibly built with parts of that.

This Sea Elf represents a character, born in the early 2000s as a character for WFRP: Galentil. It was the last character I played before stopping for many years, and I have a relation of love and hate for him. Galentil's story goes more or less like this: he was very young and hailed from a family of dirt-poor Sea Elves from the coasts of Yvresse; shy, contemplative and possessed of a strong sense of justice, he left home looking for fame and fortune and ended up on a ship that travelled most of the Known World in several adventures. During this time he met an Elf girl, a wandering rogue and entertainer named Lilegon (another PC), who stole his heart. The two had a very intense love affair that ended quite badly as elements of Lilegon's past surfaced: unbeknownst even to her, the girl was the daughter of a Slaaneshi Dark Elf and a Wood Elf Witch; abandoned by the father and losing the mother to the Inquisition, she had been brought up by travelling artists. Finding her mother reincarnated in a lynx was the beginning of an emotional roller-coaster for the girl and a train-wreck for Galentil. When Lilegon decided to explore the heritage of her parents, Galentil left her heart-broken and became a hermit, sailing the seas on a small boat with only the company of the winds and the waves, making strange music with shells and horns. Eventually, he became a priest of Mathlann, the elven Sea God, and acquired many powers over water and weather.

After reacquiring a new balance, Galentil has taken up adventure again, hiring himself to Sea Elf crews in need of blessings and protection from ill fortune.