Slann Renegade with looted weapons (1984)

This mini comes from the Magnificent Sven scenario, published in 1984, and it is classified as "Slann warrior". The sculpt is from the Perry Twins. What I love about this Slann are the details that make it special: the crest over the head, making it look special and "punk"; the interesting mix of traditional Slann and metal weapons, which gives it the look of a deserter with looted equipment. The slightly crouched, defensive position, as if about to ambush an enemy.

Besides Imperial Slann and Savage Slann, an interesting and often overlooked faction of Lustria are the Renegade Slann. Those born within the Empire who, for practical or ideological reasons, forsake it and live as outlaws. They may be deserters from the Imperial Army, religious or political dissidents, escaped criminals. Sometimes simply followers of the Forbidden Gods.

They survive on the outskirts of the Slann Empire as bandits, smugglers or mercenaries. They are generally nomadic, always on the run from their foes, but sometimes they may form permanent communities. Unlike Imperial Slann, they have no qualms about adopting foreign customs - they are fond of iron and steel weaponry and they are ready to learn the lore of the ghanazil (non-Lustrians) - if those serve their purpose.

 

Sea Elf Bolt-thrower - converted from a Dark Elf one (1991)

I've been looking hard to find a Sea Elf (slash High Elf) Bolt-thrower from WFB 3rd editions, and I was lucky. More than lucky, in fact, as fellow
Oldhammer Elf fan Tim Welch was so gallant to let me have some bits in need of love - a Dark Elf Bolt-thrower missing its original wheels and its crew. They had earlier been painted up but probably disassembled at some point. I stripped them and set myself to sculpt some new wheels with copper wire and greenstuff, which turned out okay-ish. Well, here they are.

They don't look too abysmal, I hope, as members of the Lustrian Sea Elf clan of the Silverpearl, inhabiting the Elf island off the coast of the Imperial Slann city of Osshual. Known for their craftiness in trade and diplomacy, the Silverpearls have a long history in Lustria, which they credit to their habit of not entering melee. They let other, smaller, younger and less important clans join the fray for them. The Silverpearls man the bolt-throwers.

 

The original crew sculpts looks like a proper militia, none of them having similar armour or equipment. I painted them accordingly, tying them together by the use of similar colours: a garish cyan, off-white and black. They all have a similar, pale shell on the base.

Clan Crayfish Horn-blower and Sentinel - Foundry Sea Elf Command

Following an earlier test mini, I am now starting to paint a unit of Sea Elves from my homebrew Crayfish Clan from Lustria.

The first one is a musician, blowing a horn that could be a conch-shell or the horn from a sea-beast. The original miniature didn't have the sword, that comes from the GW High Elf Hero and Noble set.

The second one is a sentinel, apparently scanning the horizon and protecting his eyes from the bright Lustrian sun, looking for the enemy. Again, the sabre comes from a GW set, IIRC the Empire Militia set. 

This should turn into some nice unit, I reckon, if the Foundry scale doesn't make it awkward when mixing with Oldhammer minis.

Homemade Lustria Swamp Terrain

I've bought some aquarium plastic plants some time ago and wanted to use them as Lustrian terrain but wasn't so happy with the base, so I attempted to do my own. Here's the result.

I used a super-heavy cardboard base - it was the tray for a cake :P it was covered in a thin layer of Das clay to create an uneven surface, primed and dry-brushed with earth colours for the upper parts and darker, water colours for the hollow in the centre. 

After glueing the plant with a mix of superglue and vinylic glue, the hollow was filled with realistic water from Woodland Scenics and left to dry. When everything was done, the naked terrain was treated with sand (drybrushed again), static grass and grass tufts.

The final result is ok. I really need to find a solution for the edges, which are white and difficult to paint, and create an ugly contrast instead of blending with the table - any ideas are welcome. But the colours are nice. Can you spot the two Slann hiding in the picture above? They are about to face two Pygmies looking for water, in the picture below.

Kimril Giantslayer and WFRP's Trollslayer

I've painted my first Trollslayer. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

Allow me a bit of hype. Not only it is a nice miniature, but it is also an iconic one - and thanks to Hobgoblin Orange blog for the mine of information about it.

This is not only a Trollslayer, but the very first Slayer in the history of Slayers. A first stub of the idea nehind Slayers already emerged in the Magnificent Sven scenario published in 1984, where in the infamous Packet Inn of Iquitos (in Lustria) one would find Juggo Joriksonn, a Dwarf Berserker covered in tattoos and affected by alcoholism and frenzy.

His most striking features are his sunken, bloodshot eyes and his awful complexion. He is in the habit of dyeing his hair torquiose [sic] and greasing it with pig fat. Its spiked and sticks out at surprising angles.

Juggo Joriksonn by Aly Morrison

In 1985 Citadel launched the Dwarf Lords of Legend Box which included, among others, a miniature obviously inspired to Juggo and Dwarf Bersekers: Kimril Giantslayer. The Perry Twins made an excellent job (as usual) with these miniatures, and Kimril somehow struck a chord.

Cover by John Blanche. Kimril second row left.

In 1986 WFRP was published, and here the concept of Slayer was first detailed with their belief in atoning shame with a honourable death:

Troll Slayers can be recognised easily by their hair, which is spiked and dyed orange, and by the many tattoos which cover their bodies. They also favour exotic jewellery, such as earrings and nose plugs. They spend a great deal of their time boasting of their exploits and showing off their many scars, and often indulge in bouts of overeating, fasting, and excessive consumption of stimulants.

Those who did not find death as Troll Slayers could eventually become Giant Slayers, or Slayers of whatever monster their obsessions would pick.

Troll Slayers became instant classics, thanks also to the cover made by John Sibbick for WFRP.

The rest, as they say, is History.

Charging here...

Charging there...

MORGRIM NO!

See Thirty Amazon - a first test

 

I was one of the lucky ones to be join the kickstarter launched in 2018 by Simon Howard and sculpted by Geoff Solomon-Sims, the See Thirty Amazons, directly inspired by the Citadel C30 range.

Unlike the originals, the new Amazons are multi-pose, allowing for a huge variety. On a negative note, though, joints are tiny and arms/heads are extremely easy to snap away. Well, you can't have your cake and eat it, as they say. At least, and this is the important bit, they feel extremely right.

 

 

For this reason the first paint test was made following the colours of this excellent John Blanche work which served as the cover of the 1984 Citadel Journal.

I'm quite happy with it and will paint more with a minimal colour variation on the hair, cloth trimming and shields.

Ready to fight any Slann, Pygmy or Norseman on her way!

Clan Crayfish Standard-bearer - Foundry Sea Elf Command

The Foundry Sea Elf Command, sadly discontinued, is a great set, albeit a bit large scale-wise. This piece was painted as the standard bearer of the Lustrian Sea Elf clan Crayfish.

Here goes the fluff (miniatures are just an excuse to make fluff, which is probably my main hobby):

Six thousands years ago - about the year 2500 of the High Elf Calendar - Elves left Ulthuan for the first time, sailing the high seas. Some of them travelled south to the coasts of Lustria, and settled on an isle inhabited by sea birds, which came to be known as Lystarannal. These settlers would later become the first Sea Elves. One of their clans adopted the Crab as their device, and they became renowned as warriors and marines, clad in heavy armour, fighting under the banners of the Phoenix Kings.

Around the HEC year 4500, after they had inhabited Lystarannal for two millennia, the Elves of Clan Crab sundered: it is not clear what happened exactly, as accounts differ, but some young Elves of their numbers left Lystarannal and settled in the harbour of the Slann city of Krox. These Elves adopted the Crayfish as their device, reversing the colours of the Crab banner. Clan sunderings were not rare in those times when the Elf race was still young and multiplied easily, but some bad blood remained between the old and the new Clan, which survives to this day as a rivalry.

Perhaps the source of disagreement was the willingness of the younger Clan to serve as mercenaries for the Slann: for long millennia Clan Crayfish offered their weapons to the crown of Ulthuan as much as any Slann governor willing to pay their price.

Clan Crayfish had its centre in Krox of more than three and a half millennia. But in HEC 8066 the city of Krox was struck by a terrible plague, brought by Humans who had recently learned how to cross the Sea: the Scourge of Krox killed one third of population and left the city as a partial ruin. The survivors hunted Humans out of vengeance and often associated Elves with them. Clan Crayfish abandoned Krox to return to Lystarannal.

But returning to Elvish lands was not easy. Clan Crab would not have their offshoot back to their lands and offered them a choice - return to the original Clan or be its enemies. A few Crayfish Elves subjected themselves to the mother Clan, but most angrily refused. Now, Clan Crab had always refused to serve in the same armies of Clan Crayfish, but now they actively fought them, provoking them into duels and slandering their reputation. Crayfish Elves were subject to every kind of abuse until the very governor of Lystarannal encouraged them to leave for public order's sake.

In HEC 8316 Phoenix King Finubar obtained elven rule on the isle of Osshual, already settled by Clan Clam. After 250 years on Lystarannal, Clan Crayfish was offered a new home and they formed an Elven Community. Today, Clan Crayfish numbers 40 Elves.

The Clan device is a green-grey crayfish on an inverted field of pale yellow and dark red. Their Head is Yvron, a mercenary veteran, nicknamed the Proud. He is relatively opportunistic and not in particularly good terms with the other Clan Heads in Osshual, although he is respectful of them. His clan is charged with the police and defence of the Community.

The Champion of Xiatapek - Diehard Miniatures Eru-kin (2017)

Yet another Eru-kin off the painting list. After attending BOYL 2019 and seeing so many colourful Slann I was inspired to veer away from the usual green and experiment with something else.

This particular figure has been painted as a Champion of Xiatapek, the Slann god of violence, brutality and rage. Represented as a monkey, Xiatapek shares many traits with Khaine and Khorne: it is a warrior god that revels in bloodletting and the ritual killing of opponents.

Xiatapek's colours are black and vermilion. His temples are often built of black stone and his ritual weapons are the mace and the macahuitl, often equipped with obsidian blades, but many sacrifices are also carried on without weapons: victims are beaten to death with fists, kicks and headbutts, and their throats are then ripped open with a bite.

Followers of Xiatapek are rightly feared by anyone with common sense, as they are often violent adrenaline junkies just looking for trouble. Many among them are protagonists or mercenaries. In battle, they spurn complicated tactics in favour of sudden charges that are as likely to take the enemy by surprise as they are to end in a bloodbath on both sides.

In spite of the bad reputation of its devotees, Xiatapek is a surprisingly popular god and almost every Slann settlement has a temple or shrine devoted to him. He is, in fact, a slayer of monsters and daemons and images of him are often carved on doors to protect a household from dangers and ill-fortune. Before going to war, it is customary to offer a sacrifice to him among Imperial and Savage Slann alike.

A secondary aspect of Xiatapek is the dominion of fear. He is said to be able to instil fear in enemies and remove it from the heart of its followers. Priests of Xiatapek are often completely immune to any fear and they are known to celebrate festivals with competitions of courage that involve walking on this poles over gaping pits or being covered in poisonous snakes or scorpions.

Bolibar the Toad-Slann - Pintamilkada from Citadel C32 Pintamilkada Slann (1986)

This glorious Slann from the C32 range, sculpted by the Perry Twins, is obviously depicting the so-called Toad-Slann, the Emperor's favourite warleaders, blessed with a higher ascendancy compared to common Slann.

His head seems bulkier than other Slann figures in the same range, and he sports a heavy armour and fancy decorations that mark him as a leader. Specifically, he will be the leader of my Slann warband: Bolibar the Great, famous general and fearsome warrior among the Imperial Slann.

I painted his skin a darker shade of green compared to other Slann, to make him more fearsome, and I gave him colourful feathers and plumes to help him stand out. I am not so happy with the yellow of the eyes, armour and the feathers, that looks way too similar to each other. Perhaps one day I'll change them. Notice the obsidian head of his polearm and the jade decorations on his halberd and his lips: the only metal element is his golden armband.

The figure is nice but the paintjob is a bit dull: I need to experiment more, but I learn a couple of useful lessons here, about what not to do :)

A Band of Pygmies

 

For those who didn't know, I've been working since last Summer on a massive sourcebook project on Lustria. The idea came to me when I visited BOYL2018 and saw the wonderful Lustrian-themed table done by some fans. That day the Lustrua-hype came back to me and I purchased these Pygmies.

 We are talking, of course, of Wargames Foundry DA137 Pygmy Archers, masterfully sculpted by Mark Copplestone.
 

Kevin Dallimore is better than me, I know

These are historical Pygmies from the Darkest Africa range, and are remarkably different from the GW art about Pygmies. They miss swollen lips, pot bellies and the outrangeous decorations of leaves and bone, but to be fair I was never a big fan of those. Still, they missed something, so I decided to add some skulls and bones here and there, mostly from bits of a Skeleton Guard box.

The final result is not too abysmal, I hope. Unfortunately, some of the nose- and ear-decorations, being made of greenstuff, snapped very easily so you can't see them in the pictures. That's a lesson learned for me. The spear, which was missing from the box, is a broken toothpick, which fit nicely with my idea of Lustria being almost completely ferrous metal-free.

Proportions seem to fit nicely with original GW miniatures, as you can see. So now, how to use these hungry little savages? I based them on round bases because they are going to be skirmishers. I guess I should try to use them in WFB but probably will attempt at house-ruling a Pygmy warband for Mordheim, including special rules for enchanted enemy heads - some warding off bad luck, some speaking to their carrier with secrets from beyond the veil of death.

Suggestions are welcome, anyway. Did you ever use Pygmies in your games?