The Headtaker - MM25 Marauder Orc (1989)

Got this on eBay, who knows when. It was definitely in a bundle. I am not an Orc lover, to be honest, but this figure looked cool. So when Phil Gregory aka oldmanpaints launched his Old Orc competition for Orctober, this is what I found in my lead pile. Literally, the only Orc there was.

I learned only later that this is a Marauder MM25 Orc, sculpted in 1989 by Aly Morrison and sold in a blister of four. I love the heavy armour that defines Black Orcs, heavy scale hauberk that contrast with the later Middlehammer silly plates with spikes and horns. The shield was missing and I decided to play with a couple of Elf heads taken from the GW Zombies sprue, and so the Headtaker was born.

I had lots of fun painting this, mostly because looking at other painters motivated me to improve and experiment. Besides conversion, which is not so common for me, I tried Blood for the Blood God colour with some interesting results. 

 

The final result is a very brutal-looking Orc, displaying the heads of two Elfs, probably captured scouts, while he wields his bloodied axe and offers a bloodied grin. Glorious.

Marauder MM41 Ogre (1990)

The Marauder Ogres, sculpted by Aly Morrison in 1989/1990, are my second favourite Ogres after those made by Jes Goodwin. The interesting thing about them is that they are all dressed in fancy Landksnecht attire, and look like they have been equipped by a generous Imperial patron.

I've painted this one in deep blue and red, the colours of House Bramanti, the princely dynasty ruling over the city of Dralas in the Border Princedoms. It will be used as an Ogre bodyguard to Prince Aldo or his sister, Donna Caterina.

"Out o' the way, ye scum! Here comes the Madonna!"

The Bramanti are not an old dynasty, but they are a successful one. They have thrived by keeping a low profile and managing to unite the many factions of Dralas without threatening any. At the same time, they made sure to defend themselves and keep enemies at bay in many ways. The Bramanti are schemers, and highly respected by merchants for being moderates.

"Go where you know, and take care of the problem for me"

 "Yarp!"

The Coldwood Smugglers - a Mordheim Warband

I've been interested in Mordheim for some time but after visiting BOYL 2018 I met some guys who really encouraged me to pick up the game and I've been hooked since that time. This is the first warband I put together: the Coldwood Smugglers, based on the rules for the Stirwood Outlaws.

What follows is a rather long and tedious description of the warband members and their story.

In the Imperial Calendar year 2504, a revolt quaked the free city of Marienburg: the poor were protesting for the increasing prices and the corruption in the government, and soon a leader emerged among them: Johan Hess, a wealthy merchant who had never been involved in politics before. Hess set fire to the masses blaming the ruling council and the Elves for all their problems, and soon violence erupted as the mob assaulted the Elven Town, causing its inhabitants to flee Marienburg abandoning all their properties. The Stadtsraad was quick to admit Hess among its members and make it head of the Directorate. Nobody could expect that a year later Marienburg would be significantly poorer and more corrupt, and ruled by a madman who had the guts to crown himself Emperor of Marienburg. But by that time, all those who could oppose Johann I had been either banished or killed.

The van Noort family were among those who had suffered the most: small traders, they used to buy Indhyan spices, Cathayan tea and Arabyan cotton from the Elves and sell it in the villages of the Wasteland. Without the Elves, all these goods were either unavailable or too expensive to sell. Frederick van Noort, on the verge of bankruptcy, saw no other option that to contact the brothers de Houtman, shady smugglers that helped him get the goods he needed from the ports of Norden and L'Anguille, where the Elves still traded.

This worked, for a time. But one night the wardens fell on the smugglers and captured Jakob and Gert de Houtman. They never came out of the black cells of Rijker's Isle: however, a few days later the guards came for their band members, who escaped after a bloody skirmish. That same day Frederick van Noort was arrested.

Young Olivier van Noort, Frederick's son, was left to lead the family. Vowing vengeance against the Mad Emperor, he left Marienburg. With the help of Fastradil, a former business partner of the van Noorts and survivor of the Elven revolt, Olivier was able to negotiate passage of goods from Hargendorf in Nordland to the borders of the Wasteland through the secret paths of the forest of Laurelorn and its western fringe, known to locals as the Coldwood. To move the goods he hired some woodsmen from the border villages, people with no allegiance except for themselves. This is how the band of the Coldwood Smugglers was born.

Olivier van Noort - Bandit Leader
Eldest son of Frederick, Olivier is only 24 years old. He had a privileged upbringing but in the last two years he discovered what a hard life really is. Determined to save his family from ruin and do what he can to fight the Mad Emperor, Olivier is now running the smuggling and sale of exotic goods from Nordland into the villages of the Wasteland. Olivier is armed with his family's heirloom, a steel two-handed sword with a gilded hilt. The miniature is Citadel's Strider from the Fellowship of the Ring Boxed Set BME1, issued in 1985.

Pieter de Grote - Champion
Pieter is the biggest fellow in his village, a burly woodsman wielding a two-handed axe with strength, precision and rare viciousness. Pieter is not nice and few people like him, but least of all the representatives of the law: he has spent a good time in a cell, just because he would not stop a brawl when the guards showed up. Pieter met Olivier in the woods one day and the young merchant, instead of being intimidated like everyone else, asked him if he wanted to make some extra money carrying heavy bags. Pieter was enthusiastic, and in fact he helped recruiting the other woodsmen, for whom he acts as representative. Pieter's miniature is a MM62 Marauder Villager from 1989.

Kees de Houtman - Petty Thief
Kees is the youngest of the brothers de Houtman. When his brothers Jakob and Gert were taken by the city guards, he narrownly escaped with his life. Now fighting the Mad Emperor has become his main objective. These days he helps Olivier run the business, supervising the smugglers and the moving of goods in the Wasteland. Cornelis's figure is a Citadel C04 Mugger from 1986.

Kiliaen van Rensslaer - Priest of Stromfels (Manann)
Old Kiliaen has been a member of the de Houtman gang for many years. Through his life he's been a cut-throat, wrecker, smuggler and moonshiner. Fifteen years ago, after he survived a shipwreck, he had strange dreams and decided to become a priest of the forbidden cult of Stromfels. Today, he is widely considered a giver of blessings by the criminals of Marienburg. He has a bad drinking habit but the brothers de Houtman always kept a place fot him in the gang, and he is grateful to them for that. He helped young Cornelis escape from the guards and now follows him, well aware that the guards have his name on their black list of most wanted. His miniature is a Citadel C04 Thief from 1983.

Gerbrand de Kort - Marsksman
Gerbrand the Short is a hunter. Middle-aged, poor, ugly, short and curt, he has no wife and few friends, one of them Pieter. He agreed to join the band hoping for a better life and a decent old age. The miniature is a Citadel ME25 Rangers of Ithilien from 1985.

Werner de Lange - Marsksman
Werner is a hunter. Word is that he used to be a gamekeeper when he was young, but he was sent away by his master for some misbehaviour. A tall man, Werner does not love to talk too much: his words are few, direct and often harsh. He has no friends and spends most of his time alone, but Pieter and Gerbrand went to look for him and he accepted eagerly to be part of the new enterprise. Miniature is a Bretonnian Bowman from the 1990s.

Klaas de Schrander - Marsksman
Klaas is a young hunter, well known in the village for being shrewd, patient and clear of mind. He has no intention of living a life of hardships in the wood and hopes to put some money aside to start a new life somewhere else. The figure is a Citadel ADD7 AD&D Ranger from 1985, sculpted by the Perry brothers.

Without shield

With shield

Roel de Rood - Marsksman
Red-haired Roel is one year younger than Klaas and a good friend to him. He comes from a large and dirt-poor family of woodsmen and would like to bring home some decent food. Unlike Klaas, Roel is more of a romantic and idealistic and enjoys adventure for the sake of it. The figure is a Citadel ADD7 AD&D Ranger from 1985, sculpted by the Perry brothers.

Without shield

With shield

Sea Elves - Marauder High Elves MM81 (1989)

Once upon a time, there were the four Elven Races.

At first they were all, in a way, similar to each other, yet each followed a different path and each became unique.

The High Elves then garbed in long, flowing robes and tall helms.

The Wood Elves hid themselves in wide cloaks with hoods.

The Dark Elves covered themselves with spiky pieces of armour and cruel trophies from their ritual killings.

The Sea Elves disappeared. They were retconned with the coming of the age of Kirby.

And so their memory was fixed. Everybody remembered them when they were young, and they wore different kinds of clothes, not unlike those worn by Men, yet different. There wasn’t one like another, just like Humans, and perhaps this was so because of their proximity to Men, from whom they drew a vitality unusual for Elves, something certainly chaotic, but also beautiful.

If you follow this blog, you know I have a thing for Sea Elves. And, in my imagination, no better miniatures represent them than the Marauder Elves. No matter how they were originally categorized: today, to me, they are all Sea Elves, because all other Elves have developed a different identity, with time.

I remember in 1997 looking at the WFRP 1st ed., in its Italian translation - Martelli da Guerra - and seeing this excellent picture by Paul Bonner, close to the section about the elven races, and thought: surely these must be them.

This image apparently doesn't exist on the internet, so I had to take a picture of it with my mobile.

High Elf on horseback, Wood Elf with the bow, Dark Elf with two swords, black make up and a tomahawk (Wardancers were still unheard of in our gaming group). So the central one, with a hood and the badass look on his face, must be the Sea Elf. It probably was not, but who cares to be corrected after 20 years? 

Elven minstrel, from WFRP 1st ed.

Elf, from WFRP 1st ed.

Elf in a Sea Elf community in the Old World, WFRP 1st ed.

My image of Sea Elves was formed on pictures from that period, where Elves were not yet so remote as they became in later years, and were similar to Men. Just like there were Mountain Dwarfs with helms and chain mails, and Imperial Dwarfs dressed more or less like Imperial citizens, so - I reasoned - Elves living near Mannish communities must also wear clothes that go with the fashion. It made sense. It still does, since nothing on the subject has ever been published by GW after the early 90s. And so when I saw these Marauder High Elves (MM81) on eBay, I just had to have them. Look at them. Just look at them! 

 

Marauder High Elf MM81/2 from 1989, sculpted by Trish Morrison. An apparently simple sculpt with actually a lot of detail in embroidery and studs. I love the chainmail over leather jacket, the conical helm and the handaxe, which can be a tool as well as a weapon. Sea Elves are, after all, craftsmen and merchants.

Marauder High Elf MM81/6 from 1989, again sculpted by Trish Morrison. This one is less harmonious and dynamic, but again its apparent simplicity reveals, when painted, a lot of embroidery and studs, which I choose to paint in lighter greys and whites as if they were pearls. This is obviously a prominent Elf, with a short sword, pieces of plate armour and a long overcoat, which I painted in double colours - sky blue outside and emerald green inside, nicely contrasting the purple tights. I'll use it for one of the NPCs of my WFRP campaign: Magalhaes, the leader of the Sea Elf community of Dralas. An old (220+) Elf, always moderate and diplomatic, carefully supporting the Regent Gelmir without getting too committed to him. Keeping a foot in every shoe and a finger in every pie, just not deep enough to get burned. Quietly outweathering the events of history in the Old World and outliving all his enemies, just sitting on the banks of the river.

  

Marauder High Elf MM81/5 from 1989, like most other Elves from Marauder done by Trish Morrison. This tall, thin one is a fop, with his slashed sleeves and tall boots. There are studs/pearls on his botts and on the jacket, and on his crested helm. He wields a handaxe and I'll get a buckler for the other hand. In my campaign it represents Sidonaer, a Sea Elf rogue/adventurer who meddled too much with Men and took a number of wrong turns, so that now his family shuns him and he is wanted by several criminals for alleged wrongs he once did. A few weeks ago things went wrong again when the PCs in my group attempted to steal his treasure, which he collected in an expedition to Lustria, and ended up wounding him badly and killing his partners in business. Now Sidonaer is tending an ugly cut on his head and planning his revenge on the party.

These three are but a few of the figs I managed to acquire. I'll be posting more in the weeks to come and, ideally, I'll be assembling a warband to be used in Mordheim.