I'll keep it extra-short this time. I've been having fun painting a bunch of Skaven pawns. Originally they're from WFB 8th edition box Island of Blood (dated 2010), the one with the High Elves too, but these are great for any game from WFRP to HeroQuest. Enjoy.
I have been quite hyped with Middle-earth lately, possibly as a consequence of the new TOR RPG Kickstarter, and I decided to dig up some baddies from the Mithril leadpile. So here we are with these Mordor Orcs: M151 from 1990 ("Mordor Orcs") and M310 from 1993 ("Mordor Orc Standard Bearer").
I went for a simple paint-job: dark brown skin-tone, black and tan clothes, black leather and iron armour and weapons. I added a bit of bronze/brass here and there, and a red eye painted on the standard. Overall I am pretty pleased with the result, considering the effort - Orcs do not require too much detail after all.
Bard of Esgaroth. First sculpt of this character by Mithril, in 1990. Solid figure, in quite a theatrical pose: not really suited to be used as a playing piece, but easily associated with the topical moment of Bard's life - when he shoots the Dragon.
I always liked Bard, since my first reading of the Hobbit. There is something fresh with him, that being essentially an anti-hero, a stern man with a coarse voice, whose grim advice goes unheeded by the people until the moment of need, when he turns into a real hero, a Dragonslayer and then a true king, not only by blood but also by merit. Like Bilbo, he was underestimated by all, and possibly by the reader too, which makes his rise even more surprising.
He's been variously portrayed in graphic arts:
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| A perpetually angry archer by M. Belomlinsky (1976) |
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| A scruffy looking man from the animated Rankin/Bass animated movie (1977) |
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| A determined warrior in the Dixon graphic novel (1998) |
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| A bewildered vagrant by Denis Gordeev (200?) |
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| A handsome single father in PJ's movie trilogy (2012-2014) |
This is a nice miniature, even by Mithril's excellent standards. It belongs to what I consider the height of Mithril Miniatures and of Chris Tubb's sculpting skills. It was nice to paint, too - to be honest, the pictures don't do justice to the paintjob, which is better than my average.
I bought this miniature during a Kickstarter from Westfalia in 2019 or so. The moment I saw it I knew I had to have it - it was, after all, modelled blatantly on Martin McKenna's excellent illustration from the WFRP Drachenfels sourcebook.
When finally I got it I got quite intimidated by it and it sat in a box for a while. That is until February 2021, when fellow Oldhammerist @paula_she_creature launched a competition on undead. Martin McKenna had recently passed away at 51, and his death still made me uneasy. Martin was one of the essential Oldhammer artists to me. His work in the Enemy Within campaign defined it, and any new edition without his art is watered down to me. So to remember him I decided to give a go to this miniature.
The curse of Drachenfels still hung on anything connected to him: the miniature fell from the table (I almost never drop my miniatures, and this dropped twice), breaking index and middle finger and the horns of the helm. I was able to fix the latter, but the beautiful hand is forever gone.
Other than this, the miniature was easy and fun to paint. Here it is, in all its darkness. Drachenfels, the Great Enchanter, Warhammer's first and most insane supervillain.
Godspeed wherever you are Martin. We already miss your art.
Digging into the bottom of the lead-pile here. These beauties came from over the pond something like 6 years ago, when I first got into the hobby. Khurasan is an excellent company and I did a sample order that sadly sits in a corner of my man-cave because most of it is 15mm and now I am more into 28mm.
Nonetheless, this Winter I returned to my passion for all things Manchu and decided to finish painting my bannermen, as members of the Bordered Yellow Banner. Here they are.
I could write a book about Manchus, and as a matter of fact I am. So I won't bore you with additional details. Just enjoy these armoured horse-archers spurring their steeds forward.
