Ser Pippin the Short of House Boldbuck - Grenadier Halfling Paladin (1992)

Ah, finally! This is a special one. You must know back in 1992, when I was a young boy who just discovered Fantasy books and role-playing games, I took a bus to the city centre to the famous shop Pergioco, a marvellous tresure cave hidden in a secret corner of a back alley - that is to say, a tiny shop with a stair leading to an underground room full of games-related wonders. I was looking for a miniature to represent my MERP PCs, a Sinda Elf warrior, and eventually that day I bought my first miniature. But while rummaging through blisters I was thunderstruck by a single figure, and it was love at first sight. It was a Grenadier blister showing a hobbit in full armour, prancing on a pony and pointing his sword ready to charge. I can't describe the sense of wonder at the time. I wanted it, but I didn't have enough money for two miniatures, and eventually I didn't buy it, and when I came back some time later it was gone. Good-bye, Hobbit paladin (that was the name I have him). Will I ever see you again? 

 

The miniature was a lovely sculpt from that same year 1992, made by Mark Copplestone, initially as part of the Grenadier 1440 Halfling Heroes, and later issued in a single blister. The tab reads "Fluffy Bunny, A875" but the number doesn't match with the Grenadier catalogue.

What happened to Grenadier is history. Apparently the moulds were bought by their Italian distributor Stratelibri but then sold again, after the untimely passing of its owner and manager Giovanni Ingellis, to Mirliton S.G. And it is on their website that I found again my long-lost teenage crush, now renamed as "Halfman Paladin".

There are many things that appear great to our eyes when we are still innocent, but later reveal themselves as something else, just a disappointment. After all, expectations are high but the ability to marvel at beauty is not the same as it once was to our old, jaded taste of old-school grognards. This is not one of them. It's just amazing, and I love it. It is a great model, and I am so happy to have it that I'm not even mad that the sword came bent and when I tried to fix it its tip broke off. Never mind, I fixed it with greenstuff, and I'm okay with it. The Hobbit Paladin is mine!

I painted it as I always imagined it, fresh from the reading of the Lord of the Rings - in the black and white colours of Gondor. Because the hyperuranion Hobbit Paladin or Knight can only be Pippin Took, towering over other hobbits in his Citadel Guard winged helm and uniform. The shield should have born the device of a white tree of course, but with the crest being a bunny, I decided to keep the same on the shield - why yes, it's a rabbit or a hare, not a steinbock! I have to keep practicing with my freehand...

And so I give you Paladin Boldbuck, Halfling knight, friend and companion of the Elector of Averland, also known as Ser Pippin the Short, Defender of the Moot! If you are an enemy, turn away, and if you are a friend, join us for dinner at our manor!

Grenadier Duncan the Legend / Barbarian Giant

 

I bought this beauty in one of the many Oldhammer market groups on Facebook. The seller was an old hobbyist with a very impressive collection - I picked up the figures myself at the newspaper stall he runs in Magenta (a town near Milan), and had the chance to see a part of his collection stored in a cabinet in the back. Oldhammer fans can really be anywhere!

This particular miniature was created by Grenadier sometimes in the '80s. I have no idea who the sculptor was. After Grenadier went out of business, the range was picked up by Italian manufacturer Mirliton, who still offers the figure for sale today, as Duncan the Legend. Solegends lists it as "Barbarian Giant". Whatever: it's a nice sculpt of a smallish (slightly larger than an Ogre, smaller than a Minotaur) and beardy giant.

It wasn't easy to paint it: it's a huge chunk of lead that is heavy when you hold it, and there's a lot of detail to deal with: metal rings, severed heads, bags, weapons and so on. The sculpt is beautiful but I'm glad I'm finished painting it. It took some time! 

What do you think? Passable? Can't wait to use this miniature in a game!

Citadel Slann and their successors

 

When you reach the venerable age of 38 and you're still into miniatures, most people will tend to consider you a child who never grew up, but that's not entirely true. Children are children, all right, they are in love with the hobby, but something inside of you is different, and that's the part that proves that you are not child, but in fact an old man. A grumbly old man.

All of us, even those who have the bravery to admit that AoS is actually cool, have succumbed at least once (or more) to the urge to grumble. Italians have a nice word for it: brontolone. Bronto- come from the Greek and means "thunder" (as in brontosaurus, yes) and fittingly calls to mind the image of a distant storm on the horizon, lightning flashing, thunder quietly rolling - all of the evening. There might be even some raindrops on your car, just to make it dirty, but no big actual storm. Just this constant and useless rolling thunder. The French have another word: grognard. That's the word I'm gonna use to tag all posts whose content could be summarized into "back in my time, things were different". Young people rant, we do not: we grumble. Face it, it's in our nature.

This was a very long preamble to introduce the subject of Slann miniatures. We all know who the Slann are (or were, back in my time before the retcon). But where do their concept come from, originally?

I believe the first sketch ever of the Slann might be this piece by John Blanche, titled "Troglodytes", which I found on Ratspike. In spite of the name, these are clearly Slann: the shape of the head, the armour, even the pyramid in the background.

A more mature sketch is the following, also by Blanche. Here the Slann have already developed their name and are drawn in more confident strokes.

After this, GW's staff set themselves to work. Tony Ackland drew Slann for the 2nd Edition of WFB (1983), and also in the later articles Kremlo the Slann (1983) and the Magnificent Sven (1984):

Moreover at the same time, in 1983-1984 - difficult to tell if illustrators influenced sculptors, or it was the other way around - the Perry twins sculpted the first, glorious C32 figures.

These were quite succesful and, in 1986, Citadel issued a new series of Slann, sculpted by Trish Morrison. And these were beautiful, too: it was difficult to spot the difference with the Perry pieces.

Then, for no apparent reason, something terrible happened. The 1987 new Slann relase, designed together by Trish and Aly Morrison, came out, and they looked nothing like the originals:

The new Slann looked more like clumsy toads trying to stand on two feet (with little success). Heads became wide and flat, eyes bulged out and torsos almost disappeared. This was the end of classic Slann: the whole "amphibian master-race from Space" concept was forgotten and, in 1997 they were retconned in favour of the Old Ones and the Lizardmen.

What was left to us, with the name Slann, was this. A bloated, big-headed toad:

And that's the end, as far as GW is concerned. But a lot of people still loved the Slann and independent manufacturers tried to support them with new figures. For some reason, though, most of them were more frogmen than actual Slann as we knew them.

I believe Mirliton's Kermitians were the first. I have a lot of respect for Mirliton, and that's why I will not comment on these figures.

Then it was probably Ral Partha who issued their Bullfrogs. They had way more character than Mirliton's Kermitians, but still looked like anthropomorphic frogs.

Reaper Frogmen are suspiciously similar to the previous, with a bit detail, but with the same inherent flaws.

Otherworld Boglings are less frogs, and more TMNT from the movie (the ugly ones).

Mantic's Frogmen are just more of the same. Good figures, mind me, but nowhere close to the original Slann. These are frogmen, period.

Katsina were the first to give up the "frog on two legs" idea and get closer to the original, with exotic weapons and feathered helms. These are nice, but still only a first step towards the original Perry. To put it clearly: put them on a table next to each other, and you will spot the difference from three metres distance.

And just when everything seemed lost, lo! Tim Prow comes out with the Eru-Kin. And let me say: these are the nicest Slann-like miniatures made after 1986.

Diehard brings out all the old colour (light armour of plates + leather strips, round shields, feathered helms, weird weapons and a meso-American feel) and adds some more in the same tune: this is how you do good Oldhammer in the 2010s. Sure, you say, there is significant difference in the heads:

On one side, a big, tall, bloated head. On the other a more lizard-like, long and flat one. Sure, copyright is still a thing and GW isn't kind to those challenging them. You can't call them Slann. You can't do them exactly the same as John Blanche first drew them. Still, these to me look more "right" than the 1987 Citadel toad-people.

In a perfect world, we would have a second set of heads to replace the lizard-like ones, but in the meantime I must say I am very happy about these. Will probably try to fix them with some greenstuff: I'll let you know how it goes. But even without any fix, this is a huge step in bringing Oldhammer back. Well done, Tim Prow!

Grenadier Undead Villains - back from 2001

Not only heroes (or better said, anti-heroes) came out of the jar last week. There were also villains, well represented by two figures from Grenadier (now Mirliton) Undead range, sculpted by Bob Naismith.

The first one was Skorgan, one of the best developed villains I ever created as GM, although half of the credit goes to my fellow GM in the group, whom I took turns with. The best part of Skorgan is, basicly, that he died long ago and never really came back. He didn't do anything involving the PCs, ever. And yet he was, for years, a terrifying presence in the campaign.

Myaahhh!!!

Skorgan was essentially an ancient necromancer, possibly a liche, nobody really knows, because centuries ago the eastern Border Princes were a region even more wild than today, so nobody really bothered to keep a detailed account of Skorgan's life. Whatever is known is that he really was a poweful necromancer, and that at some point he was sealed in a tomb on the western foothills of the World's Edge Mountains, there awaiting his return.

Ossian, a half-elven wizard PC, learned about Skorgan from one of his contacts, a follower of Malal, who suggested him to go look into the tomb of the Necromancer to find his legendary sword, Xambarg. Ossian gathered a group of friends, including the Dwarf warrior Otto von Krautt, the disowned Imperial nobleman Axel and the Norseman Olaf, and together they entered the underground complex.

Getting rid of traps and magic protections, including undead guardians, was quite straighforward. Stripping the dead (yes, actually dead!) body of Skorgan, obviously a follower of Tzeentch, was relatively easy. But then, never underestimate the stupidity of PCs. I, as the DM, did not: in the loot box, along with several magical items, the heroes found a skull of metal. Its function was possibly to be a key, because it seemed to fit perfectly a shape carved in the wall, inside the wider carving of a door.

You are in the tomb of a Tzeetchian necromancer underground, and you see a magic key in the shape of a skull, and a possibly magic door carved into the rock - a portal of some sort. What do you do?

Next thing you know, a portal on the Warp opened, and a very nasty one since on the other side there was only molten Warpstone. Imagine the wave of blood in Shining, running through the corridors of the Overlook hotel. Now picture it as Warp-lava running through a dungeon.

Run for your life!

The PCs barely made it out alive, and they ran, ran for days. Behind them, a volcano of Warpstone was being born.

But that wasn't the end. One of the PCs, Otto, who had been the one putting the skull into the portal, was having nightmares about it. He wanted to be forgiven. So month later he decided to go at a temple of Alluminas and confess.

The priest told him that the only way to atone would be to close the portal. So Otto travelled back to the place, finding now the small volcano being mined by Skaven. Otto was able to kill Skaven resistance and, calling upon a demon of Alluminas, close the portal.

But Otto wasn't the only one having nightmares: Ossian had them too: he was dreaming of Skorgan, or maybe another necromancer, Thmerr, it was never clear. There was a body lying on a tomb, covered in bandages: and as Ossian got close, the body would spring to life and its hands would grab the wizard's neck.

"Ossian! Ossian!" he would hear before waking up in a pool of sweat.

It's... youuuu!!!

Ossian eventually went back looking for the source of his nightmares. He found the now dead volcano had been digged again beyond the mines, and the body of Skorgan had been freed of the Warpstone. But now the bones were a shining black colour, and the body protected by a cage of transparent crystal.

Ossian smashed the crystal open, stabbed the body to kill it and then, just to make sure he would not come back to life, decapitated it with Xambarg and took the head with himself, leaving the body behind.

Little did he know that a cult of Skorgan had emerged, and that the cultists believed he would come back to lead them. They had temporarily put the necromancer in a cage of Fixstone, a variety of Warpstone that worked the other wat around, blocking all magic. They had this ritual to bring him back: they needed to stab his heart and then decapitate him, but the ritual would only work with the necromancer's own blade! They had been looking for Xambarg everywhere without success. Thmerr, the leader of the cult, had tried for long time to look for Ossian, but he had no clue where to find him!

It was certainly Tzeentch's blessing that made possible that Ossian travelled all the way to the tomb and carried the ritual by himself! Truly the ways of the Lord of Change are mysterious, unfailing and full of irony.

If the wizard did everything by himself, I might as well go home

Now with the ritual completed, Skorgan's skull became a catalyst for Warp: magic energies would gather in the skull and then, at the right time, Skorgan could be brought back. The only problem was that Ossian had the skull now! And if the awakening ritual was not carried on properly, the skull would overload and, well... boom! The sort of boom that razes everything in a range of several kilometres and opens a Warpgate in the process.

Lol, sucks to be you, Ossian!

There were several attempts at deactivating the skull, but all proved unsuccesful. At last, Ossian, now chased by Thmerr's lackeys, through the help of Gelmir, Gelmir's brother Brandir, and the elven outlaw Charmian, tracked a spectral wizard in Tilea, Mario, who was able to help out. The ritual succeeded in releasing the energy of the skull in a controlled way, by making it sentient with a different identity - not Skorgan's, but Skorgan's skull's! The skull was very happy to be born as a magical being made of the Purple Wind of Magic: indeed he opened a portal to a new dimension of undeath, jumped right in with Mario, and closed the door behind himself, thanking Ossian for the help!

It took six years of game time (2502 to 2508 I.C.) and possibly nineteen years in the real world (1998 to 2017) to get rid of Skorgan, but now it's done. Now there is only a very pissed Thmerr. But that is a story for another time...