The Dark Magister - Citadel C02 Wizard "Tellark Spellrender" (1985)

The C02 Wizard series is one of the oldest from Citadel. This figure is dated 1985, but the first advertisement we have of him is the Citadel Flyer from February 1987, in which he is named "Tellark Spellrender". The sculptor is unknown.

Clearly, Tellark is supposed to be a regular Wizard, as its tag says, but in my opinion he looks pretty evil - so evil, in fact, that I have painted as a Chaos Wizard, possibly a Tzeentch-worshipping Magister. Could his name be Kastor Lieberung?

This figures satisfies, in my opinion, the archetype of the Evil Wizard - he looks eerie, with his bald head and strange clothes, and his raised brazier. His long robes with fur neck are obviously ceremonial and large enough to conceal anything - a weapon, maybe? The Evil Wizard is essentially an untrustworthy character: physically weak, possibly coward and certainly wicked, but gifted with uncommon intelligence and willpower. His main flaws, however, are his ambition and hubris, which will certainly bring his demise through a foolish pact with the Underworld or by simply underestimating his enemies. Classic examples are Thulsa Doom from Conan the Barbarian, Theleb Karna from the stories of Elric of Melniboné, or Bargle from D&D. In a way, also Saruman from the LotR fits the archetype. The Evil Wizard may sometimes appear as a Dark Priest, and is close to the archetype of the Dark Lord.

 

I played a little with greenstuff to create the effect of smoke from the incense-burner, and I painted the whole figures with shades of red, pink, purple and blue. I decided to try my luck with eyes and in the end I painted them too big, but I'm too lazy to fix them now. Perhaps another time...

Warhammer's Moonman

The Moonman is a recurrent figure in Warhammer art. Its inception is of course due to John Blanche who, in the mid 80s, painted the beautiful piece Mona and the Moonman.

It's difficult to tell why Blanche loved the Moonheaded man so much, but it probably has something to do with the fact that it is a common theme in grotesque art all over Europe. It's almost an archetype, and Blanche loved archetypes.

Moonheads are very common in warhammer art, from Goblin banners to the ubiquitous shield-faces separating paragraphs in the classic rulebooks of the 80s.

The first miniature that Citadel dedicated to a moon-faced character was a Champion of Tzeentch riding a Disc, in 1988.
 

It was probably at this moment that the Moonhead came to be associated with Tzeentch. In fact, the 2017 AoS Herald of Tzeentch on Disc also comes with a variant Moon-face.

But little Moonman, with his diminutive frame a oversized head, did not receive justice until the end of 2016, when GW released AoS Silver Tower. In the mass of miniatures composing it, most of them Tzeetch-related, we can find Pug, one of the four familiars of the Gaunt Summoner. And Pug is directly based on the Moonman by John Blanche, well over 30 years after its original painting. What a lovely homage.

Here's what the Silver Tower book has to say about him:

Pug is a surly and acquisitive little imp. Fleet of foot and light of finger, he scurries by hidden ways through the Silver Tower, snatching up whatever shiny objects catch his eye. Anything Pug desires, he sees as his, and more than one mighty warrior has been led on a deeply undignified chase when this burbling little fiend grabbed their treasures and fled.

Don't you love (or hate) him already? The sculpt replicates the original in all details but gives him a more sinister look and adds what seems to be a mock magic staff and a helm from a Stormcast Eternal, which Pug holds with visible curiosity and sense of ownership. This is probably one of my favourite figures in the Silver Tower set!

Plus, have you seen his ass? It's like a baby's! Awww!

Vos'hark, Champion of Tzeentch - when things go right

Sometimes things go right, and you end up painting a model of which you are really satisfied. Sometimes is today: the last model painted in 2017 and the first model finished in 2018.

I got this on ebay, and I am not 100% sure of its origins. Unlike most Citadel miniatures of its time, this had no slotta and the base had been filed smooth: it probably came from the cast with a simple metal spike to be fitted within the base, a disk of Tzeentch. Now, I wasn't able to date exactly this model, which was commercialized both as Disc Rider and with a regular base as Champion of Tzeentch: I would guess somewhere between 1988 and 1991, the first year I find this in a Catalogue. But at least I can be sure the hand which sculpted it is the excellent Jes Goodwin.

What do we have here, then? A true Champion of the God of Change with all the lovely attributes: bird head; hunch; three arms, each hand holding a curved dagger, a scroll and a wand; one foot covered by plate or carapace armour; long robes with feathered collar.

I decided to go full chaotic and do some experimentation with colours: namely try to blend azure into blue into violet. I first painted the spots of three colours, lihtly blended them by mixing colours in strategic spots, then washed them and finally blended again with the highlights. It was astonishingly simple, although a bit time consuming.

I broke the coldness of colours with details in bright pink and yellow. It took me about four months to do this, from August to October, and most of the time was spent looking at the figure and trying to decide which colour to use. When it was finished, I didn't like it: I couldn't come up with a proper base. Until December, when I casually acquired the missing piece, from a spare sprue of AoS Sylvaneth. And everything fit into place.

The hunched position of the figure suits well the curved tree, and it seems almost like he is hiding or emerging from hiding. It adds a secrecy to the scene that goes very well with the general mood of the miniature. I painted the tree with surreal colours - bluish wood, pink leaves except for one, bright yellow.

Fluff, you say? Still in development. Working name is Vos'hark, nome de plume of Heinrich Vogler, a Tzeentch cultist with a passion for gambling and taking risks. He acquired a lot of power, several gifts from his God but also a binding to a Lord of Change, Flartassh, the Timegazer. From him he learned certain scrying skills to be used across time, so that when he meets somebody he usually is able to tell their past and their likely future. His main task, as servant of Flartassh, is to find certain special people and prevent them from eventually becoming trouble for his master. Most of his victims have actually no idea about who he is, nor any connection to him: their only fault is to have a high chance to become enemies of Tzeentch.

Of course Vos'hark has a darker side, too. He hates his master and tries constantly to escape his servitude but weaving his own patterns in time, so that somebody may turn out to be his saviour: and thus he may even be a help for PCs. And Vos'hark has a number of enemies, too, especially Champions of other Gods, so that he must always take careful precautions when walking the world of mortals. There are many eyes on him and, naturally, on those who associate with him, whether knowingly or not this does not matter.

That's all folks, as they say. I am very, very happy about this piece, which I regard as my best so far. I wish you all a great 2018 of painting and gaming!