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!

Jurgen the Wolf - GW Middenheimer Youngblood (1999)

I am a fan of '80s miniatures because of nostalgia, but in terms of proportions and style my favourite period are the '90s. At this time better tools and materials coupled with talented artists to generate great sculpts. Sadly, the passage to graphic design and finecast has, to some degree, exaggerated some cartoonish features and taken out the soul that hand-sculpted pieces were so full of.

Mordheim miniatures lack all reference to the great age of Oldhammer but they have a character of their own and this is one of my favourites: one of the two Middenheimer Youngbloods sold in a the blister since November 1999. The fact that it is sculpted by the great Alan Perry is a brand of guarantee.

Our youngblood has a dynamic pose, caught in a dash - either charging or running away from an enemy - and his expression conveys all the excitement and urgency of an imminent fight. He is armed with a nothing but a warhammer and dressed in old farmer's clothes (notice the rip on the knee), carries a large bag and a big wolf's hide on his shoulders. Can't get more Middenlander than this! he also carries a bow and a quiver on his side, because he's a hunter.

I don't play Middenheimers, but this will be a nice addition to the Coldwood Smugglers, in the charachter of Jurgen the Wolf. Young Jurgen is from the village of Isenbüttel, the son of a woodsman; when caught poaching to feed his large family, he escaped the Grand Duchy of Middenland. He met the Smugglers in the Coldwood and readily accepted to join them.

Bretonnian Infantry Command, painted as Standard Bearer of Dralas

I got this nice little miniature on eBay. Could not recognize the code, and didn't record the year before basing it. I just know it's Bretonnian and it comes from a command group. It could easily be Perry-sculpted, as far as I know.

I bought him together with a bunch of other Bretonnian infantrymen, with the idea of creating a group of guards to use in WFRP games. I toyed with the project of painting them all with the colours of Dralas, the homebrew city in the Border Princes where most of my scenarios start. After a long time, only this guy has been painted, and the other will most likely follow in another livery, that of Artesia, the bordering princedoms that usually poses as the villain of the campaign.

Dralas is a port city and its colours are white and blue, like the sea and the foam over the waves. The city sits at the mouth of the river Zaffirio, so sapphire is the stone associated with the city heraldry. The other association is the Sea Serpent: according to legend, Dralas was originally founded by Elves and abandoned in the distant past, then a Sea Serpent set its abode under the murky waters of the ruined elven harbour, until the hero Dalphis slew the reptile and reclaimed the ruins, becoming the founder of the city.

Dalphis lived some 15 centuries ago and since then Dralas has seen many events: the city was a capital and then a subject, it had kings, princes and councils of citizens. Until recently it was ruled by a prince, until he was forced by an elven adventurer and pirate to surrender power and the hand of his sister. Nowadays it is the Regent Gelmir Lindarian who controls the government. This, however, does hardly mean that he holds power: Dralas is a famously seedy port where a lot of deals are made under locked doors, and the real power rarely resides where it appears to be.

The Regent directly controls the Black Guard, a group 30 of mercenaries who helped him conquer the city, commanded by general Achille. The Palace Guard's loyalty is divided between the Regent and the Prince: they are about 30 well trained warriors. The City Guard (90 members) follows the orders of the Regent as long as it gets paid regularly. The City Militia, being the largest force in town (450 members), obeys its Captains, who in turn are nominated among nobles, and so they follow their own interests and are generally raised only in case of foreign invasions.

This guy probably belongs to the City Guard and is therefore the most flexible. He could be used to police the streets, guard locations or escort important people in town. He wears a padded leather jacket and a helm, and is armed with a sword (so he is probably an official) and carries a standard with the city device.

Galentil Wavesinger - Citadel Wood Elf Horn (1991)

These days I just can't get enough of Sea Elves, so I'm painting a lot of them: the aim is to build a warband and eventually a small army to bring to conventions. 

This particular figure was issued by Citadel in 1991 as part of the Wood Elf Command, under the name Horn 2 and the code 074213/28C. It was sculpted by Jes Goodwin. It bears many similarities with an earlier figure, part of the Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers (1987) and was possibly built with parts of that.

This Sea Elf represents a character, born in the early 2000s as a character for WFRP: Galentil. It was the last character I played before stopping for many years, and I have a relation of love and hate for him. Galentil's story goes more or less like this: he was very young and hailed from a family of dirt-poor Sea Elves from the coasts of Yvresse; shy, contemplative and possessed of a strong sense of justice, he left home looking for fame and fortune and ended up on a ship that travelled most of the Known World in several adventures. During this time he met an Elf girl, a wandering rogue and entertainer named Lilegon (another PC), who stole his heart. The two had a very intense love affair that ended quite badly as elements of Lilegon's past surfaced: unbeknownst even to her, the girl was the daughter of a Slaaneshi Dark Elf and a Wood Elf Witch; abandoned by the father and losing the mother to the Inquisition, she had been brought up by travelling artists. Finding her mother reincarnated in a lynx was the beginning of an emotional roller-coaster for the girl and a train-wreck for Galentil. When Lilegon decided to explore the heritage of her parents, Galentil left her heart-broken and became a hermit, sailing the seas on a small boat with only the company of the winds and the waves, making strange music with shells and horns. Eventually, he became a priest of Mathlann, the elven Sea God, and acquired many powers over water and weather.

After reacquiring a new balance, Galentil has taken up adventure again, hiring himself to Sea Elf crews in need of blessings and protection from ill fortune.

Elke the Forest's Daughter - Diann the Girl Thief from Citadel Dungeon Adventurers Starter Set (1983)

This is probably one of my favourite miniatures ever; certainly my favourite among pre-slotta figures. Why? Well, it's so simple, and yet the balance of everything is perfect - the pose, the proportions, the delicate traits of the face and hands, the way the dress and cloak fall around her body. The way she seems to grasp her dagger tightly, almost hiding it behind the cloak. She has a shady air, looking at something and planning to dash for it, blade flashing.

She was included in the Dungeon Adventurers Starter Set sold by Citadel in 1983, and referenced as Diann the Girl Thief. Sadly no sculptor was credited.

To me, she is Adelheid - Elke for her family and friends - also known as the Forest's Daughter. Growing up in the Coldwood between the Wasteland and Nordland, she displayed strange powers over plant and beast since childhood, and she was sent to be apprentice of Old Maud, Priestess of Rhya and Taal. By her fifteenth year, Elke could bless the crops of the village, protecting them from blights, and summon squirrels to her bidding; when running in the woods, she could jump as far as a deer and walk in the rain without getting soaked. The denizens of the wood adored her and would treat her as a holy saint.

She would not join her older brother Roel de Rood and his band of Outlaws, but would instead help the local Border Watch against any invasions from creatures of darkness, such as Giant Spiders, Goblins or Beastmen. That is, I use her as a Priestess of Taal and Rhya in the Drakwald Border Watch warband I use in Mordheim (based on the Stirwood Outlaws).

Celebril the Elven Knight - GW Swordmaster of Hoeth (1995)

My first PC in WFRP was Gelmir, a regularly rolled Sea Elf Bodyguard, tough as a nail and covered in mud and shit as befits WFRP PCs. For my second PC I wanted something more epic, and in agreement with my GM, I created Celebril Lostirion, High Elf noble, second son of a Caledorian Lord. Having grown up listening to the tales of the great elven heroes and knights, young Celebril left his golden cage in Ulthuan, with his loyal squire Elemir, and travelled to the Old World looking for adventure. Soon enough he found plenty of adventure, and in no time, using his courage and charm, he became a Knight Errant (aka Free Lance), offering his lance and sword against the forces of Chaos in exchange of hospitality and a warm meal.

Celebril turned out to be a great character over the several years that I played him. From recovering the Bowl of Oblivion in Grimminhagen, thus earning the gratutude of the Chirch of Morr, to defending Nuln and Talabheim from cultists of Nurgle trying to spread a plague, to recovering the Seven Keys of Arianka and freeing the Goddess of Law. After the last great feat, Celebril settled in Praag where he received a minor noble title by the king and dedicated his time exploring the Mountains at the Edge of the World and trying to build an alliance between Kislev and the local Dwarfs and Dragons.

The funniest part of playing Celebril was that he had outrageous ideas, overly idealistic and completely at odds with social and political relations, but somehow he often managed to realize his plans just by bewildering his contacts. How do you argue about being practical and realistic with a High Elf knight from Caledor looking for adventure on the borders of Kislev?

To represent him I chose a High Elf Swordmaster of Hoeth, made by GW in 1995. I'm not sure who is the sculptor, but these figures are very good and indeed they survived into production until the mid 2010s. Celebril wears a full metal hauberk of elven making, with a tall helm. His sword, a weapons sacred to the forces of Law, is the Gayvenderel or Crystal Sword, particularly good in punishing servants of Chaos. He also carries a great horn from the dragon Drorrg, killed by him and his valiant companions in the last days of 2505.

WFRP Gamekeeper Art

This post might sound a bit like I'm bragging, so forgive me, but when one is an art geek, few things make him or her more excited that being able to connect two dots together: to fish into the ocean of details learned and committed to memory, and draw an imaginary line to link them, and tie them into something larger and closer to "the whole picture'.

This is what happened to me when I was able to get an original painting of the Gamekeeper WFRP career, by the legendary Tony Ackland, which now sits in my study, just under the Minstrel.

This picture is where everything started - in 1984-85 T. Ackland was commissioned a set of careers for the publishing of WFRP; he drew this among many, and it eventually made it to the final cut (some careers were expunged for space at the last moment).

In 1985 miniatures were also commissioned by GW to the Perry twins, to go with the forthcoming RPG; among them the C07 Ranger series.
 

In this range, the Gamekeeper appeared as per Ackland's illustration. And below is my copy, painted.

 

This is how the illustration appeared in the WFRP 1ed Core Rules, published in 1986.

This is hardly the only example: it was normal in GW, at the time, to have a direct cooperation between illustrators and sculptors, each influencing each other. Concept art was created all the time and then another artist would elaborate on that, and that is, in my opinion, what made the Golden Age GW so great. Each and every artist was good and had his/her own style, but all were working in harmony under the wise supervision of J. Blanche.

Do you know any other example of  this? Share it! It's awlays nice to dig into the creative process that led to some of the best gaming products ever, which today we simply classify as: Oldhammer.

Federigo Caccialpiano the Mercenary - Citadel C01 Fighter (1983)

Came up on eBay on this little pre-slotta thing. I bought it because it was cheap, even if it was really damaged by cleaning. I had no idea it was a 1983 C01 Fighter, as shown in the First Citadel Compendium.

Top row, second from right

Needing a mercenary miniature for my WFRP party, I set out to paint it, with no high hopes. But as I applied layers, I discovered a great sculpt full of little details and character. I have little clue of who might the sculptor be, but he did a great job.

For true WFRP fans, those who look with nostalgia at Tony Ackland's drawings of careers, this is real greatness. Look at the overloaded backpack, with holes and patches. The blanket tucked under it. The butterfly-shield. The wide-brimmed hat covering the eyes in a shady and threatening way. The sword in hand and the axe at the belt. The breastplate, the protections for knees and elbows, the knightly helm also leaning from the belt.

Everything here screams knight in disgrace, a fine warrior who fell on dark times, travelling away from his home to find adventure.

That's how the character of Federigo Caccialpiano was born. A grizzled mercenary with lots of experience but little wealth put apart, he met the PCs on a ship sailing from Dralas to Lévalto in the western Princedoms, and was promptly hired, showing great professionalism and skills. Little did they know that he had already been hired by their patron, to check on them. He figured that being their mercenary would make the job easy and mean extra pay.

Federigo himself hails from the city of Altoborgo, a free Comune up in the hills. He had been spymaster for the Council for several years, but had to flee the city when a riot of the alum miners deposed the Council and put a Podestà in its place, ransacking the homes of the wealthy families who used to get fat on the profits of the mines. He now works as a mercenary and spy for private clients, waiting for better times when eventually the Council gets back the city.

Federigo is cunning and experienced, professional and efficient. He is a rational and selfish person, with little empathy for others, but can be surprisingly manipulative. He is loyal because he likes to have a good reputation with his employers, but if risks become greater than opportunities, he is keen to turn on anybody as long as nobody will know about it. He looks like a nice chap to hang out, but he is in fact a very dangerous person.

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.