A taste of Oldhammer.....Tainted Hobbit 1.

I think I have been infected once again by the love of old Citadel by that wonderful 'Bring Out Your Lead' meeting of Oldhammerers at Wargames Foundry in Stoke. Marcus, Diane and Bryan Ansell, along with a host of others, do a fantastic job of organising the gathering including supplying food and alcohol.....I can't think of a much better weekend's pursuit! There are a veritable plethora of blog postings out there for the 3 day event, a list of some I have found are at the bottom of this post. One day I will get down there...my good mate Tony Yates keeps telling me to come. Kev Adams was there again this year sculpting heads on minis for charity. Top blokes. Anyway, I had recently picked up a job lot of old bits and pieces and found this particular Hobbit minus his sword....slightly to the left of rear middle in the pic below.

How the figure should be, courtesy of Pmc815234 of the CCM WIKI.

Due to the greyness of the lead I decided to give him a controversial overnight soak in vinegar....this has been recommended by some to get rid of the dreaded lead rot......after an overnight soak he had a severe toothbrush scrubbing with soap and water. I have to say this brought him up a treat although it has to be remembered that the acid in the vinegar can also cause the chemical reaction leading to lead rot so ensure ALL residue is removed......potential screams down the years will otherwise haunt me. I then decided to cut away the remnants of the sword hilt and drill through the hand (using a pin vice) and also into the base. As below, he was ready to hold a spear or standard....

Whilst looking for suitable bits for him I delved into a couple of recent pick ups - plastic remains from other hobbyists' Games Workshop kits - these are a boon to anyone for conversion fodder. I noticed a Skaven Warp sign shield piece that fitted perfectly on his shield and realised that tainted waters could drift through the water table even to the far reaches of the Shire......I then found a suitable standard and removed the skulls and chains, then added a Skaven tail and skull along with a spearhead. The spearhead was possibly the most tricky as I wanted to keep the flanges at either side of the shaft (having to drill it out for the steel wire replacement). Thinking that the skull top to the standard wasn't particularly 'Hobbit' like, even for a tainted one, I found a candle that cried out 'YES!' in a little eureka moment. The piece is from a Scotia Grendel accessory set - they have far too many tempting bits.... 

I have since wrapped the tail around the spear to make it look as if he uses it as a 3rd hand and also added a rat (GW plastic) to the base. Undercoated already and hopefully the painting will start tonight.

13/08 A little progress tonight whilst watching the latest couple of episodes of Outcast on Netflix....really should turn the TV off and paint more.....at least you get to see the rat...

The full range of Citadel (solid base) Halfings can be seen here and, having had a look at them, it reminded me I have a bunch somewhere and may do some other conversions......

It mustn't be forgotten that Marcus' Warmonger side to Foundry has a wonderful selection of Halflings sculpted by the inestimable John Pickford....the set of Bulmoon's Bar and the Villagers are a must for everyone.....tell them I sent you.....

The full range is here.

A few 'Bring Out your Lead' posts

http://shadowking-shadowkings.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/oldhammer-boyl-2016-day-1.html

http://shadowking-shadowkings.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/oldhammer-boyl-day-2.html

http://shadowking-shadowkings.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/oldhammer-boyl-2016-day-3.html

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Oldhammer%20Weekend%202016

http://oldhammeronabudget.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/BOYL16

There is also a T-shirt to commemorate the weekend available from Warmonger Miniatures here. Marcus' sister Maria commissioned this.

'Our first t shirt featuring an Orc lllustration by Paul Philburn, artist and nephew of the late Wayne England, is now available for pre-order.

"Wayne was a massive influence on me... my artwork and love of gaming in all aspects of building and terrain loonacy which I've passed onto my lads...the circle is complete" (Paul Philburn)'

Any C&C as always to; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Citadel Slann...new year, new project.....

Happy New Year to everyone. Hopefully you have all had as much fun and festivity as I have....I lasted 6 weeks without alcohol before the festive season kicked in and have one more night to go after tonight before work kicks in and teetotalism comes back with a vengeance, so to speak.

Anyway, in the early 80s Citadel bought out a new race called the Slann. Frog-like bipedal creatures that inhabited the swamps of the Warhammer region known as Lustria. The Warhammer skirmish rules came with a scenario entitled 'Kremlo the Slann'. I was hooked immediately on the figures and have been collecting them on and off for the last 30 or so years. My Xmas painting involved 4 finished pieces (barring varnishing on 3) and a plethora of WIPs......the Cold One mounts I have discovered are quite open to repositioning of the limbs.....the first attempt immediately cracked in areas due to the poor lead alloy used in the past - super glue has hopefully sealed that for eternity but it does mean I have only worked on one.....maestro, the pics please....

One of each to do first before I go ahead with the skirmish bands.....below is missing a Eunuch with axe...I know he is around somewhere....Kremlo will not be joining this project for now.....

The 4 below were conversions for a trio of plastic triceratops. I shamelessly stole the idea from Tom Loback's wonderful Dragontooth Saurians.....

Most of my mounted troop....

First attempted play....super glue to the rescue....

Now available in black....

Took a while to decide how to proceed with this guy onto a round base....

and just waiting for everything to dry before repositioning the horn....

I have only used the original 2 ranges sculpted by the Perry twins as I wasn't a fan of the later version by Trish Morrison.....although I have many hobby friends who are hopelessly hooked on them...the poor fools......

All the released miniatures are pictured on the wonderful Collecting Citadel Miniatures WIKI here.

Various scans from the catalogues of the time......

   

The character cards supplied with the second boxed version of Warhammer...around 1986 I think?

I have borrowed the 2 pics below from a wonderful French site purely for this article. They look like Paul Bonner drawings but my French is too poor to translate......any probs having the pics here please someone let me know and I will remove them immediately. All cudos to whoever owns them! My aim is to do a conversion for these.....watch this space!

http://verrahrubicon.free.fr/slann.htm

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this taster....depending on how my upcoming separation goes I hope to have this as my pet project for 2015. Time and finances will tell!

As always; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Citadel FF49 Giant Spider - Spacefarers variant?

Back in January 2007 I added a new page to the Collecting Citadel Miniatures WIKI - 'Fantasy Adventurers remodelled for SF'. As Stunties is to Dwarves, the CCM WIKI is to Citadel miniatures. This page is a record of Citadel FA adventurers converted to, we believe, Sci Fi versions in order to playtest early versions of Rogue Trader or, as it was to become, Warhammer 40K. In the 80s I passed up the chance to pick up a bag of these miniatures on a Bring & Buy stall at Sheffield Triples....I thought they were someone's own conversions and, as such, of little interest to myself. How wrong was I! On the page above there are 16 versions of various sculpts - most from Bryan Ansell's own collection courtesy of that lead God Steve Casey.....jealousy at his access to the legend's collection is still being held back by my psychiatrist.... I recently picked up this unknown spider sculpt that I wanted to identify (that being a large aspect of my love of the hobby) and I am now wondering if it was from this period / range.....pics below....comments appreciated.

Until I got it I was unsure of the actual size which matches pretty darned well...

It is the underside that makes me think it may be one....looking at the leg areas in the centre just below the head....

And a quick pic of my current 'active' WIPs. A mix of Minifigs, that legend Tony Yates, Citadel (including 2 fishmen from the above discussed range), Heritage, Warploque and my own blog minis. Some of these have been WIPs since the 70s.....insert embarrassed grin.

Further thoughts or musings give me a shout on enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Sculptors that have moved away from the fantasy market.................

2 of the industries' most well known sculptors from the early days are Andrew Chernak and Nick Bibby. Andrew Chernak founded Grenadier Models with Ray Rubin back in 1975, having been running a joint giftware company, Canterbury Pewter Ltd, since 1972. His sculpts are numerous and many examples can be found on the Grenadier section of the Lost Minis WIKI. He now sculpts larger scale figurines in bronze. Check out his website; http://www.andrewchernak.com/

Nick Bibby was an early stalwart of the Games Workshop heydays....many of his sculpts, including his excellent dragons, can be seen on the Collecting Citadel Miniatures WIKI. He is now sculpting and casting in bronze...check out his website....the latest 'Indominatable' is a lifesize Grizzly Bear....takes my breath away. The pic below is borrowed from his site....http://nickbibby.com/

As usual enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk