Reinforcing Elric

Last month I announced my belated discovery of Citadel's Eternal Champions range. Like a true miniatures collector, it took very little time to work through the collecting process, which is something like this:

1. Discover models and buy one cool example / starter set. Just because you like them.
2. Research range and find out there are many more cool models.
3. Half-heartedly pick up a few other models from the range which happen to be cheap on ebay.
4. Start seriously cataloguing the other figures from the range you need.
5. Start really seriously cataloguing the other figures you need! Including linked ranges, random figures which got assimilated into other ranges and other curios.
6. Set up ebay saved searches and scour auctions/trade lists daily. The target is now to fully complete the range.

So, Marauder miniatures were actually pretty good...

Marauder miniatures for me were always a poor relation to Citadel miniatures. If you don't remember, back in the late 1980s and early 1990s Marauder released a large number of figures for use alongside Citadel's output for Games Workshop games. I remember their adverts in White Dwarf quite distinctly as "figures I probably wouldn't buy". The line drawing catalogue pages passed me by, and the photographed models always seemed a little bit cartoony, lacking perhaps a little bit of elegance, or maybe just in weird poses.

However, I've been struggling to locate suitable models to use as coaching staff for my WIP Dark Elf Blood Bowl team. After much searching on ebay through the lovely (but too fantasy-esque) Jes Goodwin Wood / High Elves, I stumbled on these 3 fine fellows:

Marauder Wood Elves

Man Room Jealousy!

Back in August I attended the Oldhammer Day at Foundry. Also there was Graham Apperley, one time Golden Demon winner (3rd place Dragon, 1988) and all round nice chap. After some discussions, we met up for a day of gaming a few months back; initially at Warhammer World, then at Foundry (long story, there was a power cut involved).

Graham invited me for a return trip to his place and it was my pleasure to take a trip to the Black Country earlier this week. After a cup of tea we adjourned upstairs to Graham's man room / hobby suite, equipped with a full-size 6'x4' gaming table, a wonderful selection of terrain, dedicated, well-lit painting table and an entire wall of cabinets containing some gorgeous models! Think I'm kidding? Well here's some photographic evidence (note, all the photos here are from my dodgy phone, hence why they're rubbish!):

Cabinets containing about 1/3 of Graham's figures on show. A fraction of his overall collection!

An Interview With...Sculptor Bob Naismith

Over the last 12 months or so, the various Oldhammer blog entries I have enjoyed most have been the interviews with some of the key personnel from Games Workshop's golden period (see Realm of Chaos 80s for some fantastic interviews). Having been inspired by other interviews, I decided to get back in touch with Bob Naismith who sculpted me a lovely little female space elf trader back in 2011:



Sculpted as a companion piece to the Citadel Eldar Trader

Bob kindly subjected himself to questioning about his career and work with Citadel in the 1980s:

Discovering the Eternal Champions

A week or two ago I stumbled on a box of figures on ebay which had never registered with me before; Citadel's BC5 Eternal Champions boxed set.

Classic Moorcock imagery by Rodney Matthews. I idly checked out his website; his original paintings are on sale for hundreds of thousands of pounds!

Blood Bowl "Micro-ramas"

Blood Bowl is a game characterised by dyanmic rules, with models that represent elite athletes. What could be more cinematic than the all or nothing play, where a spilled ball by the opposition near your line is dramatically picked up by your star thrower under pressure. He evades clutching hands and diving tackles to sprint up field. A crazy long bomb pass miraculously lands in the hands of your waiting catcher who surges to the line to score.

And your star thrower looks like this:

Skaven and Human throwers hope to out point each other

Owning John Blanche Originals

It's taken me a couple of decades to take to the work of John Blanche. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s I viewed his artwork as too loose, his figure proportions and perspective were off. His increasingly orange work jarred. In short, I didn't like it at all.

With that said, over recent times, I've grown to love John's work. I realise now that his vision has been an incredibly strong driver into the look and feel of Games Workshop's universes, and underpins much of what I enjoy about the background, artwork and miniatures.

In recent times I've taken to picking up odd sources of John Blanche's work where I can; books like Ratspike, White Dwarfs; you know the sort of thing. Even the odd local magazine! Gothic Punk is an excellent resource if you want to check out John's work.

Gothic Punk on tumblr; probably the best online resource for John Blanche artwork