Fantasy Miniatures.

Not exactly an update, more of a "look what I found" whilst digging through the massive box of old fantasy miniatures I have. We have been leaning toward fantasy stuff of late as a good distraction to the Historical miniatures we have been concentrating on. Most of these are from old 1980's to early 1990's Citadel, Ral Partha and other manufacturers of the time. Some of my figures are long since sold off or gone to who knows where but I managed to keep hold of the vast majority, stuffed away in a box in the loft. The level of detail may not match todays standards but for pure character I choose these old school minis over the 'big n spikey' trend for current GW models.

A small selection below to reminisce on. I managed to find these chaps -

Lorabeth, Corabell,  John-Boy and Willy.

Above: I have a whole host of this Citadel range (the C46 Villagers) but these were of interest as I believe they were specifically from the "Terror of the Lichemaster" range. I am sure I had more from it but they seem to have long since disappeared.

The Orc Man-Mangler.

The old Citadel Orc Man-Mangler for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Although I had a pretty big (unpainted) Orc army (more on them later) this never actually saw action!

A Marauder Dwarf guards 'The Special Rock'.

Dwarf from the Marauder Miniatures range, the company set up by Ally and Trish Morrison around 1988. Some of their Dwarves were quite nice sculpts but I never managed to get hold of many as I was drifting out of the hobby at this point. Although I have over 170+ Dwarves I still like the idea of getting hold of some more of them.

A C18 Liche and some C17 Skeletons.

Early eighties Citadel C17 Skeletons.  I used to have loads of these but most were sold off, which I kind of regret now. I still have the plastic boxed set in reasonable condition though! The hooded creature is one of the old C18 Undead 'Liches' (as they were referred to) I also have a variant of this chap who represented one of our old Warhammer campaigns big-bads. This was the Liche leader who went by the name of 'Martin', formerly known as the sorcerer Tamalar Fogg. He served, grudgingly under the Liche King 'Oliver' and his Army supported by 'John' the Lord of Darkness. Another of the Liche leaders was 'Nigel'. The reason for the names was our obsession at the time with the TV series 'V'!

C26 Man-at-Arms and an excellent slouching C16 Orc.

Above is a C26 Officer from the Medieval Men-at-Arms range by Citadel. They became the C26 Fantasy Men-at-Arms and subsequently were produced as a War of the Roses range by Wargames Foundry. I have a whole host of this range, mainly the bowmen and crossbowmen with a few halberdiers and spearmen thrown in. A few of these were released later as slotta-based but most of mine are pre-slotta. They fit in nicely with the Perry War of the Roses range which is not surprising as they were sculpted by the Perry twins! The unlikely servant that attends him is a wonderful 'slouching' unarmoured Citadel C16 Orc. This chap is probably my favourite Orc figure! I am not 100% sure but I gather a fair few of these early Citadel Orcs were also Perry sculpts. Please correct me if wrong! I have over 100 Orcs from several companies but mainly Citadel and some are even painted (shock) so I will post more of these brutes later.

Alternative Armies 'Cavern Fighter' Dwarves mine 'The Special Rock'...

More Dwarves. These are from the Alternative Armies 28mm Fantasy Dwarven Host range. I have a selected 15 from the 40+ available and they are excellent figures but to be honest the range is overall a little hit and miss. The two stout chaps above are a couple of my favourites from the Cavern Fighter pack, which I highly recommend. I can picture them now, mining deep into a cave swarming with goblinoids. More Dwarves to come later.

...unaware a Ral Partha 'Grendel' and a C18 Liche King lurk nearby.

Next up is another from the C18 Undead range. This is the aforementioned Liche King. He is the figure that represented 'Oliver', the 'leader' of the evil / chaos forces in our early Warhammer 1st to 3rd edition games. I actually recently purchased him from ebay as the original 'Oliver' belonged to a friend who long since sold him. In a moment of reminiscence I couldn't help buy him again...

With him is the Ral Partha 'Grendel' model from the Personalities and Things That Go Bump in the Night range. He / it is another recent purchase that I just could not resist. I was first aware of the figure last year when I was researching suitable figures to represent Grendel for a possible fantasy / myth angle to our Dark Ages and Viking campaign - see my posts on my Viking blog Gjallarhorn for more on this. He was a bit of a pleasing discovery on ebay as I thought I would never get hold of one! 

Mystic Spirals Barbarian.

The above fab barbarian in true 'Conan' type pose was a lucky find when I was trying to look up some more info on the miniature painter John Morris, aka Mystic Spirals. He decided at some point to sculpt and sell a few of his own miniatures and most of these were very limited in their release. I managed to get hold of a few, the 'Barbarian1' being one of them. Unfortunately, according to his blog all of his figures are now out of production due to illness in the family. I wish him all the best an hope to see more of his figures in the future.

Little John and Friar Tuck by Foundry.

More Foundry figures above with Little John and Friar Tuck from the Robin Hood collection. These are great fun sculpts full of character and 'Little' John is by no means little in any way. Friar Tuck is fairly 'large' but the huge figure of Little John towers above most in 28mm and is comparable to the immense Foundry Viking 'Rollo the Ganger' figure from the VIK011 pack. For some reason I have an obsession with buying 'monk' figures from various ranges and I also picked up the Trent Miniatures 'Friar Tuck & Maid Marian' off  North Star. I think I prefer the Trent Miniatures version.

Rotundo, my favourite Citadel C11 Halfling.

I have never been one for Halfling figures but at some point I decided my huge mass of Dwarves needed some camp followers / cooks and decided to add a few of the little fellows to the mix. Mine were from the Citadel C11 Halflings and include Hog, Smallfoot, Mattock the Plump, Hari the Hammer, Proudfoot ("ProudFEET"), Bill Benno, Lando the Large and Cecil Ogre Slayer. I also got hold of the Hornblower and my favourite of the lot, Rotundo. Love that belly Rotundo! All these little guys made there way onto the ebay pile not too long ago but I had a last minute change of heart and could not bring myself to separate from them. Whether they will ever be painted or added to is another thing but at least I know they are 'there'.

Duck with short sword from the Runequest boxed set 4 (Beastmen).

A Runequest Duck. Finally got hold of this chap after much searching. My previously mentioned obsession with Runequest Ducks has led me on a great quest to track (quack?) down as many of them as I can but this one has always eluded me until recently! I paid more for him than I would ever dream of paying for a single figure but I just had to have him! I now have a grand total of 12 Duck miniatures from Citadel and Ral Partha. I also picked up two from Rapier Miniatures along with a couple of their Scorpion-folk. All are on the rather large side and do not mix well with the Citadel and Ral Partha ranges. Having said that they are quite nice figures, just not very usable with what I have. All I need now are the Mongoose boxed set that I missed out on...

Rapier Miniatures Scorpion-folk.

The Scorpion-folk from the Beastmen selection are also monstrous in size but probably more usable. They are suitably horrible, measure about 50mm tall by 60mm long and genuinely scare the bejesus out of me! In the background of the picture is a Dragonman / Draconian of some description but I am not sure of the manufacturer, maybe Grenadier? He is not on the heroic side of 28mm but gives an idea on the vastness of the Scorpion-beasties!

Well, that's it for now but next up is Orcs, Dwarves and Beastmen!

Ars Magica - The Black Monks of Glastonbury.

Not a lot done lately but finally made a start on the Redoubt monks. Whilst browsing various figure manufacturers to add to the lead mountain I found yet more monks to add to the growing congregation!

Brother Thomas (on the right) and the newly arrived Brother Cuthbert lead the monks in prayer.

The new recruits joining the Redoubt monks are the 'Brothers of Shrewsbury Abbey' from the Black Tree Design Feudal Characters range. They are Brother Cuthbert and the three from the front row in the middle. They are really nice sculpts and could pass in pretty much any period.

Cardinal Bertrand and the monks.

So far I have only managed to base them and get the basic flesh done but they looked so characterful I couldn't help take a couple of pictures! With the black undercoat they currently look a little like a group of particularly serious Benedictine monks. Brother Thomas looks much like a Franciscan friar in his brown robes. This of course made me think of the classic book/film 'The Name of the Rose.'

Brother Thomas investigates the murder of Brother Adelmo whilst the horrified monks look on...

The story takes place in Northern Italy, during the early 14th Century A.D. Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his novice Adso of Melk (narrating as an old man) arrive at a Benedictine abbey where a mysterious death has occurred ahead of an important theological Church conference. William, known for his deductive and analytic mind, confronts the worried Abbot and gains permission to investigate the death – a young illuminator appears to have committed suicide. Over the next few days, several other bizarre deaths occur, and the two gradually discover that everything is not what it seems in the abbey.

Diabolic? Murder at the Abbey!

The title of this blog entry comes from an old Ars Magica supplement about the famous Glastonbury Abbey, a house of the black robed Benedictines since Saint Dunstan instituted it in the tenth century. The monks have fallen to diabolic corruption that threatens to overwhelm them all.

A Touch of Fantasy...Brother Thomas.

Decided to add a little bit of fantasy stuff to this blog as I have no where else that seems appropriate to put it! Might dig out some old fantasy wargames notes from my early Warhammer Fantasy Battle days and perhaps even some RPG stuff too.

Anyway, onto one of my earliest Citadel figures from my collection...

'Brother Thomas' is an old Citadel Miniatures chap I have owned for many years. I bought him in about 1982 for 40p and he has graced many wargames tables and RPG's over the years. He has certainly faced far worse things than one or two angry Danes with axes. Battles that spring to mind include the legendary 'Bloodbath at Orcs Drift', the 'Nightmare in Blackmarsh', 'The Battle of Dalion Pass' (the only game I am aware of thats had intelligent baboons fighting on one side!), 'How Red Was My Valley' (regarding the case of the missing Count von Bulow) the defence of the Principality of Francovia and the 'Return of Martin the Liche-Lord and the Wars of Spite'. He was always somewhere on the fringes of the action, even if it was an old dwarven stronghold or a mission near an elven fortress. Other characters involved included the dwarf lords Clando the Bane and Torak Dragonhelm IX (bearer of the Runesword Casmakis), the 'Scarlet Plumes' (a kind of roaming police force made up of Runequest miniatures), Harboth & the Black Mountain Boys (Citadel Orcs before they went really spikey), Mengil Manhides company of Dark Elves and even a Slann raiding party after slaves and booty. Hmmm, last one sounds familiar...anyway, enough reminiscing!

Brother Thomas.

(Re-posting this from Gjallarhorn, my Viking blog)