Putting All of the Minis on the Table

 And Joe Devers Awesome Miniature Collection

So, what started as a bit of a mental grumble about working out army lists turned out to be a bit of a rabbit hole. Because my line of logic was why bother working out a balanced points army when I could just put all of my minis on the table...

And if I did what would that even look like.? I have sort of done this before with my Lord of the ring’s minis about 20 years ago. When I put all of my painted minis on the table for one big game. Now I'm not saying that I would actually get round to doing this (again) but it's an interesting idea given that I now have quite a few more painted minis than I did 20 years ago. As this was the gap in time between getting rid of all my classic Oldhammer minis and really started collecting classic minis again a few years ago.

Anyway, you might be wondering why there's a picture of a lot of obscure role-playing magazines from the 80s and 90s. Well, it's because when thinking about putting everything on the table, I remembered A couple of big battle reports in several of them, run by Joe Dever. Using his fantastic collection. So, I decided to dig them out and while in the loft looking for these magazines, I came across a number other more obscure ones which I collected for various wargames related articles.

Now the GM team (Tim, Paul, and Wayne), Had several goes at running a role-playing magazine which starting with the GM magazine and then a while later with the GMI magazine. I even remember Wayne (the guy with the white hair) on a local news programme talking about role-playing games.

And they were obviously in contact with Joe Dever because they managed to get him to run two big Battle Day scenarios for competition winners. I was definitely jealous at the time. They also managed to get a number of big-name Golden Demon winners such as Paul Benson to do some painting articles. Without a doubt Paul Benson was one of the best miniature painters at the time. And very distinctive visual style.

Having now got these magazines out the loft I shall take a bit of a trip down memory lane and hopefully manage to share some of the best bits.

And as always, thanks to the talented people who produced them in the first place. And provided me some with some much needed inspiration at the time.

And of course I am still working on the classic LotR minis. One more Snagga goblin to complete the set. 

And the other and crazy thing I noticed was the exchange rate at $4.00 to £1.20 in 1989. Compared to $1.33 to £1 today.

And something to finish the weekend. 

Rob 

Why is This Mini Hard to Get?

 ME-12 Strider on Foot

Finally managed to get Strider on foot at a (semi) reasonable price. The reason why I say this is because it seems much easier to get the mounted mini than the mini on foot? In fact I have often found the mounted mini for less money than the foot mini. I can only assume that the mounted mini was produced in the same numbers as the foot mini.  They were only ever sold as a set! But the mini on foot seems rarer and so at a higher price.  Still money has been spent and the painting can commence. 

As always thanks to Stuff of Legends from stopping me, having to root around in an incredibly hot loft to find my Citadel compendium. 

No painting this week  as I was away on business but I did get to see a very nice French castle. And of course a few beers. 

Enjoy the weekend

Rob 

Finishing Up the Weekend

Treebeard has had Enough and the Ruin of Isengard

Hey, we are all feeling a bit a hot and bothered in the latest mini heatwave in the UK. And we can all go a bit far. But wrecking the whole of Isengard is a bit much! Anyway I finished Treebeard a while ago but have just got round to posting a few pics. 

After taking the pics, I think I might go back and lighten up Treebeard's head and and arms as he looks a bit too much the same colour all over.  The other ent in the background is one I scratch built several years ago for my Fae army. and rebased to accompany Treebeard to war. 

And looking at my blog list, I see that Goblin Lee has also just posted about his classic Oldhammer Ents. Last March of the Ents

Plus managed finish off the black rider. Not surprisingly, it didn't take long to paint the rider but the horse took me a bit longer as I wanted it to look wild and unkempt. 

Enjoy the rest of the Sunday 😁

Rob 

Post 587

White Rider & the Dark Lord

Ironically the 'modern' Gandalf the white 

was painted twenty years before the classic one. 

Ok, quick post tonight before I sit down with a beer. Finished off both the mounted Gandalf and Sauron minis. 

Friday night's delight

Rob 

WIP

Getting Started

Started on the next couple of Oldhammer Lord of the Rings minis, which has become a current obsession. And after purchasing a few more to fill in some of the gaps. Next up is Sauron on his throne and Treebeard. 

I hadn't really looked at the Sauron on his throne mini until I started to paint it. And I realised it is covered in wailing ghost like figures who put me in mind of Hieronymus Bosch. And I was also reminded of the less controlled nature of the design process for 1980s Citadel miniatures. Remember this was the same era when  GW would produce a scantily clad female sorceresses called Samantha Phox*. In fact both are in the same Citadel Compendium. This doesn't seem very 'On message' for today's GW. 

Anyway back to Sauron's throne, I wanted to have dark shadows around the wailing figures, so dry brushed up from black and threw on a load of washes. So, far so good and now need to turn Sauron himself. Who will need some colour added when I get to the obviously black robes. 

*To spare any of my readers an embarrassing internet search, she (is) was a famous topless model in the UK in the 1980s.  But if you feel you must do the internet search then no judgement!

A quick mock up of Treebeard sacking Isengard before he went into the paint stripper. 

Rob 

RIP John Blanche

Just heard that John Blanche died, on the 1st June. 

Obviously the father of the Grimdark style and it is hard pick just one picture but it all started for me with the Warhammer box art.

Rob 

 

Orcs vs. Dwarves

Normal Service is Resumed

Got back to painting this week, with a couple of orcs and my alternative Oldhammer Balin finished. Since I had a couple of extra Mordor and Isengard orcs, I decided paint them up using the paint scheme from the other group. So, the Mordor orcs gained an orc from the White hand and visa versa. 

The orcs settle a theological debate in typical fashion. 

And I also finished the Talisman dwarf who will be acting as Balin in my Oldhammer company of Thorin Oakenshield. 

Rob 

Not Friday Night & Not Beer

Singapore Sling At Raffles Hotel 

Obviously not many posts in the last couple of weeks, as I was away for business in Singapore. But I did manage to sample a few local delights such as a Singapore sling in the famous Raffles bar & hotel.  Which will not be a replacement for a classic Friday night beer but nice for a change. As well as being famous for the Singapore sling, it also famous for chucking the peanut shells on the floor. So, when in Rome...

Normal posting to resume shortly.

Rob 

Bits of Many Projects

No Clear Idea!

So when I sat down this afternoon for a quiet couple of hours. I couldn't quite focus on any one project, so ended spending a little bit of time of several different projects. I had a couple of things nearly finished and didn't have the mental focus to really paint anything too demanding. 

So in no particular order.

Finished off the classic Lord of Rings Easterling. He only really needed a few touch ups and the base doing. So not much to get him done. 

Another ganger for my very slow moving gangs of Rome project. I decided early on that these minis need to have a quick painting style and try to lean into a zenithal painting style . But then my airbrush broke and I haven't quite got restarted properly. Anyway I quite like the 'spotty' appearance of her tunic caused by the airbrush clogging. Which I think adds to scruffy her appearance. 

A Slann way marker which has been sitting on the paint desk since (Colours??) and I still have another two to do. And then one of two Slann might make it back onto the painting queue...

And finally started looking at the dwarves (that I also picked up at Colours??) which I was planning on using for another play through of Blood Bath at Orcs Drift. When I played it a few years ago it was very much with whatever minis I had to hand. And I would like use a few more appropriate minis. These are I think are old Harlequin (?) minis from owner who was selling them cheap.  Because he said he was shutting up shop and selling off all his old stock. 

Right time to sit down and get ready for next week. 

Rob 

Horde of Orcs

As Long as Two Counts as a Horde 

Finished off two of the orcs from ME-51 Orcs of the Red Eye. I have been deliberately painting different skin tones for each of the different sets of Orcs. To be honest these orcs are looking a lot more purple in the pictures compared to real life.  

I started with a black leather (from Scalecolor) had blue tone which is why I moved through to the purple but I thought the Deathclaw brown would offset that. obviously not as much as I thought. But I am ok with the final result.  

Much happier with these eye of Sauron shield designs. I want them to look crude (they are orcs after all) but still have some artistic merit. 

And I have been looking forward to this one, as it is from a small(ish) brewery near to where I used to live. And never disappoints. 

Enjoy the long weekend (if you are in the UK). 

Rob 

Balin Takes a Battering

Time for Choices & Repair

After the new alternative Balin makes it out of the paint stripper. It is time to take a good look at him. And it turns out he has had a tough life. I hadn't noticed he has got a bit crushed at one stage. So, time for a bit of green stuff repair. The broken arm got pinned as I had no intention of putting that in the paint stripper as it would be bound to get lost!

I had a bit of debate about trying to make a new wing for the missing one. But in the end decided it would be good to make him a bit different from the classic Talisman dwarf mini. And painting continues on the Oldhammer orcs. 

Rob 

Painted it Black

More Oldhammer Lord of the Rings Goodies

So, no surprise it didn't take long to finish off the Black Rider when I finally managed to squeeze a painting session over the weekend. And I also got time to finish my Oldhammer Thorin for the start of my alternative Company of Thorin Oakenshield. 

Thorin & Balin tackle goblins of the Misty Mountains

I decided that I wanted to try and stretch my freehand skills a bit by putting the names of each of the dwarves in runes on the bases.  So, after a quick internet search I was able draw up a list of names. 

These feel like very different minis! And how tall does the film version look compared to a classic 28 mm dwarf. 

And I came across a new Badger beer over the weekend - Iron Hart* pale ale (very enjoyable) and had to double check that they were also still doing my favourite - Hopping Hare pale ale. Fortunately still seems readily available (Phew!).

*I wonder if there is a Burrows & Badgers - Iron Hart? 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

Rob