2 Chaos Spawn (50pts)

From the largest pointed unit (1200 for the Plaguebearers) to the smallest, a couple of Spawn at 25pts each. In the LatD these are described more as a pack as can (and probably should) be led by a Champion of Chaos, so eventually I'd like to do a converted spawn made up of lots of bits from my box and add him to these two and add a leader to marshall them around the battlefield.

Obviously these two are both classic Citadel miniatures, the left model being an old Plague Elemental and the right one being a Spawn of Nurgle, the latter having a slight conversion in removing the funny legs that came with it and sculpting some tentacles there instead. Both these old models though suffer from the perpendicular restraints of sculpting from that time, so when faced from the front both models look quite flat and symmetrical (although with the slug spawn you can reposition the tentacles on it's head to create more dynamic movement) and hence why I've photographed them both on the angle.

For this Beast of Nurgle I did a little research on slugs to get the correct colour scheme and used a little gloss varnish to capture the slimy nature of it's body. You will notice the basing on both models is slightly different from the rest of the army, in that there are a collection of organic shapes molded into the landscape, the idea behind this is based on the premise that:

 "the very proximity of a Beast is sufficient to kill small animals and plant.... or may age and decay perceptibly in their presence" (LatD p.20)

So a collection of small bitz from the box were impressed into some milliput and sculpted into the base to give the appearance of a dying, organic mass surrounding the model as it moves forward.

With the Plague Elemental I also experimented further with some skin painting techniques. Over a white undercoat I painted all the pinks with Contrast paints and highlights. Over this I then mixed some crackle medium into the pale green colouring of the skin and dabbed this onto areas where I wanted to create a peeling, cracking skin effect over the pink, exposed areas.

And to finish here's a group shot of the army including the most recent units for a cumulative total of 4405pts

Next up are some kitbashed Nurgle Beastmen, using mostly plastic kits...

Classic Chaos Beastmen (150pts).

This blog was originally set up, some years ago, to chart my progress in creating a Nurgle army from the classic Lost and the Damned tome. Along the way I have been easily, inevitably and enjoyably sidetracked by a plethora of new ideas, miniatures, games systems and competitions, but for now I've decided to come back to the project and try and complete it! Ive finished my Warhammer 3rd Edition Chaos Allies Contingent, which have the same basing, so I looked back at my many incomplete Lost and the Damned units and decided to tackle the unit which needed the least amount of work.

I had painted half of these classic Chaos Beastmen some time ago, and I remembered collecting them so that they were a disparate, ragtag bunch (certainly not just goats), of different shapes, sizes and races and of course choosing some of my favourite sculpts from this era along the way.

Here’s the now completed unit:

I've painted their skin with a variety of tones, trying to unify them slighlty by keeping the colours slightly drab and pastel like, and as always allowing the basing to tie them together further. 

The banner is painted from an image in Fighting Fantasy's Army of Death and is held by a Beastman that was regularly headswapped in Dale Hurst's iconic Tzeentch warband from White Dwarf 135, something I had always wanted to do since I first saw the article in 1991 and here I've done so with a new, plastic plaguebearer head added to the Citadel lead body. 

Here’s the original illustration  by Nick Williams, as found in Fighting Fantasy: Armies of Death:

The last part was to construct a movement tray, which is really more of a display tray to hold the unit together. More on how I do this in a future post.

So then that’s 14 Beastmen, with standard, making a total of 150pts.

Value and desire: hobby purchases

With a fair few parcels arriving most days in the build up to Christmas, I can happily sneakily buy a few hobby purchases that arrive amongst the boxed gifts without much chance of the wife catching me! Aside from a few Contrast Paints I haven't bought anything at all over the past few months, but over the last week I have treated myself to two models from my Most Wanted List and, two pieces of 3D printed scenery and one laser cut one:

There was a fairly heated debate on the Oldhammer Trading Facebook page where someone had (I am led to believe) bought a job lot from another collector for a very reasonable price and then re-listed some of the unwanted models on the same page for a much higher price. He claims that he buys so many models that he could not remember the initial purchase price and lots of other people chimed in saying that he was wrong to increase their sale price.

Now these are vintage, lead Citadel models and the latter group of fellows were upset that he was using a Facebook page to inflate the price of the miniatures (he was called a "scalper" I believe) on a page where the proposed aim is to ensure that collectors get the old school miniatures they want for a reasonable (non-Ebay price). That's the context and I can certainly see both sides of the argument. But for me it is an interesting discussion on inherent value, demand and ownership.

For example. I have desperately wanted to own an iconic, Citadel Thrud model for many, many years. I have missed out on several Ebay auctions, trading pages notices etc, either due to being out-bid or sniped for the former or simply late in seeing the sales post for the latter. An upcoming painting competition which focuses on the sculpts of Bob Naismith made me really, really want to get his Thrud miniature even more, so I broke with my own philosophy and did a BIN on Ebay for £20. I quantify it by thinking what else I would easily spend £20 on? Well, the 5 Contrast paints I bought for a start. And the few pints I had on Friday night, or the quick stop at the Co-Op to buy some provisions for the kids packed lunches. So in context, £20 for something I really want and will spend a good amount of time on in the future, seems about a good price (even though I know I could probably get it cheaper if I persevered).

The second item is a model I've desired for almost as long, simply because of the dynamism of the sculpt; it's an old Citadel Fighter model named Cedric. Again the Naismith competition made me seek out a copy of it with greater fervour and I actually placed a request/advert for it on the afore-mentioned Oldhammer Trading page. Lots of likes and comments later (incidentally about how there is a 40k version with a bolt pistol, how someone once owned one and how someone else create a diorama with this one and the 40k version) and eventually someone came forward and said they had one spare. And here comes the question of value. It was quite clear that there was a demand for it, but the seller asked how much I would pay for it. What is it's value? Clearly I was keen to buy it, so should it be the same value as the Thrud? Well there's less lead so there must be less value! Don't be silly. Is it scarcer than Thrud? (there were a lot of Thruds on Ebay but none of Cedric), perhaps that's just a temporary scarcity, but they are both 30 years old? So I completed an advanced search on Ebay (where else to go?) of previously sold versions of the model and showed the seller the price ranges for which they had sold - which happened to be between £4 and £8. But this seemed too cheap compared to my Thrud purchase. So I completed my correspondence to the seller with the line: "but this is your model, so please price it as you see fit". He graciously offered it to me for £7.50 including postage. Thank you so much!

So I have both models, which in itself is great and actually when you think about it, some achievement. This all happened within a week of the concept of the idea ("I really want to buy Thrud and Cedric to make a diorama") to "can I find them and buy them for a price I can afford"? Now you may think that these prices are higher than your value of the miniatures but I really wanted them. And get them I did, two miniatures that are made of lead (intrinsically low value) and sculpted about 30 years ago. Amazing that they are still amongst us and that easy to get hold of - within a week! What would Bob Naismith think about the fact that his old Citadel sculpts are still of interest and hold a value that is much higher than the cost of their material. His hand as a skillful sculptor (and the association with GW) has clearly added value in this case.

The third, fourth and fifth pieces I've obtained in the Christmas post are two 3D sculpted scenery models, also purchased on Ebay for £8 combined and a laser cut house. They have been on my watch-list for some time, because I couldn't decide whether to scratch-build them or buy them. I love creating my own scenery and know that I could have done a good job and had fun in the process, but the other side of it is that it just takes so much time to build and paint, that I may never get it done behind the growing list of other projects I have. So in this case I decided that my time was more valuable and my desire stronger to own the scenery than make it.

But of course the value of a miniature does not just start at the desire of the buyer and end at the point of purchase. I hope to add some intrinsic value to the pieces of sculpted lead by painting them to the best of my ability and to set them both in a little diorama with some of my model-making skills. Does time+skill= extra value? I don't really care too much, but for me a painted mini on display or being gamed with is so much more valuable than an unpainted one lying bare in a collectors box. In fact going back to the original argument on Facebook, this was my written opinion:

"Surely the owner of the miniature can determine the model's value. It's monetary one, it's aesthetic one (to me being painted > not painted) and it's functional value (to me gaming/display > dormant, unused in a box)."

Jesus, that's slightly embarrassingly written, but then I always think that when I reflect upon what I write (which is quite often why I don't proofread, as sometimes, on relfection, I overthink and would actually prefer to delete the whole piece).
Anyway, I am also sympathetic that the Oldhammer Trading Page was set up to ensure people could be re-united with the models of their youth at an affordable cost, the setting of the price of a miniature has to be determined by the owner of the miniature. If there's no demand for it at the price set, then they can adjust it.

The (now deleted) thread on Facebook piqued my interest and tied in with the two models I have bought this week, hence the monologue of this blog post. Of course all of this philosophising means fuck all if my wife ever works out just how much I've actually spent on my models over the years, (although she is sympathetic to their importance to my down time, she simply cannot understand why I don't sell them off after I've painted them); I'd worry that the value of our relationship might be tested and imagine the ultimate ultimatum: "it's them or me!" Yikes.

So anyway, what's your most wanted miniature?

The Enduring Legacy of the Realms of Chaos

Remember those amazing illustrations from the original Realms of Chaos books, by artists such as Adrian Smith, Paul Campbell etal, the ones that provoked so many ideas and fleshed out some of the possibilities and potential within 3rd Edition Realms of Chaos? I still love looking at them today and often feel inspired to try and convert my own miniatures based on the characters depicted within them. But I don't have to so much anymore because the Games Workshop of today (which has more recently seemed like quite a different beast as to what I grew up with) has released some models that are so obviously steeped in and inspired by some of those very illustrations I alluded to earlier.

I rarely venture onto the GW website, so I am somewhat behind the times, but I saw someone else had painted this model (Sloppity Bilepiper) and assumed it was a conversion, but no, this is a bonefide GW release that is clearly based upon some illustrations from GW of the 80's, specifically the Realms of Chaos. I just had to buy it (and make a bit of an adjustment to make it fit a bit better with those illustrations and lose the, quite frankly, ridiculous staff);

The musical element, the dynamic, dancing poses (especially the Nurgling) are just so evocative of those early illustrations, especially the Dance of Death. The older Nurgling I added to Sloppity's hand is a reference to that era.

I had forgotten about my scenic photography backdrop, so I dusted it off (I actually had to and was surprised by the versatility of static grass) and used it again here:

 Before converting and painting this modern model, I just had to reach for my Lost and Damned book and look for the specific illustrations that I saw the link to in these sculpts. The two images were by Adrian Smith and Paul Campbell from the Nurgle pages in the Lost and Damned Realm of Chaos Tome, specifically the Dance of Death and Nurgle Calvalcade pages. Have a look:

So, as I was researching some of this post, I discovered that GW is releasing a game called the Realm of Chaos. It's not aimed for me, but it is nicely reassuring that my favourite era and output of model miniatures is seeing something of a revival for a new generation of gamers/painters. I'm looking forward to some new plastic models to paint and then sit alongside my original lead ones and hope they all are happy lined up alongside each other.

Oldhammer

Everyone has an opinion on what defines a movement, or indeed likes to broadcast what their interpretation of it is. And Oldhammerers do like to bang on about their perspective of it and how others have got it wrong!

Going to a community event (BOYL a few years ago) where someone has sculpted and cast a cool miniature and then given it away to attendees is pretty damn amazing and transcends any zeitgeist of a hobby movement. So this, for me, is Oldhammer:

An unexpected discovery...

I had just dropped my bike off for a service and had begun the short journey home by foot. Walking past a local charity shop, my meanderings were slowly stopped as in the shop window I saw a load of old Citadel models on display! I actually carried on walking for a few strides until what I had just seen registered in my mind. On closer inspection there was a whole load of old models on display and more in a tatty basket amongst the usual tat on display in such a window; I gazed through that window like I used to as a young boy, peering through the reflections at the models as I did back at GW Reading in the late 80's. I still can't believe my good fortune. But there's a bittersweet element to this, yes I'm happy to have found this hoard, but there is obvious care, skill and humour in the models that once belonged to someone who probably had a similar passion as me for the characterful nature of these old Citadel sculpts. But it was actually the discovery of some milliputted bases and freehand banners that affected me the most - this collection is not just of a kid who had a fleeting involvement in the hobby, these belonged to someone who had obviously been quite immersed and clearly was inspired by White Dwarf and Golden Demon of the time, as some of the painting skills and attention to detail are really very good.


The price for the models was incredibly good and I selected only some of the models on display and the entire basket to buy, because at the time I felt greedy in taking it all, although I may go back today to have another look... The range of models spanned 40k and Fantasy, some of which are as early as 1985 and some of which I believe are quite collectible (Space Slann!) However none of them are useful for any of my many current projects, which led me to a bit of a dilemma. I shared these same photos on the Oldhammer Facebook Trading page to help with some identification, especially with the 40k models which I am not so au fait with and I was slightly overwhelmed with the repsonses in terms of successful identification, value but also collectors who were interested in particular models. My dilemma remains - shall I start up some new projects with some of these, shall I sell them to finance ongoing projects or keep them together to maintain the previous owners oeuvre? I'm still unsure and at any rate I'm in no rush to make up my mind.


I wanted to know a bit more about the provenence of these miniatures so I spoke to the store manager who was working there yesterday and she said that an older lady/mum had given her son's collection to the store only a few days ago. Other than that she knew nothing. She did know that these figures were collectable but had reduced the price as they had been painted so "thickly" - I paid very little for these, it has to be said. Now I just need to contemplate what to do next with them all, but if anyone knows anymore about these, as models or as a collection, I would be very interested.

Some wonderful Chaos Champions. I already own the bottom two and once used to have the bone armour chap.

I think this is a very old GW elf mage, that was accompanied by an apprentice.

Some Lords of Battle and a Citadel Fighter, I believe.

Some Ork Painboyz etc from '89.

A Rogue Trader ratling. He's tiny.

Some elves, including Marauder elves and a couple of wardnacers I think.

Two early Rogue Trader models - loving the milliputted base with cogs and tentacles.

Some Orcs - I'll definitely find a use for these.

A couple of Night Horrors, a gargoyle/demon and a ghoul.

A dwarf adventurer.

The MotherCrushers.

A Barbarian, with a slightly damaged helmet.

A couple of Eldar something or others..

Perry sculpted militia for Bretonians

A blue horror that's been painted pink?

Some Gothic Horror (I think) models that are quite old - '85.

Some very cool snotlings mounted onto a scratchbuilt, milliput base

A carrion (misding it's rider).

There's also 4 Space Slann, which have not uploaded here for some reason, but are probably the rarest out of the collection



And the banners. Someone on Facebook said they recognised the OrcBusters banner, but as you can see these are nicely designed and painted