Grenadier Fantasy Lords 1st Series 179 Armoured Balrog

And back to Grenadier. They were by far the most prolific of manufacturers in the 1980's, which is why their figures are comparatively easy to pick up. In my opinion this figure is one of their best from the mid-1980's:

I think it's a fantastic figure - a Tolkein-esque Balrog, kitted up with breast plate, leg guards, shield and a flaming sword - definitely a "boss" figure for any dungeon! In particular, the sculpting on the face is terrific - it is quite monstrous IMHO. You could quibble about the scale of the wings in proportion to the rest of the figure, but let's not forget it's fantasy, eh? And besides, if a bee violates the laws of aerodynamics, who is to say that a Balrog can't ;)

The figure was basically done in Citadel Blood Red, then shaded with Carroberg Crimson wash, then lots of highlighting. I wanted the base to look like it was walking on red hot coals, so it's basically some grit effect material from a railway modelling job, drybrushed with red and then orange.

Very pleased with the figure and the way it turned out!

Garrison Sword And Sorcery SS84 Horned Lizard

And now for something completely different. Garrison were amongst the earliest of wargaming miniature manufacturers, and also produced fantasy miniatures for the RPG market in the late 1970's/80's. Most of the Garrison figures from that era are still available to buy today; this figure is an original for the 1980's:

Initially I thought the sculpting was quite coarse, with not much detail, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it painted up for such a simple figure. I'm not too sure how much use it would be in a RPG setting though; to honest it looks as though the worst thing this figure could do is give an unwary adventurer a nasty lick. The colours are based on pictures of iguanas found on Google, and the paint job is simple acrylics and inks, with a standard flock base.