Grenadier Monster Manuscripts Vol 1 1501 MM8 Borer Serpent

The next nugget to be unearthed from the lead mountain was yet another Grenadier sculpt (they were the largest distributor of figures in the 1980's):

As with all of the later Grenadier sculpts, it is beautifully detailed and has an interesting pose - it looks as if it has just caught the scent of its next victim!

An easy figure to paint, too - base coats of red and yellow, then ink washes and finally dry brushing to finish. I put it on a 45mm base to be consistent with the rest of my mini's, but that left the ends of the base a bit bare - hence the skull and bones, which are just spare bits from a plastic skeleton.

Pleased with the way this one turned out!

Asgard Fantasy Monsters FM65 Flying Reptile And Wraith

Next up from the lead mountain... Asgard's take on the Nazgul from The Lord Of The Rings:

As with all Asgard sculpts from the early 70's and 80's, it's quite coarse compared to the fine detailed sculpts you see today. In particular, the Wraith is VERY crude - the folds in his cloak are acceptable, but on his legs (which unfortunately you can't see in the picture) I think he's supposed to be wearing chain mail leggings, when it fact it looks like he has a pair of woolly tights on!

The Nazgul/Reptile is a rather splendid sculpt though. The figure came in 3 parts - body and two wings - and I had to use an inordinate amount of super glue and patience to make them stick together, again due to the coarseness of the sculpting. Once assembled, it was a pleasure to paint - a surprising amount of detail, which came up well with washes over a base pink paint job for a suitably unpleasant effect.

The sculpt is something of a rarity - I've not seen another one - although I understand it's still available from Viking Forge in the States. I suspect that it didn't sell well on release for a number of reasons - firstly, Asgard didn't (or couldn't) advertise it as a Nazgul, and secondly it was an expensive sculpt when I acquired it. A third reason is that it was sold in a time when miniatures catalogues only had line drawings of the figures, not photos - and the line drawings from the Asgard didn't do it justice, and gave no indication of the size of the beast. Bit of a shame really, because I think it's an attractive "old school" mini, worthy of a place of honour in any Chaos army.

Grenadier Julie Guthrie's Personalities 881 Succubus

Next up was a fairly simple (but rather evocative) sculpt from Julie Guthrie, when she had her own range at Grenadier:

I am of the opinion that Julie's sculpts were a turning point for Grenadier - previously, a lot of them  had been a bit cartoon-ish, whilst her work heralded a more "realistic" style (if anything in a fantasy miniatures world can be described as "realistic"!).

The figure was really easy to paint; base colours, then simple washes, then highlighting. I was especially pleased with the way the bat-wings came out!

Grenadier Fantasy Lords 1st Series 105 Werebear

It's been a while since my last post - a combination of work, Christmas and New Year effectively preventing me from posting on a more frequent basis - but I've been been painting, which is why there will probably be several updates this month!

First up is this rather splendid sculpt from Grenadier:

 

Nice and easy to paint; white primer undercoat, then a mid brown base coat, then a wash of Devlan Mud, followed by drybrushing. The base is just flock, plus a couple of stones from the garden.

I really like this figure - it simply oozes power and savagery - and I can easy imagine it in a scenario like the Battle Of The Five Armies in "The Hobbit", ripping into the hapless goblin hordes! Rather than being stored away, this figure is going to be used as a Behemoth in my HOTT Wood Elf army.

Very pleased with the way this turned out!