Grenadier Fantasy Warriors Blister Pack 941 War Troll Champion

And staying with Grenadier...

Next to be unearthed was a figure acquired as part of a job lot from a certain auction site. It was in a sorry state; caked with thick layers of paint, seemingly applied with a decorating brush, and missing its original weapons. After a couple of weeks soaking in Simple Green and the vigorous use of a nail brush, it was finally in a state where I could have a go at it:

The most pressing issue was the lack of weapons; originally the figure had a monstrous scimitar in its right hand, and a stone headed axe in the left. The only suitable weapons from the bits box that looked a likely match were a morning star and war hammer from the arm pieces of some Games Workshop Chaos cavalry, and I think that they don't look too out of place.

I decided to go for more of greyish-stone based approach for the skin; this also ties in with an alternative Winter Orc army I am working on, which will also have white/grey skin (and this chappie may well end up as part of it!). The armour was silver and GW Tin Bitz, highlighted with gold, with leather for the gauntlets, and red for the cloth.

It's an impressive figure; it towers over similar figures from the same era. If I had a criticism it's that the arms are a little stiff, but it's a minor grizzle. This would definitely work as the champion of an Orc army, or else as the boss/final encounter of a dungeon encounter!  

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!

Grenadier Wizzards And Warriors W53 Giant Tick (variant?)

Next up, a bit of an oddity. I got this miniature as part of a job lot from a certain auction site. It was quite badly painted - an entire tin of black gloss seemingly applied with a decorating brush! Once I'd got the paint off, there were no manufacturers mark to help identify it. After a lot of searching and some help from the guys at RalParthaMinis: Collecting Ral Partha Miniatures, I think that this is a variant Giant Tick from the very early Grenadier Wizzards And Warriors range:

It's a very simple, quite naive figure, in keeping with the rest of the early Grenadier sculpting. For the paint job, I wanted a combination that would automatically make you think "yeucck", hence the lurid pink and brown. I was actually very pleased with the way the brown came out - a suitably mottled effect!

The only base that the figure would comfortably fit on it left several "gaps" on the corners, which I've got around by adding the skull and bits of pieces of broken weaponry. I've also sprayed it with a gloss finish, rather than the usual Dullcote varnish; somehow the sheen gave the figure a more sinister look!

I had quite low expectations of this figure, and I'm actually very pleased with the way it came out. I can imagine it would have quite a lot of use in DnD games as a generic dungeon beastie to terrorise low level characters!

Asgard Fantasy Monsters FM91 Knight Of Chaos On Foot

The accompanying figure is the Chaos Knight on foot. Whilst the mounted figure was OK - the photo really didn't do it justice, and I'll probably put up another pic soon - I wanted a slightly more "grubby" look, which I attempted here: 

 

I was a little bit happier with the paint job this time - primarily Citadel Tin Bitz, highlighted with dull gold, and with a green motif for the trimmings on the figure. Not too happy with the shield, though;  not one of my better efforts, and the flash on the camera did it no favours! As with so many of the Asgard range, the figure suffers from real proportion issues - the head and upper body are far too big for those skinny legs! I think it has got real presence though - you could imagine the figure being regularly utilised as the guardian of some dungeon treasure.