Grenadier Fantasy Warriors 909 Ogre Mercenary

Well, it's been a while since I posted. I could list a number of reasons, but the truth is that I have been in hibernation. However, I have been painting in that period so - a catch-up set of posts. Next out of the Lead Mountain was this beastie from Grenadier from the Fantasy Warrior range. As with a lot of the later larger Grenadier sculpts, it is quite coarse sculpting (though not as bad as some of the Asgard minis), so I tried to keep the colour scheme as simple as possible - gray for the skin, dull brown for the furs, silver for most of the armour. After that, Army Painter soft tone wash on all non-skin areas, and GW Draaken Nightshade wash on the skin, followed up by highlighting on the skin areas. The base, as always, is just fine sand painted gray and then ink washed. It's an OK job - to be honest, I had great expectations for it, but oddly enough the washes brought out the coarseness of the sculpt - but I can see it getting plenty of table top time as a general boss guardian for treasure. 

Stocking the dungeon: Grenadier Fantasy Lords series 1 116 Golems

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, magically created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material (usually out of stone and clay) in Psalms and medieval writing. 

Whilst digging through the Lead Mountain, I also came across two Grenadier golems looking glum and waiting to be painted, and thought that they would make two quick and easy additions to the dungeon stocking project. A quick Google search returned a consistent theme - golems are usually (but not always) made of clay, and that dictated the colour scheme. One was given a base coat of a dull gray linen colour to suggest base clay, whilst the other one was painted with a dull orange to suggest the other more common form of red clay. After that - a wash with Army Painter Soft Tone, and the dry brushing, which really brought up the detail of the sculpts. The final touch was to pick out the shem (one of the names of God, traditionally written on a piece of paper and inserted in the mouth or in the forehead of the golem) and the eyes with black - this gave the golems a suitably empty, soulless expression.

Again, really pleased with the way these turned out. I can see these two getting a lot of table top time as guardians for chaotic clerics.

Stocking the dungeon: Grenadier Ghouls

One of the on-going projects I have is to paint up miniatures that could be used for "everyday" dungeon trawling - low level creatures such as skeletons, goblins, zombie, rats and the like. Whilst digging through the Lead Mountain I found three Grenadier Ghouls, and decided to see how they'd turn out. The all-too obvious thing to do was to paint them with a base coat of GW Rotting Flesh, but instead I took the decision to spray them with white primer, then wash them with GW with Carroburgh Crimson wash, and then dry brush them with off-pink to suggest recently dead flesh that had just begun to turn. As with all Grenadier figures of the 80s, the dry brushing really brought out the detail, making it easy to pick out things like teeth, nail and bone. The final touch was to give them red eyes, purely to make them look more sinister. I'm very pleased with these - it was a quick and easy paint job, and they make a refreshing change from the usual hordes of grey-green flesh eaters that usually turn up when Ghouls are mentioned.

Citadel Fiend Factory FF5vs2 Winged Demon (Balrog)

I haven't posted in while, not because I haven't been painting, but because the weather has been so lousy that trying to spray varnish any figure has been completely impossible. Fortunately we got one clear, dry day this week - so out came the spray varnish, and cue me making multiple posts. Next out of the Lead Mountain was this fabulous sculpt from Citadel. It really is a terrific sculpt - brooding and definitely malevolent. Just look at the scowl on that face!  The paint job was easy - a base coat of red, then GW red wash, and lots of lots of dry brushing in various shades of orange, yellow and eventually a few touches of white to suggest heat. For once the base of the figure was substantial enough to stop it falling over, so all I did was to give the base a top coating of sand and then dry brush it to suggest hot coals.  As with most of the Citadel figures, it has real personality and presence - I can imagine the majority of dungeon delvers taking one look at this and immediately going the other way. Pleased with how this turned out!

Grenadier 8003 Action Art Mythological Creatures 8003e Cyclops

And staying with a Greek Mythology theme... Grenadier released four large boxed sets of figures complete with acrylic paints, paintbrush and painting guides, in an attempt to lure in hobbyists. The paints and paint brushes were not good, but some of the miniatures were terrific. This was one of them. I've no idea who the sculptor was, but they did a terrific job - I think this is one of the best figures Grenadier produced, a great pose, everything in proportion, lots of detail - what's not to like?

The figure didn't need much cleaning up - I had to tidy up up a few flash lines on the right shoulder - but after that, it was a pleasure to paint. The main challenge was picking out the colours for the patches on the trousers, and trying to ensure that they didn't clash too much. After that, an Army painter soft tone wash, which really brought out the detail, followed by dry brushing and high lighting. It took some time, but I think it worked out really well. If I had a criticism, it was the job I did on the base - I did my usual trick of building it up with Milliput and then glueing sand on top, but unfortunately some of the same dropped off and I ended up painting the exposed Milliput dark gray with a dark wash to suggest stone. My main concern is that there isn't enough of a contrast with the light gray fur effect on the feet, but it is something I can live with. I really enjoyed painting this figure, and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I just just love everything about it - I think the pose is fantastic, as if he's just about to dash some poor adventurer's brain out with the rock.  I can see this one getting plenty of table top time!

Unknown Greek Centaur

And a bonus post, along with a request for help. I'm also painting up a 25mm army for HOTT based on Greek fantasy, and one of the figures I'm using is this fabulous looking Greek centaur. The only trouble is - who is the manufacturer? It's not a slotta - the figure is based - but there is no manufacturers mark to ID it. Any ideas, anyone?

 

The figure came from a certain auction site, but weaponless - so he is using a plastic spear acquired from Wargames Foundry Amazons. The shield is an integral part of the figure. Quality of the sculpt is good, nice and crisp, and the style suggest late Grenadier - possibly Mark Copplestone? It was a pleasure to paint - simple base colours (I used gold to suggest polished bronze), then a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone, followed by dry brushing and use of white to pick out the clothing. The base is just standard flock glued on.

Really pleased with this figure - it fits in well with the rest of the Greek Fantasy units - but if anyone can ID him, I'd be really grateful.

Ral Partha Personalities and Things... 01-045 Earth Demon (Elemental)

Sticking with Ral Partha, this was next out of the Lead Mountain. Again, the quality of the sculpting is excellent, especially when you compare it to other manufacturers from the same period - although one has to raise an eyebrow at the anatomical correctness of the figure. And with that out, out with the brushes (so to speak). This was really easy to paint - gray primer, black wash, and then dry brushing with light grays, which really brought out the quality of the sculpting. The base is just Milliput with some GW sand glued on, and then paint gray. Simples!

This is a terrific figure - as most of the early Ral Partha's are - and I can see this getting a lot of tabletop time.