Grenadier Fantasy Lord 2nd series 015 Battle Cyclops

And a new posting for a new month! The next nugget to be extracted from the Lead Mountain was this chappie from Grenadier. To be honest, I was not enthused - whilst I think a lot of the Grenadier sculpts from the 2nd series are fantastic, there are a couple that are so-so... and this was one of them. Still, out with the brushes - all the usual base colours, an Army Painter soft tone wash for the flesh and a dark tone for the metal, and then highlighting. Simples!

Whilst the paint job came out OK, I think my issues are mostly with the figure itself. It doesn't look especially menacing, and the proportions are a bit out - the legs look too small for the rest of the figure. And I'm not entirely sure what its purpose is - presumably it was meant to be the centre piece for an Orc or Goblin army? I don't think I'm alone in this, as it rarely turns up on e-bay, which suggests it wasn't a big seller. It might get some table top time as a guardian figure for treasure rooms, but to be honest there are lot of other (and better) figures suited for the job.

Trolls and Ogres: Hinchcliffe/Garrison, Ral Partha Wizards, Warriors and Warlocks E902 Ogre and Asgard FM41 Mountain Troll

A bit of a mixed bag this time around. The vile weather has meant that whilst I’ve been painting, I’ve not had opportunity to varnish the figures I’ve been working on until now. As you can see, for once there is a bit of a theme going on, as the last three figures from the lead mountain are all Ogres and/or Trolls:

On the left, we have an unknown Ogre. I think it is Garrison, or possibly Hinchcliffe, but I can’t find him in the catalogues anywhere. Anyone got any ideas? I know its late 70's, but there is no indication of manufacturer on the base.  Although it is a very simple sculpt, I think it has terrific energy – you can imagine the impact that would have on an adventuring party! I also think the detail in the face is really good for a late 70's sculpt, genuinely unpleasant, considering that the rest of the figure really isn’t that detailed. Not the greatest figure to paint – aside from the face, very little to work with, though I think it turned out OK. I can see this one getting quite a bit of tabletop time as a generic Ogre for D&D encounters!

In the middle… a Ral Partha Ogre with truncheon (!), from the original Wizards, Warriors and Warlocks range. It was missing its original weapon, so it has acquired a plastic mace from a GW Chaos warrior. Ral Partha sculpts were light years ahead of other manufacturers, and this sculpt illustrates why. Just look at that detail, and proportions – fantastic! This figure looks like it could have come from the more recent LOTR films – not bad for a figure nearly 50 years old!  It was a pleasure to paint as well – a gray skin base colour, then an Army Painter dark tone wash to bring out the detail. Fantastic! Really pleased with the way this painted up.

And then… on the left… an Asgard Mountain Troll. Oh dear. Bear in mind that this was produced at the same time as the Ral Partha beastie… you can see why Asgard went out of business. I think some of the Asgard sculpts are excellent, and really hold up even now… but this ain’t one of them. It’s dreadful – coarse, misshapen, out of proportion, badly sculpted… sheesh. It did give me an opportunity to try out the colours for a Winter Orc army I am going to start on, and I was quite pleased with the way the shading came out… but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s year. To be honest this is the worst figure to be extracted from the Lead Mountain, definitely the worst figure Asgard ever produced, and it has got absolutely nothing to recommend it IMHO… one for the collectors of the Asgard series, and that is about it. This might get passed on VERY quickly…

Asgard Fantasy Monsters FM99 centaur with bow and FM100 centaur with spear

And a final update of the figures I've been working on this month. Again, these were originally part of a Centaur HOTT army that got too large, and these guys didn't make the final cut - but I've kept them as separate figures for D&D purposes. 

The one with the spear is what I would call a "traditional" Asgard sculpt - a bit coarse and lacking in detail (especially around the face!) but still with a lot of energy. The one with the bow is a reworking by Asgard of a figure from their Barbarian Personalities range - if you look at this picture of BP7 Arflane the Archer, you can see that they've taken the upper body, attached it to a horse torso and then modelled a cloak and belt to conceal the join. Whilst I can admire the re-use, IMHO the figure does feel very static compared to the "traditional" sculpt.

Both figures were a pleasure to deal with - mostly woodland shades as base colours then Army Painter soft tone for a wash, followed by highlighting. The bow centaur is a more detailed figure, and benefitted most from this, whilst the spear figure didn't come up as well as I would have liked - the lack of detail on the figure really didn't help. The bases are simply flock and artificial grass.

Pleased with both paint jobs on the whole, but to be honest I can't see the archer getting too much table top time - but his friend with the spear will!

Asgard Fantasy Monsters FM44 Djinn

Next out of the Lead Mountain  was Asgard's take on a Djinn, emerging from a bottle.

Initially I was not enthused - the figure is quite flat, and the base of it emerging from the bottle is very thin. I can imagine that a lot of these snapped and were discarded. As with all Asgard figures, detail on things like the hands is very poor, and the base is far too small for the rest of the figure, causing it fall over with alarming regularity. With that in mind, the first job was to fix it to a plastic base to give it stability, and then use Milliput to make the base look like a rough stone floor.

The Quran says that the Djinn are made of a smokeless and "scorching fire", which guided the paint job - a base coat of yellow, graduating up through orange to red, and then a wash of dark red, followed by dry brushing. This really brought out the detail of the figure, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it brushed up! The stone floor was simply base gray, a wash of Army Painter Dark tone, and then highlighting.

It turned out quite well, considering I had low expectations of it - it is certainly a very dramatic figure, as if someone has inadvertently removed the stopper from the bottle and the Djinn has just burst out, stretching his arms after a couple of centuries confinement. He certainly looks pleased about something, and perhaps it is that lack of malevolence in the sculpting that is missing. Still, I can see this getting quite a bit of table top time, especially now that he doesn't fall over every time someone bumps the table!

Asgard Fantasy Monsters FM13 Owl Bear and Ral Partha Personalities & Things... 01-040 v1 Were Bear

I’ve not posted as much as I’d like to – pressures of work, ferrying kids around and Christmas in general has put paid to that – but I have been painting, so over the next couple of days I’ll be posting shots of what I’ve been working on.

These two were originally part of a Wood Elf HOTT army, which spiralled dreadfully out of control. I ended up with enough figures for 3 armies (!) and eventually had to cull some units to make up 2 very distinct armies. Unfortunately these guys didn’t make the final cut, but I thought they’d hold up really well as standalone figures for wilderness encounters.

The Owl Bear is an early Asgard figure, and as a consequence the sculpting is VERY coarse – the claws in particular were just stalks protruding from the paws, and what is going on with the eyes?!? Still, it definitely has a lot of naïve charm, and invariably provokes a “WTF is THAT” response every time it hits the table – not bad for a figure that is nearly 40 years old!

The Ral Partha Were bear is a wonderful sculpt – really well detailed, with a terrific pose, full of energy. If I had a criticism, it is that it would be all too easy for the base to snap – Ral Partha metal was on the soft side.

Both of these figures were a pleasure to paint – a simple base coat of brown, then a dark wash, then dry brushing for the highlights. The Were Bear in particular benefitted from this. The Owl Bear needed a bit more work around the eyes, which are REALLY crudely sculptured – just holes poked into the figure! The bases are simply flock and a few stones and artificial grass.

Pleased with both of these!

Citadel Scorpion, Grenadier Nightgaunt and Ral Partha Wyvern

Although I’ve been painting, the autumn weather has meant that I haven’t been able to varnish the figures… until today. So here are three figures I’ve been working on since my last post!

The scorpion is from the Citadel Fiend Factory range - FF50 Giant Scorpion. Now, I have to be honest and say that the base paint job isn’t mine – I got this figure with a fairly decent paint job from an auction site, and decided to see if I could spruce it up. A simple wash of Army Painter Dark tone really brought out the detail, as did a rebase on a suitably sandy base. Simples! It is amazing the difference a quick wash does – the old Citadel sculpts have an amazing amount of detail. This will do very nicely as the guardian of treasure for any desert based scenarios.

The central figure is a Nightgaunt from the Grenadier Call of Cthulhu range. According to Cthulhu: “Nightgaunts have a vaguely human shape, but are thin, black, and faceless. Their skin is slick and rubbery. They sport a pair of inward-facing horns on their heads, and have clawed hands and a long barbed tail which is used to "tickle" their victims into submission. They can fly using a set of membranous wings.” When this came out of the lead mountain, I was underwhelmed. The sculpt is definitely on the chunky side – hardly thin! – and the pose wasn’t especially threatening. Combine that with a desired black coloured scheme, a lack of detail on the face (in fact no details!) and it could easily have just turned into a vaguely demonic black lump. With that in mind, I chose to make a couple of changes – the base colour for the figure was black, but the insides of the wing were crimson. After that, I decided to use dark purple to highlight the black of the torso, and that really helped bring out the detail of the muscles. The base is simply sand, painted gray and then given a dark wash – oddly enough, the reflection of the light from the figure makes it look light purple! I deliberately left it with a gloss varnish, which emphasises the slick, rubbery nature of the skin. It’s an odd sculpt, and whilst I was fairly pleased with the end result – I honest can’t see this one getting much table top time.

Finally, on the right we have a Ral Partha Wyvern from the Personalities and Things… range. Ral Partha do some terrific sculpts – fantastic detail – but if I had a criticism, it is that a lot of their figures look and feel a bit flimsy in comparison to other manufacturers, especially when you put them together on the table top. Looking at it next to the Scorpion and the Nightgaunt, I’m not sure you’d take the Wyvern to win against either of them! I started off with a red base coat, and then various shades of yellow for the wing feathers. It wasn’t an easy figure to paint, either – the tail is curled up to form a base, and that wasn’t especially well moulded. It also caused a lot of pooling on the base when I applied a red and a fair amount of cursing as I had to mop it out!  After that, lots of dry brushing, which really bought out the detail.

I like the figure a lot, and the paint job came out OK – I think this may get a decent amount of table top time, purely as a distraction figure. It might even stand in as a stirge!

Asgard Fantasy Monster FM76 Dragon-newt

It's been a while - a hectic combination of work plus taking kids to look at universities has eaten up an inordinate amount of time. That hasn't stopped me painting though - though most of the recent work as been a combined HOTT/Battle Master Dwarf army. More on that some other time. 

First things first - what IS a Dragon-newt? To be honest - I don't know! I can't find any reference to anything related to it on t'internet, so I am guessing it a pure Asgard creation, a bit like the mythical FM18 Secrom. So all we have to go on is the sculpt. And what a sculpt! I think it is terrific - a weird combination of reptile and feline! I think is meant to be some swamp or lakeside top predator, judging by the name and pose. You wouldn't want to mess with those claws or teeth!

Anyhow, on to the painting. This was pretty simple - green for the upper body, a dull yellow for the under body, and then wash and drybrushing. Simples! I went with red for the eye, purely to break up the green, and also because it looked more sinister. The base is just flock and twigs - although the reeds are actually strands from an old toothbrush, painted green and then drybrushed.

I like this sculpt a lot - it's one of the better Asgards - you can imagine this beastie stalking lost adventurers as they try to cross marshes or swamp! As a consequence I can see it getting a lot of table top time for outdoor adventures. It seems to be a fairly rare piece - I've only ever seen one other on e-bay - though I understand Viking Forge still produce it state side.