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.

Grenadier Dragon Lords Folklore Creatures Of The Night 2014i Ghost

Grenadier miniatures are readily available in the UK via certain auction sites, hence their high representation in the blog so far. This figure was next out of the plastic storage box:

The sculpting of Grenadier figures really improved throughout the 1980's, and I think this is a fantastic figure - compare it with the much more naive Grenadier Djinni posted earlier in the blog.

The figure itself was very simple to paint - undercoat of white, then Games Workshop Rotting Flesh, inks, then highlighting, The base is just some railway gravel from a model railway kit! It's a great figure, and I'm fairly happy with the way its turned out.

Grenadier Fantasy Legends 3107 Troll

Next out of the box was another Grenadier figure; again, when I took it out I wasn't enthused, but it seemed to brush up quite well:

The two main issues I had with this figure were the weapon, which looked a bit flimsy for such a menacing creature, and the original metal base. I don't know what it was with Grenadier, but some of their figures - like this one, and the Talos figure I painted earlier - had monstrously thick bases, almost the thickness of a 2p coin! In the end I disguised it beneath a layer of Milliput, and then added sand/gravel on the top. Due to the shape of the original Grenadier base, I eventually ended up gluing it to a 45mm plastic cavalry base, but once on it the figure looked a bit lost! To try and fill in the spaces I added the boulder on the left hand side, which was a pebble from the garden, whilst the pile of skulls on the right was an unidentified metal casting that was acquired as part of a job lot from a certain auction site. I think it makes a splendid trophy pile for the fellow!

I tried a slightly different painting technique with this fellow - standard base colours, then a wash of Games Workshop Devlan Mud, then highlighting. The Devlan Mud gives him the grimy look I wanted to achieve. The pile of skulls were base coated white, then given a couple of washes of Games Workshop Scorched Brown, then highlights of white/cream. On the whole, quite pleased with this figure!

Grenadier Dragon Lords 2027 Encounter At Crimson Citadel Well Spirit

This figure came as part of a job lot - unfortunately the rest of the figures from the box set weren't included:

Like many of the early Grenadier figures, it's slightly naive - but I think that just adds to its appeal. It's well sculpted, and has lots of movement - you can just imagine it seeping out of an underground well to startle the unwary adventurer!

The spirit was simple to paint; blue undercoat, ink wash, and then gradual highlights. The bricking of the well was done in the same way but with blacks and grays. Pleased with this one!

Grenadier Fantasy Lords series 1 120 Winged Folk (2 of 3)

These two fellows came as part of a job lot that I acquired from a well known auction site:

I'm very pleased with the way he's painted up; the figure is well detailed, even if the posture is a little stiff. The outfits are vaguely reminiscent of the Hawkmen in the dreadful 1980's "Flash Gordon" film, although fortunately the figure doesn't have the bulk of Brian Blessed, who played the leader of the Hawkmen... how did the producers ever expect anyone to believe that something THAT size could ever take flight! 

There are two other figures in this set - a swordsman and a bolas thrower - but unfortunately I don't have them yet. Back to the auction site...

Grenadier Monster Manuscripts Vol X MM81 Talos

In Greek mythology, Talos was a giant man of bronze who protected Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders, by circling the island's shores three times daily. This is the Grenadier take on him, circa mid-80's:

As with many of the Grenadier figures of the period, it's quite crude - the pose is slightly unnatural, but then I am guessing that was the intention of the sculptor.

The figure was fairly easy to paint - Citadel Tin Bits, then a black wash, then highlights of gold. Due to the height of the figure, the base was a one solid plinth of metal, which I've tried to disguise with stone blocks made out of Milliput, inked and highlighted.

From a gaming perspective, I think its a good figure - it makes an ideal metal guardian for stalking any number of dungeon corridors - but ultimately it suffers from comparison to the classic Ray Harryhausen animated Talos from the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts. Now a scale figure of that by Grenadier would have been something to behold!