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Delving deep within my Lead Mountain for robed acolytes I came across this Mantic Goblin Sneek. He's been painted with fire-motif robes as he will be joining my warband as one of Clyro Burns' assistant sorcerers.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/chaos/sneeky-rim-goblin-acolyte-640.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
This miniature is out of production, which is weird as I still think of Mantic Games as the new kids on the block and not a venerable old company with the luxury of retiring its older offerings. Time flies. Only yesterday I was horrified to be told it was my tenth Twitter anniversary. Next thing you know I'll be off to a field to drink cider and watch Fairport Convention unironically.
In 2016 I had a weekend of Frostgrave gaming looming and was desperate for fully painted figures. I quickly rebased a Ruglud's test miniature and slipped him in with my Chaos Thugs with a matching shield. It established a precedent, and I'm now seeing what other greenskins I can paint as part of this multiculti force.
Though I'm working on these guys with Dragon Rampant in mind, I'm wondering how to get them onto an Age of Sigmar battlefield. Kairic Acolytes is my current best bet, but their compulsory weapon options don't make them a perfect fit. Suggestions welcome!
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/chaos/clyro-burns-in-the-city-of-false-idols-640.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Clyro Burns and his acolytes in the City of False Idols.
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These are beautiful!
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I think they look lovely - the deep crimson reds with the crisp white flames are just excellent. 8)
As for what to run them as... Hmm, not sure really. If it's tricky to run them as Kairic Acolytes because of the weapons options that unit has, then I think you'll have the same issues with other Counts-As units. Maybe if you do a few models with the "correct" weapons, then you can just hand-wave the whole unit to be the same?
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Wow, these are just beautyful! :-*
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Thanks for the comments! With the General's Compendium 2017 out I think I could field these guys as actual Fire Wizards, justifying it to myself as "they've all just graduated to battlefield duties". Also means my points get high without having to paint too many more models.
Curtis over at Ramshackle did a limited run of figures for Bring Out Your Lead 2016, and I've painted one to accompany Clyro Burns. As an event, BOYL focuses on "Oldhammer", so Curtis sculpted this model holding an old hammer. Ha!
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ramshackle-oldhammer-mini.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
I've converted my figure with a new face shaved off a Citadel Judge Dredd Perp – Zuggy Spotz/Crazy Joseph. I then resculpted the hood around the front with putty. This does make me feel a little guilty, but of all people Curtis will understand the need to hack up and convert figures.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ramshackle-oldhammer-mini-rear.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Post-Knavecon games of Dragon Rampant have made me feel uncomfortable with my wizard unit – Clyro Burns plus five tiny familiars. This reduced strength unit gets caught in combat, and seeing a tiny familiar taking as much effort to kill as two chunky human-sized models is really odd. I'm planning to reforge the unit at twelve-strong – all twelve being human-sized figures.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/curtis-acolyte-in-the-mourningwood.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Nocturnal rituals being enacted in the Mourning Wood.
Shout out to Curtis for his generosity and community spirit!
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Great figures! I love the work you've done on those robes, with the white flames on a red background. And the bases are just magnificent!
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Beautifully crisp work Curis.
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Great work
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Lovely work! :-*
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Lovely work. I spot a Vintage LOTR Saruman (with added flames)!
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One day at Games Workshop HQ, Aly Morrison came up to me with a big bag of Talisman figures. “I found this bag of scrabby old models in my basement, and I was gonna bin ’em. Then I remembered you like scrabby old stuff.” I was over the moon. Here’s the first three painted.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/chaos/talisman-chaos-trio-in-the-mourning-wood.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
The Chaos Brothers defending portal dolmens in the Mourning Wood.
All three figures are from 3rd edition Talisman, which I originally owned as my Dad bought it for me and my brother in the mid-1990s . Until that point I’d been exclusively into Warhammer 40,000, and this was my first real experience of the Warhammer Fantasy world. My painting has improved since then.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/chaos/chaos-warrior-comparison.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
THIN YOUR PAINTS.
I’ve been quite annoyed at my initial choice of colour for my Chaos Warriors. Red and metal is very vanilla. To start stamping greater identity on them I’ve taken the flames from Clyro Burns’ robes and run them onto the armour panels. It does help break up the plain surfaces and make them less generi-chaos.
With the rising market value of the old metal Chaos Thug ranges, these muscly barbarians are welcome reinforcements to my Chaos Thug unit. I have played with them as Blood Warriors in Age of Sigmar, and Bellicose Foot in Dragon Rampant. The variety of designs and themes in the range means they can slip in, though they are noticeably beefier and taller. But hey, it’s Chaos.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/chaos/talisman-chaos-barbarian-and-warrior.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
3rd edition Talisman Barbarian and Warrior. Interestingly, one of these is a resculpt of the other.
I’m looking through the rest of the Talisman range now to see what other figures will fit in my Chaos warband. The Minotaur, Skaven, Black Orc and Chaos Sorcerer are all potentials.
Thanks for the minis Aly!
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Wow, you really made those old plakkies shine. The darkish red on the repainted Chaos Warrior especially is stunning. Love it :).
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I've got so many disparate Warhammer models knocking around I want to get painted that I decided to round them all up and form them into a hodge-podge force. Here's the wizard that is all centres around.
The band started taking to the field for Frostgrave, but have since reached Age of Sigmar size.
One of the things to get your head round for Frostgrave is that you're not really playing with a warband, like you would in Mordheim. It's about your wizard. And I agonised over different wizard models for a good long while before settling on the Citadel ME-56 Saruman, for reasons of:
- I want the warband to be built out of 1980s Citadel Miniatures
- I've got a couple of spare Sarumans ("Sarumen?")
- Importing the Lord of the Rings figures into Warhammer proper is pleasing.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/super-gloss-saruman.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
"Tell me, friend, when did Saruman the Wise abandon reason for Tipp-Ex®?"
I really do like the 1980s Middle-Earth figures popping up in mainstream Warhammer. After Games Workshop lost the the Tolkein licence in 1987 a lot of the not-character figures were rolled into the main Warhammer range, like the Noldor Elves into the High Elf range. Occasionally the named character miniatures pop up in artwork or studio photographs, like ME-1 Gandalf here in the colour section of the Ravening Hordes supplement.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gandalf-is-a-wise-and-powerful-wizard.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Gandalf™ is a wise and powerful wizard.
Gandalf™ est un sorcier sage et puissant.
Gandalf™ ist ein weiser und mächtiger Zauberer.
To unSarumanise the figure the Palantir hand was replaced with a suitably chunky hand from a Citadel Night Horror. Saruman's left hand was flipped over and had a flame effect added from a (gasp!) modern Tzeentch kit. This anachronism still makes me feel uneasy.
Despite leading a Chaos warband, I made no attempt to make him chaotic. The red scheme and the age of the figure ties him in enough.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/clyro-burns-take-1.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
A burning sensation in your palm – classic symptom of carpal tunnel syndrome.[/i]
He initially had grey hair, but it looked bad. Too much like Saruman still. To remedy this I sculpted over his bald patch, and repainted his hair fiery orange. One of the nice things about figures so old is my own limited sculpted talent doesn't look as out of place as it would on a laser-crisp modern miniature.
I finished the figure with bone-coloured flames on his robes. I was hesitant initially as he had flames popping out of his hand – I thought both 2D and 3D flames together would be confusing. But keeping them a flat colour rather than the blended highlights of the Tzeentch-fire, and putting them in bone rather than a orange colour, keeps it obvious what's meant to be real and what's meant to be pattern.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/clyro-burns-and-familiar.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Clyro Burns, looking a little like Donald Sutherland in Kelly's Heroes.
There he is, Clyro Burns, alongside his 1980s Chaos warband.
I call them "Burns' Knights".
Sorry.
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Ha! Brilliant! That's a splendid-looking warband.
Couldn't agree more about the merits of using the 1980s LotR range. With a few exceptions (Aragorn the king and his soon-to-expire horse), they're some of the nicest miniatures that Citadel ever did. My old Warhammer orc army was brimming with them.
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I have that Aragorn! The LotR range is all over the place in terms of style. But I do love it.
My teenage Orc and Goblin army featured a Night Goblin shaman on Cockatrice. I’ve sold the bulk of the army, but hung onto the Cockatrice out of sentimentality. Bulking out my Frostgrave Chaos into a Dragon Rampant force demanded a fantastic monster, so this mythological bird resurrected itself from the ashes.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cockatrice-in-4e-warhammer.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
The wings on my Orc and Goblin Cockatrice weren’t the original MM44 ones, but had been nicked from an High Elf Dragon. I replaced these original replacements with a pair of 15mm Demonworld dragon wings. Since I was converting the figure with non-Citadel parts, I figured I’d swap the rather dull tail with a scorpion one from the Dark World Manticore.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cockatrice-ingredients.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
The Cockatrice torso showing his original yellow paintjob. He was known as “Lemon Chicken”.
I did plan on him having a Chaos rider, and tried every single mounted Chaos figure in my collection. However, anything bigger than a weeny Night Goblin shaman looked ridiculous, and the wings and neck all obscure the rider. So Stingwing is an unbound monster, which also means he’s easier to legitimately field in Age of Sigmar.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cockatrice-rough-assemblage.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Chicken stripped.
Attaching the Demonworld wings, and at a different angle to the original MM44 wings, required hacking away the sockets on the torso and some heavy pinning. I used three layers of putty to first fill the gaps, then sculpt muscles, and then add fur.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cockatrice-snapped-wing.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
In my efforts to bend the old lead wings into curved shapes I managed to break the left one straight in half. The metal along the split crumbled, and I had a pig of a time trying to reattach it. I managed it with pins in the only two places that joined, and a good amount of putty. Luckily the membranes had very little sculpted detail so my repairs are barely visible.
Anyways, here’s the finished beastie! I went with a mainly flesh, and ran the warband’s signature red colour onto the comb, wattles and scorpion tail.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cockatrice-isolated.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/chaos-cockatrice-with-thugs.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Cockatrice breaks through a clearing in Mourningwood.
Sadly I have no good photos of the six-way Dragon Rampant game from the Knavecon weekend – I’d borrowed sho3box‘s selfie-stick and only managed photographs of my own arm.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/superman-socks.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Put in black and white, however, this looks intentionally arty. And you can’t see my Superman socks clashing with the hotel carpet.
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HeroQuest Quest – Chaos Warrior II
A quickfire hobby challenge for the Scale Creep Peeps:
Paint a charmingly basic model from HeroQuest
nO cRaZy CoNvErSiOnS
Replacing the sausagey rectangle base is encouraged.
I picked a Chaos Warrior. To the 7-year-old boy learning words from game components, but not pronunciations: a “Chouse” Warrior.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/heroquest-curis.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
“Hoots mon! There’s a chouse louse about this house!”
Theottovonbismark has already shown off Slambo and the 4E plastic Chouse … ahem … Chaos Warrior. Here’s the HeroQuest dude alongside Battlemasters and Legend of Zagor Chaos dudes, for no reason other than to showcase the breadth of my vintage Chaos.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/gorefist-the-destroyer.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Prejudiced against gorefs, means he’s a gorefist.
Otto’s updating of this old plastic has freehand and a jazzy base. My version is painted so tamely in comparison. I’ve gone for the red-and-metal scheme which you might think is a homage to the original HeroQuest art, but is really so he ties into my 1980s Chaos Warband. Being a 1989er *I think* he is actually the newest miniature. Everything is relative.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/chaos-1980s.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
“Oi, HeroQuest, you’re so young I bet you don’t remember POGs!”
After modern-style crisp highlighting you start to realise the limitations of the miniature – a combination of 1989 plastic technology and 27 years of man-handling (“manchild-handling”?). So to hide the dalrymples I painted some textures: sponge-chipping the armour; fluting on the horns; notching the axe blade; and blood-spatter over the finished piece. I’ve recently become aware that competition painters like different textures on a miniature to provide interest and contrast, and to showcase their skills.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/bloodspatter-close-up.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Judging by the spatter he dealt a nasty axe wound.
The texture I’m fondest of at the moment is the blood-spats. After a lot of trial and error with a Blood Bowl team recently I’ve hit upon the following method: load up a tiny brush with your blood-effect paint of choice, put it right in front of your lips, and blow. You instantly get realistic spines, satellite spatters, cast-off patterns and other terms I’m just regurgitating from a CSI episode.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/heroquest-apocalips.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Guess this means he’s the Herald of the ApocaLIPS.
(•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)
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Gorgeous work. It hurts a bit to see old classics being cut up ( I would do that only with already damaged ones ) but both conversios and paintjobs are superb. Love your reds...
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After a lot of trial and error with a Blood Bowl team recently I’ve hit upon the following method: load up a tiny brush with your blood-effect paint of choice, put it right in front of your lips, and blow.
I'm afraid Lauren Bacall was slightly sexier!
Brilliant work on those chaos warriors. The blood splatters are tremendous.
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Echoing the others, excellent, great reds, and really nice revival of an old plastic miniature.
You may feel it has limitations but you have done a great job with it.
And nice to see the other older minis well painted to!
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Very nice work. Your red is amazing. Nice blood splatter as well.
Gorgeous work. It hurts a bit to see old classics being cut up
I look at classics that I had when they were new and when I wasn't bothered about chopping them up for bits and pieces... and I just shudder
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I still like that old Chaos Warrior sculpt all these years later. Thats a gorgeous paint job too, as mentioned already the red is lush.
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There is some wonderful old skool work in this thread.
I love the conversions, modern plastic heresy included.
:-* :-*
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Thanks Duncan. I'm much less fussy about cutting up old models nowadays than I have been. Normally if it's damaged or I've got a second copy of the casting I'm happy. I do think that the old slotta tabs are always worth keeping on, and I make an effort to burn a slot in the new 32mm bases or build up around it with basing material to keep it intact.
Hobgoblin – I'll wear lip gloss next time and see if I draw equal with Lauren.
I'm going to cut up a load of the HeroQuest Chaos Warriors soon to make get some variations in the warband.
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Chaos Thugs are a Warhammer range released in several batches between 1988 and 1991. Games Workshop stamped them out of existence in 1994, omitting them from Warhammer Armies: Chaos. Thugs are firmly anchored solely in Warhammer’s past, quintessential incarnations of Oldhammer, meaning they command decent prices on the collector’s market.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-warhammer-chaos-thugs-3.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
I regret going with the red hair on these figures – it worked on the rightmost guy, who was the first I painted, but looks a a bit clownlike on the other two. Don’t paint people with bright red eyebrows. Even Ronald McDonald doesn’t have red eyebrows.
Chaos Thugs are great fun to paint as they’re all individuals that the sculptors packed with weird and unique details.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/chaos-thug-details-1.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
This Thug has hair that’s long one side and short the other – and one eyebrow bushy and the other shaven off. He also comes with a severed head at his belt – there’s some back story to how he decapitated someone with just a bludgeoning weapon.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/chaos-thug-details-2.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
This Thug has both his weapons, the business-end of his “horseman’s pick” and the pommel of his sheathed dagger, shaped like bird heads. Perhaps it was a subtle Tzeentch reference? I also like how his one scavenged kneepad has a leering face sculpted on it.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-chaos-thugs-and-a-cockatrice.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Pazyryk Banefire and the Thugs in the Matityahu Temple.
The Thugs will get on well with the Talisman Warrior and Barbarian as they’re all half-naked men who enjoy shaving their chests. The Talisman Chaos Warrior is the unit champion, as that’s how it worked in the Warhammer 3rd edition army lists. Next off I’m on the hunt for more Thugs to make a modestly sized raiding party, with a full command group.
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I think they look fantastic - red hair and all!
The chaos thugs hark back a bit to the earlier Citadel chaos warriors, who weren't always heavily armoured (or even properly dressed). I felt, though, that the thug/marauder/warrior/champion hierarchy - with increasing amounts of armour - always felt a bit orderly for chaos. So your Talisman figures work really well as heavyweight chaotic types who aren't plate-armoured.
On a related note, the chaos army lists in Warhammer tended to systematise too much: the lines between beastmen and chaos warriors, for example, didn't seem as blurry as they should have been. Realms of Chaos went a long way to correcting this, though.
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Love those Chaos Thugs!
Some of the best old skool lunatics around and you have done a cracking job on them.
I love your painting style.
:-* :-*
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Thanks Hobgoblin! A lot of the old Chaos Warriors that you can see in the first Citadel Catalogue look a bit thuggy to me, and several of the Thugs would pass as Warriors. I am guilty of pigeon-holing with my thinking there.
Thanks Mason! Here's some more.
The Citadel Miniatures Chaos Thug range is melting pot of influences and ideas. Unlike Games Workshop’s modern Chaos Marauders, who are uniformly bearded barbarians, the classic Thug range had odd chaps with mullets, Saracen-flavoured archers and even stray ninjas.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-warhammer-chaos-thugs-2.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Hot as thuggery.
It makes the individual Thugs fun to paint, as they’re each full of unique details. The mullet man has a pair of horns poking out his hairstyle. The archer has a leering face kneepad. All three have plumped for asymmetrical trousers.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-warhammer-chaos-thugs-2-details.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
The ninja has a ninja throwing knife for stealth kills, but today he’s chosen to fight with the less subtle morning star. Maybe he wields that stealthily too, assassinating targets with a silent swing of the massive spiky ball.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-warhammer-chaos-thugs-in-aebbes-mount-abbey.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Pazyryk Banefire’s Thugs sacking the town of Æbbe’s Hill.
Having a single archer in the otherwise-melee unit slightly bothers me, but given the chaotic appearance of the the unit I can cope with it in games of Age of Sigmar and Dragon Rampant. The mix of troop types also gives me a nice selection of models to pick for Frostgrave. In time he will split off to found a Chaos Thug mob with bows, made up of a mix of the Battle Masters plastic Chaos Thug and the chunky punky Marauder Chaos Thug range from the early 1990s.
More of my miniatures at http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/
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A very nice project. I like it very much.
You did a great job on the models and the basing. The modern and detailed basing fits very well with the classic miniatures and the color choices are beautiful as well.
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Pretty.
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I am loving your take on all of these old classics.
:-* :-*
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Brimstone Horrors! The cheeky pairs of scampering bastards you get when you kill a Blue Horror. I’ve painted four sets of these quarter-daemons, but with an Oldhammer twist.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/oldhammer-warhammer-brimstone-horrors-of-tzeentch.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
And it’s all in how you mix the two.
And it starts just where the light exists.
Ever since 1989, Pink Horrors split into a pair of Blue Horrors when killed – it was the Tzeentch lesser daemon gimmick. But when Silver Tower arrived in 2016, the GIMMICK ALSO SPLIT IN TWO as Blue Horrors started to split into pairs of Brimstone (or Yellow) Horrors. This troubled me for a little while, as there are several generations of vintage Pink and Blue Horror miniatures with no corresponding Brimstone Horrors if you want to use them with modern Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 rules. But then I remembered the tiny Epic-scale Pink Horrors from 1992.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/oldhammer-warhammer-brimstone-horrors-of-tzeentch-wip.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Do your demons, do they ever let you go?
Epic was nominally a 6mm game, but these Horrors were hilariously overscaled and make great 28mm familiars – as I discovered way way back in 2010 when I painted Inconstantine Bowie, Champion of Tzeentch.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/bowie-familiar.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
It has taken me a while to work out why yellow was chosen as the colour for the new tiny Horrors. The answer is in this passage from White Dwarf 113 (May 1989), which highlights the importance of colours in the early Warhammer lore.
Tzeentch is the Changer of Ways and, true to his nature, he has more than a single colour. The Pink and Blue Horrors, Daemons of Tzeentch, use magic of their own actual colour, reflecting the changing forces of their master as they turn from pink to blue. However, aside from the Pink Horrors who are associated with the Amethyst College, Tzeentch’s colours are very bright shades of blue and yellow. These colours are often dominant, though by no means exclusive, in the worship of Tzeentch. The two colours are particularly significant because they are the province of the Golden and Celestial Colleges which lie either side of the green magic of Tzeentch’s adversary Nurgle. A follower of Tzeentch could therefore be inferior or superior to Nurgle depending on his colour.
I really like how daemons align to the Colleges of Magic, and will use it as an excuse to model some Golden and Celestial Wizards to be corrupted by Tzeentch.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/oldhammer-warhammer-brimstone-pink-and-blue-horrors-of-tzeentch-iso.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Wave your hands in the air like you don’t care.
These newly painted Horrors join my existing 1980s Kev Adams Horror force I started 9 years ago. I’ve rebased these minis onto 32mm round bases which means they don’t have any of their toes poking over the edge. They’ve seen plenty of gaming action down the years so there were a fair few chips to repaint. I really enjoyed the restoration; it was like catching up with old friends, or wearing an old t-shirt from back when you were 14.
New and old paintjobs together mean I’ve got all 10 of the various daemon incarnations needed to play Silver Tower.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/oldhammer-warhammer-brimstone-pink-and-blue-horrors-of-tzeentch.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Rainbow in the daaaark!
Coming soon, more vintage lead substitutes for the modern plastic pieces in Silver Tower – some of which you may’ve already spotted on the Ninjabread Workbench.
Anyway, more of my minis at http://www.ninjabread.co.uk
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Superb brushwork, absurd miniatures....
:-* :-*
Great paintwork on all of them, especially Bowie!
:-* :-*
Could never get my head around those Horrors, though.
To me, they look like they belong on something like the Teletubbies or something similar.
o_o o_o
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Great stuff. lovely painting.
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Noice. One can never be accused of excessive vibrancy when painting Horrors.
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Top job 8)
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Move over Penn & Teller, move over Siegfried & Roy – a new magical double act is in town. Coming all the way from the pyramids of the Old World are twin brothers Lapis & Lazuli – fantastical Wizards of Light.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/oldhammer-warhammer-talisman-empire-silver-tower-light-wizards.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Masters of the mysterious and occasional caberet performers.
This magical duo are going to be the Kairic Adepts in my vintage Silver Tower project – where I replace all the 2016 boardgame pieces with Citadel Miniatures from about 20 years previous. Like the Brimstone Horrors I painted previously (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/silver-tower-brimstone-horrors-but-oldhammer/), 1990s era Warhammer didn’t have Kairic Adepts, but did have Egyptian-flavoured magic users in the form of Light Wizards. And the 1990s Light Wizards also had Acolytes, which are perfect for Silver Tower Kairic Acolytes.
These Light Wizards turned traitor from the College of Light alongside their Patriarch – Egrimm van Horstmann. They have found sanctuary from the Empire in a Silver Tower of Tzeentch in my personal Warhammer canon. Egrimm himself will be big boss of the Silver Tower, as he was Tzeentch’s favoured servant in the 20 years before Gaunt Summoners were invented.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/oldhammer-warhammer-talisman-empire-silver-tower-light-wizards-and-blue-horrors-of-tzeentch.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Lapis & Lazuli supported by Blue Horrors in their Silver Tower.
Games Workshop originally released the plastic Light Wizard (on the right in the photos) as the High Priest in the 1994 Talisman expansion Dungeon of Doom. He later appeared as one of the eight free wizard miniatures on 1995’s White Dwarf 186. Getting a Warhammer character miniature in plastic was an insane novelty in the 1990s, as plastic was normally reserved only for the massed ranks of mono-posed regiments.
Here’s Lazuli with the other classic 3rd edition Talisman miniatures I’ve painted to date.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/oldhammer-talisman-plastic-characters-chaos-warriors-and-light-wizard.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Lazuli and Pazyryk Banefire in the ruins of a non-metallic tower.
Coming soon on Ninjabread (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/): more vintage lead miniatures to populate my time-warped Silver Tower.
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Wonderful painting, and the Lapis & Lazuli brothers made me chuckle.
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Wonderful brushwork.
Those eyes!
:-* :-*
Good to see these figures again, I wish that I had some, they are nice sculpts.
I did have the Acolytes back in the day.
They were converted to have pistols and became psykers in an old Guard army.
No idea what happened to them...
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Thanks Donald!
Mason – if you sold your Acolytes on eBay in the last few years I may've been the one that bought them. Mine had all been converted by their previous owner into 40K figures. I reckon it was the most popular way to make cultists or psykers in the early to mid 1990s.
I like to think of Light Wizards as jobbing professionals and their Acolytes as bumbling apprentices. Here's a bumble of Light Acolytes – one of the obscurest units in Warhammer of editions past.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-silver-tower-corrupted-light-wizard-acolytes.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Left to right: Donkor, Aswad, Llam-Cheops, Wiss Qeb, Khontar and Wankh.
Two poses of Acolyte were released in April 1993 alongside the Light Wizard on foot. Empire player could buy them in units of five at 25 points to accompany a Light Wizard. Rules were that if you deployed the five Acolytes in a pyramid formation (Light Wizards being all Egpytian and therefore pyramid-themed) with the Light Wizard at the apex you got an extra Winds of Magic card. Now, I read "deployed in pyramid formation" and think this:
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-light-wizard-and-acolytes-in-a-human-pyramid.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
NAILED IT. One bonus Winds of Magic please.
But no, they didn't mean human pyramid formation, they mean 2-D triangle formation, as you can see in the iconic Gathering of Might battle report photo below from White Dwarf 181 (1995). This unit in this battle report puzzled child-Curis as Warhammer Armies: The Empire didn't contain any rules for it – it's only now in 2018 that I know they had to be conjured up from the pages of the Warhammer Battle Magic supplement.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/a-gathering-of-might-spot-the-pyramid.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Spot the pyramid.
The majority of my Light Acolytes had been rescued from someone that got halfway to converting them into Necromunda gangers or Warhammer 40,000 cultists – their hands and weapons had been hacked away and replaced with autopistols, stubguns and the like. This meant there was no guilt at despoiling vintage miniatures for the sake of bringing their weaponry in line with the rules of the modern Warhammer game.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/lapis-and-light-wizard-oldhammer-acolytes-in-fogou-terrain-3.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Lazuli spearheading the official and far less silly pyramid formation.
Yes! Modern Warhammer! (As if the 32mm rounds bases weren't enough of a clue.) These figures have been specifically modelled as Kairic Acolytes for Silver Tower: two with hand weapon and shield, two with double-handed weapons and two with pairs of hand weapons.
I originally restored the Acolytes back to Warhammer Fantasy with contemporaneous 1990s Citadel weaponry, but it looked bad. There was no Egyptian weaponry (it wasn't until 2003 that the Tomb Kings range appeared), and so I suspended my Citadel-components-only rule and bought some WarGods of Ægyptus bits from Crocodile Games. This does annoy the Citadel purist in me, and to get back to sleep I tell myself Crocodile's Chris Fitzpatrick did a stint sculpting for Games Workshop.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/knavecon-2018-silver-tower.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Silver Tower madness at Knavecon 2018. Pat, Bruce, cheetor and yours truly looming over our various creations.
To get even more gaming use out of the figures I'd like to paint another three to make a full official Warscroll for Warhammer Age of Sigmar. I've also got plans for them in a series of summer Mordheim games, where they'll be fielded as Brethren in a Possessed Warband. Watch this space!
More of my miniatures at: http://www.ninjabread.co.uk
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Wonderful!
:-* :-*
They may well have been mine in an earlier incarnation if they were green and pink/purple as my versions were themed as Nurgle cultists.
Having said that, though, if they were I am sure that they much prefer life with the superb brushwork that they have been treated to now.
8) 8)
And the fact that you have since trained them as a motorcycle display team!
:D
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Great to see those acolytes. I always wanted some of them too (check ebay every now and then as well) You've done a stunning job on them. Love the cheerleader themed picture ;)
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A motorcycle display team, Mason – ohhh, that would be an upside down pyramid. Maybe I'll try that.
A child-aged Curis attempted to paint the single Skaven Clanrat from 3rd edition Talisman. The paintjob went so badly it’s taken over twenty years before an adult-aged Curis returned to painting Skaven miniatures.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-deathmaster-snikchs-silver-tower.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Double Dragon Rat.
This is classic Jes Goodwin Deathmaster Snikch. Twice. The left-hand one is painted as a straight copy of the 1993 ‘Eavy Metal scheme; the right-hand one is painted in the 2009 ‘Eavy Metal scheme used on Seb Perbert’s redesigned Deathmaster. Seb followed Jes’ original sculpt so closely that porting the new scheme onto the old miniature felt like being on auto-pilot.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/deathmaster-snikch-official-eavy-metal-paintjobs.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
‘Eavy Metal Deathmasters.
But why paint two of a unique special character? Well, Snikch and Snikch are standing in as the Deathrunner and his illusory double in my Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower project where every model is replaced with a 1990s equivalent. Snikch kept his exact location a secret to spread maximum fear – I’m imagining an illusory double as a manifestation of this Snikchitsu. The rules for the Deathrunner mean he’s an absolute fiend, so it’s apt to represent him with this Herohammer icon rather than a standard 1990s Skaven Assassin miniature.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-deathmaster-snikchs-silver-tower-backs.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Ninja Skavens put the “rat” in karate.
The Snikchs took less than an evening each to paint, which I found surprising as they’re super-chunky miniatures and packed full of detail. I think the damage and wear on the second-hand castings (particularly noticeable on the triangular shuriken) stopped me being overly fussy with highlights. And the bulk of the miniature is a big black cloak – black being one of the quickest colours to paint.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/warhammer-deathmaster-snikchs-v-oldhammer-ninja-chaos-thug.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
The Ninja Chaos Thug trying to work out which of the Ninja Rats is real.
There’s twenty retro miniatures so far in the Silver Tower project! Check out the 1990s Pink, Blue and Brimstone Horrors here (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/silver-tower-brimstone-horrors-but-oldhammer/). Check out the 1990s Kairic Adepts here (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/light-wizard-duo-for-silver-tower/). And check out the 1990s Kairic Acolytes here (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/corrupted-light-acolytes-for-silver-tower/). Coming soon – fur and gold.
More of my miniatures at: http://www.ninjabread.co.uk (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
More of my specifically-Warhammer miniatures at: http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/category/blog/warhammer-blog (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/category/blog/warhammer-blog/)
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I’ve finished painting ALL the Shadespire Orruks! A whole plastic force, fully painted, with modern miniatures, for a current Games Workshop game. WHAT HAVE I BECOME?!?! Gods of Oldhammer, I have forsaken thee!
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/shadespire-orruks-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-whole-warband.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Ironskull’s Ironjawz tearing up the Realm of Shadows.
Initially I planned to just copy the ‘Eavy Metal banana-yellow paint scheme, but I switched the Orruk fleshtone from green (which sits awfully with yellow) to a nicely contrasting purpley-brown. I blocked out the basecoats, confident I could ignore Jean-Baptiste’s “never go full banana” advice (http://leadplague.blogspot.com/2018/06/warhammer-underwolds-shadespire.html).
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/shadespire-orruks-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-wip.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring banana phone orc.
Basha was the first Orruk I painted to completion – and he took bloody ages. Yellow is notoriously translucent and takes a lot of layers to build to a strong colour. Bright colours also show up the flaws in the shading and highlighting. Pity anyone that’s doing an entire horde army of these buggers in yellow. Although I was pleased with the brashness, I needed da boyz on the gaming table, and wanted to slash the time spent on them.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/shadespire-orruks-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-basha-ironskull-fronts.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Basha and Gurzag Ironskull.
Gurzag and the other Orruks had their armour colours reversed. The dark steel colour is simply drybrush, wash and a quick edge highlight in bright silver. It takes a fraction of the time of the yellow as there’s no glazing of midtones to eat through time.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/shadespire-orruks-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-basha-ironskull-backs.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
I spent a bit of the time saved putting flames on Gurzag’s cloak.
Reducing the amount of yellow makes the Orruks look far more menacing, and gives what yellow is there greater impact. Basha’s all-yellow scheme does push him towards looking like a kid’s toy, or a construction vehicle. Which I quite like anyway.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/shadespire-orruks-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-bonekutta-hakka-fronts.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Bonekutta and Hakka.
I had a lot of fun with Hakka, freehanding the flames onto his shoulderpads and jaw. He’s my favourite miniature in the gang as the colour scheme draws your focus towards his head and cool mask.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/shadespire-orruks-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-bonekutta-hakka-backs.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
I’ve really enjoyed painting these, and like that they’re instantly a finished project, ready to rumble against the likes of asslessman, Tears of Envy and Mr Saturday.
Lemme know which version of the yellow scheme you prefer below!
More of my miniatures at: http://www.ninjabread.co.uk
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It's Age of Sigmar time! Here's a nine-strong cluster of Grot Scuttlings from the modern (gasp!) Warhammer Quest Silver Tower game. There's only eight in the box, but I painted a bonus one as PRAISE BE TO TZEENTCH.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/warhammer-quest-silver-tower-grot-scuttlings-of-tzeentch.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Spider-Grots, Spider-Grots, manufactured in Notts.
Mashing together Night Goblins with sp-sp-spiders puzzles me – Forest Goblins were the spider-flavoured Goblins from Warhammer, so it's confusing the themes. Like mashing up High Elves with leafs. Or Khorne Berserkers with sonic sex-weaponry. It seems Gee-Dub haven't continued the arachno-trend with the subsequent Night Goblin (or "Moonclan Grot" as they're now called) releases, and these spider-hybrids ("sp-ybrids"?) are confined to Tzeentch's Silver Tower. Moonclan have found their feet, and it's not eight-a-grot.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/warhammer-age-of-sigmar/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-grot-scuttlings-versus-shadespire-orruk-ironjawz-mk2.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Spin a web any size, catch Orruks just like flies.
To emphasise the Tzeentchian nature of these Scuttlings I avoided the classic Night Goblin black-robes-green-skin scheme and went for pale blue flesh and vivid purple robes. My Silver Tower 1990s project will feature Scuttlings converted from the classic Kev Adams Night Goblins, and they may borrow this scheme to reinforce how they're not your standard Night Goblins.
Normal Oldhammer service will resume shortly with some charmingly vintage Bob Olley Tzaangor. Have fun!
More of my miniatures at: http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/
Tutorials at: https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread/
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Excellent thread! I particularly like your old school Chaos stuff. The Epic pink horrors idea is a good one. I'll bet the ebay value will jump up now, not that I'm going to look. Nope. Not going to look.
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fantastic painting, not fond of braaan orcs, purply or not, but see why you went that way.
spider grots are stunningly good.
love your coloured lighting dioramas too ... any tutorials / info on that anywhere?
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Moral of the story, elk, is to not blog a good idea halfway through a squad. Oops. I do want to get 40 of the Epic Pinks, total, so I have enough for an Age of Sigmar warscroll. One day.
Bloggard – I do do tutorials over at Patreon (http://patreon.com/ninjabread), there may be photography ones in the future! Watch this space!
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I've just checked ebay, bloody hell they're expensive! lol
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Great painting all round. Love the scenery too.
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... Next thing you know I'll be off to a field to drink cider and watch Fairport Convention unironically ...
ouch.
poor modern period Fairport / Cropredy - so uncool it's even put down on a forum about toys :'( lol
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It’s Samhain, so let’s celebrate this Celtic pagan festival with a classic druid miniature. It’s the Albion Truthsayer! Tha a’ bàta-falbhain agam loma-làn easgannan!
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-warhammer-albion-dark-shadows-truthsayer-druid.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Albion Truthsayers: the most predictable opponents in "Truth or Dare".
The Albion Truthsayer is a standing-stone-cold classic of a miniature from Warhammer’s Dark Shadows mini-supplement. The 2001 campaign booklet featured rules for you army to be joined these warrior-wizards (or their arch-nemeses, the Dark Emissaries) while they fought their way across the mysterious island of Albion to thwart (or aid) Warhammer’s newest mega-villain: the Dark Master.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/oldhammer-warhammer-albion-truthsayer-versus-wights.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
The Truthsayer, interfering with one of the many barrows on the Isle of Wights.
I had a lot of fun modelling the base to make it look like the boggy fenlands of Albion. The owl (from a Wood Elf kit) is a reference the “Wings of Fate” spell that let the Truthsayer summon a flock of enchanted birds to peck at his foes. The sculpt itself is packed full of Celtic-style details: a spiral skull carvings, gold neck torque; spiked barbarian hair; bronze triskele medallion. As a geek of ancient trappings I get super excited about it appearing in Warhammer.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/torque-the-torque.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
When it comes to prehistoric jewellery, Curis not only walks the walk, but torques the torque.
This miniature is one of my favourite Citadel Miniatures of all time – not least because if you clip off his basing tab and peek up the loincloth you can see the sculptor’s – Chris Fitzpatrick – signature. I can’t think of any miniatures signed in this way since Citadel’s preslotta days.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/signed-by-fitz-600px.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Cheeky Albion Truthsayer upskirt shot.
Albion Skin Painting Tutorial
One of the popular requests on the Ninjabread Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/ninjabread) is “how do you paint skin”? I photographed the Truthsayer between steps so supporters can follow along and learn how to paint flesh in this style.
(http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/albion-truthsayer-all-steps-overview.jpg) (http://www.patreon.com/ninjabread)
Become a supporter today and you’ll get access to this in depth masterclass tutorial, and not one BUT TWO guides on how to paint your power armoured Space Marines.
That’s it for today’s visit to Albion. What’s next – perhaps the evil Truthsayer? Or the Fenbeasts? Or the Giants of Albion and their Druid? Or maybe delving even further back into Albion’s past with the LE8 McDeath’s Crazed Caledonians? Watch this space…
More minitaures at: http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/ (http://ninjabread.co.uk/)
Painting tutorials at: http://www.patreon.com/ninjabread (http://ninjabread.co.uk/)
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Stunning brushwork, and thanks for the painting guide!
I have the Albion Truthsayer, but didn't much fancy the sculpt before. Now that I see what can be done with it, I'm much more interested. :)
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This is an amazing log. So many good stuff in here and i absolutely love your paintin style.
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Thanks Anselm! The Chris Fitzpatrick sculpt is immense! All the stuff he did for GW is a painter's dream!
Cheers Breazer!
Back into Tzeentch’s Silver Tower! But this is not just any Silver Tower, this is a Silver Tower stuck in the past – when metal miniatures reigned supreme. I’ve painted six Citadel Tzaangor from 1990 – the greatest of all times. (Ha! Sly goat reference!)
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/bob-olley-ironclaw-silver-tower-warhammer-age-of-sigmar-tzaangor.jpg) (https://ninjabread.co.uk/)
Left to right: Ougoatlas, Rameses, Lambeses, Hornus, Iry-Horn and Phuroah.
These are all wonderful Bob Olley sculpts that are packed with weird and flamboyant details like the exotic head-dresses, ornate armour, and bizarre codpieces. Two of the Tzaangor in the range didn’t see release as their obscene helmets were spotted in time. (You can see the notorious unreleased versions at CCM (http://www.collecting-miniatures.com/olley/index.php/Citadel_-_Beastmen).)
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-silver-ironclaw-tzaangor.jpg) (https://ninjabread.co.uk/)
Tzaangor kidding about in the ruins of a Chaos Temple.
Tzaangor have “brightly colured or exotically patterned fur” according to Realms of Chaos, so I went for an unnatural turquoise colour. I’m unsure if the combination of bright colours and smiling anthropomorphic animal fuzz pushes them into My Little Pony territory, but hey ho! Their armour is blue and gold to give off an Egyptian-cum-Tzeentch vibe, and two have horns in alternating stripes like a pharoah’s head dress. There’s some minor weapon swaps to bring them in line with the Silver Tower game requirements, and one has a Light Acolyte sword to show they’re part of the same force. The Marauder shield with the serpent motif (thanks to Mr. Saturday for sending me them) further echoes the Light Acolytes whose staffs and belts feature a snake motif. Chaos Snakemen will have to be part of this force in the future!
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/herd-of-bray-with-a-bird-of-prey.jpg) (https://ninjabread.co.uk/)
A herd of bray with a bird of prey.
That’s twenty-six of the vintage Silver Tower denizens now painted (Skaven here, Acolytes here, Light Wizards here and Horrors here). Now I can convert a classic Ogre into the Ogroid Thaumathurge – watch this space!
More of my miniatures at: www.ninjabread.co.uk (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Painting tutorials at: www.patreon.com/ninjabread (https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread)
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You know how to paint and take pretty pics! I like!!
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he sho' does.
could do it for a living ;-)
wish the bob olley stuff was more readily available / affordable.
I blow a bit hot and cold on his sculpts, but the Tzangors above are fab. Course they've had a top-notch paint-job which helps.
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Thanks Daniel!
Cheers Bloggard. The Olley stuff is reasonably priced if you're a patient enough hunter. It'd be well frustrating to have to get in large quantities and in a hurry though.
Q. What do you get if you cross a Chaos Centaur of Tzeentch, and a zebra?
A. A “Tzebra”.
Presenting Tzebra Doomstripe, the latest monster to swell the ranks of my vintage Warhammer collection.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/tzebra-chaos-centaur-of-tzeentch-warhammer-front-left.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
This tzoological monstrosity was my entry into the “Make a Trish” competition in the Oldhammer Community. Challengers had a month to model and paint a Trish Carden miniature, and the Mistress of Monsters herself would pick a favourite.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/tzebra-chaos-centaur-of-tzeentch-warhammer-front-right.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Tzebra is not one actually one Trish Carden monster, but two mashed together. The MM94/1 Chaos Centaur Lord was a metal human torso designed to be fitted to the standard plastic Warhammer horse torso (henceforth: “horso”). But the plastic horso had spindly legs that looked wrong with the human torso’s majestically beefy barbarian arms, so I decapitated Trish’s MM83 High Elf Unicorn and used it as a replacement horso. This new unicorn part is, importantly, also saddle-free – Tzebra is a Lord of Chaos and tolerates no riders upon his horso.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/tzebra-chaos-centaur-of-tzeentch-warhammer-wip.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
To nudge Tzebra into Tzeentch’s visual territory, I swapped his barbarian broadsword for a scratch-built khopesh. His helmet plume was switched for a plastic Ork topknot, whose flowing lines better matched the new unicorn tail. Historically, these helmet plumes were made from dyed horsehair, meaning Tzebra has made a hat decoration out of his own bodyhair.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/tzebra-chaos-centaur-of-tzeentch-warhammer-right.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
The skin was painted light blue at first (using a modified version of the Ur-Ghul recipe /url]Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread) backers have access to), and had dark blue strips added afterwards. I did a digital mockup of the colours to experiment with continuing the zebra strips onto the human elements, and also to work out if the blue and white stripes that worked in my imagination would look too “Bananas in Pyjamas” (thankfully not).
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/tzebra-chaos-centaur-of-tzeentch-warhammer-left.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Tzebra didn’t win Trish’s competition, losing out to Jonathan Marshall’s atmospheric Albion Fenbeast. You can check out a gallery of all the entries here . Thanks to Asslessman for organising the competition, and Trish for judging and providing the prize.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/oldhammer/tzebra-chaos-centaur-of-tzeentch-warhammer-with-tzaangor-mk2.jpg) (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Tzebra Doomstripe leading his Tzebu retinue to battle.
More tzany Tzeentch creations coming soon!
More of my miniatures at: http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/ (http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Painting tutorials at: https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread (https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread)
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Cracking 8)
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Really cool!
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I like that a lot. The zebra stripes have been very well realised.
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This is really wonderful! :-*
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The Tzebra is fantastic. Zebra centaurs seem like such a natural fit.
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Loving your paintwork.
Consider several of your ideas well & truly stolen.
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Thanks for all the comments! You're right, Gallahad. I found loads art on the internet of people that've done zerbra centaurs before I could use for working out how I wanted to th tackle the transition between top hald and bottom half.
Tzeentch has many Silver Towers floating through the Mortal Realms, but the one I am building is full of throwbacks to a time when metal miniatures reigned supreme. Welcome back to my Silver Tower of lead.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/age-of-sigmar-silver-tower-familiars-old-and-new-group.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Metaaaaaaaal.
The initial spark that led me on a four-year quest to reconstruct the Silver Tower game with 1990s lead miniatures was two of the tiny familiar miniatures – instantly recognisable as reimaginings of Citadel classics from days of yore. I’ve painted a complete set of modern plastic versions, and a complete set composed of 1980s/1990s analogues.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/age-of-sigmar-silver-tower-familiars-old-and-new-moon.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
1987 Lune (left) and 2016 Pug (right).
The CH5 Lune Familiar is an adorable moon-headed mook who was reborn in plastic complete with his original moon on a stick, tintinabulous jester shoes and scowling moonface.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/age-of-sigmar-silver-tower-familiars-old-and-new-book.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
1987 Walking Book (left) and 2016 Blot (right).
The CH5 Walking Book Familiar was a perennial favourite of Warhammer players, popping up as a wizard’s helper in Chaos and non-Chaos armies for years. I’ve not thought of anything high concept enough to paint freehand on the pages of the plastic version, so I’ve left them blank for now. Maybe I will leave it blank forever and claim it’s an unwritten journal.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/age-of-sigmar-silver-tower-familiars-old-and-new-bird.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
1991 Tzeeenth Familiar (left) and 2016 Tweek (right).
The small Lord of Change (Lord of Small Change?) was probably originally sculpted as a 6mm Epic Greater Demon miniature, but rolled into the CH5 Chaos Familiar range for the 1991 Citadel Catalogue Section 2. I’ve painted mine in orange and turquoise to match my 28mm Greater Demon. The new plastic version takes the mini Greater Demon vibe even further, having been written up in the background as a mischievous sprite with the delusion he’s an actual Lord of Change.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/age-of-sigmar-silver-tower-familiars-old-and-new-fish.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
1987 The Jaw (left) and 2016 Slop (right).
The fourth and final Silver Tower familiar, Slop, is a subtly different kettle of fish to the others – inspired not by a CH5 Chaos Familiar miniature but by Mordheim’s leitmotif of mutant fish artwork or old Ian Miller illustrations. I’ve painted the plastic Slop’s the tail with a Rainbow fade to match Blot.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/images/tzeentch/silver-tower-1980s-oldhammer-chaos-familiars-of-tzeentch-mk2.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Familars wreaking havoc in the Lead Tower.
That’s another adversary group ready for Silver Tower. You can see Brimstone Horrors here (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/silver-tower-brimstone-horrors-but-oldhammer/), Light Wizards here (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/light-wizard-duo-for-silver-tower/), Light Acolytes here (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/corrupted-light-acolytes-for-silver-tower/). Tzaangor here (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/vintage-silver-tower-tzaangor/) and Deathrunners here (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/deathmaster-snikch-twins/). Time to start work on the next of the nineties nasties.
Ninjabread out!
More miniatures at:https://www.ninjabread.co.uk (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Painting tutorials at: https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread (https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread)
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Lovely classic bits of work there!
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Splendid!
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I am that exact type of person that plans annual holidays using the Ordance Survey maps of Ancient and Roman Britain. I spend days hiking through the remote countryside in the rain with a napsack full of boiled eggs to find the spaces prehistoric people once lived and thrived.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/recreational-fort.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Me in the ruins of Brough Law Ringfort.
Fancying myself as Lord of the Ringforts, Mr. Crabb at Fogou Models offered me the very first castings of his latest terrain project in return for photos of them painted nicely. And paint them I did.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/pledge-basic-ironage-fort-pre-stretch.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
This is the basic ringfort, built from seven wall sections and one gate section. All the pieces have an interlocking brickwork design on the outer face to disguise the component joins. I don’t know how Mr. Crabb got it all to line up so flawlessly, but I suspect dark Cornish sorcery.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ringfort-wall.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ringfort-gatehouse-basic.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
If that understated rectangular doorway with its stone lintel are too low key for you, there’s also a fantasy style gateway with a pair of towers flanking a bronze goblin-faced gate sculpted by the Kev Adams. Now you can have much larger things get in and out the fort – like trolls, ogres and my reference library on prehistoric and Dark Age structures.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ringfort-tease-mk1.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Gandalf supervises the defence of a Dúnedain stronghold.
To accompany the ringfort, I also painted this pair of thatched buildings which can either go inside the fort as the defended structures, or act as standalone pieces. I’m going to pair the recentangular one with my Dark Age Church as a crofter’s dwelling.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/dark-age-homestead.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
But wait! There’s still more! There’s a nice pair of thatched stilted granaries, a pigsty, a well, firewood and pots that I’ve used to make a complete village.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/scenic-ringfort-farm.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
I got a bit carried away painting freehand patterns onto some of the pots – I like to imagine them as vessels with histories of their own that come from the extensive trade networks. I also see them as a nice way of adding life to a scene, and they make for subtler representations of material wealth than the classic objective marker of a treasure chest full of gold coins.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cillian-the-potter-1.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
There’s a desstroyed wall section you can use to represent a partially ruined fort, and even switch into your fort mid-game if you’re playing a siege.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ringfort-breached-wall.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Here’s a pile of Orcs pouring through it to fight the Fellowship of the Ring.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/wall-breach.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Stone buildings are pretty timeless, and with a bit of “set dressing” in the form of modern crates, here it is being used in the Napoleonic era.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/brave-men-of-the-95th-1.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
95th Rifles, 2nd Battalion seizing supplies at a Portugese port.
Nicely, the doors are cross-compatible with the other Fogou offerings, so a quick switcheroo and this fort section is ready for science fiction wargames too. Thanks to everyone that’s pointed out the door looks like a Confederate flag.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/wolfbane-commandos-on-fogou-terrain.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
Wolbane Commandos advance though ruins of Hexau Prime.
Finally, my cat (who is coincidentally named after a ringfort) has also found a great use for the piece.
(https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/coburn-in-the-ringfort.jpg) (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk/)
So thanks to Mr. Crabb for letting me be the first to get one! If you’d like your own, they’re currently over on the Fogou Models site.
Ninjabread out!
More miniatures at:https://www.ninjabread.co.uk (https://www.ninjabread.co.uk)
Painting tutorials at: https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread (https://www.patreon.com/ninjabread)
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That terrain looks really good!
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Lovely work :-*
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I love this thread. Magnificent! :-* :-* :-*
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A definite plus one to all the above nice comments.
I keep meaning to treat myself to one (or more) of
these lovely buildings.
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Oh my days - that fort is a treat and, as expected, your version is amazing.
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Such a treat to see (including the moggy).
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Cracking thread.
I'd be dead if I attempted to add another fort to the collection.
From a purely personal perspective it's nice to see someone making the most of the dark age churches modular format.
There is one subtle adaptation of the main 'Hall' that's gives you another option.
There's a detailing ridge / lip above the wooden arches on the inside. It's there to support a floor turning the main building into either a domestic barn or warehouse or Hall.Rather than a church.
That picture of the Empire army is also the inspiration for my grinding out my own Empire force. Admittedly I'll end up sculpting my own versions of some of it.( Some of the prices these pieces go for are more than cost of my first car and not far below that of my current one :D)
Definitely going to keep popping back to see what you come up with next.
Mark.
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Great work. Sorely tempted by the ringfort, although I have no real use for it. But we’ll see...
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Fantastic terrain! Lovely painting
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI9GV3rAOQ4
;)
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Lovely work on a very nice looking terrain piece.