Some miniatures for Song of Blades and Heroes (Rust Monster face reveal)

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

Here are two Chronicle miniatures. The mounted general is from the pre-Citadel era, I think; as far as I know, he wasn't advertised by Citadel. I don't have his official wolf, which came with a standard and other accoutrements, but I've given this one some kit from Oathmark and Wargames Factory orcs. So he has an axe, a sword and a shield.

The champion was advertised and produced by Citadel. I decided to add him to the bigger slottabased black orcs and Grenadier orcs rather than his fellow smaller Chronicle orcs, which I use as 15mm ogres. That's because he's closer to them in pose and style, and also because he has severed human heads on his belt, which make him work less well in 15mm. As you can see here, the original Chronicle orcs are "flatter" and have different heads from the later, bigger ones:



The "ogres" will also double up as small orcs in certain games alongside their larger kin.

[Ockman]

Lovely general, he almost have an undead look...

[Dr Mathias]

I really like the look of those guys, well done. The general does have an 'undead' look to him.

[beefcake]

More lovely stuff. I like those minis but the lower jaw of the wolf always puts me off buying them. (maybe I'll just sculpt some extra thickness if I feel the urge to purchase.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

I like those minis but the lower jaw of the wolf always puts me off buying them. (maybe I'll just sculpt some extra thickness if I feel the urge to purchase.

I think the Grenadier wolves (e.g. the archer's wolf: the ones that are still available from Mirliton and EM4) are significantly worse in that regard than the earlier Chronicle ones. The general's here isn't the best example, but the Chronicle ones generally looks quite wolfish, huge and shaggy though they are. I think Nick Lund must have done the Grenadier stuff at a rate of knots, because most of it is inferior to his Citadel-era Chronicle stuff. The wolves in particular are more "expressionistic" - more like illustrations from The Wolves in the Walls than actual wolves. I still like 'em, though - and I've come to appreciate the rougher Grenadier orcs more too.

[Hobgoblin]

Here's one of the slottabased Chronicle orcs ("giant black orcs"). He's a bit chunkier than the old Chronicle orc champion from the preslotta days:

[Hobgoblin]

And another:

[DeafNala]

I do enjoy your painting style. You have a unique technique that really suits the subjects. The Half Orc Witch has become my favorite. All are VERY WELL DONE!

[Ragnar]

So my dwarfs are blue-skinned (echoing their "corpse-like" description in Norse myth) and glowing-eyed...

Idea==stolen

[Spooktalker]

I love all the Lund orcs... makes me want to paint mine...

[area23]

The wolves in particular are more "expressionistic"

I always wondered if that was an artistic choice or imposed by Grenadier's direction in order to produce more miniatures. Bob Naismith's dark elves and undead also seem to have been made in an afternoon. Under par compared to his work for Citadel for example.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, all!

I always wondered if that was an artistic choice or imposed by Grenadier's direction in order to produce more miniatures. Bob Naismith's dark elves and undead also seem to have been made in an afternoon. Under par compared to his work for Citadel for example.

I recall hearing from another miniature designer at the time that it was time pressure. One interesting thing about Nick Lund as a miniature-maker is that he revisits the same poses and stances a lot. Certain of the Grenadier orcs look like cruder copies of the Citadel-era Chronicle ones, which themselves often look like superior reworkings of the earlier Chronicle ones. That's not to say there aren't real gems among the Grenadier stuff. In general, the blisters were better than the metal boxed set - at least with the orcs.

[Cubs]

You've done another bang-up job on them. I am worried about trying to do a decent job on my old orc wolf riders. Yeah, there's definitely a touch of the 'crap taxidermy' about Nick Lund's wolves, specifically the muzzles.

[Hobgoblin]

You've done another bang-up job on them. I am worried about trying to do a decent job on my old orc wolf riders.

Thanks! I think you might just be all right, you know ...

Yeah, there's definitely a touch of the 'crap taxidermy' about Nick Lund's wolves, specifically the muzzles.

Ha! Bang to rights! The Chronicle wolfriders (rather than the Grenadier ones) are still my favourites, though; I think Nick Lund did manage to bottle 'essence of wolf' with them - and they're definitely the scariest-looking wolfriders around (compare and contrast with the Kev Adams ones that followed).

On another tack, my son's been dismembering some of his old toys to come up with various bizarre creations. So I rescued one mutilated antelope and glued it to a box lid, then painted it in half an hour flat last night. I might do something more to the pedestal (some kind of stone effect), but it'll work as is for the centrepiece of a dungeon room or as a Gloranthan-ish statue for skirmish games (I want to get more of my old Broo done during the Christmas holidays).

[Hobgoblin]

And here are three more orcs and a Chronicle ogre. As some of the Grenadier orcs are bigger than the Chronicle ogres, and the Chronicle ogres are facially similar to the Grenadier goblins (who in turn are the size of the Grenadier orcs), I thought I'd bung 'em all in together.

The orcs are two Chronicle N11 giant black orcs and one unusually large (and fairly unspectacular) Grenadier orc.

Other members of the tribe got a run-out this afternoon in game of Saga, along with some pallid cave-goblin auxiliaries. The Lund orcs are very well suited to Saga, because it's easy to create obvious hierarchies of size and equipment. The Lundesque EM4 plastics will probably serve as levies, with the normal Grenadier orcs as warriors, and the N11 orcs, Chronicle ogres and huge Grenadier types as warlords, heroes and hearthguard.

The wolfriders will work as mounted warriors and hearthguard for various factions; but once I have eight of the bow-armed ones done, they'll probably see service as proxy Pecheneges.