'Old Citadel Nostalgia' - an ongoing project.

[Bloggard]

fantastic.

[Thew1]

Just had to read this whole thread from pg 1 and wow...wow. Such amazing painting and dedicated repairs to some really lovely old sculpts. I think many of these sculpts probably pre-date my introduction to wargaming and collecting and painting little soldiers so thank you for the education and for the wonderful painting. Two particular highlights for me are the rehabilitation job you did on the runequest fighter on pg 2 and of course the beautiful Turtle Dragon  . Thanks again Sir!

[Cubs]

Just had to read this whole thread from pg 1 and wow...wow. Such amazing painting and dedicated repairs to some really lovely old sculpts. I think many of these sculpts probably pre-date my introduction to wargaming and collecting and painting little soldiers so thank you for the education and for the wonderful painting. Two particular highlights for me are the rehabilitation job you did on the runequest fighter on pg 2 and of course the beautiful Turtle Dragon  . Thanks again Sir!

Well thank you, those two are lovely models. The turtle dragon was for a customer, but the Runequest stuff is mine, all mine!

I started collecting Citadel stuff in the early 80's (about ten years before I was born … ahem) and these models were either ones I was able to buy with my pocket money, or more likely stuff I would drool over in the Citadel Journals and the adverts in White Dwarf, without being able to afford them.

[Severian]

Marvellous as always. A real pleasure to look at.

The Steve Jackson pirate is properly odd, isn't he; though he does illustrate a sort of unapologetic self-referential weirdness that was a rather endearing characteristic of the early Citadel stuff - like all those army lists in Forces of Fantasy with their indecipherable in-jokes about the writers' friends, colleagues and gaming partners. They just didn't care that almost all of their readers would only get a small bit of the joke. I have to admit I rather like that attitude...

[Cubs]

Something a bit different now and my own fellas for a change.

Storytime : It was back in the early 80's when I first started taking notice of those little metal toys my brother had on his shelves. His love was the armies of Dwarves, Men of the West, East and North and Amazons. These were all 'Good' (well, neutral, but good-ish) armies so of course, if I was going to get in on the act, I'd have to be the baddies. He had a smattering of Orcs and Goblins (plus various Ogre and Troll types from various manufacturers) but I needed my own if I was ever going to win any battles (which was tragically rare). Hence, pretty much any evil dudes going were fair game. My goldfish attention span combined with my limited finances of the time resulted in me grabbing one or two boxes of as many different types of Regiment of Renown as I could find and finishing none of them. Spool forward 30-odd years and I'm now in a position to restock the old models I foolishly got rid of over the years, ignore those I never really liked (I confess I was never that keen on Grom's Goblin Guard or Mengil Manhide's Dark Elves) and grab some I never got round to the first time around.

The following is a sample miniature (painting to give me an idea of the right colour schemes for them) I've painted from each of the Regiments of Renown I have in the lead drawer right now, in various numbers. I just tried to stick to the stated uniform (where one is given in the blurb) whilst also tying the colour scheme in to my overall idea of a Malal-themed force, with black and white being prominent. Some of the regiments I have decided are just mercenaries, so have a different colour scheme.



RR18 Eeza Ugezod's Mother Crushers - these Black Orcs were a massive game changer for me. Finally I had troops that could go toe-to-toe with my brother's Bugman's Rangers and be expected to win (assuming they hadn't been shot to pieces by crossbows first). As models ... hmmm ... I think the word 'uninspiring' springs to mind. They should look like terrifying gigantic warriors wielding cleaving pole arms and instead look like elderly Italian women wearily carrying a farm implement. Why the cloth rag on the head? Why the hidden face? Why the odd cloth wraps in weird shapes on the limbs (really frustrating to paint)? Why the weird shaped weapons? Why the odd off-balance pose? Oh well, they were the only Black Orc game in town, so they were essential. His head covering shows the old, cracked-hide effect I've been playing with lately, as shown on a couple of the guys.

 



RR15 Throg's Hobgoblin Despoilers - Hobgoblins are one of those Warhammer races that suffered from lack of attention. I always quite liked their vaguely Eurasian flavour and of course the fact that they could frenzy but still wore armour. Another rare troop type who could take on Dwarves in a fair (ish) fight with some confidence. I like the models too, with their classic soldiery poses but with the swords casually resting on the shoulders. The shields are meant to have a device drawn in the blood of their enemies, which isn't easy to achieve in a way that looks good. I've gone for a filthy, messy effect as a bit of a dodge. There's a weird tradition of Hobgoblins having orangey skin and blue noses, which I couldn't stomach, so I went for reddish skin and blue bags under the eyes instead, which looks good to me.





RR5 Harboth and the Black Mountain Boys - the originals. My first Regiment of Renown and just so bound with my first love of Warhammer and collecting models. The figures are almost like the distillation of the vintage Citadel Orc - bare foot, hunched, jaw-jutting, with the prototype 'choppa', years before such a thing made its first appearance in the rulebook. Why the almost Zulu-like tufts on the legs? Why the tiny shield clutched so tight to the body you wonder where the arm has gone? Why the oddly curved dagger with its strange attachments? Who cares, these boys are hammered indelibly into my memory and are the core of my collection.





RR9 Mudat's Half Orc Mercenaries - I can't help but feel guilty about these guys. When I was a kid, I didn't care about Half Orcs one bit. They were … normal. Why would I want to collect them when they were no different from a human? Of course, now it's all about the models instead of the gaming, so I can appreciate their ugly beauty. These troops are all meant to be armed with maces and hammers according to the blurb, but instead have long hooked swords for some reason (another example of that great amateurish enthusiasm of the early Citadel days when designers and sculptors seem to have enjoyed patchy communication) which surprisingly have usually survived the years without breaking off. One thing which is a real ball-ache is the horrible mould lines that every single model seems to have, running down the face and shield. Not easy to clean off, but they are such an attractive set, it's worth the effort.





RR16 Disciples of the Red Redemption - what impressionable young lad could fail to be excited by the idea of insane homicidal Chaos maniacs? Before I really understood about the Crusades or the religious orders of history, all I liked about these guys was that they were weird and could frenzy (at least I think they could - they did in our games anyway). I like the models too; such an understated sculpt that manages to neatly mesh the requirements of ranking up with movement and still looking like brooding, sinister Chaos monks. Great stuff. The back story is fun as well (look it up) as religious crusading bigots who embraced the hateful teachings of Khorne (a nice bit of subtle wisdom there) and should create a bit of interest with their final Malal comrades on my shelf.





RR6 Mad Mullah Aklan'd's Death Commandos - yet another unit of mine that could frenzy (I was never accused of having too much strategy when I played the game). In the blurb, it is said that Mad Mullah Aklan'd was a wizard, but then later leaders of the regiment were chosen from captains of the guard. They mention his powerful 'religio-magic' that twisted the desert religions to his own purposes - surely the influence of a Chaos god (like Malal)! It's a bit hazy and certainly the Araby armies (and related) were another 'race' sadly ignored by GW. Fortunately I think you can get plenty of unofficial lists online to satisfy your appetite for Men of the East forces. I like these guys and the static 'soldier at attention' pose suits them. The blurb describes their uniforms being blue, but I thought they deserved something a little more ornate and decorative. I was going to put fancy trim on the cloak as well, but chickened out, given that I'd eventually have to replicate it on every damn trooper.




 

[Hobgoblin]

Glorious as ever - and what a nostalgia trip (my first RoR was also the Black Mountain Boys)!

That black-orc skin colour is superb, and it fully redeems any failings in the model - all of which, I reckon, just come down to the marmite idiosyncrasies of the Nick Lund ranges. He certainly looks sinister enough now!

The Death Commando is brilliant too. Was the Mad Mullah's intellectual property bought out by Eeza Uzegod, do you suppose? And that half-orc face is amazing.

I've got a fair few of those hobgoblins kicking around in the cellar, I think; I now feel almost duty-bound to paint one up with a blue nose!

Oh - and a curious thing: did you know that Red Redemptionists pre-date Warhammer? They first appeared in Laserburn; Alternative Armies still carries the 15mm Asgard ones.

[fred]

Great work, and a great blast of nostalgia.

I didn’t have any of these as RoR, but I did have some of them from individual packs. Great to see them painted up so well.

[Muzfish4]

Wonderful stuff.

This thread continues to delight.

[Elk101]

Great to see these old figures, especially with such great paint jobs.

[Cubs]

Thanks guys, I'm glad they're giving joy to others as well.

Oh - and a curious thing: did you know that Red Redemptionists pre-date Warhammer? They first appeared in Laserburn; Alternative Armies still carries the 15mm Asgard ones.

No way! Well that might explain their rather deeper than normal backstory.

[steders]

Fantastic stuff cubs. Really love the half orc skin tone. I've got my half orcs on the painting desk at the minute (admittedly they are well down the queue)
Im going to try and put the ogre slave in the same unit.
Great stuff again

[Swordisdrawn]

I love this thread! So many memories. I know some of the castings seem rough looking back but still much more charactorful than some newer GW stuff. Harboth is a great miniature and just found him out in.the garage with the flying gargoyles of Barda i thought lost in a house move two years ago. Going to have a crack at some old citadel stuff. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Lord_of_Moria]

Each one is really impressive -but the black orc & hobgoblin (at least for me) are superb!
Is it possible to get a closer shoot of their faces?
The blending you do on their faces is something I'd like to learn to do myself.
Thanks for sharing
cheers

[Cubs]

Each one is really impressive -but the black orc & hobgoblin (at least for me) are superb!
Is it possible to get a closer shoot of their faces?
The blending you do on their faces is something I'd like to learn to do myself.
Thanks for sharing
cheers

No! No close ups! Someone recently said I have an impressionist style of painting. Translation: it looks shite close up because my eyes are going bad with age.

Seriously, people ask about that malarkey all the time and there's no trick to it, it's very simple. I do the base skin tone - black, green, brown, whatever the main colour is - as normal. Then I decide which bits I want to have a different tone creeping in (often the tips of the ears, nose, eyes, mouth, even elbows, knees, fingertips and toes) and decide what colour I want them to be (a Eurasian flesh colour or pink is good, unless the main skin colour is already this shade, in which case dark pink or purplish can be effective). A little goes a long way on these, so don't overdo it - your eyes will pick up just a hint of the colour. Then I usually do a 3-stage, starting with the darkest colour which is diluted down and brush on gently to blend in with the main colour. The highlights are progressively less diluted and the last is just flicked here and there. Like I say, very simple, a little more time consuming perhaps but worth it. 

[majorsmith]

Exceptional work