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Author Topic: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules  (Read 5400 times)

Offline Nordic1980s

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #15 on: April 09, 2020, 04:57:02 PM »
A holy man by name of Pardue has joined the adventurer party, always ready to shout "Beware the sacrilege" to warn his comrades.

Offline Nord

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #16 on: April 11, 2020, 04:19:06 PM »
Have you tried Warlords of Erewhon, by Rick Priestley? It gives a Warhammer style game with much less faffing than the original rulesets. It's officially a skirmish game but you could easily play it in ranks if you fancied that. It's a d10 system, so there is scope in there for a greater range of skills, strengths and what have you, which actually translates in the game. A lot of lists are obviously based on the old WHFB system. It's not perfect by any means, and you would no doubt add house rules, but it sounds a little like the game you are playing.

Offline Nordic1980s

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #17 on: April 11, 2020, 05:08:28 PM »
Thanks for the question and tip. I haven't played it, had previously only heard of the name. Face to face gaming has come to a halt with the spread of Tomb Rot, but we do plan to continue wargaming later in the summer. We have thought and discussed of house ruling even more, or alternatively trying different rulesets like the Rangers for Shadow Deep or 1970s style D&D - I'll take a look at the Warlord game.

Offline Ockius

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #18 on: April 12, 2020, 02:03:55 PM »
Just wanted to say I found the thoughts here interesting and I agreed with the big issue of the very standard ‘3’ for Ws, T, ST in the game. I have always thought D10s would allow finer shades in ability, as it seemed absurd for a goblin to have the same strength as both a man and an orc!

I have recently taken up wargaming again after playing Warhammer a little as a teen about 20 years ago (did not play it much, but collected, painted, read lore, played a little), but now I am playing historical games, namely Hail Caesar. HC is a well-designed game, also by Rick Priestley, and apparently an evolved version of his Warmaster rules done for GW, but like an earlier poster I too miss the ‘character’ and individuality of Warhammer. In HC, models are based in multiples and units take hits instead of losing figures, which just feels less personal and has less visual impact.
My HC Gallic army is also all either warband, skirmishers or light or medium horse - Which lacks the character of Warhammer and reduces your connection with the models I think.

Nothing really to add to anything others have said, but just adding my agreement!
My armies:
- Henry VIII's army (WIP) 15mm
- Ancient Germans (28mm)
- Ancient Belgae (Gauls with German allies) (28mm)
- Massilian Greeks (Greeks and Gallic mercenaries/subjects) (28mm)
- A few EI Romans (28mm)
- Handful of WW2 British (15mm)
- A load of old 1993-1999ish Warhammer Orcs and Goblins

Offline Mallo

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #19 on: April 12, 2020, 02:50:08 PM »
Thanks for the question and tip. I haven't played it, had previously only heard of the name. Face to face gaming has come to a halt with the spread of Tomb Rot, but we do plan to continue wargaming later in the summer. We have thought and discussed of house ruling even more, or alternatively trying different rulesets like the Rangers for Shadow Deep or 1970s style D&D - I'll take a look at the Warlord game.

That is a really cool photo. Superb.

Offline Nordic1980s

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #20 on: April 30, 2020, 01:46:38 PM »
Feeling that special kind of urge to go seriously oldhammer, or prehammer even and finding about the Essex Miniatures being an integral part of pre-'Eavy Metal White Dwarf culture and Warhammer playtesting, plus some nicely painted examples, I finally ordered some Essex 25mm models from their historical (1980s to early 1990s) and fantasy (1986) ranges.

I was not disappointed! Sizewise they're a good match for the Citadel/Foundry models, though it must be noted here that their female barbarians are of the same large stock as some of Citadel's larger heroic fighters. Stylewise they're a good match and the historical models fit in as well, as if fighters from Middle Earth. Some of the fantasy shields with their Erol Otus monster faces are as if straight out of old D&D and Warhammer manuals. The Bob Olley halflings have quite a character to them despite being of the correct small size - half the human size, as they should be. No fatty halflings or extra-large turbo-dwarves on steroids for me.

Models are made of lead containing alloy and arrived in a bubble-wrap envelope, with few curved spears needing to be straightened by hand (easily done). I give the Essex also extra points for being friendly and responsive (unlike Hasslefree...) and can fully recommend both the fantasy and historical series. That one can buy single or two model sets, plus all kinds of accessories, makes these great for modelling specific wargame characters.

Next episode: Minifigs for Warhammer.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2020, 09:25:08 AM by Nordic1980s »

Offline Nordic1980s

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #21 on: May 09, 2020, 03:38:10 PM »
If the Essex amazons above were on the tall and chubby side, the Minifigs models in turn are delicate (click image larger). They're cast of lead metal alloy and have good proportions with delicate style of sculpting. Small details like face are a bit simplistic by modern standards, but on the other hand they would paint nicely without too many bothering small details (the curse of modern models). They're very much suited for classic painterly John-Blanche-in-the-'80s style of painting, where decoration and texture is largely created with paint brush instead of 3D sculpting.

Sizewise they're somewhere between Ral Partha true 25mm and old Citadel 28mm. I could see easily mixing and matching them with Ral Partha and older Citadel figures, but not with the larger post-28mm figures (like some of the extra tall early 1990s Citadel Perry brothers Empire range models). Service and delivery from Minifigs was good, friendly and I can highly recommend the models for all kinds of 25mm fantasy wargaming. Painted examples can be seen on front cover of the classic Dicing with Dragons book here.

Next episode: Asgard aka Viking Forge.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2020, 09:55:03 AM by Nordic1980s »

Offline Ockius

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #22 on: May 09, 2020, 10:26:43 PM »
Thanks for the info here, particularly the great comparison pics and the link to the PDF of those old articles. I am going to dip into those!
This era is before my time, and the figures are quite a bit earlier than the ones that spark nostalgia for me, but it is always engaging seeing these old school models and the various styles that sculptors and manufacturers had.


Offline SpaceGoblin

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #23 on: May 09, 2020, 11:51:32 PM »
Those minifigs look like some interesting sculpts :) I bought a 25mm figure on ebay recently, and although she's smaller than the rest of the unit I'm putting her in, she's not so small as to seem totally out of place. I'll just say she happens to be a bit on the short side  :D

Offline Nordic1980s

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #24 on: June 04, 2020, 03:14:51 PM »
With the parcel from Viking Forge arriving, it's again time for new comparison shots. Viking Forge castings were well cast, with only a small amount or no flash and packed in good looking padded blister packs (surrounded by extra bubble-wrapping). Even the base bottoms had been filed smooth, so the models stand properly right out of the packet.

The dwarf models could be described stylewise as 1980s Citadel but with more realistic proportions and Tolkienesque looks. Clearly mr. Goodwin the master of elves could be also a master dwarf maker if he desired so. In the comparison shot below the Citadel ones are quite bulky character models, so the sizewise match would be even better with the Citadel rank'n'file dwarves. The two adventuresses, looking as if out of Deathstalker movies, are good fit stylewise and sizewise with the Citadel and Minifigs amazons. Overall very nice models and a good service - highly recommended!

Offline Hobgoblin

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #25 on: June 04, 2020, 04:11:24 PM »
Clearly mr. Goodwin the master of elves could be also a master dwarf maker if he desired so.

And many people consider his Asgard orcs among the best ever too!

Offline Nordic1980s

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Re: Old school Warhammer miniatures and houserules
« Reply #26 on: June 18, 2020, 11:16:14 AM »
A dwarf, possibly of the eastern houses, has joined the adventurer party. Front row left to right: holy man, swordsman, dwarf, elf, archer. Back row: servant, tramp, dwarf cook.