Who sculpted the Alternative Armies Fantasy Warlord range?

[DivisMal]

Stunning work on those hill orcs, and I love how this thread has evolved to be a historical window into parts of our hobby I am completely unaware of!

[nicknorthstar]

I've never seen the Hill Orcs before, but there's some clear clues it's Bob's work. I said before, he got lots better as the years went on.

I don't know if this is a fact, but he said before he began sculpting he was a surrealist painter, which definitely explains the Iron Claw range. I also recall, when I was at GW he turned up to a meeting with the mould room (where I was) with a hold-all full of cans of lager. Didn't go down well with the management 

AA's Celtic Myth range was my idea, so I worked with Bob on the design of the Sidhe. When he delivered them, the Carnyx was proper old school Iron Claw, I remodelled it to the current model. (This is all 30 years ago mind).

I've lost my painted collection of Celtic Myth over time, but I did retain this converted standard bearer, it's in the cabinet at North Star.

[DivisMal]

Nick, those Celtic myth guys are fantastic!  This stuff has a lot of charme!

[katie]

"Why in this day and age no pictures"

From talking to him, he acquired the ranges as part of a batch with ranges that actually do some business and hence he's barely unpacked the moulds/learned what's in there/got them to cast &c.

40+ yo fantasy ranges is a bit of niche thing in an already niche hobby apparently...

I did pictures of some of the ranges (mostly as a record of what was in what packs) but not the ogres. If I can ever remember/reset my password, I'll stick them in LostMinis.

[Hobgoblin]

Those Celts are splendid - as are Kev's hill orcs!

I've ordered the hill orcs and am curious to see how they compare in size with the Bob Olley Ral Partha ogres. I acquired one of those yesterday, and it's hands down one of the nicest fantasy miniatures I own: understated yet bursting with character.

40+ yo fantasy ranges is a bit of niche thing in an already niche hobby apparently...

Maybe - but Reaper's current, very similar (though smaller and much more expensive) Bob Olley orcs seem to crop up all over the place, and these big fellows are every bit as good and much better value! And Olley's stuff seems to have a cult following of sorts.

There might be a comparison, too, with Nick Lund's orcs, which Mirliton and Forlorn Hope seem to sell a fair bit of, despite similar antiquity. At the very least, I'd have thought that having the designer's name front and centre would be a good idea; I can't be the only person to have googled "Bob Olley orcs" from time to time.

Would be great to see those photos!

[Bloggard]

Olley's a bit marmite for some folk I guess - and there's the obvious 'quality' improvement in his work over time.
Although even then a few of the now essex-vendored miniatures from his early days have a certain charm as far as I'm concerned.

But I do find the best of it to be wonderfully characterful, inimitable, and as good as it gets (to my taste) as with the hill orcs above (which I've certainly assumed are his work - and available from SHQ now).
Ral Partha Europe have a lot of his work in the fantasy armies they do - not just ogres / trolls etc. (at least I assume much of it is by Olley - the figures have his trademark style in various different ways).

As regards skill improving over time, it's interesting that such improvement is a 'thing' with what is an artistic ability as much as anything else. But then it is a craft too I suppose.

I did a search on Nick Bibby the other day, ironically after receiving an alternative armies flyer (they're re-releasing some 'iconic' miniatures he sculpted way back in the day), and, er... he's come on a bit, I think it's fair to say (he's now a fine-art, naturalistic sculptor).

[Eoin OCnaimhsi]

Apologies for poor picture quality.

First batch are the SHQ Urucks, they are WIP and unfinished. Some conversions.

Second batch are Alternative Armies Western Orcs. I have added my own weapons.

Third picture is a comparuson pic.

[DivisMal]

Pictures are more than sufficient. Thanks for posting them. I think SHQ will receive quite some orders in the coming days. Mine for sure!

[Eoin OCnaimhsi]

I've just now seen Dr Kevins previous post showcasing the SHQ Urucks in great detail, much better than my smart phone rushed pics!

They are fantastic miniatures. I was looking for similar miniatures to flesh out a full unit, so I got the AA Western Orcs to go with them. I also have Ral Parthas Orcs alongside them, which are of roughly compatible style, the "Gargantua" Orcs I think they are called. I wonder who sculpted them?

Dr Kevin or some other equally good painter should volunteer their painted miniatures for SHQ to include on their store page.

[nicknorthstar]

The Gargantua Orcz are definitely Bob Olley.

[Eoin OCnaimhsi]

I have had a proper read back through this whole thread. Very interesting.

Who did the SHQ Dwarves? The range as advertised is not fully available. Was their other elements of the Dwarf range which ended up sold off elsewhere I wonder?

Maybe I will just pick up some Crusader Dwarves to flesh out the ones I have!

[nicknorthstar]

Yeah, go Crusader Dwarves. 

As an aside, Chas Elliot made the Fantasy Warlord Elves, as we mentioned at the beginning of the thread, but straight after he made another Elf range which by many a circuitous route are now in the possession of North Star. I'm pretty sure he used the same heads 


We don't keep stock, we cast a load, put the moulds away and when they are sold out they remain so till we get the moulds out again. We should be casting them again late Spring.

[Fates Fickle Finger]

So do we know who sculpted the SHQ Elves?
FFF

[James Morris]

Absolutely fascinating thread - cheers Nick for the extended tales of the past!  As a teenager at the time getting my news from magazines, I had absolutely no clue about what was going on behind the scenes at various companies.  Didn’t realise that Bob Olley was going to do all the AA celts before walking out; tbh I love Andy Cooper’s more. 

[Dubbya]

So much good stuff in this thread!

Got to say, I can barely bring myself to buy from sotes that can't even show a photo of miniatures. I figure even the most computer/phone illiterate has a family member or friend who  could help.

The suggestion of adding sculptor's names so they come up in searches is a good idea.