Old school D&D - August 25 - Pig-face Orc Shaman

[Funghy-Fipps]

More excellence.  I especially like the Rust Monster.

[DeafNala]

Both minis are COOL & VERY WELL DONE, but I really like the eyes on the Rust Monster...he looks ticked off.

[Mason]

Another two really smart paintjobs, Spooktalker!

It would almost be criminal to slay that Rust Monster, he ALMOST looks cute with that expression on its face!

Some very nice metallics on the Dwarf too!

[Braxandur]

  very very nice

I could almost see the look of horror on the face of the knight, when he found out who his opponent was/is.

Your painting style really shows that the old miniatures are often still priceless gems, that just need some polishing

[Spooktalker]

Big thanks for the comments and encouragement all! There are many dozens more I need to get up on the web to justify their existence.

It's funny, I know sculpts are technically far better now but I love seeing the old-school minis painted up and I think on the whole I do prefer them. Great thread and great paintjobs - thanks for your efforts.

That said, one exception might be Otherworld  Miniatures, your WIP shot of some of their Bugbears a few pages back has inspired me to make another purchase from them.

Cheers and thanks! I'm tempted to start scheming up another Otherworld order myself and pick up a voucher in the meantime while the going is good. Gotta ask, though, how is it you know figures are technically better these days? I just ask because I hear it so often even from the best fans of old school around and I don't really follow.

I was going to post this anyway, but... one of these figs is 35 years old and the others, Otherworld hotness (and click through for huge size on flickr):



<soapbox>As I see it the myth of progress has been dispelled pretty much everywhere except the tabletop. I would argue there have always been figs born of a talented hand released right alongside cack-handed ones. And likewise there just as many figs today that are artless but endearing as before, and ones that are technically good but sterile, again just as many then as now. And figs of zero merit both then and now.

The frost giant above is from the teenage hand of Tom Meier, and I'm setting it next to the work of one of the top sculptors in our little industry from his polished, veteran years. You could say Meier is the outlier, but other examples spring to mind. Ray Lamb of Superior for instance. Put an armored knight of his next to a Reaper fig and the latter looks like a child made it. And sculptors these days have the crutches of better molding and sculpting technology and working in a scale of fig that is literally twice the size (mass) if not more.

On the flip side you can point to an old company like Castle Creations or the Dungeon Dwellers line or Archive and there's no denying they are crude and their charm is a matter of taste. The appeal is a kind of loud and loose exuberance. They aren't an early expression of the hobby that died out at some point, though. There are companies like this throughout the years up until today, just like there are always people wanting to jump fully into something before they have the skills to fully hack it.  In the nineties you had Grim Reaper, Enigma, and Fenryll. Ramshackle seems to fit the description today.

Sometimes you have someone whose skills are a little crude to begin but after a few years they become great. Andrew Chernak is a key example. Ed (I think?) from Troll Forged. Some guys just rock out the whole time doing their thing in the same way, like Nick Lund in the eighties. Some guys just get looser and, er, more "charming" over the years, like Bob Naismith.

And today more than ever you see this immense gulf between the art house micro brew stuff: pit the Smog figs against companies like, well, like Foundry. Like this:
http://www.foundryfantasy.com/coming_soon/?utm_source=Foundry+Miniatures+Ltd+List&utm_campaign=a30ddcac18-COMING_SOON_FROM_FOUNDRY_1_26_2012&utm_medium=email
People say they look like they are from twenty years ago as a pejorative, but I assure you figs have never been as bad as this until right this second. 

</soapbox>


Love all three of those giants above, btw, all three some of my favorites of all time. The stone giant might be my favorite OW fig. Man I'd love to have more poses of giants. Even if they were just conversions of these. I'm tempted to offer my service at the task.

It would almost be criminal to slay that Rust Monster, he ALMOST looks cute with that expression on its face!

  I admit cute was a goal. Gotta watch out for the cute ones.

[Braxandur]

I completly agree

I'd even dare to say that some people mistake overly cluttered with unnecessary detail as an improvement, while I'd say that the less you put on a model, the more imporant it is that the sculpt is good.

Technically, I would say there are improvements. especially if you look as what the plastic industry, especially GW can do. The way a lot of plastics consisting of multiple components are put together nowadays defenitly offers way more options for dratic poses,  This however imho does not immediately say anything about the quality of the sculpt.

[Spooktalker]

I completly agree

I'd even dare to say that some people mistake overly cluttered with unnecessary detail as an improvement, while I'd say that the less you put on a model, the more imporant it is that the sculpt is good.

Technically, I would say there are improvements. especially if you look as what the plastic industry, especially GW can do. The way a lot of plastics consisting of multiple components are put together nowadays defenitly offers way more options for dratic poses,  This however imho does not immediately say anything about the quality of the sculpt.

Cheers Braxandur ! I agree about technical improvements. Smart Max again, those guys and others really push the bar in many ways, and hobbyists are doing fantastic, innovative things with the new breed of plastic figs. Also, yes about the merit of an elegant figure. Kev White is the perfect example. Minimal, but everything there is just right and that's really hard to do. I'm paraphrasing a friend of mine here who was struggling sculpting the leg and foot. He put some tchotchkes on the boot and suddenly it looked great, and that experience made him appreciate Kev White and the like all the more.

[Spooktalker]

Ok, big update today. Going to flood you with pics of goblins.

And for those interested, lots of commentary on this blog post .








Scale shot for you:


Showing their beady eyes and evil grins:


Metadata for the lead heads among us:

The command group of three are from a blister pack:

Manufacturer: Grenadier
Line: Dragon Lords
Sub-line: Second Series
Catalog title: Goblin Command Group
Catalog #: 022
Release date: 1987 or 88
Sculptor: William Watt
Date painted: 2010

The three w/ shields below them are also from a blister:

Manufacturer: Grenadier
Line: Dragon Lords
Sub-line: Second Series
Catalog title: Goblin Warriors
Catalog #: 042
Release date: 1987 or 88
Sculptor: William Watt
Date painted: 2010

And the ten following are from a boxed set:

Manufacturer: Grenadier
Line: Dragon Lords
Sub-line: Battle Lords Fantasy Armies
Set: Goblins, Army of the Blood Forest
Catalog #: 1604
Release date: 1988
Sculptor: William Watt
Date painted: 2010

[Mason]

 

WOW!

Character, character and even more character!
 

Really glad you put up all the pics of the faces together.
They look bloody amazing!

[Spooktalker]

Many thanks Mason!

The command group:

[Spooktalker]

The warriors blister pack:














(am very pleased w/ the shield design I did up for this guy)

[Spooktalker]

box set:

[Spooktalker]

pt 2















(stabbin' faces  )

[Admiral Benbow]

Simply superb painting! Old metal never looked so good ...
 

[Prof.Witchheimer]

So lovely. I could look at them again and again. A true discovery of old lead. Thanks, Spooktalker!