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

[DeafNala]

WONDERFUL STUFF! There are SO MANY old pieces from the days when I first was introduced to role playing & SO VERY NICELY PAINTED...the Ral Partha Illusionist was/is a favorite With D&D then AD&D, I was promised by my D.M that we'd only need a relatively few minis...20 years later I was still painting for The Group...I suppose that they're still hacking & slashing away somewhere or other.
Thanks for YET ANOTHER trip down Memory Lane.

[abhorsen950]

Again, absolutely superb work! Keep it up these miniatures are fantastic.

[Thantsants]

Great stuff - love the Dwarf Lord's knobbly knees - not a feature you often see on a dwarf mini! 

[Spooktalker]

Cheers, thanks guys!

Here are some wip shots of some new encounter groups:

Grenadier lizardmen WIP:

These are from Grenadier's official AD&D line, circa 1980. You can see a test fig where I'm working out the color scheme (classic "four-color" look).

Here are the four sculpts I had to work with:

I don't need everything about these old figs to be expertly sculpted, and neither do I mind some goofyness, but the boss guy's lance-thing and that tiny, awful sword had to go. You can also spot some other conversions I did in the first pic (two of which are still wip).

The weapon-curled-against-body problem and solution:

Back in the old days multi-piece miniatures were rare, and in order to get around the limitations of two-part molding Grenadier opted to cast several of their figures with the weapon bent to lie against the figure's body in an unnatural way. The left lizardmen illustrates the problem and the right the solution. I used a boxcutter to cut the axe away from the body and straighten it. Later I added a little greenstuff to smooth out the detail that was lost.

And getting some paint on the (Otherworld) bugbears. I avoided the temptation to build up the yellow from a rich orange-brown and am going for something dirtier and uglier. Lots of glazing.

[Mason]

Great to see your WIP.
The work that you are putting into these is most interesting to see.
I have not really worked on figures of this period in this way before. Back in those days it was just a case of getting paint on my figures.
Really appreciate the in depth approach to your work.

Those Bugbears are fantastic. Such character.
Will be watching eagerly, awaiting the final outcome.

Superb!

[abhorsen950]

Truly jealous of your miniature collection and those who get to game with it! Splendid work as ever! I'm watching this thread.

[DeafNala]

The Bug Bears are VERY COOL looking minis...nice paint job in progress.

[mweaver]

Wow!  Outstanding paintjobs on those old classic figures.  You really inspire me to dig out some of our neglected-for-decades early-Grenadier to see what I can do with them.

Otherworld is doing an excellent job producing striking sculpts that capture that old AD&D Monster Manual feel.

-Michael

[Spooktalker]

Many thanks--glad you guys are liking these! Have a bunch more paint on the lizardmen now but I need to snap a pic.

Great to see your WIP.
The work that you are putting into these is most interesting to see.
I have not really worked on figures of this period in this way before. Back in those days it was just a case of getting paint on my figures.
...
Will be watching eagerly, awaiting the final outcome.

Thanks Mason! This is the first time I've gone this far back myself--that is to say these are from before my time. I had a couple Grenadier figs in the late 80's but didn't start painting until around 1990, and then it was almost all GW or GW-inspired. I certainly still love my GW figs but there is a particular experience in tracking down and assembling groups of these really old ones (including a Citadel from before GW-style in this group).

As for the final outcome... I probably have a twenty-year backlog and that will only keep growing unless I can curb my ebay habit.   For better or worse though I am pretty dedicated once I set my mind to something.  

Wow!  Outstanding paintjobs on those old classic figures.  You really inspire me to dig out some of our neglected-for-decades early-Grenadier to see what I can do with them.

Otherworld is doing an excellent job producing striking sculpts that capture that old AD&D Monster Manual feel.

-Michael

Great to hear and you should get them out--I'll look out for a thread about them! Yeah, no kidding about Otherworld. Some are a little too big for my 25mm collection but others are a perfect fit, and when that happens I can't help but grab them up.


Here are a few more that I just put up on the blog as well:



Manufacturer: Grenadier
Line: Official AD&D "Solid Gold" Line
Set: Halflings
Catalog #: 2002D
Title: Swordsman
Release date: 1980
Sculptor: Andrew Chernak
Date painted: 2009

A Grenadier Solid Gold line Lamia in gold lamé:






Grenadier Lamia
Manufacturer: Grenadier
Line: Official AD&D "Solid Gold" line
Set: Tomb of Spells
Catalog title: Lamia
Catalog #: 5004N
Release date: 1980
Date painted: 2009

[Thantsants]

Lovely tones on both and loads of character in the faces - nice one!

[manic _miner]

 Very good painting.Never seen these two miniatures before.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Beautiful minis and painting, good to see someone giving some shiny to the oldies.

[paulvonscott]

The mushmen are horrible AND great!

Some lovely figures there, they have a real charm to them.

[Delaney]

Whats your recipe for bases?  I love the subtle complementary colors on them

Keep them coming!

[DonVoss]

Some great painting...

I really like the halfling...

Like to see more.

DV