Lesser Orcs of the Red Eye

As part of our Crisis 2017 game, we painted up vintage fantasy figures that were around when Warhammer 1st edition was published (1983).

We showed some Minifigs Forest Orcs before, but didn't show these "Lesser Orcs of the Red Eye" yet. They were originally released by Custom Cast in 1975, and later by Der Kriegspielers.

Game for Crisis 2017: Oldhammer WFB1 scenario, Ziggurat of Doom (7)

Finally, we ran our Oldhammer 1st edition game at CRISIS. The raw photographs are shown below.

We followed the original scenario "The Ziggurat of Doom" quite literally, although each side rolled a D6 at the start of the turn for reinforcements. A natural 6 resulted in an additional monster, by drawing a card from the deck. This was a gimmick to bring out some of the old monster miniatures, but was quite fun.A Balrog could also appear from the depths of the Ziggurat, ending the game immediately.

Overall, the game ran pretty smooth, although we were a bit surprised by how clunky some of the mechanics are compared to modern tastes. E.g. at the start of of every turn, we had to roll for stupidity of troops, roll for Jabberwock effects, roll for going into or out of Frenzy, etc. It was all very entertaining though.

The best part of the game was that many older gamers passed by, and started chatting about the "good old days of fantasy wargaming" and "games were so much better when we were young". Although this is nostalgia at work (and one tends to forget all the boring games we had back then as well), it is exactly one of the effects a game such as this is aiming for.

We also had some younger players passing by asking how this is different from 8th edition and Age of Sigmar. To which my non-informed answer invariably was: It's still the same set of rules! :-)

The pictures - all taken with my iPad:

General overview of the table.

... another general overview.

Thorgrimm Branedimm is defending the gate to the Ziggurat.

A few of the quick referene cards, to facilitate looking up statistics.

The vintage miniatures drew the most attention. We tried to have miniatures that were all pre-1983 (and thus would have been available when Warhammer was first published), but a few dated from the mid-80s.

The origin of each miniature was also listed on its reference card. The Treeman is scratch-built (see earlier blogposts ...)

Although I brought only a small collection of my Oldhammer monsters, I aimed for the most iconic ones that would be recognized by most veteran gamers.

Guthnog Bristlenose charging in a Frenzied mode Sigrud Slendershank, one of the Dwarf defenders.

One of the random reinforcements, a Jabberwock, came to aid the goblins, We found out during the game that under the original rules, a Jabberwock is invincible.

Goblins storming th Ziggurat. The dwarf player could choose the direction from which the goblins entered, so he choose the side where the Ziggurat had no stairs ...

A giant eagle lurking in the woods.

More action around the Ziggurat.

Guthnog Bristlenose fighting with Thorgrimm Branedimm on the first level of the Ziggurat. This run of the game ended after Guthnog was slain.

Game for Crisis 2017: Oldhammer WFB1 scenario, Ziggurat of Doom (6)

The summary cards for the Dwarves in the Ziggurat of Doom scenario ...

Game for Crisis 2017: Oldhammer WFB1 scenario, Ziggurat of Doom (5)

As part of the "Ziggurat of Doom" scenario during CRISIS 2017, my plan is to pimp the scenario a bit and allow for the appearance of random monsters, which can align to either side. I selected a few of my 80s-era miniatures, which also have entries in the WFB1 rulebook.

The cards listing the statistics, and which will be used during the game, are shown below.

Game for Crisis 2017: Oldhammer WFB1 scenario, Ziggurat of Doom (4)

In preparation of our Crisis 2017 game (a replay of the scenario "The Ziggurat of Doom"'using Warhammer 1st edition rules), I decided to make some cards as a quick reference to the various statistics of troops involved. SInce the whole idea is also to use vintage miniatures, a photograph and some info of each of the miniatures is included on the cards as well.

Below you see the cards for the Goblins that will attack the Ziggurat.

Game for Crisis 2017: Oldhammer WFB1 scenario, Ziggurat of Doom (3)

A few more paintjobs have been finished for our CRISIS 2017 game.

The idea still is to play the Ziggurat of Doom scenario from Warhammer 1st edition, using vintage miniatures that were available during the early eighties, and could have been used to play the scenario when Warhammer 1st edition was published in 1983 or shortly thereafter.

Earlier, I already reported on 12 Minifigs Forest Orcs that were finished.

Fellow wargamer Wim VdB (check out his blog) has now finished the dwarves (including Thorgrimm Branedimm), and some goblins and orcs.

First, we have the dwarves:. These are pre-slotta Citadel, and you can see the Thorgrimm Branedimm model as well.

 Next we have Chronicle Orcs:

And finally Ral Partha Orcs:

Minifigs Forest Orcs

My first batch of Minigis Forest Orcs, for our upcoming CRISIS game, is finished. The idea is still to run the Ziggurat of Doom scenario from WFB1, using WFB1 rules and vintage fantasy miniatures.

I have painted them in an early 80s painting style, which really is an excuse for my below-par painting skills.

Game for Crisis 2017: Oldhammer WFB1 scenario, Ziggurat of Doom (2)

A little follow-up on the previous post about our upcoming Ziggurat of Doom convention game.

One of my wargaming buddies reported he did find an original Thorgrimm Branedimm figure in his collection. How cool is that?

Here's the picture - a pre-slotta original  Thorgrimm Branedimm. So, we will probably have an original Thogrimm Branedimm at Crisis.

I also noticed Stuff of Legends has some more images of this renowned dwarven figure.

Game for Crisis 2017: Oldhammer WFB1 scenario, Ziggurat of Doom

We have decided what our game will be for Crisis 2017. We will run the Ziggurat of Doom scenario from the first edition of Warhammer, using vintage fantasy figures that could have been used in 1983, when Warhammer was first published.

Scenario

The scenario is pretty straightforward. A large Ziggurat is defended by 6 dwarfs, who have to hold out against an attack by goblins, 6D6 in total. The Ziggurat is located in an open plain, surrounded by forest. The scenario was also slightly modified and published in White Dwarf 340, for the 25th anniversary of Warhammer.

Scenery

Luckily, I already have a big model for the Ziggurat, made for me in mid-90s, and which was based on exactly this scenario. The model has been used in various games before, but it is still an impressive model that should draw some spectators.

A first mock-up of what the table could look like is shown here. The table at CRISIS will probably be somewhat larger.

We might still add smaller scenery elements such as lichen, rocks, and various other little bits and bobs.

Figures

This is the hardest part. The idea is to use vintage fantasy figures that were around at the time of publication of Warhammer 1st edition, so the figures must be from 1983 or earlier.

First, the dwarfs. I have a couple of old Ral Partha Dwarfs from their Fantasy Collectors range. These show up in the Ral Partha catalogues as far back as 1979, so that's vintage enough.

Ral Partha dwarves from the late seventies (Fantasy Collectors, 02-03x).

Below you see some of these dwarf models on the Ziggurat. They seem rather smallish (more on that later), but I will still base them on a slottabase, so their height will increase somewhat

Dwarves on the top level of the Ziggurat.

The leader of the dwarfs is Thorgrimm Branedimm. This was a promotional figure which you could only get by using a voucher in the first edition of the Warhammer rulebook, and I guess it's quite costly to find one now. However, I have another old Citadel dwarven figure, and he looks in pose very similar to Thorgrimm Branedimm. Perhaps a little conversion might do the trick.
Update: Thorgrimm Branedim found!

Citadel dwarf in my collection (C06 Dwarf Adventurers)

Thorgrimm Branedimm

Thorgrimm Branedimm, pre-slotta

As for the goblins, I have three options. For each group, I have roughly 20-30 figures, which should be enough to populate the goblin army as per the original scenario.

Option 1: Citadel goblins. These are figures from the Fiend Factory range, and these are models FF20, FF22 and FF23. These were later also part of the C13 Night Goblins range (see also here).

Old pre-slotta Citadel goblins.

Option 2: Custom Cast goblins. These are models from "Lesser Orcs of the Red Eye" from Custom Cast, dated 1975 (more info here).

Old Custom Cast Lesser goblins

Option 3: Valley of the Four Winds Orcs.These are "Forest Orcs", once published by Minifigs, and go back to 1978.

Option 4: mix and match of any of the above ...

In any case, the relative size of the figures is also important. Below you see all figures at the foot of the Ziggurat.

From left to right: Custom Cast goblins; Ral Partha dwarves; Citadel goblins; Minifigs orcs; and for comparison, 2 later Citadel miniatures (fighter and dwarf). Note that all these miniatures are listed as "25mm". Scale creep visualized!

Rules

WFB1 rules as closely as possible. The idea is to summarize all relevant rules on a single sheet, leaving out all the rules that are not needed for this specific scenario or troop types.

No unit formations are necessary, this scenario is obviously meant to be played using individual figures. Sometimes we forget that this was a mode of playing that was still very much present in WFB1.

Pimping the scenario

We might "pimp" the scenario by using more vintage Citadel figures, especially monsters that might appear out of the woods using random event cards or something similar. Maybe my scratch-built treeman can make an appearance? Or some of the other Oldhammer monsters (see here, here, or here)?

Embryonal brainstorm for Crisis 2017

Crisis 2017 is only 6 months away, so we better start brainstorming about game the game we are going to run.

An initial effort of putting the brainjuices to work came up with the following 2 ideas:

1. Run a Shambattle game, using the 1929 rules and vintage flat metal soldiers.

2. Surf the Oldhammer wave, and run the Ziggurat of Doom scenario from WFB1, using vintage figures from the 80s.

We still have 5 months to think about it, then scramble everything together in the remaining 4 weeks.