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.
Showing posts with label CustomCast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CustomCast. Show all posts
Saturday, 11 November 2017
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.
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.
Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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.
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
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!
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).
Option 2: Custom Cast goblins. These are models from "Lesser Orcs of the Red Eye" from Custom Cast, dated 1975 (more info here).
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)?
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). |
 |
| Dwarves on the top level of the Ziggurat. |
Update: Thorgrimm Branedim found!
 |
| Citadel dwarf in my collection (C06 Dwarf Adventurers) |
 |
| Thorgrimm Branedimm |
 |
| Thorgrimm Branedimm, pre-slotta |
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. |
 |
| Old Custom Cast Lesser goblins |
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)?
Monday, 2 January 2017
Vintage Fantasy Figures (2)
Earlier I reported on a large amount of vintage scifi and fantasy figures I acquired (read here and here and here). I managed to identify some more miniatures. I apologize for the quality of the photographs (bad shadows and some perspective correction ...).
A first group are Chronicle figures, according to LostMinisWiki: "Chronicle Miniatures was owned by Nick Lund. In the mid-1980s it was bought by Citadel Miniatures. Nick Lund went to work at the Citadel Design Studio and Citadel continued to distribute the original Chronicle Miniatures under the Chronicle brand name but these were gradually replaced with new designs. When Nick Lund joined Grenadier Miniatures to form Grenadier Miniatures UK, the Chronicle brand ceased to exist."
It took me a while browsing through the collector sites (LostMinisWiki and CitadelCollectors) before I could find them, since the Chronicle range was not well known to me. Curiously, some figures came in multiples of 2,3 or 4 castings. Since I assume they all came from the same collector, it might be he/she bought mutiples, or perhaps they were sold as mutiples in blisters or bags?
From left to right, top to bottom:
A first group are Chronicle figures, according to LostMinisWiki: "Chronicle Miniatures was owned by Nick Lund. In the mid-1980s it was bought by Citadel Miniatures. Nick Lund went to work at the Citadel Design Studio and Citadel continued to distribute the original Chronicle Miniatures under the Chronicle brand name but these were gradually replaced with new designs. When Nick Lund joined Grenadier Miniatures to form Grenadier Miniatures UK, the Chronicle brand ceased to exist."
It took me a while browsing through the collector sites (LostMinisWiki and CitadelCollectors) before I could find them, since the Chronicle range was not well known to me. Curiously, some figures came in multiples of 2,3 or 4 castings. Since I assume they all came from the same collector, it might be he/she bought mutiples, or perhaps they were sold as mutiples in blisters or bags?
From left to right, top to bottom:
- CF3 Wizard
- CF4.v2 Illusionist with wand
- CF8 Ranger with sword, shield and bow
- CF9v1 Elf-Fighter Wizard
- CF10 Thief Backstabbing
- CF12 Assassin
- CF14 Hireling carrying pack and lantern
- CF15 Female Cleric
- CF17 Ninja
- CF19 Half Orc Adventurer with long axe and shield
- CF26 Gnome Fighter/Illusionist
- CF27 Halfling Adventurer
- CF29 Female Barbarian
- CF30 - Female Ranger
- CF32 Left-Handed Fighter
- CM14 Ghoul
- CT10 Evil Cleric
Another group I managed to identify are individual figures from old Citadel and Ral Partha ranges, and a Minifig and Custom Cast miniature that escaped my attention before.
From left to right, top to bottom:
- Citadel Dwarf Adventurers - Fighters (miniature 29 here)
- Citadel Fantasy Adventurers FA 30-1 Female Ranger (here)
- Citadel FTH Fantasy Tribe Hobgoblin (here)
- Citadel SAM12 Warrior Monk with Naginata (here), weapon missing.
- Ral Partha Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-16 Beowulf Nordic Hero (here)
- Ral Partha 1200 AD - Spanish Catalan Archer 42-165 (http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=1200_A.D.#Spanish)
- Ral Partha Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-13 Assassin (here)
- Minifigs ORC6 Orc Hurling Spear (here)
- Custom Cast - Fighter from 1057 The Companions (here) - obviously Boromir.
Sunday, 18 December 2016
Vintage fantasy figures
A wargaming friend of a wargaming friend was lucky enough to pick up a large number of vintage wargaming figures from the late seventies at a flea market. Since I'm always interested in acquiring "old stuff", I bought a number of fantasy and science fiction figures in bulk from him for a friendly price. I wasn't really aware of what was in the boxes, but that's part of the fun: trying to identity all those old figures, browsing through old catalogues and collector's websites.
A batch of SF figures was already identified in a previous post, so now it's time to take a closer look at some of the fantasy figures. Below are the (easier) ones I could identify so far.
Here's a batch of "Lesser Orcs of the Red Eye" from Custom Cast, dated 1975. The base actually says Custom Cast 1975 - so they are probably not later recasts by Heritage.
Next, there's a group of pre-slotta Citadel Goblins. More precisely, from the Fiend Factory range, and these are models FF20, FF22 and FF23. Various variants were made of these figures, but the Collecting Citadel Miniatures site was a great help in identifying these. These were later also part of the C13 Night Goblins range.
Last but not least, there's a group of Minifigs. These are:
A batch of SF figures was already identified in a previous post, so now it's time to take a closer look at some of the fantasy figures. Below are the (easier) ones I could identify so far.
Here's a batch of "Lesser Orcs of the Red Eye" from Custom Cast, dated 1975. The base actually says Custom Cast 1975 - so they are probably not later recasts by Heritage.
Next, there's a group of pre-slotta Citadel Goblins. More precisely, from the Fiend Factory range, and these are models FF20, FF22 and FF23. Various variants were made of these figures, but the Collecting Citadel Miniatures site was a great help in identifying these. These were later also part of the C13 Night Goblins range.
Last but not least, there's a group of Minifigs. These are:
- First 3 figures are Goblins from the Minifigs D&D range (GOB1, GOB2, GOB5).
- 4 "True Orc Archers" (Mythical Earth range, ME23)
- Hobgoblin marching with banner (HBG 11)
- 2 Hobgoblin Sergeatnt with military fork (damaged, HBG 1)
- Gnoll Chieftain w Broadaxe (GNL1)
- Knight of the Silver Rose (w Halberd, but damaged)
- Dark Ages (marking on base DA 44) - Viking Bondi
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