Grenadier 51016 Undead Troll

An old figure from the 90s - the Grenadier Undead Troll.

I tried Citadel contrast paints again on this model. The body, loincloth and hair are all done with a single coat of contrast paint. Details were later added with normal paints. I must say I really start to like contrast paints.

Photographs below without and with flash, and taken with my smartphone.

Undead Samurai

A couple of quickly painted Undead Samurai ...

I have these figures probably since the late 80s. They are Citadel Miniatures, and according to solegends.com and Collecting Citadel Miniatures, first appeared in the C18 range in June 1985. There are two other figures here (1st and 3rd from the right), that did not belong to this range.

According to the original names from the C18 range: Bo, Tu, Ne, Jin, Ig, Bek, Yo, ?, Jin, ?

Original catalogue image (June 1985 Flyer):

Oldhammer: The Nightmare Legion, Addendum

In my post about the Nightmare Legion, I had doubts whether the standard bearer was part of the boxed set sold as The Nightmare Legion during the late eighties.

Looking through the 1988/1989 catalogues on solegends.com, gave the answer. I went to the cabinet in which I keep my old undead miniatures, and indeed, I did find the standard bearer that is part of the legion. I must have painted him many years ago, and for some reason, another standard bearer ended up in the small box in which I keep my unpainted undead miniatures.

On the right you see the standard bearer I painted up a few days ago, and which I tought was part of the set. However, on the relevant catalogue pages, he is listed a a general figure under the "Skeleton Command" range. The figure on the left is part of the Nightmare Legion. Apparantly the banners are cardboard, so I assume I cut them out from the box in which the miniatures were originally sold.

For reference, here's the original boxcover in which the Nightmare Legion was originally sold:

And as another addition, I also painted up 3 Games Workshop Spirit Host miniatures (available around 2004 and later?) I had still lying around:

Oldhammer: The Nightmare Legion

I'm still in "the painting zone". Painting goes rather quickly these days, and my morale tests for actually starting to paint keep succeeding.

The next finished unit from my stack of unpainted lead is the Warhammer Nightmare Legion. I probably bought this somewhere around 89-90-91, when I was still in my Warhammer crazy days.

The Nightmare Legion was a set once sold under the banner of "Regiments of the Renown". These were a number of units specifically sold for Warhammer, and which included a number of rank-and-file troopers, but also the the command figures (a banner, musician, leader and champion).See some excellent posts (part 1 and part2) on the Realm of Chaos blog about the history of this range.

This unit will prove to be a good addition to my Undead Oldhammer army.

 

Note:The drummer was painted a couple of years ago, so he looks a little bit different compared to rest of the unit. I am also in doubt whether this particular standard bearer was part of the legion - at least not based on the numerous photographs to be found on the net. Throughout the years, my collection of unpainted lead has been mixed up quite a few times, hence the confusion.

Addendum: http://snv-ttm.blogspot.be/2015/01/oldhammer-nightmare-legion-addendum.html

Old Undead (2)

In an earlier post, I reported on the old undead figures from Grenadier that I acquired. Now they are painted. I had to replace one arm from a figure, for which I used an old skeleton arm holding a spear from the old Skeleton Army boxed set from Citadel. I toyed with the idea of constructing a dart thrower from balsa wood, since two figures apparently were crew members, but decided against it in the end.

Anyway, below you see the result. Picture taken with iPad.

Some more undead ...

Working through my pile of old fantasy armies, today I finished a 5 undead. These are 5 figures, from the Grenadier Fantasy Warrior range, set 51001, and sculpted by Bob Naismith (see Genadier's 1991 Catalogue).

Quick paintjob (<1 hour), picture by iPad.

Oldhammer: Armoured Skeletons

For the past couple of years, I am slowly working through my pile of unpainted lead. And I am making progress. The net influx of new unpainted figures has been lower than the output of painted figures, so there's hope!

Anyway, with my interest in Oldhammer lately, I have been working on undeads that were acquired late eighties, early nineties. Finished today are a couple of skeletons. The problem with painting such old figures is that a large part of my undead figures were painted more than 20 years ago. I try to match the painting style I had back then, but that's not always easy. The skeletons below were all bought in blisters (except for a few crew figures from the Skeleton Chariot), labeled as "Armoured Skeletons", if I remember correctly.

Anyway, here are the pictures (shot with my iPad) ...

The first 8 skeletons are listed in the 1991 Citadel catalogue (the one I use the most frequent as a reference, since most of my Citadel miniatures were acquired back then - see pages on Skeletons), from left to right:

1. Axe 1
2. Axe 9
3. Halberd 5
4. Mace 2
5. Axe 7
6. Axe 5
7. Screamer from the Skeleton War Machines set
8. Scythe 8

And here's a second batch:

From left to right:

1. Halberd 2
2. Hellblade from the Skeleton War Machines set
3. Axe 4
4. Axe 1
5. Reaper from the Skeleton War Machines set
6. Hammer. This is an interesting figure, because it has a cast shield (not a plastic add-on one), and is listed as a Chaos Warrior in the 1988 catalogue. I couldn't find an earlier reference for this figure so far. I also don;t remember whether he came in a Chaos Warrior blister, because I also have quite a few of them lying around.
7. Halberd 5
8. Scythe 5

Old Undead

I have a soft spot for old wargaming miniatures, and although I am not a hardcore collector, I am always on the lookout for acquiring some models that look interesting.

Shown below are some undead that were offered for sale for 12 euro in the local gameshop. I didn't recognize them at first, but when I saw them, I figured they must be old Ral Partha or Grenadier. Anyway, 12 euro seemed like a good deal, so I bought them.

After some research (and resource like dndlead.com and solegends.com and Lost Minis Wiki are very handy for identifying old fantasy miniatures), I finally managed to identify them.

Apparently, they are all skeletons from Grenadier - and I could all find them in the 1987 Grenadier catalogue.

A couple of figures are part of the set 6002 Skeleton Raiders of the Undead: the lord carried on a battleshield (1), the crossbowman (2), standardbearer (5), drummer (8), and the figure carrying a sword and shield (6).

Two other figures (4 and 7) are from set 2019 ("Royal Guardsmen of the Undead Legion"), also featuring undead skeletons. The figure missing an arm (4) should have a standard there. I will probably repair him using a plastic arm from the Citadel Skeleton Army set, and perhaps provide him with a shield as well. Actually, it makes sense his missing arm is carrying a banner, since he had his sword in his left hand. Normally, one would expect a weapon in the right hand, and a shield in the left.

The two remaining figures (3 and 9) are part of set 130 ("Dart thrower and undead crew"), and apparantly are two crewmembers of a ballista, which is also missing.

All figures are very fragile, so might need some care to (re)paint them, provide the missing arm, and perhaps fill in the warmachine.

The 1991 catalogue only lists the 6002 set - the other figures are not listed. By then, it seems Grenadier has upgraded some of its fantasy figures, and some of the skeletons listed in the 1991 catalogue have a more sturdy look compared to the skeletons above.

Since they were offered for sale as a group, they clearly must have belonged to someone who had bought at least 3 different sets of figures, all skeletons. Since a war machine was part of the mix, this might well have been with the purpose of building an army, rather than having a few figures for roleplaying.

Finds like this always make me nostalgic about the old days! :-)

Oldhammer: Undead

When re-organizing some of my drawers full of miniatures, I decided to take a few pictures of one of my old Warhammer Armies. The undead below are mostly Citadel figures from the late eighties, early nineties. A few more recent figures snuck in, and here and there there might be an old Grenadier or Reaper figure, or some other figures of unknown make. The pictures are not of the best quality, my apologies.

Some figures are painted suboptimal to my current standards, being painted over 20 years ago. However, I never repaint any of my figures. I think they are a testimony to my painting and playing style from long ago, and as long as I have unpainted lead, I see no point in repainting already painted ones.

Overview of the entire army.

Plastic skeleton archers; the undead war catapult in the background; the plague cart on the left, accompanied by some undead riders. In the foreground some night horrors: spectres, a vampire, and a ghost with his head under his arm.

More plastc skeletons. Plague cart visible on the left, chariot on the right.

Skeleton cavalry. Note the use of cardboard flags, something I would definitely do different today. On the left an undead rider is mounted on a staggering horse. I used this figure quite often as commander for the entire army. The mounted figure bottom-left is from Reaper, one of the four horseman of the apocalypse.

More plastic skeletons. Note also the Death Elemental in front, as well as the wraith riders in the back.

Some mummies - the only unit mostly consisting of non-Citadel figures. I remember mummies were hard to find, so I used some Heroquest mummies instead. Both leader figures (skeleton monkey and Pharaoh) are non-Citadel.