12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #12

Day 12 and I feel it’s time to bring this modelling challenge to an end by writing about an overlooked part of my hobby, reading and research.

For me I rarely build a model or paint a miniature without some sort of reading, or search for inspiration, or in some cases, in-depth research into the subject area. This takes up hobby time, but currently has no obvious direct physical result. A completed model is a completed model, and the depth of research, and the time taken, is not obvious at first glance. I have estimated that with my models I spent an equal amount of time researching a topic as I actually do working on the model itself.

I’m very much a person who likes reading and then, due to my creative, hands-on nature, I explore those topics via my modelling. It’s important to take this journey, it helps build connection between the concepts and information I read and the, physical, real world object I create in my hands. There’s also the issue of accuracy. I get a sense of achievement by producing an accurate model. Again this is personal to me, as I’m not the kind of person who would take time to comment on the inaccuracies of the work of others, only my own work.


It’s slightly different when it comes to the miniatures I paint. In this case I’m trying to create a physical representation that fits a theme. An example of this is when I paint models for Warhammer and I’m trying to aim for miniatures which fit a certain era of the Warhammer world, both the fictional world and a point in time of the real world, something I have written about before.

This reading and research gives me time to engage with my hobby when I’m not sat at my desk working on the models themselves. Usually this is time during the week as I tend to only have time for actual modelling at the weekends. But until now it’s not really been reflected on this blog. When I’m not modelling it appears that I’m just inactive, which is far from the case. And so that’s why I’ve decided, going forward, to share my research here, as I get as much enjoyment from writing about models, history, my inspirations and interpretations as I do from actually building them.

In the coming weeks and months you will see two types of new posts, they will be called, History in Detail and Inspiration in Detail (and will be labelled as such to assist searching). History will typically focus on the real life historical aspects of a model I’m building. This might be a look at the type of aircraft I’m building, the pilot who flew the aircraft or broader themes such as the campaigns in which an aircraft or vehicle took part in. Inspiration will be more geared (but not exclusively) towards my miniatures projects. In this case it will look towards the literature, games etc. which influence the miniature that I’m creating or helped shape my interest in that topic in the first place.

April the 1st Comes Early?

Of all the strange things that have been happening as of late, here’s another. Yesterday it emerged that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), in the UK, had written to the Games Workshop CEO, Kevin Rountree, asking that the miniature war-gaming brand ban 'fur' garments from all Warhammer characters.[1] They go on to claim “while we appreciate that they are fictional, draping them in what looks like a replica of a dead animal sends the message that wearing fur is acceptable – when, in fact, it has no more place in 2017 than it would in the year 40,000.”[2]

This is not satire.
Source: PETA

Before I continue I should point out my personal stance on animal rights issues. I believe animals should not be treated as commodities or exploited. I live in vegan household and the majority of the time I follow a vegan lifestyle (and when I’m not, I’m vegetarian). I believe that conversations need to be had about our relationship with the other species that we share a planet with. I also believe ill thought out actions and attention seeking publicity stunts by people like PETA benefit only PETA and undermine the serious and hard work people are doing to raise awareness and promote active change.

So back to Warhammer 40K. I have no intention of getting deeply into the lore, as I've been out of the loop for some time. I'm more Quorn than Khorne these days but even so, I’m pretty sure there isn't any active promotion of the exploitation of animals within the game worlds of the Games Workshop. To be honest what they’re targeting exactly seems a bit of a muddled mess. Are beast races in fantasy setting included or indeed the fantasy setting as a whole? What about historical miniatures made by other companies?

And then there’s the target audience of the Games Workshop. Are they more likely to wear fur or condone the wearing of fur after seeing these miniatures? I would say not, the war gaming audience doesn’t exactly strike me as big wearers of fur. I’d like to see some genuine, actual research, from PETA along such lines. Do plastic figures dressed in fur make people less compassionate towards animals? If such research took place and showed a link, then I’d be prepared to listen (and write a retraction to this whole post).

In the midst of all this PETA miss some genuine issues which they could have picked up on. As I mentioned before, things get missed in clamour for attention. Such as, animal products within items like paintbrushes, or the environmental impact of microbeads in textured paints and the plastic production itself. These are issues and criticisms which could have been legitimately raised to the Games Workshop but now will mostly likely be missed in the ridicule which is sure to follow this empty gesture.

And just so I'm not completely hating on them, their recipes section is pretty good, do go check that out.


References

 1. PETA UK (2017) PETA Asks Games Workshop to Ban 'Fur' from Warhammer Characters. [Online] Available from: PETA UK [Accessed 31 January 2017]

 2. PETA UK (2017) Why is PETA Asking Games Workshop to Make Warhammer Fur-Free? [Online] Available from: PETA UK [Accessed 31 January 2017]

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Days #10 & #11

The last couple have days have seen me start one of the planned models on my 2017 wish list. The model is the Airfix 1:72 Bf 109E-7/Trop. I’ve had this model for some time, I picked up it last summer for just £2.99 before it was discontinued by Airfix.

I initially thought it was an older boxing and so had decided to sell it as I wanted to purchase and build the newer Bf 109E-4 kit, a kit which I’d owned and started before then destroying with a bit of overzealous conversion work. It was only after a quick look on the scalemates website that I realised the discontinued Bf 109E-7/Trop kit was actually exactly the same kit with an extra sprue for the external fuel tank and bomb load of the later variant. Presumably the similarities were the reason why it’s been discontinued as Airfix seem to be consolidating their range and getting rid of any duplicates.

So I’ve been here before, construction has started with the cockpit, I’ve even managed to salvage the instrument panel from my previous attempt. I won’t be using any of the other interior photo-etch as this cockpit will be occupied and the model will be portrayed in flight.

As for the colour scheme, I’m going to opt for the lesser known Bulgarian scheme, in the markings of an aircraft flown by Bulgaria’s highest scoring pilot, Stoyan Iliev Stoyanov. I’ve recently been reading about smaller WWII air forces and pilots, particularly those from the Balkans, and so this fits in nicely with my research.

Bf 109E-7 - Bulgarian Air Force - 1942
Source: Airfix

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #9

Day 9 and a book recommendation! It was time to continue with the Airfix 1:72 Typhoon. The topsides had been washed with Flory Models Dark wash, mixed with the grey wash, a slightly darker mix than I’d used for the undersides. It took a few hours of meticulous cleaning before I got it to a point in which I was happy with it.


The undersides I’m really happy with, I’ve not gone for heavily washed panel lines, rather a slightly weathered and dirty finish that you’d expect a used combat aircraft to have. Topsides, I honestly think there’s little you can do here, mostly just adding a tiny bit of contrast to the grey areas but again, trying to make sure it doesn’t look overdone.

I was about to seal it all in with a flat coat, but then, searching through my bookshelves (in an un-related clear-out) I found I book which I’d forgotten about, Osprey’s Painting and Finishing Techniques by Gary Edmundson. I’ve spent so long looking for articles on the internet that I forgot I have everything I need right here!

After a brief introduction to some fundamentals, the kits used in the book, paints and the tools used, it works through the various stages of painting and finishing. Focusing primarily on 3 model aircraft, (plus a couple vehicles and a small piece on figure painting towards the end) it works all the way through step by step, painting shading, camouflage, weathering, dirt, panel lines and more. Most of paints used are Tamiya, and there’s a preference towards using oil paints for panel lines and weathering, rather than clay washes etc. but it is well explained with plenty of photographs for each stage.

The 3 aircraft are a WWI Albatross, a Bristol Beaufighter and fortunately, a Hawker Typhoon. After reading this it’s finally persuaded me to try using oil paints, so my Typhoon build will be taking a little more time to complete.

For me has been an extremely useful (re)discovery which I’d highly recommend. So much so I’ve included a link below should you wish to purchase it yourself. As I said, I’d forgotten what it was like to have all the information in one place, easily to hand. I think there’s a tendency for us, when using the internet, to pick up little bits here and there a lose sight of the complete process of painting and weathering a model from start to finish. Having said that I think book can allow you to pick and choose what to try so, in my opinion, it is book suited to all skill levels.

In the next few days I’ll pick up some oil paints, and with any hope, I’ll have some good daylight (which I think is essential for this stage of finishing a model) and I’ll show you how I got on.

Purchase:
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12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #8

Day 8 and I’ve actually reached the end of the time I’d set aside for this modelling challenge, mostly due to what’s becoming a Christmas tradition, a dose of man flu. I’m going to extend the challenge through the rest of the month although it’ll be strictly weekend endeavours for the rest of the month.

I wasn’t feeling like airbrushing, as coughing and sneezing tend to upset precision painting, so I thought I’d sit down and chop up some plastic. After completing my test Empire miniature I set about raiding my bits box with the intention of creating a few figures for a Mordheim war band.

As I’d previously mentioned the Empire State troops are somewhat limited in poses, or more accurately, pose, as there’s only one. The Empire Archers set, mixed with a few different sets of Empire arms, however offer much more flexibility and as I want to paint up a wealthy band of Marienburg Mercenaries the long, expensive, coat look fits very nicely with the theme. These guys are going to be better dressed swords for hire, a cut above your average militiaman.

I really like to spend time testing poses and trying to make the figures look dynamic. This set, of which I had a nearly complete box of, offers plenty of opportunity to create such figures. After an hour or so of test fitting this is what I have, heads will be added later once I get more of a feel for the each figure.

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #4

Between ongoing decals and paint stripping I decided to revisit a few miniatures tasks I'd been meaning to be getting on with.

First up was finishing off a test paint scheme for some Warhammer Men-at-Arms. I was reasonably please with the colours, green and purple, so I think this has potential for a future Mordheim, or Frostgrave, war band.

As an aside these Empire State Troops, or Freeguild Guard, as they're now called, paint up nicely. You're pretty much limited to the pose above, or swaping out the spear for a sword and shield which is the only downside, if I was going a war band I'd want a bit more variation.

Next up I decided to do a bit of base work. You may remember my moving skeleton diorama, I've disassembled it with a view to updating the base and reusing it for a new, yet undetermined, diorama while the skeletons will be tidied up and individually re-based.

After repainting the individual tiles to add more variation I gave them a wash with Flory Models Grey wash. Firstly this was to see if it improves bases and secondly out of curiosity as I want to use it for the first time on the undersides of the Airfix Typhoon to compare with the Dark wash which I've used before.

Now I just need to let it dry and see if it adds anything to the base.

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Day #3

Day 3, one of those tasks that just has to be done, paint stripping...

I've got a large number of second-hand metal miniatures that need paint removing from them and that meant sooner or later I was going to have to break out the Dettol (for those in the UK, it's the orange liquid antiseptic disinfectant).

Dettol liquid antiseptic disinfectant

Dettol is my preferred paint stripper for removing acyclic and water based paints.It's pretty simple to use, submerge the models, leave for 24 hours, then scrub with toothbrush in the Dettol to remove the paint. Leave the models  to dry before brushing off any remaining paint residue. One thing to remember, don't add water to the mix. Adding water to any paint residue will turn into into a very sticky substance which is very hard to remove.

12 Day Modelling Challenge: Days #1 & 2

To get started I decided to tackle some of the growing number of unfinished kits I have lying around. Airfix's 1:72 scale Hawker Typhoon is probably the best painted model I've done so far, yet despite this I hit a brick wall and to date it remains unfinished.

Painting was complete it was now time for decals. I really like models that come with not only markings but stencils and this kit packed in a large number of decals for it's size. This meant it would be very time consuming to apply them all, but worth it in the end.

Unusually for Airfix I had some problems with the decals. One I lost, probably stuck to a finger while handling, which is entirely my fault. However I had two decals break up on me. Fortunately I have a spare decal sheet so I'll have to get replacements from there. Otherwise that would have written off the model as one of these decals was not something that could easily be replaced, a unique ID number for the aircraft I'm building.

So after two afternoons work I'm about 80% of the way through the decals, just the replacement decals and the undersides to do.

12 Days of Christmas Painting & Modelling

It really not worth me doing a yearly review as my modelling output has been dismal this year, in fact I’ve not even sat at my modelling desk for several months now A total of one aircraft model complete and a couple of miniatures painted is all I’ve managed. OK, so the Airfix Defiant was probably the best model I’ve made to date, but that success seems a distant memory by now.

However as Christmas approaches, my workplace is closed for a couple of weeks so I can hopefully free up a bit of time to finish the year on a slightly higher note.

I’ve decided to try and devote a bit of time each day, for 12 days (not necessarily consecutively, as I have a few commitments over the holiday period), to painting some figures, finishing off a few unfinished kits and maybe starting something new so I can take some momentum into a new year and hopefully achieve a bit more in the way of modelling successes in 2017.

Day #1 to follow shortly.

Motivation and Me – How to keep on Modelling?

Recently I’ve noticed a steady slump in my modelling output, as you can tell, there’s not been much in the way of blog posts over the last few months.

This isn’t the first time, I tend to get moments where I lose the drive to build or paint models. Away from that I’m still enjoying looking at models, reading about them, maintaining my Pinterest and so on. I’m just not building or painting.

This time it seems to have been the slow and, if I’m honest, the somewhat tedious painting of my Airfix Typhoon combined with a few other aircraft builds that just aren’t capturing my imagination like Tamiya’s 1:72 scale A6M5 Zero. Don’t get me wrong, the Typhoon and Zero are a fantastic kits, just my desire to paint at the invasion stripes and markings on the Typhoon slowed the build right down to the point where it stopped and I’m just not that passionate about Japanese WWII aircraft.

So how do I get my motivation back

Looking on the internet and most suggestions (such as this from Dakka Dakka) suggest a structured and almost work like approach to working through a block. I’ve considered setting time aside and making myself do something each day, but that’s not working for me as I don’t like such a structured approach even at the best of times.

For me my approach has always been less structured, I like to try many things, my hobby output is often driven by my curiosity and desire to experiment with ideas. However this may actually be contributing to the loss of motivation as it inevitably leads to a large number of unfinished projects which can seem a bit overwhelming when deciding some of them need to be finished. I am pleased however that I’ve not continued buying many kits in the hope that one would spark my imagination as that leads to an overwhelming stash, a problem which I’ve written about before, and which leads me to a similar loss of motivation.

Skyrim
Source: Bethesda Softworks

Away from modelling I’m still finding time for, and enjoying, my other interests. I’ve read more books in the last few months than I normally would and last week I rediscovered the computer game Skyrim which can certainly consume a large amount of my hobby time. Interestingly enough even these non-modelling hobbies are managing to provide inspiration for future modelling projects.

Realistically I think the desire will come back at some point, and I suspect it’ll involve something new rather than forcing myself to complete one of the many unfinished projects. I just don’t want to leave it too long though as I feel I will start to unlearn some of the things I’ve spent so long learning in the first place. I just need to get curious about something hobby related or have a sudden flash of inspiration and then things should snowball from there.

Kickstarter: Many Ways To Spend My Money – September 2016

As you’ll know by now, I like to keep an eye on what’s happening on Kickstarter, especially when it comes to miniatures (and board games) and this month sees a couple of interesting miniatures Kickstarters.

First up is another Oldhammer style miniatures release called Greenskin Wars. It’s very much like the Pantheon of Chaos Kickstarter I wrote about back in April, which is not surprising as its run by the same people. This time it’s some fantastic old school goblins, plus a few hobgoblins, which instantly takes me back to the early editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

Source: Kickstarter

The models are sculpted by Kev Adams, something of legend when it comes to goblins, so much so he’s known as the Goblin Master. There’s a good mix of foot soldiers, plus interesting options such as mounted goblins and war machines.

Source: Kickstarter

Personally I will be sitting this one out, but that doesn’t mean you have to. My reasons are that I actually backed the Pantheon of Chaos Kickstarter and I’d prefer to have received them before buying more from the same people, (plus there’s the whole GBP v € thing which is still ongoing). Hopefully they’ll be with me soon, I’ll be sharing a first look with you when they do arrive.

That leads to the next of this month’s interesting project, Hasslefree Miniatures, Kev White Does Matt Dixon’s Female Fantasy Miniatures.

Source: Kickstarter

Hasslefree are becoming one my favourite ranges, I’ve bought a few from them, not yet finished painting any of them yet (the detail on them is excellent)… In this case they plan on releasing a range of pin-up miniatures based on the work of artist Matt Dixon. I know the pin-up models aren’t to everyone’s taste but Hasslefree’s miniatures range is going from strength to strength in my opinion and if you can find something you like then this certainly looks worth getting involved with.

Source: Kickstarter

Initially they set out to do a small range of female characters in three versions, a pin-up, a skyclad (their term for ‘nude’) and a winter variant. They flew through the initial options within a few hours and seem to have been caught out somewhat. However they’re going a very good job of engaging with their backers, listening to suggestions, posting daily work in progress reports (NSFW link) and working on more options. One very appealing option that’s been mentioned is an enhanced variant of some of the winter models (in addition to those on offer) in collaboration with Tre Manor of Red Box Games, these could be ideal for Frostgrave.

The pledge levels pretty much allow you to bid for one model upwards, which is good. I do hope they manage to get further than offering sketches for the majority of the models as I tend not to want to purchase models that I’ve not at least seen the greens for. However given the quality of their existing range I think they’re a safe pair of hands. So in this case I will be keeping a close eye on this project, especially for the Frostgrave related miniatures, and most likely backing them later on.

If you want to back them then:

Greenskin Wars can be found here (finishes on Tuesday, October 4th 2016 at 2:44 PM BST)

Kev White Does Matt Dixon’s Female Fantasy Miniatures can be found here (finishes on Sunday, October 2nd 2016 at 8:00 PM BST)

Give Us Your Money - UK Miniature Bargains

I never imagined I'd be writing a post about politics, economics and miniatures, unless there was a really tenuous link, but events of today have presented an opportunity to do so.

It's been quite an eventful day in the UK, some bloke called Nigel decided he didn't like foreign people and 16 million people decided to join him in taking Britain out of the European Union. Rather than a super smooth exit, we as a nation have decided to take a crash and burn approach. This has left our currency, the Pound Sterling (£) at its second lowest level in my lifetime (and the last time it took months rather than hours to sink so low...).

So what's this got to do with miniatures? Well if you're outside the UK everything here is super cheap. So in true spirit of capitalism you might want to take advantage of our misfortune and bag a few bargains.

In a show of solidarity for my fellow Brits here's a couple of small companies I can recommend:

Via Facebook

The excellent Hasslefree Miniatures, I've bought from them plenty of times (just not not got round to painting anything for the blog yet).

And:

Via Facebook

Bad Squiddo Games, who have the best selection of female miniatures I've encountered.

Probably worth taking a look at Airfix as well. Needless to say my planned purchases from abroad will be on hold for the moment, good job I have plenty to be getting on with...

Kickstarter: Many Ways To Spend My Money - April 2016

I like to keep one eye on what's available on Kickstarter. Aside from the usual 'pre-order' Kickstarters run by the larger gaming companies this month has seen something that particularly appealed to me.

Source: Kickstarter

The Kickstarter in question is The Pantheon of Chaos, a miniatures range with a distinctly old school, Oldhammer, feel to them.

Source: Kickstarter

I remember seeing the greens sometime ago, although where exactly escapes me, and instantly having flashbacks to the golden age of Games Workshop miniatures.

I really think it's a positive step to see new miniatures being released in this Oldhammer style as I feel the actual Oldhammer movement is a bit of closed shop, especially if your interest is a passing one. Unless you're 20+ year hoarder, involved in gaming groups or prepared to cave into the demands of eBay profiteers it's really difficult to get involved. Try joining their Facebook group. Time after time I seem to be refused, obviously I don't know the right people / secret handshake / code words etc...

So anyway, now the Pantheon of Chaos has gone live, and been funded within 2 hours, I'm sorely tempted to get myself a few of them. Although the €30 to €50 price tag for a decent sized set will certainly test my spending resolve for this year they do look too good to pass up. And given the ease with which they reached their funding target it bodes well for the post-kickstarter plans for the range, including a book and further miniatures.

If you feel like getting involved then you can find the Pantheon of Chaos can be found here and there's still 10 days left to run (finishes on Wednesday, May 4 2016 at  8:44 PM BST).

Advanced Heroquest Reborn - The Henchmen #1-3

Here's the first 3 of the 12 henchmen.

These are straight from the box, Bretonnian men at arms, which are unfortunately no longer available. Individually they have a lot of character and in small numbers I found them fun to paint, though they needed a lot of cleaning up. I can imagine painting an army's worth would be quite difficult as you soon run out of options when it comes to making them different to each other.

ADHQ Henchman - Source : Stuff of Legends

Interestingly these figures armed with halberds are closer to the figures that came with the game, however the actual character sheets show that henchmen are armed with swords.

Advanced Heroquest Reborn - The Heroes

The clocks went forward this weekend which means lighter evenings and hopefully more miniature painting. Unfortunately the lens for my camera has sadly expired and all my spares are either zooms or fixed focus lenses, none of which are suitable for photographing miniatures. Because of that I'm trying to use a tablet for photographing miniatures as you'll see below. 

For the Advanced Heroquest Reborn project the first two heroes are now complete, actually more to the point, the first two figures of the project are complete!

They are, the human fighter Heinrich Löwen and the dwarf warrior Sven Hammerhelm. 

 

Sven underwent a substantial change from when you last saw him to bring him closer to the artwork found in the rule books.

 Source: Terror In the Dark - Games Workshop / Colin Howard (1991)

The parts I used for these two figures are:

Heinrich Löwen
Body - Empire State Troops
Arms - Empire Free Company Militia
Sword - Original militia cutlass removed, replaced with an alternative militia sword
Head - Empire State Troops (preceding 5/6th edition plastic box set, now out of production)
Feather - As above
Pouch (dagger removed, side re-sculpted) , bottle, treasure chest - Bretonnian men at arms set
Rope - Mordheim accessories
Shield - 1990's blank circle shield, parts from dwarf shield sprue (unknown)

Sven Hammerhelm
Body, arms - Dwarf warriors (6th edition, now out of production)
Hammer head - Dwarf warriors
Head, helmet removed - Dwarf warriors (6th edition, now out of production)
Helmet - Dwarf warriors

Backpack, self sculpted, bag - Bretonnian men at arms set

Next I plan to paint a few of the henchmen before facing up to the challenge of painting twenty Skaven.

The End of An Era

Recent posts have sadly seen a few too many obituaries.This one is slightly different and is not entirely unexpected but marks the end of an era.

Empire Free Company

Bretonnian Men at Arms

Source: Games Workshop (2016)

This weekend the Games Workshop finally retired a large number of box sets as the Age of Sigmar moves forward and the Old World is consigned to memory. Two sets that will be missed are the Empire Free Company Militia set and the Bretonnian Men at Arms set. Even I can tell they're not going to fit into the new setting and so inevitably their time is up.

These sets have for so many years been the go-to henchmen across many games and gaming systems. For me they've been my first choice fantasy humans, not just in Warhammer but in Mordheim and potentially Frostgrave. Their latest use was as part of my Advanced Heroquest Reborn project as, you've guessed it, the henchmen.

I thought about bagging one more set however, with my last post in mind, I decided the let them go. I just about have enough spare parts for this project, but a future ones will have to feature models from elsewhere.

I've been brand loyal for many years but that loyalty is fading somewhat. The new Age of Sigmar models are a mixed bunch, the latest Dwarfs for example I feel are embarrassingly bad, which is quite an achievement given that the old Dwarfs weren't very good in the first place.

I feel, in particularly with the Empire set, that their demise is a bit short sighted. These sets went far beyond being basic foot soldiers in a Warhammer army, and they could be utilized in many different games, be they old Games Workshop games or those made by others.

All this means I'm finally going to start looking elsewhere. The new Frostgrave range looks excellent, and with the option of converting between sets to create henchmen, cultists and even undead.

Source: Northstar Military Figures and Osprey Games (2016)

So next time I'm in need of a few good men, I know where to to look.

Advanced Heroquest Reborn - The Heroes

I thought I'd kick off my Advanced Heroquest Reborn project by taking a look at the heroes that would be taking on the Skaven menace deep below the Old World.

Interestingly the box art featured the original set of heroes from Milton Bradley's Heroquest, along with the full set of monsters from the same game, the familiar zombie, scimitar wielding Orc and the shifty looking Goblin to name but a few. However beyond the box art and a set of character sheets they didn't really feature within Advanced Heroquest itself.

The Box art featuring the original adventurers - Source : Advanced Heroquest (1989)

The game itself introduced a new group of heroes who featured heavily in the artwork and fiction of the rulebook. While they followed the common fantasy adventurer grouping of a human, dwarf, elf and wizard one noticeable change was the omission of the human barbarian for an armoured human soldier. They were named Heinrich Löwen (the fighter), Sven Hammerhelm (the Dwarf), Torallion Leafstar (the Elf) and Magnus the Bright (the wizard).

The "replacements" in action - Source : Advanced Heroquest (1989)

The miniatures themselves were early Games Workshop plastics, at that time Citadel and Marauder miniatures tended to be of the lead variety. They were comparable to the plastic miniatures commonly found in table top games of today, fairly soft detail but enough to clearly reflect the characters in the game book artwork. Apparently they painted up well as shown in the picture below, although I have to confess I don't remember painting them myself when I owned a copy of Advanced Heroquest.

Miniatures; painted by Phil Lewis (image from Stuff of Legends)

These models still pop up on eBay on a fairly regular basis and I did originally think about buying myself a set. However common sense eventually prevailed and I decided not to play into the hands of profiteers and overpay for what are some old and fairly simple plastic models. In fact it was that decision that was pretty much the beginning of this project.

And with that mention of my project it leads us nicely onto my vision of the heroes. Taking the artwork and the original models I built up my first mock-ups of how I envisage Heinrich, Sven, Torallion and Magnus to be.

With the Elf, I'm really limited in parts and I'm honestly not sure if that's a male or female head on my figure! However one thing I wanted to do was to get rid of the highly impractical bow in one hand, sword in the other pose of the original figure. And yes, I know, you're probably thinking the dwarf, Sven, is not even close to the art work and so as I write this there's a head swap taking place.
 

Painting wise, I'm going to start with Heinrich the warrior. In my next Advanced Heroquest Reborn post I hope to go into a bit more detail about how I built and painted him.

Advanced Heroquest Reborn - A New Miniatures Project

I ended my recent post on the new Age of Sigmar release by reflecting on the Games Workshop's decision to end the past 30 or so years of lore by destroying the Old World in which Warhammer was set and replacing it with a brand new world.

"The new world concept will need time to grow on me, it is of course instantly lacking the rich history that the previously established world accumulated over many years, but I suppose if I don't like it then I know I can carry on playing the older games as their rules are readily available. I can even mix and match older and newer figures and lore as I see fit. And that's it, at the end of the day a hobby like this will always be what you want to make of it." 

The last line got me thinking about how I can make the hobby what I want it to be. I have a certain nostalgic fondness for the older era models and lore. This of course is tied in with when I started collecting miniatures. I started with Heroquest before moving onto Advanced Heroquest, Warhammer 4th Edition and then Warhammer Quest along with the accompanying fiction of the era like the Konrad trilogy (by David Ferring) and Beasts in Velvet (by Jack Yeovil / Kim Newman). This shaped a clearly defined world in my mind which has stuck with me ever since, even though later releases perhaps watered that world down somewhat (before finally destroying it).

Gone but not forgotten - Source : Advanced Heroquest (1989)

Despite my liking of the older era lore I have mixed feeling about the older miniatures. Many purists will say you can only play these older games with old models, partly what I suspect is the driving force behind the somewhat overpriced "LOOK VINTAGE OOP CITADEL MINIATURES" sales that fill eBay week after week. Now while I do also have a fondness of some of the older models, some are, lets face it, not so great. And if I'm honest, I do think some of the newer models, yes including plastics, are an improvement on the older ones.

So with all that in mind I thought, why not use old and new models, to recreate something from the time of a rich and vibrant world, the Old World meets new. For me Heroquest was my first thought, but as I still own a complete copy I thought I'd move on to the next stage and recreate Advanced Heroquest (which I sadly no longer own and won't unless I part with the best part of £100).

So what is Advanced Heroquest Reborn? It's going to be my re-imagining of a classic game using modern models (although the odd classic will probably sneak in somewhere).

I want it to stay as true to the source as possible and looking through the rulebook there is a wealth of background images to draw on. My first thought, after reading the rulebook for the first time in a long time, was that it has a certain rawness and brutality about it which was lost in favour of a more polished world later on. This is something that really stands out today and something which makes it more appealing to me as an adult.

The "old" Old World in all it's savage glory - Source : Advanced Heroquest (1989)

Some of you may remember a post I wrote a long time ago where I contemplated building character models from the Warhammer 40K world. That never took off because first of all because I always felt more connected to the Warhammer world rather than the 40K world, and second, because I just didn't have the knowledge of the 40K range or enough spare parts to start with compared to Warhammer. So, as projects go, it's still somewhat ambitious for me but I do feel better prepared and more connected to the subject matter this time round.

Advanced Heroquest contained 36 figures, 20 of which were Skaven and me and Skaven have never got on due to my inability to paint them so that in itself will be a bit of challenge. It's also why I'm going to start my next Advanced Heroquest Reborn post by looking at the heroes.

Crowd Funding - Pitfalls of Miniatures Projects

I’ve been a user of Kickstarter for more than a year now and I’ve even posted on this blog about projects that I’ve found interesting. Despite this I’ve not backed too many projects and have found myself looking less and less for new projects to back, why is that?

First of all like many people, I suspect, I initially see a project and am wowed by the sales pitch. However I usually like to take time to reflect on the project before backing it and it’s usually during this reflection time that I find myself decide not to back.

Now while I appreciate that the idea behind crowd funding was to get small projects off the ground, with miniatures this isn’t always a good thing due to the complex nature of designing and manufacturing them (this article touches on this in much detail). Likewise the platform is also used by larger companies as a pre-order tool, effectively selling you products in large quantities that you’ll be able to buy retail a year later at pretty much the same price.

So ideally you want to find something in-between the two, a small scale project, offering something special, by a company who know what they’re doing. And sadly I’ve not felt that many projects meet those criteria.

At the end of the day I look at it this way.

• Is project owner clear on what they are offering? For me I want to see prototype models as a minimum. A few renders do not mean completed or even feasible miniatures.

• Is it giving me anything extra for backing early? If not they maybe I should wait.*

• Can I wait? If so, then I wait, this gives me the benefit of buying the products retail when the product has to be more clearly defined.

• Can I afford to lose this money? If not, then I probably shouldn’t back it.

*(In the case of the few genuine small start-ups it doesn’t need to be a lot if it’s the difference between the project happening or not).

Touching on the last point, can I afford to lose my money, I’m reminded of a recent well publisiced Kickstarter that appears to have failed. The Torn Armor project has ended up with accusations and counter accusations (see here) and looks like it's heading towards the inevitable end involving the loss of backer’s money.

I’ll let you come to your own conclusions about how this project failed and ask, would you have backed this project?

The Demise of White Dwarf (and the Games Workshop?)

There’s been a fair bit of talk recently about the Games Workshop’s decision to cease publishing its monthly magazine, White Dwarf. This comes not long after the magazine recently underwent a dramatic change in format and content, a change which it appears hadn’t had the desired effect.

A lot of criticism seems to revolve around the magazine basically being nothing more than a catalog for new releases and sadly I feel this is the case. The content of hobby related articles certainly has certainly declined, somethig I touched on here when I wrote about their painting guides.

I first came across White Dwarf at a time when I was playing more and more Games Workshop games. I’d started out with MB Games Heroquest and Space Crusade before moving on to Advanced Heroquest and Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Naturally I wanted to read more and so I picked up my first ever copy of White Dwarf, issue 132, promptly followed by plenty of back issues.

Issue 132 - December 1990

This magazine was read from cover to cover. It featured experimental rules, modelling projects, scenery projects (a dwarf mine, which I did try and build) and of course articles showcasing painting. Back then it had a true hobby feel, it engaged the reader, much like many of the scale modelling magazines of today.

Sadly today the thought of the Games Workshop publishing an article on building something not using products they sell is unthinkable and maybe there’s a general reluctance to even publish anything that not Games Workshop corporate standard. I feel the spirit of those days is missing now. Back then the company was build and run by people who were the age I am now. People who could write, who could create an evocative living world, one which I think no other company has come close to doing since. 

As far as miniature companies are concerned Games Workshop are unique in their longevity and I think this is a real difficulty for them. They have new younger followers, and they have older followers like me who both want differing things from the hobby. As a result they are having real trouble identifying their target audience. Do you sell vast amount of kits to kids who will play with them until they move onto something else, or do you cater to mature modellers who have more specialist needs? Which it is will decide on your magazine content and recently they’ve been going for the sale brochure content and it hasn’t worked.

So what will the future bring? There will be a new monthly magazine called Warhammer : Visions and a weekly White Dwarf magazine. I had a quick conversation with the guys from my local store and they weren’t a 100% sure what the content would be but suggested that the monthly magazine will be more hobby based, the weekly magazine more gaming based. I really hope this is the case and I’m approaching this change positively, if the monthly magazine is hobby based then it certainly looks like good move from my point of view.

One final thing I will say is that the Games Workshop would do well not to neglect their older followers. I’ve left the both the miniatures hobby and the scale model hobby and then come back to them both. It is people like me that will pass the hobby on to our children. As things stand at the moment and despite the Games Workshop being a key part of my formative years, I imagine in the future I would most likely be teaching my children to build that other great British institution, the Airfix kit, long before I introduced them to the current Games Workshop range.