From the Painting Desk #5 – Citadel Craters

No, not the new ones made from dead Cadians and Skullz, but the older ones, made from cheap, vac-formed plastic with the softest of soft details. I got these around 8-10 years ago when a friend of my wife’s got me a GW voucher for Christmas. By this time I was buying most of my stuff from overseas, due to Australian prices being a rather steep gouging. So when I went in, I found something that seemed reasonably priced, so I picked these up. They then sat in various boxes, uncared for until 2014, when I was going through my stuff as part of getting the War Room into shape. I put them in a box I marked “Fast Scenery” while sorting through stuff. Fast scenery being scenery that I felt like I could paint… you guessed it – fast!

A couple of months ago I was moving stuff and spied the box. I pulled the craters out, and sprayed them with grey. They then sat around until tonight, when on impulse I brought them inside and gave them three layers of drybrushing to get to the stage in the photos. Now I’m putting them on my blog, in what must be the most underwhelming update I’ve posted so far. So why do this? Because I want to make myself finish the damned things, so maybe this will help me guilt myself into doing it. Also, because I’ve barely been updating for the past month or so, despite still doing a bit of painting. I’m just worn out, and a large amount of what I’ve been painting have been plastic Minas Tirith troops, which are about as uninspiring as it gets in terms of WIP (right up there with drybrushed craters, in fact – but a hell of a lot more of them!) The Gondor guys look great all ranked up on the table, but until then, they’re just meh.

To be fair, I’ve been finishing off some stuff that’s marginally more interesting. A little bit of undead, an Ogre got renovated, as did some old Familiars. I guess I’m just tired and a little burnt out. Hopefully the end of winter and the depressing gloomy weather we’ve had for so long now and a bit of time off work to sleep and recharge in a few weeks will renew my interest in blogging, and I’ll show off some newer stuff. Until then, let’s just hope I can wash, airbrush, powder and varnish these craters instead of put them aside for another 2 months (or 8 years!)

Rogue Trader: 4601 Imperial Guard Ogryn Sergeant (Bob Olley, Feb 1989)

Rogue Trader: 4601 Imperial Guard Ogryn Sergeant (Bob Olley, Feb 1989)

The figure I’m showcasing today was painted quite some time ago, and has only been rebased in recent times – so not quite enough work for me top count him as part of my finished figures for this year.

Rogue Trader: 4601 Imperial Guard Ogryn Sergeant (Bob Olley, Feb 1989)

It’s Bob Olley’s Ogryn Sergeant, which to me is the truly Archetypical Ogryn. Not the first Ogryn model, mind you – that particular honour goes to Jes Goodwin’s effort of 1988. Regardless, and despite my own huge preference for Jes’ work over Bob’s, Bob’s Ogryn here remains the most defining figure of the range ever sculpted – and never bettered or even equalled in my opinion.

Rogue Trader: 4601 Imperial Guard Ogryn Sergeant (Bob Olley, Feb 1989)

I originally painted this model back in early 1989, not long after it’s release. It got stripped down and repainted in the early noughties, this time with Auscam fatigue pants to match my Imperial Guard Regiment (who I need to update and photograph sometime as well) and a Māori-style arm tattoo, following my repeated travels to New Zealand.

Rogue Trader: 4601 Imperial Guard Ogryn Sergeant (Bob Olley, Feb 1989)

I blame this figure for starting my long love affair with Citadel’s (and others’) Ogres. I just wish Bob’s later Ogryn efforts (for Citadel, and even for Maxmini) lived up to this figure’s quality, but alas – nothing yet. Perhaps we’ll get lucky one day and Bob will sculpt some more fantasy or Space Ogres to compliment his range of Scrunts (not-Squats)?