Taking a bit of a respite today from the 40k-centric series of posts that have dominated the blog for the past few weeks, we’ve got a fantasy post again, dealing with some more classic models.
Ahh… the 1990’s. Those were the heady days. When Games Workshop decided to split up the three figures in their command blisters so that they could sell you the unit champion separately. Making their first catalogue appearance in 1998, quite a few years after the majority of the range were out, are the first of Citadel’s Slayer Command pairs. Interestingly, they’re labelled “Troll Slayer Command” rather than “Giant Slayer” (which these particular figures fit far more closely). Either way, I was well gone from WHFB by that point in time, due to the Herohammer that it had become.
I got all of my metal slayers secondhand via eBay relatively recently, as I had pretty much stopped buying fantasy models by then, so that wasn’t a huge hassle for me personally, but even then it didn’t endear the company to me. Despite the number of Slayers that I’ve got and have been painting, I had a bit of a block when it came to the command groups (yes, there’s another one still WIP on my painting desk). That block was the standard bearer. While the horn-blower looks rather goofy, the standard bearer conversely looks quite good, but with a rather oddly-shaped standard that frankly demanded a flag, or something. Problem was the standard top shape isn’t exactly conducive to hanging a good banner, what with the troll head up there. (And is it supposed to be an actual troll head, or a metal casting, or… ?)
So these figures had been sitting on my desk annoying me, and silently taunting me to get them finished since I started painting my slayers over a year ago. But that bloody standard! Eventually, I was doing a google image search and saw …someone’s kitbash of a similar figure. They’d glued some of the extra standard bearer junk found on the various plastic Dwarf kit sprues to the thing. And it looked bloody good!
So I dug out my box of Dwarf Sprues that I purchased from Damo/Nerdfest last year and had a look through, and found the book-and-shield shown above, as well as a winged shield with crossed axe device. With an insignificant amount of carving, both were now mounted on my two standards, and this one made it to completion. The other one will be along presently. After I complete it…
Very nice, and an effective conversion. Though I have to admit I have a real soft spot for Herohammer, and my gaming buddy and I even still play 5th edition WHFB occasionally….
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I think for a lot of games, the first edition(s) that we play hold a lot of nostalgia and even retain their appeal over the years for us, and then our biases for the style of game come in on top. I loved 3rd Edition WHFB, where pretty much any unit could change formation to testudo or form a wedge. When 4th came along, I wasn’t so impressed, and then by 5th I’d lost interest entirely.
Similarly, I loved Rogue Trader but had dropped minis gaming by the end of it’s life cycle, and randomly seeing the new release 2e 40k box in the city one day while out with my girlfriend (which she bought me! – if I recall correctly) got me back in. Loved 2e to death, and then loved 3rd even more when it came out, since as stripped-down as it was, it removed the cheese. Which is why I’m now optimistic for (at least) the start of 8th..
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Indeed. Though for me 3rd ed 40k was a negative experience and I did not buy another box set from GW until just now with 8th and we gave up entirely on anything except 2nd ed after 5th. I don’t think 8th will replace 2nd for us but will be a different game. But it may allow us to get into the local tournament scene as I do plan to collect a small force of Primaris Marines.
5th ed Fantasy though is a lot more fun than,say, Kings of War. But, it is dispiriting that units of troops that you spend hours and hours painting are basically just dragon food and have little effect on the outcome of the battle, but that does depend on the sort of games you and your opponent agree to play.
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As much as I enjoyed 2nd editoin, I was sold on 3rd from my first game. A squad of my Imperial Guardsmen killed an Eldar Avatar. Something that would never have happened in 2nd. From there, things got even better before they slowly declined into a free-fall of a dumpster fire mess. Of course, everyone has their own opinions and preferences. Mine I’ve found are more troop-centric, which is one of the reasons I also enjoy KoW. Characters offer interest and support, but don’t dominate the game. We’ll see how 8th pans out, but it’s already far, far more accessible than trying to return in 6th or 7th.
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Great work. Love the gems on the standard bearer’s beard and axe. The rune book is a great idea on the standard. The troll head looks good in front. It seems odd making it flat backed, but I like the “cast” look from the back – did you do the rivets, or was that part of the original?
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Thanks! Occasionally I’ll cheap out and use the newish Gemstone paints, but for larger gems I prefer to do them old-school. The rivets are part of the sculpt, so I guess the Troll’s head could be oddly taxidemied?
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Nice job mate, you’ve managed to make a silk purse out of that particular sow’s ear – that standard looks great!
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Thanks Alex. The sculpt is quite nice, but without adding something to that standard it’s just so… oddly bare:
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Nice job bringing an old figure back to life. Colors are great. I’m with you as to the trolls head on the standard. My Ral Partha small dwarf bombard unit has a goblin or troll head on the front and back of the artillery piece, and while I painted it, it makes little sense to me that dwarves would put their enemies on something they carry into battle. Unless if it truly was an enemy skull or something akin to that. Still, your work on these is stellar! The shading is sublime, and they look fun!
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Thanks Mark! There are three other banner-top sculpts, all featuring troll heads (I have none of them at the moment, my other one is a dupe of this). Two of them are similar to this one, and the third is pretty clearly a roughly-decapitated head. Something else to try and track down on eBay perhaps…
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Excellent conversion. The original is indeed a bit plain and your additions look awesome. Naturally the paint job is top notch as usual.
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Thanks – yeah, with the plain standard poles the figure was just too plain/uninspiring for me to get to finish.
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