My Final* Marauder MM16 Dwarf Slayer

I’ve always had a bit of an issue with the idea of daily posts. In “lean” times, I’ve struggled to have enough content to even post weekly, though for some time now – pretty much all of 2017 – my issue has been a backlog of painted, completed stuff to get through posting rather than not enough to scratch up a post with. Sure, I could post everything 5 or 10 at a time as I used to, but to be blunt, I figure that I spend enough time working on these models as individuals that I think they deserve their own “space” to be showcased, hence my move towards posts showing 1-5 figures at a time.

It also means I can share stuff more frequently, rather than sitting on models for weeks (and months) until I have “enough” of them to show in a post. But yeah. Right now, I have a backlog. In my month off posting (I’ve pretty much caught up on other people’s blogs now, finally!) I kept painting, giving me even more completed bloody figures to photograph and post. Not to mention a bunch of Mat reviews to do…

The solution – for now at least – will be occasional posting on sequential days. Mostly towards the latter half of the week and weekend, though not too frequently, since I like to give my posts a bit of space to breathe and I’m also conscious of not overwhelming the people who take the time to check my stuff out.

With all that said, here’s today’s model.

Marauder Miniatures MM16 Slayer, Oldhammer

This guy is the final one of my Marauder Slayers. *As far as I know, at least. Clearly, the reason he’s lagging behind by himself isn’t because I forgot to photograph him at the same time as the previous pair of slayers and only had one left to do… Oh no! It’s because of other reasons. Clearly, someone stole his moustache and he had to investigate!

Marauder Miniatures MM16 Slayer, Oldhammer

Since he’s wearing not only a kilt but a fly plaid over his shoulder, I went for a simple tartan using a dark, muted green. Since that’s all he appears to be wearing, aside from some jewelry, the rest is simply tattoos, skin and tattoos. I’m happy with the look of the tattoos here for a change, and that’s something that I can at least say I’ve improved on to a point of satisfaction as I’ve worked my way through these slayers. Tattoo colour and stubble. Tattoos. I certainly used that word a lot here.

Tattoos.

Marauder Miniatures MM16 Slayer, Oldhammer

In the past, I never liked this particular figure, probably because of his lack of moustache to go with the beard, but having painted him I now quite like him, and the chin curtain he sports is one of the main reasons why. He’s one of the more sensible of the Marauder Slayers, and could easily be used as a Roleplaying figure or a character of some sort. Yes, he absolutely has an oversized head, even by the standards of Citadel’s macrocephalic dwarves, but he does at least have a lot of character in that noggin and face.

Marauder Miniatures MM16 Slayer, Oldhammer

While this guy marks the end of my Marauder Slayers, he’s far from the last of my overall Slayer contingent. Just for starters, there’s a bunch more of those Citadel ones, plus the ones I found in a pile, bathing in Simple Green, waiting to be stripped. Then there are the Avatars of War models…

A Trio of Classic Kev Adams Citadel Greenskins

Just as with the dwarves I’ve slowly been cranking out, I’ve been trying to keep a few old-school goblinoids on my painting plate. I’ve tended to choose them based on the criteria of how easy they look like they would be to get painted, so simple clothing and/or lots of armour drives them to the top of the list when I browse my box of metal greenskins.

C12 Goblin, Oldhammer Orcs, Kev Adams

The orc on our left is one from that crossover period between WHFB2nd and 3rd editions. A Kev Adams sculpt with the fetching identifier of “Orcs with Dual Weapons 05”. Despite his rather awkward posing, it’s a decent model. I used some ochre brown in the skin mix of the two orcs here in an attempt to start varying the skin tones of these guys a bit. While it (obviously) adds more yellow to the overall look, I’m hopeful that it’s not too garish. I’ve opted to use a metal Foundry Viking shield instead of a plastic, though I’ve kept the design to simply block colour.

C12 Goblin, Oldhammer Orcs, Kev Adams

Speaking of garish… the Goblin is from the C12 range circa the mid-late 1980’s, though I’m not sure of the exact year as the catalogues are spotty from that era.the cast I have here is pretty rough, so it was a matter of doing the best I could within a reasonable amount of effort for a tiny model. It’s a Kev sculpt, but predates his “signature” goblin look, with smaller, tighter facial features and an integral shield rather than a boss for plastic ones. He actually sat in a case half-painted for many years before I noticed him recently and decided to get him done. Which also took awhile…

C12 Goblin, Oldhammer Orcs, Kev Adams

The central model on the 32mm base is the newest of this trio – a 4th Edition Orc listed in the Black Catalogue 4 (1994 filled with 1993 models) as “Orc with Sword 3”, though he’s a bit bigger in stature than his fellow, “Orc with Sword 3” painted awhile ago which is what led to me mounting him onto the larger base. He’s not as big as the actual Big’Uns, but he’s not far off.

…which kind of leads to my question for you, dear reader. While I’ve been working casually on these Fantasy Orcs, With the promise of 8th Edition looming, I’ve also been eyeing off my old-school RT Orks and the more recent 40k Brian Nelson Orcs that I started working on in 2005. (OK, recent is relative). The 40k plastics I mentioned, being larger certainly overhang their 32mm bases, though the “official” size remains 25mm. I feel that they’ll look better on the 32mm bases, just as their classic counterparts, Space Marines do. I’m not yet convinced either way on which way to go – the better aesthetic choice? The “official” choice? Wait and see what conventions on basing that 8th brings on release? At this stage it would not involve a terribly large amount of rebasing. Any thoughts?