Category Archives: Oldhammer

Oldhammer Trolls and another ID Request

by

3

This time we have another couple of figures started decades ago and finished a couple of years ago. A couple of the old-school Citadel (or Oldhammer) Trolls.

C20 Oldhammer Troll

C20 Cave Troll

The first guy is a C20 Cave Troll. I started painting him in the mid-1990s with the skin tones of a Stone Troll, for my WHFB Orc and Goblin army. Finally finished him 2 or 3 years ago, and stuck him on a slate base from back-to-base-ix

Oldhammer C20 Troll

C20 Warrior Troll

Also from the old C20 range, this guy is known as “Warrior Troll”. No D&D style misgivings about metal armour for him, no indeedy! Also started around the same time as his mate up there, and finished at more or less the same time, when I dug them out of half-painted purgatory and finally completed them.

Oldhammer C20 trolls

C20 Trolls. Two thirds of a unit!

Both of these guys were sculpted by Aly Morrison, who really did quite a good job on the Troll range of the day. I have to say I’ve also liked pretty much all of the subsequent renditions of trolls that GW has come out with over the years. The stone trolls, the LotR-inspired Trolls, the plastic Swamp Trolls… all good stuff. Well, except for the Chaos Trolls, I guess. But I don’t really consider them part of this range, which I’ve mostly thought of as a subset of the O&G one, with a side range of being really useful for tabletop RPGs. These guys will have a new lease of life at some stage when I finish painting their mate, and then convert my old O&G horde over to Kings of War. But working on 5 armies already at once means the Orcs and Gobboes will need to wait a little while.

C20 Oldhammer Trolls

C20 Trolls – the arseward shot!

Looking at them today, the golden yellow-blonde hair does look pretty garish, especially with the bright blue skin, but hell – that’s how I started them, and it’s not something I’m willing to mess up, change or repaint. I’m just happy to have them done. I’ve got their mate on my painting shelf as well. A mid-90’s stone troll who I selected to finish this unit off about three years ago when I finished these two. He’s been partially painted and sitting on my painting shelves ever since… funny how these things work, eh?

 

And finally, a request to those who read this blog. Inspired by the fast work in finding out the identity of Farendil, Elf ranger so quickly, I’m again asking for help in identifying this guy.

Oldhammer Wizard – seeking his name!

I’ve been looking through SoL a bit, and he’s not a C02 wizard. There’s no pic of the TL2 wizard on SoL, so that’s a possibility – it’s certainly from the right timeframe. He’s not from the DungeonQuest series, or any of the other board games of that time. He’s listed as #19 of the Wizards in the Blue 1988 catalogue, but that group is a mash-up of several previous ranges, and I’d like to find where he comes from originally, and if he had a name as well.

This is actually his second paintjob. I first painted him bright blue and red, with brown hair back in the 1990’s, then repainted him in the 2000’s in the darker blue scheme with grey hair. I don’t intend to repaint him again, just rebase him this time. I figure he looks the part to play the Necromancer that Marouda’s KoW Undead army needs for their next battle, so I’m rebasing him and might just add a tiny bit of edge highlighting.

 

Lucrezzia Belladonna and Farendil, Elf Ranger

by

10

Lucrezzia Belladonna and Farendil, Elf Ranger

Lucrezzia Belladonna and Farendil, Elf Ranger

Just a small update today. Last shown way back in June 2013, I ended up finishing these two some months ago. So I’m taking this opportunity to follow-up and show them off – something I haven’t been too good at with my various WIP figures to date. The Lady of the pair turned out not to be a Brettonian, but an Italian.. erm, Tilean. Lucrezzia Belladonna to be exact – sculpted by Chris Fitzpatrick’s for the WFB Dogs of War range, circa 5th Edition – so 1996+. Lucrezzia is basically a display piece, as she was painted for my wife. While I’m sure I could (and would) do something a bit more interesting with the model today, I’ve learned enough about repainting my old models to know when to go in with gusto for a repaint and when to leave well enough alone. I might just keep an eye out on eBay for a second one instead. She might have a small role as a Wizard or even a mounted Vampiress in a KoW force, she’ll mostly be inhabiting the shelf.

Lucrezzia Belladonna and Farendil, Elf Ranger

I like to add the rear view. You so rarely see the sculpting or any images of the back of the figures we paint, and half of the sculpting and paint is there, after all.

The Ranger definitely qualifies as Oldhammer, either late 2nd edition or early 3rd WHFB. I’m not sure of his origin or name (figures had names back then) I suspect that he’s either from one of the Scenario packs (though I couldn’t find him in this SOL page) or perhaps even a old-school Citadel-era Lord of the Rings model. I certainly remember seeing him in one of my early White Dwarves, circa issue 101-ish, and his paint scheme reflects that – a homage to my memory of the original picture back in my formative years. If anyone knows of his true origin, please let me know. – Update! Eagle-eyed reader Dave Kay found him here. His name is Farendil, Elf Ranger. Even back in the day I would never picked him for an elf, especially with that nose and his great ham fists. I think I’ll continue to use him as a human instead….

Lucrezzia Belladonna

Some of the Oldhammer and modern miniatures crowd alike seem to have their heads disappear up their arses a little bit, with the endless “it was all so much better back then” or “that looks so bad – like a 1990s figure” – and while the mid-90’s really did throw up some dogs in many ranges, and sub-par figures replacing older, better sculpts or figures that have been replaced more recently with better models – figures like Lucrezzia prove that lovely, characterful sculpts have been a feature of all eras.

If anyone out there happens to have a spare of Lucrezzia that they’re willing to part with for a reasonable amount, please feel free to contact me. I promise she’ll be well treated and painted. 🙂