Easter Oldhammer
After a week away for work, I came back just in time for the long Easter weekend and had quite a lot of time for painting. I spent most of that time finishing off my Reaper Bones frogmen and working on Mudcroak the squog shaman, so I hope I’ll be able to post a photo of them all together next week. I also did some quite quick paint jobs on three old Citadel Miniatures – one for Shin High Terror, one for my Sidequest of Chaos, and one just for fun.
I was never totally satisfied using a dwarf to stand in for Gimble Ningle the gnome rogue. Games Workshop may not produce gnomes anymore – although I guess who really knows what’s inside a Stormcast Eternal’s armour – but back in the 1980s they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with elves, dwarves and men against the shambling hordes. Metaphorically anyway – the gnomes are tiny; shorter than dwarves and maybe even lighter built than halflings. Consequently, by weight this is probably my most valuable mini – and well suited as a player character. It also feels like a particularly apt representative for Gimble Ningle, complete with hammer for tinkering and cigar for celebrating the kill. I painted him in the same colours as before – red hat, blue tunic, and grey boots: a classic gnome costume.
Next up was Balthus Dire’s sorceress wife from the Citadel of Chaos. I think I did Steve Jackson a disservice a few weeks ago – the player doesn’t distract her with a mirror, like I wrote previously, but with a hairbrush. It is a magic hairbrush though, so maybe it’s a little less sexist than I remembered. To represent the sorceress I used a lady with a mirror, one of Citadel Miniatures ‘Townsfolk’ – a range of minis that have become quite sought after, partly because Games Workshop haven’t really sold any civilians for about 20 years, and partly because they’re packed with character. I guess also in large part for nostalgia – there are a few other manufacturers producing equally characterful minis at a fraction of the eBay price (Otherworld and Midlam Miniatures for example). Mine had sustained some damage to her nose, so I had to rebuild it crudely, although I’m getting more confident with green stuff, and then did my best to replicate the colour scheme depicted on the White Dwarf 99 flyer (via Stuff of Legends). The purple came out OK and the turquoise accent works well, but I just can’t get the hang of black hair yet – I think I’m using too much white.
Last of all and not quite finished (he needs to be varnished and there’s a little work to do on the base), I quickly painted a beggar from the same range. Well, I say ‘beggar’ – that’s what his slotta tab says, but he’s armed and kind of menacing. It’s not my finest work, but I wanted to prepare various villagers to tabletop standard. To give him a grubby look I used a brown wash in all the recessed areas, rather than individual coloured inks, and avoided using too many bright tones. I also inadvertently chose the same colour scheme as the gnome and earlier dwarf – I was aiming for something not too dissimilar to a viking I once met, but forgetfully flipped the red and blue – so now I have a little trio of robbers.
I also made some progress on a couple of other pieces. I’m expecting a delivery from the Greenskin Wars Kickstarter next week, so I hope that I can wrap up some other projects before they arrive, and in time to justify backing the follow-up Hobgoblins Kickstarter.
Shin High Terror! 
