The 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Slann Army project: Part one- the WIP so far.

I've been very busy of late, and this project has been a long time coming, so a bit of personal history. 

In 1987, in the last few months of 2nd Edition I sent off for the Magnificent Sven Slann army offer, unaware that 3rd Edition was around the corner. After 28 days or so (it was how things happened in the 1980's!) arrived a big box of slotta-based Slann (to complement the one pre-slotta Cold One rider I possessed), all made up of Trish Carden's slotta-based C32 range, but none of the old miniatures from the scenario. I did pick up a few, including Gurggl Greenwake about a year later from someone selling second hand stuff. 

This started my Slann journey over the years. I painted the initial batch of Slann, and then added to it over the years, with a re-vamp of the painting around 1991, and used them happily for gaming during the 'Golden Age, so much so that at my local GW (Brighton) I was known as the 'Slann man' (which was going to initially be the name of this blog)!

Then, with the advent 4th Edition, the Slann army vanished to be replaced by the Lizardmen, which I never collected, and the Slann stayed boxed throughout the 1990's. In the 2000's I re-visited them as Justin and I were returning to playing 3rd Edition. I paint stripped them, added some historical Aztec stuff, and made a couple of attempts to re-paint them, but I never really got the look I wanted, all the time adding odds and ends from e-bay. 

Anyway, a couple of years ago I resolved to make a final re-start on them. I split the army into two separate armies of pre-slotta and slotta-based. I did this because I felt that I wanted to separate the two different looks of the the ranges, and because I have more than enough to do so. After seeing other peoples Slann online over the last couple of years I thought it was time I really focused on getting my considerable Slann army back up and running. 

I am organising the army according to the Slann list in Warhammer Armies, but due to the number of Slann miniatures I have, I am working with a doubled up list with regards to minimums and maximums of troops. I am only using Citadel C32 Slann from the slotta-based era, although there are a few of the Magnificent Sven miniatures and TSF-18 Space Slann in there too. Some of the C19 Lizardmen are pre-slotta.

Now this blog update is concerning my WIP. None of the following miniatures are 100% finished as some require standards, other basing, and others a lot more, or even just a little more detailing. I have also gone for an old 1980s style of basing with sand bases painted different colours rather than flock or tufts.  The idea of this post is to give and idea of what I have been doing, and where I am up to. I would have liked to have blogged as I went along painting, but time and other life practicalities have dictated otherwise. Once completed, each regiment or group will get their own blog update. This is about a third of the army. 

Enjoy :) 

These are largely finished. At the back there's a regiment Alligator warriors, a regiment of Spawn Band, and a regiment of Jungle Braves. In the middle is a Regiment of C24 Troglodytes. To the fore are two regiments of Venom Tribes (who were already painted, but just needed re-basing). There are some  Scouts to the side. 

Again these are largely completed. There are a mix of Cold One war hounds, two groups of Scouts, and two Giant Spiders. The big round base at the back is a swarm, with C29 Creepy Crawlies (Giant Ticks). 

Bull Slann. 
One regiment requires basing, both require standards. 

More WIP Spawn Bands. 

Nearly completed Jungle Braves. 

The cult of Quetzalcoatl.
 This consists of a regiment of Warrior Priests, a War Altar with guards and a Slann High Priest (Slann Mage) on a palanquin.  

Animal Handlers and low level Slann wizards. 

A mix of monsters. 
There's a small dragon, two Culchans (to be used as alterative Sabre Tooth Tigers), and a pair of Giant Frogs.
As the back are five ADD 76 Stirges, which I am going to use as giant bats!

Two regiments of Eagle Warriors.
 There's a reason why one of them has a dwarf miniature in it. He is representing Guzunda Wallrattler from Itzibitzi's Slann expedition, as detailed in the White Dwarf #96 article Slann 'o War.  

Next update, and many more to come, will be Slann. 

Elan Merch / Heritage Miniatures Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings Orcs.

Something a bit older for this blog update. 

I have always loved the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings animation film, especially the Orcs. Now an American company, long out of business now, used to produce some miniatures based on the style from the film. Elan Merch was the company which owned the licence for the production of Lord of the Rings merchandise, but he the actual miniatures were produced by Heritage Miniatures, from 1977. Heritage went out of business  in 1983, and so I assume that the miniatures were produced in that time period. The Lost Minis Wiki site has more details on this here:

https://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Elan_Merch

and

https://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Heritage

All this was before I started collecting (I started in 1986), but I always wanted some Orcs in the film style. I have toyed with the idea of converting some from other miniatures, but I never really got around to it. Anyway, some months ago I managed to buy, very inexpensively, a set of six Heritage Miniatures Orcs. A couple were broken, with missing weapons replaced. So I purchased them, and set about a mini miniature project.

The miniatures themselves turned out to be from two different packs. Two of them were from 1808 Saruman's Urak-Hai Orcs of the White Hand Spearman, whilst the other four were from 1820.Saruman's Guards - Guard Orcs with Two-Handed Axes. Of the two broken miniatures, both from the 1820 pack, one had had his axe replaced with a nice looking halberd, and whilst the other had a wire pike. I kept the halberd conversion, and swapped the pike for a Essex Miniatures bill. 

As for painting, I wanted to get as close to the animation look as possible. I kept the paining very simple with a drab earth tone for the clothing, grey for the weapons, grey/black for the skin tone, bright red eyes, and white(!) fangs/teeth. Basing (on 25mm square bases) I wanted to keep them drab and dark, and so went for a drab, rocky look, again similar to parts of the film.  

I am very happy with how they turned out. I was a true joy to be able to paint some miniatures based on the films style of Orcs, and from an earlier era of wargaming and miniatures. I would probably buy more if they were still in production (I believe someone does own the rights, but rarely casts), and I will probably try to pick up any odd and ends on e-bay over time, although it's not a high priority. 

Enjoy :) 

Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings animation film on DVD, and a 'Foto Novel' of the film. 

Orcs from the film. 

More Orcs. 

More Orcs again. 

Orcs! 

My little group of six Orcs. 

1808 Saruman's Urak-Hai Orcs of the White Hand Spearman.
(1808a, vertical spear).

Rear view.

1808 Saruman's Urak-Hai Orcs of the White Hand Spearman.
(1808b diagonal spear). 

Rear view.

1820.Saruman's Guards - Guard Orcs with Two-Handed Axes.
(1820b)

Rear view. 

1820.Saruman's Guards - Guard Orcs with Two-Handed Axes.
(1820b, converted with unknown halberd). 

1820.Saruman's Guards - Guard Orcs with Two-Handed Axes.
(1820a)

Rear view.

1820.Saruman's Guards - Guard Orcs with Two-Handed Axes.
(1820a converted with Essex Miniatures bill). 

The next update, and many more in the near future, will be on 3rd Edition Warhammer slotta based Slann. I have been painting quite a few over the last few weeks with an aim to finally finishing the slotta based collection.

Citadel 1980's Lord of the Rings: The Last March of Ents (completed).

I have finished my 'March of the Ents' army. 

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the army in organised and based according to the Midgard rules set, and comprised of miniatures only from Citadel's 1980's Lord of the Rings (ME) range. The army itself is comprised of five Ents and two Hobbits (Merry and Pippin), and works out to be 384 points. All of my Midgard Lord of the Rings armies are around 400 points.  

Each of the Ents are classed as Monstrosities (Giant). I have retained the boulder throwing option (of course!), increased the armour value to 5, gave them Aura of Dread, and made them Relentless. They are quite powerful units, but the Ents were. They are expensive in points (66 points), and will be outnumbered, but that was the fate of the Ents in the book. The idea was to create some huge, scary, and terrifying monsters which, again, the Ents were.  

In Midgard you can't have a Monstrosity as a hero model. So in order to have some heroes I added Merry and Pippin to the army as they were present! At this stage of the Lord of the Rings they have not gained the experience of being with the Rohirrim or Gondorians, and so I kept them as quite mid range heroes, at Level 2 (although I do have spare points to increase them). Both have reduced armour, Hold Fast, Inspiring, Non-Combatant (I might change this) and Today We Fight to Win. Merry is classed as the Army General. 

Overall I'm happy with the army. It was fun to paint, and I enjoyed painting the Ents as they were easy and straight forward to do. Merry and Pippin are enjoyably characterful sculpts, full of that 1980's fantasy vibe. I have collected the army and painted it more for the enjoyment and quirkiness of having an Ent army, especially from the 1980's era. 

Enjoy :) 

Merry and Pippin lead the last March of the Ents. 

Pippin and Merry.
These are from the BME-1 The Fellowship of the Ring boxset. Basing them on 40mm round bases (as I do with heroes for Midgard) really works well. 

Treebeard. 
As mentioned before,I have already updated on the first batch of Ents which I have painted. However, I can't  remember which ones they were, so here they are all are! This one is Treebeard, recognisable because of his greying beard as described in the book. 

Ent.

Ent.

Ent.

Ent. 

Ents marching! 

I have been very busy of late painting 1980's Slann, and so forthcoming blog updates will be on them. I do however have a lot of other things I have been doing, such as assembling and basing 1980's Citadel Lord of the Rings armies, as well as my 1980's Regiments of Renown, amongst other things. The main thing I am short of is time at the moment, but I shall try to make more blogging time! 

Mithril Miniatures: M145 The Mouth of Sauron.

Mithril Miniatures May concludes with another, final for now, Mithril Miniature: M145 The Mouth of Sauron.

It's a lovely Mithril sculpt for a character who I found strangely underwhelming and disappointing in the Lord of the Rings. He exchanges trash talk with Gandalf, manages to lose Frodo's armour and other personal items, then gets sent along on his way, and disappears from the story. He might have been the emissary who Gimli referred to as offering the Dwarves a deal, but that's not explicitly stated. 

Painting him was very easy, and largely the same as the Balrog. Black undercoat, white highlight, wash with Citadel's Blood Angels Red contrast. I painted the horses eyes with a fiery look, as per the description in the book. Quick and easy, and fun to paint. 

Enjoy :) 

Emerging from the forest. 

Front view.

Left side. 

Right view.

I have been recently assembling and re/basing and re/painting some 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Slotta based Slann. However, the next few updates will probably be on some of the backlog of things which I have already completed. 

Mithril Miniatures Balrog.

Carrying on with the Mithril Miniatures May theme, I have painted their Balrog miniature.

As per the rest of my Mithril collection I have based the Balrog up according to the Midgard rules set, on a larger base as per a 'Monstrosity (Flying Beast). Assembly was quite straightforward, and surprisingly I didn't need to drill and pin anything. It's quite a large miniature. The sculpting is lovely, with a nice musculature to the body. The face is almost bat-like, and its horns almost look like antlers, which I think gives a different aesthetic to it.  The mane is lovely and flowing, almost like the fiery mane mentioned in the Lord of the Rings.

My only criticisms are the weapons. In the book it describes the Balrog as having "In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs" (The Fellowship of the Ring, page 348). Now for a start the weapons are in the wrong hands, a basic detail I would have thought Mithril Miniatures would have paid attention to! Secondly, lovely as the sword is, it's more of a scimitar than "stabbing tongue of fire". Finally, the whip has only one thong rather than the "many" which was mentioned. I could have converted it, but I wanted to leave the miniature as it was.

Painting was easy. It's a Balrog, so paint it black, highlight a little, add some flame bits, and it's done, although admittedly, the highlighting was done a little different. In the same manner as my Nazgul, I undercoated the body black, then dry-brush highlighted with white. Then instead of the green for the Nazgul, I washed the Balrog with red, Citadel's Blood Angels Red contrast. I did this to suggest fiery heat in its body and spirit. Also, with the basing I didn't add any grass tufts as to suggest the floor of Moria. If I use the Balrog 'outside' it will not really matter there are no tufts. Overall I'm pleased with it how the Balrog turned out, despite any inaccuracies.   

Enjoy ;) 

The box. 

'Ai! ai!', wailed Legolas,'. 'A Balrog! A Balrog is come!'
(The Fellowship of the Ring, page 348). 

The right side of the Balrog showing the mono-thong whip! 

The left side with the sword. 

Rear view. 

A closer view of the mane. 

A scale comparison.
 The Mithril Orc is their usual 32mm size, and being a character model, he is mounted on 40mm round base. The Balrog itself is on a 125mm by 50mm base. It's also made of metal (pewter) and so is quite a weight, especially with the milliput and stones on the base as well.

The next update might be anything as I have been painting and basing all sorts of things. 

Mithril Miniatures: The Nazgul.

 Finally, after a few years of collecting and waiting, I have nine Nazgul from Mithril Miniatures. I was stuck on five for a while, then bagged three all at once in an e-bay auction earlier this year. That left one, which e-bay gratefully presented a fortnight ago. So now the Nine can ride out spreading terror, and failing to catch Hobbits. 

Anyway, they are based, like the rest of my Mithril Miniatures Evil Army, according to the Midgard rules. I did cheat a little bit. Both bases are meant to represent Heavy Riders (Knight), but I only used four models per base rather than the more usually recommended. I did this so I could have two bases of Nazgul, not have to squeeze eight or nine on one base, and because it looked better. It also fits with the Lord of the Rings in that some Nazgul went off failing to catch the Hobbits, whilst the others went off doing Nazgul things. I kept the Witch King separate as a Hero to be able to command them, and my orc army as well. 

Painting was easy. Undercoat black, dry-brush white, wash with Citadel Tesseract Glow, and then paint the horses and the Witch Kings eyes red. I chose this to emulate Ralph Bakshi's Nazgul in his version of Lord of the Rings. I'm happy with how they look, and glad to achieved getting the Nine. 

Enjoy :) 

The Nine ride. 

The Witch King. 
This is the M3 Witch-King of Angmar miniature. I purchased him without his mace, but I prefer him without it as it looks like he is beckoning the other eight to follow him. I slight bent to palm of his hand flatter to extenuate this.  I also painted his red eyes large that they really should so that at a  distance they stand out more. It looks wrong close up, but better on the table. 

The first of the nine.
 The first three are the M146 Mounted Nazgul miniature. The fourth, in the top right hand corner, is the MM349 Ringwraith in the Shire miniature.

Side view.

The second base. 
This base again has three of the M146 Mounted Nazgul miniature. In addition there is another MM349 Ringwraith in the Shire miniature in the centre. However I had the wrong horse (one of the M146 ones), which didn't matter as it gives all the bases that great sense of movement, something which these miniatures do very well. To add a little variety, and differentiate from the other MM349, I cut off his head and re-positioned it to face in the same direction as his pointing hand. 

Rear view. 

The next update might be more Mithril Miniatures, or some more 1980's Citadel Lord of the Rings Ent's, as I have painted both of these. I promise I'll will photograph the Regiments of Renown at some point. I've been re-basing the 1980s slotta-based Slann as well, but that is a whole other thing entirely!