This is why I bought a Three Legged Dragon!
I always liked the 1980's Citadel Oriental Heroes range, as well as historical Samurai. I have a few of the Oriental Heroes range kicking about in boxes, and I have been buying odds and ends on e-bay. However, I never really bothered too much with them as in Warhammer Armies they were only avaliable as a Mercenary Contingent for Dark Elves!
But what to do with the models? I could just us an expanded version of the Mercenary Contingent, or use the 2nd Edition list in Ravening Hordes, or the Samurai list for Warhammer Historical, or just make one up. However I had a different idea.
I wanted to field them as a Warhammer Armies army. The Empire list did'nt seem right as I would have to have crossbows and lots of Halberds models which the range does'nt have, and both the Bretonnian lists meant finding mounted Knights. Mounted Samurai are great, but I wanted to just use the Aly Morrison miniatures, still avaliable from Foundry http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/ex-citadel/samurai , or models sympathetic to them.
So, to represent Elite Samurai in Heavy armour I hit on the idea of using the Chaos army list. Chaos Warriors and Maruaders would work well, but are very costly in points, but an army of Samurai Chaos Thugs in heavy armour would be great and have an elite type of profile....
...and so with that idea, I thought I could have Oriental monsters and Oni (I have some Oriental Ogres whic would make great Oni using Minotaur rules). And whilst looking online I found a wonderful Chinese Dragon made by Mirliton (who now produce most of the old Grenadier model range in Italy) for reduced sale at Tritex Games http://www.tritex-games.co.uk/ , and at a bargain price. It would seem that the Dragon was sent in with only three legs, and so I thought with a bit of modelling he would make an excellent Nipponese Wyvern, either as a mount for a hero or a pet for a Wizard.
I will do a proper update on the Chaos Nipponese Army at a later date, but for now...
Boxed Dragon!
Bits!
It is a lovely detailed model.
Assembled, all be it balanced together.
It is a very large model, the Skaven for scale.
I will Greenstuff thesockets for the back legs (the missing leg was the reat left) and over the cast on feet on the metal base. In this way I will have a snakebodied two armed Wyvern, almost like a giant Oriental Snakeman, both very Chaotic and Oriental in feel.
I am aware that he does'nt have any wings, a vital characteristic for a Wyvern, but many Oriental tales of monsters and Celestial Dragons seem to suggest that they fly on clouds, and so this 'Wyvern' shall too! It saves me mangling the model by adding wings.
Nicely detailed Dragon/Wyvern head.
I have'nt got as far as hoped due to many of the distractions I mentioned, as well as the heat, have meant that I have only got 30 Clanrats speed painted. I did manage to also paint 3 Beastmasters, a Wizard, and a regimental leader for one of the Clanrat Regiments.
With the increase in the size of the army and the additional of several more metal models (which are lovely but will require more painting time), and the fact I have been very busy at work, I would suggest that the army will now be finished in mid August rather than by the start, but I will see what progress I make.
Enjoy :)
33 Heroquest Clanrats (3 of the test models and 30 from this week).
I encountered a problem with the speed painting in that the 'new' ratskin Flesk paint in darker than the old Dwarf Flesh. So I have editied the speed painting guide on my blog (see stage Four and a Half):
Apart from tinkering with the flesh I also added a brass look to the Warpfire Thorwers.
Regimental Leader and Wizard.
As I painted the army Genral Green, I thought I would paint this Wizard with red fur to differentiate them from the bulk of the rank and file Skaven.
Rear views of both.
The red bits on the Wizard are spines, no doubt due to the warping effects of Chaos Warpstone.
Beastmasters.
The one in the centre is a Skaven Command miniature, the other two actual Beastmaster models. I ditched the sheild option for them.
Beastmasters attached to the Rat Ogres regiment.
The next blog update will be yet more Skaven, of which I hope to have painted many more. I will also sort out some of the Oriental Heroes too. In addition, all this Pseudo-Orientalism has also got me looking at my Hobgoblin miniautres again, with an eye to paint stripping and re-painting them too. I will at some point do an update focusing purely on the 1980's Hobgoblin models.
Excellent re-purposing of the damaged dragon, I love stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I think it will look interesting as a Chaos/Snakeman/Wyvern Warbeast, and will fit the Chaos Nippon army well.
DeleteI'll see if I get time to assemble it properly during the week.
That dragon is great, would love to pick one up for my high elves. Your pace on the skaven is awe inspiring. That being said.... You're making us all look bad. :)
ReplyDeleteGreadier/Militon do some great Dragons. A slightly Oriental High elf army sounds an interesting idea.
DeleteThank you and sorry on the Skaven :) LOL
The Clanrats and Slaves will be quick to paint, but the Gutter Runners and Stormvermin, and metal command models will be slower to paint. I still have to paint strip a dozen or so models, but I still hope to aim for mid August.
I do like your Skaven, especially the higher number of metal models in your army.
Nice to se eth eskaven getting some love !
ReplyDeleteThat chaos nippon theme is absolutely perefct ! There are even some very good donors in the marauder/thug range ! Otherwise, pianting regular nippons in an evil colour scheme will work too. Can't wait to see th eprogress on that one, it's the combination of 2 things I adore !
I am really growing to like the Skaven. Inever collected them at the time so I am almost approaching them as a new range. The metal models are full of 1980's character, and the plastic ones are suprisingly good too. I am having fun doing the army :) .
DeleteA Chaos Nippon Army seems a great combination. I get to use the great old Samurai/Oriental Heroes ranges and other interesting models, and have them in a good and above average army list.
I plan on using mostly the C series Samurai/Oriental Heroes ranges, but I do have a few extra odds and ends with them to add character. I'll do an update on what models I am using soon.
I will be painting them in a dark paint scheme, but I have'nt settled on the exact details. I have got a great scheme for the Dragon, but I'll leave that as a suprise for when I have done it.
Great looking dragon! Even at your 'slower' pace, you do churn out models at a really fast pace. Have you considered the use of an airbrush?
ReplyDeleteThank you, I am looking forward to painting it, but it will not be for a couple of weeks yet.
DeleteI have never used an airbrush, I tend to still do everything, including undercaoting, basecoating, and varnishing by hand, so I might look into it.
Thank you, I have been painting for a long time now (28 years!) so I can pick up the pace on the more straight forward models, and then take the saved time of details or particular models/units/monsters.
Love that Dragon Lee. Always loved the classic Citadel Nippon line and wanted to collect an army, but never did. Your "Wyvern" will terrorise the battlefield accordingly.
ReplyDeleteMakes me want to paint my Old Ral Partha Ghost Dragon.... (That I've only owned since 1990-something....)
Thank you, I will be using him as a Warbeast mount for the Army General, so it will have a converted Samurai sitting on top.
DeleteI only collected a few Samurai at the time. The Classic Nipponse are still about, all be it pricey on e-bay. I have been picking up a few to add some variety to the army. A lot of them however will be bought from Wargames Foundry as they have re-released a lot of the old C series Samurai sculpted by Aly Morrison.
I encourage you to paint up the Ghost Dragon, it will be good to see, I have one somewhere in need of painting and it's a great model. My paint shceme for the 'Wyvern' will be slightly Ethereal in nature too.
Hey Lee,
ReplyDeletewhen I read you post I had a heavy laugh - had the exact same idea but my wywern (the old citadel celestial dragon) is still sitting in its shelf - primed and ready to go for the last 3 years! I have also acquired 5 of the old citadel temple dogs with samurai and hobgoblin riders to have some sort of cavalry for the army. Great idea having the oriental ogre become an oni!
I also have added the old undead citadel samurai line as an element of interest without any clear idea what to do with them. Is there any reference in Japanese history to undead samurai?
Any idea for the stats of the elements?
Keep us updated - you live my dream :-)
Cheers Chris
Excellent and thank you. It makes me feel perhaps it's not such a crazy idea afterall! LOL
Delete5 Temple Dogs is very good going I only have the one and he is for the Hobgoblin Mercenary force.
I have had the same idea as you with the undead Samurai. I have One and so was planning on getting a few more and either mixing them in units or having them as a seperate unit. However, they are expensive on e-bay, so I was considering using my sole Undead Samurai as a Spectre in an Ethereal host.
I am not sure if there are undead Samurai as such in Japanese Folklore, but the are references to Samurai ghosts, as well as other ghosts demons and spirits. One of those are the Yurei, a form of spectre.
It would be good to see your 'Wyvern', as well as the rest of the army painted.
For profiles, I plan do base use the Chaos Thug profiles for the bulk of the Samurai, with maybe one unit of Maraduers forming an elite. For the larger Ogre Oni I will use the Minotaur profiles, with the addition that the Blood Greed rules will give them that slightly Demonic unpredicablity. If I have enough points in the army I have some 25 Oriental Orcs from Alternative Armies that would make nice smaller Oni, and I would use Beastman profiles for them.
I will be finishing off my Skaven army for a few weeks before I start any of the Samurai, but will keep everyone updated as I go.
Hi Lee, if you need a dozen or so more heroquest skaven, just let me know...
ReplyDeleteThank you Justin, but I have enough for the army now :)
Delete