Iron Claw Miniatures Harpies : 'The Blue Footed Harpy Tribe'. (NSFW).

As the painting of the Chaos Snakeman army draws to a close, I have been busy finishing the last peripheral items of the army, in this case Harpies.

I wanted Harpies in the army so I could have some flying creatures to attack Giant Eagle and such, or just fly around annoying things. I did orginally have just the one, which I painted purple, but I never liked the paint scheme, so I paint stripped her. I also wanted more than one Harpy. One lucky e-bay auction added six more to the army.


The miniatures are from Bob Olley's Iron Claw range from about 1988, sold by GW. They are a very small range of miniatures, with only three models, and two types of seperate wings. There was a fourth miniature, but this was unreleased. They could be considered NSFW because the miniatures are sculpted to be naked. The three miniatures are composed of two female and one male Harpies. The three miniatures are meant to be based on political leaders of the time. The male is American President Ronald Regan, the unarmed female Harpy is his wife, Nancy Regan; and the other female Harpy holding a bone is the 1980's UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.


Other than the Harpies, I have been very busy painting and sorting all sorts of things out. I have largely completed the Native American Orc Ally Contingent, and painted a Hydra. I have also started painting my pre-slotta Dark Elf army, and sorting through my pre-slotta Orc army.

Enjoy :)

 Iron Claw Harpies. 

I have painted them in a standard eagle-equse looking brown, but painted the feet blue to add colour. So, these Harpies are the 'Blue-footed Harpy Tribe'.

 One of each.
As there are only two types of wings, I have bend the open wings on some of the Harpies to give more variation and suggest 'flapping'. 

 The 'Ronald Regan' Harpy.

 The 'Nancy Regan' Harpy.

 The 'Margaret Thatcher' Harpy.

 Both types of wings. The wings are seperate and can be mixed and matched.

 Ral Partha Hydra from 1982. 

I have added her to the Snakeman army as a bound monster, as it seemed appropriate. I named her 'Hetty', as she just seemed like a Hetty to me! :)

 The last of the Snakemen I finished painting a week or two ago. 

The standard at the rear is the Army Standard.

 Pre Slotta Dark Elf army.

I undercoated the army last night, and have already started painting the Dragon and the Cold One Riders. I plan to completely paint this army over the next few weeks, and will update on my progress after the final Snakeman Army updates.

 WIP
Sneek Peek of my Native American Orc Ally Contingent.

Big box of pre slotta Orcs.
I want to organise these into one or two Lord of the Rings Armies, mixing in Citadels 1980's Lord of Rings miniatures as well. I am not sure whether to do this in the form of a large skirmish army, similar to the GW's War of the Rings game, basing them on 25mm or 30mm bases. The other option is a 3rd Edition Orc army, on 25mm square bases and more formally organised.

All of the C27 Snakemen.
The C27 Snakemen are all now painted, and on a shelf, awaiting a proper army photographing. I thought I would just add this photograph on the blog for the fun of it.

The next update will be on the Native American Orc Ally Contingent. After that, I will organise a complete set of photographs for a full Snakeman Army update, later next week or so. Then on to the Dark Elves. :)

Things from Salute 2017.

I went to Salute 2017 in London on saturday.

Always fun to go to and have a look around, with lots of demonstration games, and lots of smaller miniature companies. I met up with several Oldhammer bloggers, chatted to Tim Prow about his miniatures range, and chatted to many company owners. I did'nt bother to take photographs as a lot of other people probably have, and of better quality. I wanted to focus on looking around and spying out interesting things, rather than photography.

When I go to Salute I usually don't go there to buy armies or anything that I could really buy online. My aim to to pick up any odds and ends that would'nt warrant a mail order, buy items from smaller companies which I had not heard of or (sadly) might not be around for long, or buy items of scenery which would cost a lot in postage. Also, it's good for gathering information on new compaines and collecting the website addresses for any future mail ordering.

Below are the few odds and ends I purchased, with links to the relavent web sites.

Enjoy :)

 Snail house!

I bought this as a charming scenery piece for fantasy gaming, especially with Fantasy Tribes era Goblins and Dwarves in mind. 

It cost £15 and is made by
http://www.hystericalgames.co.uk/

 Front door and left side.

 It's a big snail shell house! :)

 Fishmen.

I have always wanted these, and so succumbed to pure whim, costing £10 for the pair.
These were originally made by Citadel Miniatures for the very earlier Rogue Trader releases in 1987, being converted from earlier Fishmen. They were re-released a few years ago by Wargames Foundry, and now reside at Warmonger Miniatures.
https://warmongerminiatures.myshopify.com/

 An armoured Giant Barn Owl from Oathsworn Miniatures. 

I really like Oathsworn miniautres and already have several. I bought this for one of my 3rd Edition Elf Armies as a standing for a Giant Eagle. I might order a few more. He cost £7.
http://www.oathswornminiatures.co.uk/

 Cacti from Wargames Terrain Workshop.
As people may be aware, I have been painting a Snakeman army, with a vague Southwestern desert of   North America feel. So I thought a little desert scenery would be fun to have, especially as I will be photographing the whole army on a gaming board, probably next week.
These fine flora cost a mere £3.
http://wargamesterrainworkshop.co.uk/

 More giant Cacti. These cost £2.50.

 Rattle Snakes. 

I am not sure whether to put these on Snakemen bases, or use them as a bound swarm, but for £2 I could'nt resist. 

 Bugs!
These are awsome. Small resin made bugs, great for bases and swarms. I will be using some of these for Slann bases, and maybe some of the Fantasy Tribes Goblins. 

They cost £4.50, and are made by Ristuls Market.
https://www.ristulsmarket.com/

 Flowers.
Lots and lots of Flowers.
These are made by Debris of War Scenics and a beautifully detailed and self adhesive. They are very reasonably priced  at £5 and £6, considering the large number you get.
The 'mm' sizing is to  do with how tall the flowers are, rather than the width of the flowers.
http://www.debrisofwar.com/

 Close up of the 2mm tufts.

 Free stuff!
The Salute female Red Revolutionary miniautre, and Red Star die.
I also was given a free platic miniature from War Cradle. The yhad a big display game and the miniautre looks to be a high quality plastic casting.
Thier website is here:
http://www.warcradle.com/

 Free all-colour Forgeworld Catalogue, handy for my 30k Hours Heresy army.

Next update will be in a couple of days time on the Iron Claw Harpies.
I have been painting a lot recently, and have nearly finished the Snakeman army, with all of the Snakemen themselves now done!

The Snakemen of the Moon Goddess.

I have had a very successful week painting. I have managed to paint one regiment of ten Snakemen, some Harpies, and a couple of random Snakemen. However, this blog update will focus just on just the unit of Snakemen, as I want to save the other stuff, namely the Harpies, for a more in-depth update of their own.

The Snakeman regiment I painted is a unit of ten Snakemen, designed to be used as proxy Chaos Warriors in a Chaos Ally Contingent, as per the Warhammer Armies lists. Unlike the Snakemen of the main Snakeman army, I have decided to paint them all as a coherent unit, with the same flesh colour, armour, and largely the same equipment. I have done this so the represent a tribe of allied Snakemen, cousins of the main army from a different settlement.

I painted their armour silver rather than gold, and used a palette of blue shields, and green-grey flesh, to give a colder look, as opposed to the more colourful varied look of the main army, to make them look different from the main army.
When I was painting them I decided I needed a bit of a backstory to give them an identity. In spirituality and many religons, gold is often representative of the Sun, and silver the Moon, and so I decided to give these Snakemen the identity of a tribe who followed a (Chaos) Moon deity. As the Moon is also often represented by a Goddess, they became the Snakemen of the Moon Goddess. I also painted their standard with an image of the Moon through the trees I saw in a picture to finish off the idea. 

Enjoy :)

 The Snakemen of the Moon Goddess. 

I went for a paint scheme of grey-green flesh, orange eyes, blue shields, and silver armour.  By painting them in a uniform set of colours, they were a lot quicker to paint than ten more individual Snakemen from the main army.

To give a little individuality I painted some of the axe shafts and bags differing colours. I did keep most of the clothing and fur the same colours to keep the uniformity, and painted them in natural browns to suggest a more Native American looking feel. 

I also used a mix of miniatures, using all of the five different sculpts of Snakemen. In gaming terms they will be equiped with heavy armour, shield, hand weapon, and double handed weapon.

 The regimental leader, S'lonLife Smasher.

 He had a miscast shield which is a common fault with this miniature, and so I added an old Marauder Miniatures Dark Elf shield of the top of it. Being concave and hollow at the back it fitted over the top nicely.

 A converted broken Saranth Elf Mangler, converted to be a standard bearer. Sometimes the casting of the halberd top of this miniature can be weak, and sometimes breaks, leading to me using three of this miniature in the army as converted standard bearers.

I positioned the standard at an angle because when I first converted it I releaised you could'nt actually see the standard front due to the angle!

The standard is based on a picture of the Moon in a piece of artwork I saw in a shop. I also added some runic lettering on the standard to give a little more detail. I chose the name 'Luna' as the name of the Moon Goddess. Looking straight-on at the standard 'Luna' is written on the left in Dark Elf runes from the Warhammer Forces of Fantasy book. On the right, it is written in Dark Tongue from The Lost and the Damned book.  

 S'lararet Splintered Fang.

I painted his shield with a similar look to the standard.

 The first of four S'Sirron Fangthrane.

 I painted the axe shafts different to add a little individuality.

 The second pair of S'Sirron Fangthrane's.

 A pair of Higgat Dwarf Slicer's.

Finally, last but not least, another S'lonLife Smasher, without a miscast shield. 

Next update I will be focusing on the Harpies I have also painted. I bought six more Bob Olley Iron Claw Harpies from e-bay, and painted stripped them and the one I already had, and painted them.

Painting wise I am getting very close to finishing the army. :)

The Horus Heresy: Betrayal.

As I paint my way through the Snakeman horde, I have got distracted towards a project I have always wanted to do: a Horus Heresy era army using the current miniatures and based on the series of books.

Recently, with the release of GW's 'Burning of Prospero', they have released plastic Mark III Space Marines, at a much lower cost than the Forgeworld ones (even cheaper if you shop around on e-bay, as I did!). Some years ago I bought the 'Betrayal at Calth' box set for the Mark IV Marines, Terminators and the Dreadnought, and so could'nt resist picking up some more plastics now whilst they are still around quite relatively cheap post release. To give it all a framework, I bought (on e-bay cheaper again!) The Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal.

The book is gorgeous. Really high quality and full of lovely artwork. It, to be frank, also contains the Crusade era army list, which was a prime motivator for purchase. However, that is not to decry the book, which very pretty :)  .

On the subjet of pretty, my idea is to gradually assemble an Emperor's Children army. I have always liked this Legion, and liked them in the books. I also liked them in the older art book from GW/The Black Library, 'The Horus Heresy Collected visions'. When building the army, I have that books look of the Emperor's Children, with the current army list and miniatures to fulfil that ideal. With that in mind have I painted three test miniatures, a Mark III; a Mark IV; and a Mark VI. I also re-based my 'Classical' scenery to give it a more battlefield look, and to act as a backdrop for photography.

All this is something I am doing in the background, I am still painting the Snakeman army, but they will be finished very soon. I have an allied contingent of ten half painted on my table as I type.

Enjoy :)

 The Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal.

 Emperor's Children.
I am going for a 'pinker' look to mine, as per earlier artwork. I will also have a few more Mark III armoured Marines than it consider, as I like them, and the Legion did use them, just not as much as others.

 The Horus Heresy: Collected Visions. 

A large book packed full of Horus Heresy inspired artwork used in the eponymous Collectable Card Game.

 Emperor's Children.
I am aiming for roughly this look.

Plastic Emperor's Children. 

I have not as of yet painted any numbers or iconography on the shoulder pads. These are really little more than test models to refine the armour colour.

 Mark III.

I have added 1cm square plastic card on the bases to suggest wrecked marble flagstones.

 Mark IV with Missile Launcher. 

I plan to use a Heavy Support choice for on a squad of these, and equip them with Flakk Missiles. 

The bulk of the armour in the army will be Mark IV.

 Mark VI Marine. 

I thought that a squad of Mark VI's would be fun to have and very Horus Heresy rather than just the usual Marks II, III, IV, and sometimes V.

 Ruins.  

A lot of the ruined cities in the 'Collected Visions' book look Neo-Classical, and so I thought this scenery, and the Marines bases, would suit.

 Front view.

 More ruins.

 The larger one is a converted fish tank ruin, as are the ruined statues.

 Legion Tactical Support Squad in Mark III armour.

Making more flagstones! 

Next week, Snakemen!

Native American Trolls, and a couple of random nonsenses.

A fair a scattering random stuff this update.

Continuing with the Native American theme for the Snakemen, I have added a bit of muscle, but not brains, to the army in the form of a pair of Trolls. I wanted a couple of bigger sized monsters to take on any other larger monsters the Snakemen may encounter. So Trolls.

I bought pair of the old C20 Trolls from e-bay. One of them, Hobol Firebreath, was broken, missing the end of his hammer. So I added a spare Snakeman halberd head to tie-in with the Snakeman army, and gave him the addition of a fine looking headress from an old broken toy soldier. The other Troll was much easier to convert more to a Native American look by just adding a large stone headed axe to his open hand.

Other than the Trolls I randomly painted up a C01 Fighter, and the Witch King from Citadels 1980's Lord of the Rings range. I have been inspired to look again at the Lord of the Rings and have been sorting out both my old 1980's Lord of the Rings miniatures, and the Fantasy Tribes/C16 ranges of Orcs with an eye (a red eye, wreathed in flames maybe!) to building up a couple of Orcs armies. More on that in a later update, as I still have more Snakemen to finsh. I have also been wondering whether to re-base my Slaves to Darkness era Chaos Marines to 32mm, and so tried out a couple of test miniatures.

Enjoy :)

Native American Trolls. 

I gave them a more Native american skin tone, and some warpaint losely based on artwork from an Osprey book on the American West.

'Bigchief'  Hobol Firebreath.

As I mentioned I have replaced  hammer head, and added headress.

 Rear view.

 Davogrod Gitsucker.

 Rear view.

The mounted ME63 Lord of the Nazgul.

 C01 Fighter 'Atari'.

I always liked this miniature and just randomly decided to paint him. I painted him mainly green as I used to play a lot of Civilzation III some time ago, and when I played the Japanese, the icons were green. So, bizarrely I wanted him green. 

I built up the base a little with Milliput as he is quite short, and now he looks a little more heoric standing on a mound.

 Rear view.

 A pair of World Eater Renegades.

I have re-based them on the current Space Marine sized 32mm bases instead of the traditional 25mm bases. I think that they look better, and make the miniatures look bigger. It gives them more room, without having feet or guns dangling over the edges of the bases to a great degree. 

I am not 100% decided on whether to do this. Twenty Seven years of having Marine on 25mm, as well as my natural inclination to keep everything 'as was'.

Me!
The other day I popped into my local gaming shop, The Dice Saloon in Brighton, as the owner asked me to identify some of his collection of old 1980's miniatures, which was a fun way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon.
Here's the link to the Dice Saloon:
https://www.dicesaloon.com/

Next update will be the Orcs I am painting as an lly contingent. I need to focus on really getting some serious painting done. I might get the odd Snakeman painted too. Only 17 more to go!!
I am also getting distratced by the Horus Heresy. With the release of the Burning of Prospero and the Mark III armour, I am slowly, bit by bit, making a 'contempary' style Space Marine army. s