The Balgorg.

This week I have painted the Balgorg, an old Citadel Greater Demon released in 1988 as part of the C31 Giant Monsters range. I have had a little break from blogging as I have been conducting my ongoing sorting out of my 1980's miniatures into armies, and also been ill with the flu.

Now by 1988 the 'C-series' listings were coming to an end, with the serial number listing taking over, but the Balgorg was listed in the C31 Giant Monsters range. The Balgorg himself is a Greater Demon (Demon, not Deamon) and is, I would suggest, based on the Balrog idea from the Lord of the Rings. In Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Edition, it was possible to summon Greater Demons via 4th Level Demonic Magic, making this miniature perfectly practical for gaming.

The info next to the advert suggests that the miniature is good not just for gaming, but of such a good quality for collectors and painters. Although there is nothing exceptional in the sculpting, it is still a lovely sculpt from Trisha Morrison (soon to be co-founder of Marauder Miniatures), and part of the great sculpting from the era. There is not a lot of fine detail, but the nature of the miniature does not allow for that. Personally I think the the miniature is a beautiful and looks like what it is meant to. 

I painted the Balgorg in the style of the Lord of the Rings Balrog. I opted for a dark colour. I undercoated the miniature black, and highlighted it with red. The 'hairy' parts of the model I painted to suggest flames, as I did with the sword and whip. All in all, I am happy with the model and how it turned out. A simple but effective paint.

Enjoy :)

 The original White Dwarf Advert from White Dwarf #97, 1988.
I am not sure, but I do not think that the miniature was a very widely released.

 My take on the Balgorg. I have based him on a 50mm round lipped base.

 Rear view.
The model is a two part miniature. The wings are seperate to the body.

 Close up of the face.

 The sword, with flame detail.

 Scale shot with 1980's Goblin.

 I decided to try something when photographing.
To give the idea of a Balrog in Moria, I photographed the Balgorg in the dark, with ambient lighing provided by a candle.

 Something stirs in the deep.

An old evil brought forth by Morgoth in an ancient age.

Next update should be on my ongiong sorting out of Oldhammer armies.

The Pan Tang Army.

I have finally managed to photographed my completed Pan Tang army.

As with my other armies recently, I took the army over to my local gaming shop/club, The Dice Saloon, and hired a table, borrowing some of their scenery.  As per usual, here is the blatant plug for them, so check them out if you are ever in Brighton or Sussex: https://www.dicesaloon.com/

The Pan Tang, if you are not familiar with them, were one of the chief protaganists in Michael Moorcock's Elirc books. They are orginally from another plane of existence, they are followers of Chaos, great sorcerers and demonologists (they live on 'The Isle of Sorcerer's'), a piratical sea power, and general all round bad guys.

They were part of Citadel's Eternal Champion range, produced from 1986 to 1988, being one of the two miniature races produced for the range as a whole, the others being Melniboneans. Unlike some of the Melnibonean range which survived as High Elves until the 1990's, the Pan Tang never outlived the loss of the franchise, and disappeared from production. Personally I think that this a real shame as they were a nice range of miniatures, and like the Lord of the Rings ME44 Uruk-Hai alternative range which suffered a similar fate, they are now quite sought after. Here is a link to the range as a whole: http://www.solegends.com/citec/index.htm

Enjoy :)

From the sea come the raiders!
Rather fittingly, there was a storm raging and it was very dark when I took the photographs, so they might not be a clear and snazzy as perhaps previous photoshoots.

Side view.
I have designed the army so it can be fielded using the Chaos army list in the 3rd Edition Fantasy Battle supplement 'Warhammer Armies' book. The Pan Tang infantry can be used as Chaos Marauders, the tiger teams can be Chaos hounds, and the personalites can be catered for via the character model allowances.

Right wing of the army.

Centre.

Left wing of the army.

Tigers!

Jagreen Lern, General of the army, and Ruler of Pan Tang.

The sorcerer Theleb Kaarna and his two bodyguards.
 Theleb Kaarna had two bodyguards, one obese and pig faced, and the other with a snakelike head. I chose two non Eternal Champion range minatures from the 1980's, a C27 Beastman 'Guzgog', and a C27 Snakeman S'Sirron Fangthrane'.

Tiger teams.

Moving inland, stalking through the forest...

...picking up the scent of enemies, and closing in for the kill. 

Pang Tang Infantry.
Amongst the three units of Pan Tang infantry I have used a few non Eternal Champion range miniautres from Citadel, from the 1980's. I have used them mainly as standard bearers to save chopping up the Pan Tang range miniatures, and to add a few interesting variations.
I painted them with red armour, as per a description in one of the books, and added a few aquatic colours to give that seaborne feel.

Side view.

The second unit of Marauders.

Side view.

The third unit of Marauders, lead by the Pan Tang Officer Miniature from the EC05 Personalites range.

Side view.

Standard bearers.
I used a few broken Chaos Warrior and Thug miniatures, and converted up the standards from odds and ends in my bits box.

The three regiments.

Battle line.

As spied through the forest.

Marching in columns.

My 'Pan Tang' t-shirt.
I bought this in H&M a year or so ago, and the tiger head remind me of a sorcerous Tiger from Pan Tang.

Not quite sure what my next blog update will be on. I am hoping to paint a few test models for armies, and for fun. I am currently sorting out all of my 'Oldhammer era fantasy armies, so more on that soon.