At the start of my collecting it wasn't always Citadel Miniatures I opted for.
When I started in 1986 Grenadier Miniatures were always an option. I still clearly recall visiting Beaties and Gamleys in Brighton and Hove as a young goblin and seeing all these other interesting miniatures with their different sculpting style and vibe. On my 13th birthday in 1987 I was given money to 'go buy something you want', and with that I purchased several blister packs of Grenadier 'Fantasy Lords' undead, to add to the few random Grenadier miniatures I had already (as an aside, I started a part time job just after my 13th birthday, and so my purchasing power increased just in time for Citadel's 'Golden Age').
As time wore on my focus shifted more to Citadel Miniatures (Brighton GW opened a little later in the 1980's) and the availability of Grenadier Miniatures wasn't always as strong. However, I never lost that magical feeling I first got from the Grenadier Undead. Over the years I returned to them, but without any clear idea what to do with them. E-bay helped with buying odds and ends, but it was only recently that I thought of an idea of painting them less conventionally Undead, and more with an ethereal feel. And winter. I wanted a cold, muddy, winter feel to them as well.
So here were are. I based them on regimental bases because beautiful as Grenadier Miniatures are, the pre Fantasy Warriors Grenadier ranges they can be quite fragile, especially the undead. Some of them have been repaired or converted because of this. I painted them over a white undercoat with a wash of Citadel Tesseract Glow, then Citadel Nighthaunt Glow, dry brush white, them a light wash with Tesseract Glow again. Then snow effects on the bases. I like how they have turned out and pleased that after all these years, they have finally received the attention they deserved.
Enjoy :)
I placed him on a large command base with a spare standard bearer just to show him off.
In a Warhammer Fantasy Battle Army I would consider using this as a Plague Cart proxy.
I added a mounted 'Fantasy Lords' 137 Skeleton Command kettle drummer as I had one spare and I thought I might add to the look of the regiment.
These are miniatures which predominately have bears sculpted on their shield, so I grouped them together. The standard bearer is a conversion of a broken miniatures, and has a sculpted green stuff bear pelt as a standard.
These are actually based on two separate bases representing 10 models on each, so that they can be deployed as one regiment of 20, one regiment of 20 in line, or two regiments of 10.
This model comes with a banner which kept snapping off, so I left it off.
I was going to paint the captives inside in a normal paint scheme, but I though it would be nice to just have them as eternally captive screaming souls trapped inside.
This is a lovely model, but I bought it in a sorry condition from e-bay. It was missing the lower part of it's trunk armour, all of it's crew, banner, armour, and shields. Anyway, I added a couple of spare crew and made the best of it.
On the left is a Grenadier Lord of the Rings range 7504 Hillmen of Trollshaws 'Miffli'. I would use him as a Necromancer or Liche.
On the right is a Grenadier Lord of the Rings range 7502 Sauron's Dark Ones mountain Vampire.
Oh, I see some pretty interesting models here, the least I can say is that all of them instil tons of charm, I really love what you got here!
ReplyDeleteThank you. They do have that 1980s charm, and for me that nostalgia value. I think that they do provide an interesting alternative to Citadels miniatures from the 1980s.
DeleteFantastic looking army Lee, I always had a fondness for Grenadier miniatures, my first D&D set was their Orc's lair, and had several of the undead range, including the flyer you have in the army.
ReplyDeleteThank you. One of my first sets was a Lord of the Rings Box Set, the 7502 'Saurons Dark Ones' box. They always seemed to me to be better suited to dioramas, D&D and MERP role playing games, or just for painting.
DeleteAll of the people (including myself) who owned any at the time used them as additions to their Warhammer Fantasy armies as single large miniatures (such as the Giants or Dragons) or mixed the occasional one in with other units, or had an occasional regiment (mainly Orcs). I never saw them in any great number or as an army, which is why I wanted to give building an army of them a try.