Unfortunately, my scanner is broken and so I am left with the only remaining option when detailing this series, photographing articles of interest with my phone. Not an ideal way to gather up historical evidence, but its all I have to use at the moment. If you happen to have better quality images of these pages, or can scan them, I would be very grateful and its fairly easy to replace photographs once a blog has been posted.
Onwards and upwards then. Issue 127 is one of the all time classics, especially if you are into the Eldar. For it was within the pages of this issue that their background saw its first major relaunch. There are literally pages, and pages of art, fluff and such but this is a series of blog posts that focuses on Warhammer Third Edition, not Rogue Trader, so commenting on these extracts will need to wait for another day.
As we have come to expect, there is a little here that would interest hardcore Warhammer fans. As we know, Warhammer was in decline at this point, largely due to the runaway success of Rogue Trader, and the explosion of Big Box Games, including the massive selling Heroquest. There was plenty of fantasy around, it just wasn't Warhammer Fantasy
Marauder's monthly release for issue 127 were primarily undead. Let'a have a look at the minis in a bit more detail shall we?
I remember being disappointed by these back in 1990, and despite my changing views on Marauder as a range, I am still disappointed with them now. These skeletons just aren't as good at the older Citadel ones. The skulls look like comedic Halloween masks and the poses are very dull. I get the feeling looking at them now that they were most likely knocked out quite quickly, especially when you compare them to the lovingly put together Imperial Dwarf range by Marauder.
There are some great ideas on a few of the models though, such as skeletons A, B and C in MM50/5, who have a strange appeal. I think its the cross between pantomime villain and mongol warrior! But overall these are not models that I will ever be adding to the collection. Perhaps I am being unfair, and please do let me know if you think I am, as it may just be the paint jobs that make these models look the way they do, but I very much doubt it.
The Flagellants are are a different kettle of fish. Though a little obscured by the quality of the my photography, these are quite characterful models. The all look interesting and have yet to acquire the impossibly muscled look of the later plastic versions. Interestingly, flagellants were first mentioned (as far as I know away) back in 1987's Warhammer Armies book, but this is the first time we see some models produced distinctly to represent them. In my opinion, the style of sculpting is very different with these models, and reflect what was going to come with the Warhammer miniature line rather than fitting in with what had gone before.
What are your views of these models? Is it yeah or nay for the skellies? Are you a fan of the flagellants? Please share.
Orlygg