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| I always assumed that the figure on the front cover of WFB3 was Sigmar. He was, after all, wielding a bad boy of a warhammer to twat a two headed goblin, just the thought of jape that old Heldenhammer would've got up to! Other people had different views. Who did you think he was? |
For me, there is no image more indicative of '80s Warhammer than the be-hammered warrior smiting goblins and posing dramatically on the front of Second and Third Edition. Long have I wondered why no figure was ever crafted to represent him on the table top; and I can recall several conversations with other enthusiasts over the years about creating just such a model. Thankfully, someone finally has worked magic with the old greenstuff and I have had the satisfaction of painting the result over the last few days.
In case you are wondering who sculpted this model and from where he can be purchased let me enlighten you. He is apparently the work of Kevin Adams and is part of the Old School Miniatures range. Here's a quick gander at their logo so you'll know what your looking for.
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| A squat enjoying a cigar, yesterday. |
Old School Miniatures offer a small but perfectly formed range of models clearly influenced by the glory days of Citadel. Check out their blog page here. Amongst several other gems, are a fantastic range of gnomes (complete with WFB3 compatible armylist), arsecannon and some characterful Carnival of Chaos models.
Our warrior (Sigmar?) is filed under Misc as Oddly Familiar Evil Warrior and somehow he had managed to sprout a goatee since we last saw him - I opted to paint mine with a skater-friendly 'half beard' instead, though.
As soon as I saw the figure I knew I wanted one, though at the time I felt there was something lacking about the model. Was it the pose? Was it his face? But when the figure arrived at my door and I tore away the packaging my doubts kind of evaporated. He is crisp, detailed and perfectly cast.
Once I began painting, the hours seemed to melt away in happy brushwork and of course I had to cross reference Second and Third edition to help finialise the colour scheme.
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| Suits you, sir! What a stonking chainmail outfit. Harald Hardrada would no doubt approve - just marvel at the length! |
I used layering to paint up the helmet, warhammer, boots and belt, working through the Foundry triads and adding the odd wash and glaze. Drybrushing brought out the detail on his hair and chainmail easily enough but I must confess to really struggling with the face. The proximity of the helmet and his chubby features resulted in a series of bloated, flat faces that I disliked considerably. What you can see here are my third (and final) attempt and I am satisfied with the result. One thing I learnt the hard way is when to stop, and move on to the next project.
I hope that you dear readers don't think I've fluffed up the face too much!
When trying to take a couple of decent pictures it struck me what was missing. His shield! So I plan to rummage around in my plastics stash to see if I can find something suitable. There is plenty of space on the reverse of the model so I'll have no problem attaching a shield and I'll have the chance to dust off my free-hand skills once more.
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| "Oi, come back here so I can twat you again!" |