The Manticore

A triple row of teeth meeting like the teeth of a comb, the face and ears of a human being, blood-red color eyes, a lion's body, inflicting stings with its tail like a scorpion...with a special appetite for human flesh!

One of the things I love about the old Warhammer editions is the numerous monsters available. It is perfectly acceptable to have in your army a few of them, from good Elementals to various Chaos creatures. As it should be, really, I mean we are talking about a fantasy world goddammit!

Citadel produced a number of monsters in the 80s, and of course Chaos being the favourite child (lets not kid ourselves here) a wide selection of Chaos critters were sculpted. Many of these were stand alone beasts, and not the mandatory heroe's mounts like we see today. They were also often of "normal", as in "human" size. The following Manticore is such a sculpt. It was designed by the master Jes Goodwin in the mid-80s and is probably my favourite Manticore sculpt to this day. A good Manticore should always look like its in a very bad mood and this one fits the bill!

It is smaller than the recent offering by GW, but to me the Manticore was never meant to be a gigantic beast. I was surely influenced in this view in part by the well known cover of "The Shamutanti Hills", from the Sorcery! series of Fighting Fantasy books. A creature doesn't have to be the size of a Dragon to be terrifying!

The Manticore has the body of a lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth (like a shark), bat-like wings, and a trumpet-like voice.

I went pretty conventional on the painting, with a classic beige for the lion body and some dark purple for the wings and scorpion tail. I did modify slightly the position of the wings, I just prefer the look. I love the animation of this model, I find Jes Goodwin has really nailed the feline slow and predatory walking stance.

The base was made with cork, accompanied by the remnants of a skeleton to add a little atmosphere to the piece (he is a man eater after all).

Another nice addition to my Chaos bestiary. In my young days, I used to be afraid of painting these creatures, but they are a lot of fun and a great change of pace between unit painting. After painting a Griffon and now a Manticore, I'll probably need to paint a Chimera soon, I figure!

This piece was entered in the recent Analogue Painting Challenge Bonus Theme Round. This round's theme was "myth", so the Manticore, originally a myth of Persian origin, where its name was "man-eater", fitted perfectly. If you like him, you can encourage one of your fellow Oldhammerer by voting on the page previously linked. You'll also get to see a bunch of fantastic entries.

Collecting Oldhammer : 3rd edition fantasy rulebooks

A few weeks ago I sent over to a member of the Oldhammer Facebook community, by way of Vermont (long story), a few OOP GW inks as a Christmas gift. I rarely use inks nowadays (washes or AP) and Don was out of his favourite inks so I figured it was an opportunity to do a good deed, Christmas spirit and all.

Don returned the favour right away, sending me Warhammer Siege as a new year's gift! Let this be a reminder to all of us that it pays to be generous!

So yeah, it took me over twenty years but here they are, the complete collection of rulebooks made for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd edition. Well, I've had 4 of the 5 since my early teens, but never got around to getting Warhammer Siege. It was a lot of fun reading for the first time a 3rd edition rulebook! I'm glad I have the two RoC books already, as they are going for some insane prices on Ebay (still worth it, though. Yes they are that awesome).

The 3rd Edition really is the edition of my youth and the one that represents most Oldhammer to me. I started playing around 1989-1990, a few years before the 4th edition came along, and although I played a lot of the 4th (High Elves vs Goblins, anyone) the one which made an impact on me most was definitely the 3rd. I was also playing a lot of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay at the time, and the two mixed really well together. In fact, I believe I got Realm of Chaos originally as a supplement for WFRP. You can see from the corners that these books have seen a lot of action, although incredibly my Slave to Darkness copy still has its dust jacket 25 years later! 

I played a LOT of this game. Does it shows?

This is the first part of my collecting of Oldhammer books. I'm working on acquiring the earlier editions as well as the complete collection of WFRP books 1st edition. I sold a long time ago the few WFRP supplements I had, and my rulebook (in french) is literally in shambles! So I would like to get a copy in better condition, in the original english version.






 I also have a few of the 1st edition 40K (Rogue Trader) rulebooks, and *that* is a testament to my hoarding disorder! I haven't played in 20 years, I've sold or lost all my figures during the dark days of my late teen years and yet...I. just. can't. get. rid. of. it. I just know if I sell them I'll regret it!

MM43 Chaos Champion on War Griffon

When I first read the descriptive for the latest bonus round for the Analogue Challenge, "mounts and rider" I immediately decided there would be no way I would submit a boring horse and rider! I'm knee deep in Oldhammer at the moment, so obviously It would have to be a hero mounted on some kind of exotic monster! 

I settled quickly on my choice; the "MM43 Chaos Champion on War Griffon", a classic Marauder Miniatures multi-part kit released in 1990. I was, and still am, a big fan of Marauder Miniatures, and this piece is no exception. A nice Christmas gift to myself!

 

The original WD advert

I will admit it doesn't really fit in the rest of the Realm of Chaos range, it seems almost too clean and the Griffon looks more "Empire" with the tassels and all than Chaos. But at the same time difference is what makes Chaos, and the Champion definitely looks the part! Heavy nostalgia love factor for me in this one.

It took me some time to find one at a decent price, in fact I found it barely two months ago, and the one I got was still in its original blister. And yes, I did what some may consider heresy and opened it and painted it! I'm a collector, but dammit miniatures are meant to be painted and loved and played with! The assembling went better than anticipated (heavy wings are a serious pain to glue!) although those early pieces are always tricky.

You rarely see it painted, in fact I've only seen three painted examples, and that's including the one painted in 1990 for the White Dwarf advert (see above). I painted the Champion's armour a bright colour, in this case green (I think those who follow my blog have noticed my army's green theme by now!), which is something you would often see in the golden age of Warhammer. The Griffon I painted a bright palette, too, mostly of white, green and red. I'm really happy with the way the white fur came out, I think I nailed it.

Not very evil colours, maybe, but the early Warhammer Chaos colours were all over the place and that's something I loved. It's Chaos, not undead! I'm quite happy with the way he's come up, even though I find the photography don't do justice to the red wings at all. I glued the rider in a slightly different position than he was meant to be, so he seems more in attack mode (the original position looks a bit likes he's sitting comfortably on an Elran couch, I have to admit).

I just need to find a proper name for the Champion and his mount and he's ready for combat! Suggestions?

(And happy new year to all!)

"Kitty Bonny"; a gift to a friend, and my first entry in the challenge

Avast, me hearties!

The last few competition it took me a few weeks before submitting a first entry, so I decided to break the habit by submitting something straight outta the gate. It will put me on the board and motivate me to add to this early start.

2014 was a very difficult year for me; I spent most of the year unable to walk after undergoing three knee surgeries and at one point, after a series of complications, I seriously feared I might never get to walk normally again. Although I've mostly recovered now it's in those difficult times that you get to know your real friends, and I am lucky enough to count on a few amazing ones who supported me, visited me and cheered me up through these hard times. So I decided that, for Christmas, I would do something special and individually paint for each of them a unique figure as a show of gratitude. I rarely if ever paint for someone else and the plan is to paint something which represents them or something they love.

So my first figure of the competition is a gift to one of my best friend, Emilie, a great girl with a love of cats. In fact, she even has a cartoon cat as a tattoo on her arm. The figure is from Dark Sword Miniature's "Anthropomorphic Animals range", obviously a cat, and it's an awesome sculpt full of personality. The pink details and plumes are also a wink to Emilie's favourite colour.

I named the figure "Kitty Bonny" and I cannot wait for Xmas to give it to her.

That should give me 5 pts to start the competition with panache (I posted this in both my blogs, after all a pirate is historical, but a cat pirate is definitely fantasy!)

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, the fantasy side

It's that time of the year, when temperature drops, snow covers the ground and we get ready for another crazy painting challenge! So as usual I decided to join the fun, along with a whopping 71 other crazies! Yes, the challenge keeps getting bigger, and this year there are a few changes. First and foremost the Challenge now gets its own blog,  and all the participants get to participate in it by writing their own entries. We also get a day in which we can post our weekly updates. In my case Tuesdays. All this should help Curt manage this massive endeavor. 

So as usual I've set myself a goal slightly above what I've done in the past, this time 600 pts! . The scoring is as follow for the 28mm painters :

28mm foot figure = 5 pts
28mm mounted figure, artillery piece or crew served weapon = 10 pts
28mm vehicle = 15 pts

I've been working hard on Oldhammer recently, so its only fitting I use the challenge to work on my  Chaos army, and hopefully almost complete the first phase. 

• 15 "chosen"/Khorne warriors : 75 pts
• 10 "chosen"/Nurgle warriors : 50 pts
• 1 Beast of Nurgle (a special model) : approx. 10 or 15 pts (Curt will decide how much he's worth)
• 15 Plaguebearers : 75 pts
• 10 Chaos Knights : 100 pts

 Fantasy total : 315 pts 

So all in all between my historical goal (280) and my fantasy goal (315) I'm short 5 pts but I have a few individual figures and surprises in mind to fill that gap. Of course, I reserve the right to change my plans without any notice! This is merely a tentative plan to help me focus.

Also, as Curt did last year, every two weeks there is a theme bonus round. These are worth 50 extra pts each but I do not count them in my point planning, although they will surely help me reach my goal if I can submit enough of them: 

• December 14: Cold
• December 28: Mount(s) & Rider(s)
• January 11: Victorian
• January 25: Myth
• February 8: Hot
• February 22: Comedic
• March 8: Anti-Hero

I have an entry (sometimes more than one) in mind for all the bonus round except the cold and the hot (which I may or may not participate in depending on my progress). But those entries I will keep secret for now and they will be revealed on the appropriate dates.

So the last two weeks I've done as much as I can on the prepping side, trying to be better prepared than year's past. I haven't prepped everything, but its a very good start. 

My prepping table as it appeared this morning 

For those interested, you can find the Historical side of my challenge here