Blog Lord Agragax's Making and Painting Blog - God Save the Queen!

[Lizerd]

That’s good, we don’t need lead around. Now hearing about the rise of plastic miniatures sounds pretty cool, replacing the archaic lead models (and was probably also out of safety concerns) with a more detailed and useable plastic.i should go check out some warhammer fantasy box sets from back in the day.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

That’s good, we don’t need lead around. Now hearing about the rise of plastic miniatures sounds pretty cool, replacing the archaic lead models (and was probably also out of safety concerns) with a more detailed and useable plastic.i should go check out some warhammer fantasy box sets from back in the day.

Yes, there were several problems with lead minis:

• Safety reasons as you pointed out
• Lead, and indeed metal minis of any sort, are notably more difficult to stick together unless you want to risk sticking your fingers together with super glue (I used Araldite and general stick-anything glue to stick the metal minis I have)
• Especially large units such as monsters were both difficult to design and extremely heavy in metal - if one got accidentally knocked off the table, there was generally tears afterwards.

Even though the sculpting back in the day was nothing compared to what it is now, I think old boxed games are a brilliant piece of our hobby's history, and I love seeing if I can find any old miniatures from them for the armies I play whenever I'm out and about. I can give you a full list of the Fantasy boxed games made:

• 4th Edition (1st-3rd Edition Fantasy didn't have boxed games as they were released in the late 80s-early 90s when GW was still largely selling RPG stuff, and there were no standardised armies in these editions - you could take units from different factions with the same alignment freely): Elves vs Goblins. Consisted of plastic Elven and Goblin Spearmen and Archers (There was also a Griffin usable by the High Elves, but in those days boxed game monsters were just cardboard cut-outs as plastic monsters were not yet a thing). I found a few of the old Goblins in the same job lot as the old Skinks above and 3 of the old Saurus, and am going to use them as Night Goblins.
• 5th Edition: Bretonnians vs Lizardmen (both these factions took a gap-year in 4th Edition and returned in 5th Edition). Consisted of Bretonnian Knights and Archers vs Saurus Warriors and Skinks, and had some nifty cardboard cut-out scenery. Already mentioned that I have quite a few of the old Lizardmen, but in that job lot there was also a Bretonnian Knight from this boxed game - decided not to get him as I don't collect Bretonnians (yet).
• 6th Edition: Orcs vs Empire. I have the Boar Chariot and 20 Boyz with two choppas from this box - much of the contents of one of the copies of this boxed game was on sale once at an Entertainment Exchange that has now sadly closed, and made use of that opportunity to get some Orcs for my Greenskins (I had mostly Night Goblins at that time).
• 7th Edition: Battle for Skull Pass, Dwarfs vs Goblins. This is my all-time favourite of the boxed games, not least because it was how I got into Warhammer, but also for the excellent value for money this one was. You think Soul Wars is good value? Battle for Skull Pass blows it out of the water - there were over 100 miniatures in this boxed game as well as scenery and (for the first time) generals for both armies, all for merely £50. Soul Wars has around half the number of minis and no scenery for double the price (the only redeeming factor for Soul Wars is that the sculpting is of course better as it was designed around 10 years after Battle for Skull Pass). I also think that the Goblin army loadout for Battle of Skull Pass was the inspiration for Gloomspite Gitz in AoS, as it combined Night Goblins, Forest Goblins (now Spiderfang Grots) and a Troll, and it contained a miniature ancestor of the Loonshrine scenery piece - if you like Gloomspite Gitz and can find a complete copy of Battle for Skull Pass (or at least the complete Goblin side), that would actually give you a pretty decent starter force - A Loonboss, a Shaman, 2 units of 20 Stabbas, 1 units of 20 Shootas, 10 Spider Riders and your Loonshrine (there was only one Troll in the box, so if you can find the other two metal ones around the internet you could combine him with them to make a unit of River Trolls, but otherwise he isn't really usable in AoS).
• 8th Edition: Island of Blood, later re-released as Spire of Dawn, High Elves vs Skaven. I also bought this one later on to get started in 8th Edition and start High Elves and Skaven. In terms of sculpting the minis are very good, possibly better than Battle for Skull Pass, and you also get two decently-sized starter armies (more for your money than in the most recent boxed games, but no scenery this time and the armies are still a bit smaller than in Battle for Skull Pass). The best things about this one are, obviously, the plastic minis for the High Elves because it is the only time GW made plastic versions of all the High Elf units included in the box. You also get 2 new Rat Ogre sculpts and plastic weapon teams for the Skaven, the Poisoned Wind Mortar being exclusive to this box. The worst thing about this one was the starter book - if you want a gentle introduction to Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition that doesn't involve you having to read the main rulebook straight away, don't get the Island of Blood. For some reason GW lost all knowledge of what the point of having a starter 'read this first book' in the set was when they made the Island of Blood, as it gives nothing to help new players to start learning the basics of the game, only an intro to the Warhammer Fantasy lore and an assembly and painting guide (that being helpful for building the griffin I admit). Another reason why Battle of Skull Pass was just so awesome was that its starter booklet was wonderful for new players, including me when I first started, as it gave simple scenarios that focused on one aspect of the game (moving, shooting and close combat) before encouraging you to combine those stages together, yet GW threw this idea out completely when writing the one for Island of Blood. What was even stranger was that the next Boxed games GW made, Dark Vengeance and Escape from Goblin Town for 40K and Middle Earth respectively, brought this wonderful formula back in their starter booklets, so why GW botched the Island of Blood starter booklet will always remain a mystery. Sorry about that mini-rant - other than that though, Island of Blood was a pretty good set - not as good as Skull Pass but I'd say still better value than the current AoS starter sets (both the First Edition set and Soul Wars).

That was it - after that everything took a nose dive and AoS came about (but it has since largely regained its composure and become decent again with the arrival of Second Edition).

I won't put pictures up as that would spoil the beautiful surprise for you when researching the sets yourself

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

A hobby update today - went to a brilliant model shop that sold loose stuff as well as kits (in fact I think they sold more loose and second-hand minis and books than brand new stuff), and found these chaps:


Funny that I was talking about the 4th Edition boxed game not long ago and today I find 18 of the High Elf archers from that box in the shop! I didn’t get any Archers before GW stopped doing them (and also I actually prefer these ones to the multipart ones that were available right up to the end of Fantasy because they have the sense to keep their helmets on, while the multipart ones had massive heads with pansy hairdos), so these are a real find. I can find some spare bases for the two that haven’t got any as I bought two packs of those today as well (also in the picture) because finding bases for the old Night Goblin job lot I bought from another shop back in September last year (apologies for not putting pictures of those up, but they were multipart in and loads of pieces - takes a while to get them out and put them back again) caused me to run out (also you can’t have too many square bases when you’re a Fantasy playing relic like me as GW seem to think that round bases look better on fantasy minis that had square ones for donkeys’ years). Furthermore I got a pot of Kantor Blue as my previous pot of Humbrol dark blue went dry, and I needed a dark blue for my Spearmen’s shields as they are from Yvresse.

The shop had loads of second-hand units for sale - quite a lot of Space Marines and Orks for 40K, but also some Fantasy minis too, mostly High Elves (which is actually very convenient as of all the armies that survived the transition to AoS, High Elves were arguably hit the hardest as GW nuked all their Core choices). Evidently players who have given up the game have been selling or giving their minis to the shop for other players to enjoy, which allowed me to give these old Archers a new home!

Mostly they’re pretty much usable straight away I think, as High Elves changed comparatively little over the course of Warhammer Fantasy’s history (just got a bit taller), but they didn’t come with a command group. I have made a Champion model already (who can be viewed with my Sword Masters previously on my Painting Blog), and I think it could easily be possible to give a couple more of these a spare standard and horn from my Spearmen spares - I’m no stranger to modernising old minis, as I kitbashed a whole host of Orks from the Second Edition 40K box using heads and weapons from the modern set a few years before I joined the forum, and of course my 5th Edition Saurus have modern Saurus heads and weapons.

A brilliant shop, and I’ll certainly be going there again as soon as possible!

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Bought some Plague Monks today on a visit to my local GW, as my Skaven army is a bit short on infantry (only got the 40 Clanrats from Island of Blood) and having looked at my Skaven army book again I’ve found Plague Monks are actually pretty decent (3 attacks each with T4 - only downside is that they have no armour, only a dirty habit):

Good job I got those extra square bases from the shop I got those old High Elf Archers from!

Also had a chat with a couple of young lads having just started out in the hobby, one doing Tyranids and the other doing Genestealer Cults. Offered them some wisdom from some of my own experiences playing Tyranids back in the good old days, and they showed me just how fast Tyranids can go in 8th Edition. If GW can just make the effort to give them a codex with a different piece of cover artwork, I might consider giving it a go...

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

You’ve read about them, you’ve talked about them, but now you’re about to see them, here they are, my 15 Yvresse High Elf Spearmen, finished at last:

When I first made them, I was inspired by that piece of Fantasy artwork depicting a phalanx of Spearmen killing a load of Goblins to make some of the chaps in the middle rank as though they were reaching out from behind their fellows to stab an enemy, to represent the Elves’ natural reflexes and efficiency. I’ve finally done all those freehand eagles on the shields and standard, I know some of them might look a bit misshapen, but when there are 17 of them, some of them are bound to not look as good as the rest, and certainly they were the best I could do with my limited patience. In any case, they have a look to them as though they were hand painted by Elf artisans. They’re all based on the Yvresse design as can be seen here:

As usual any comments would be most welcome!

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

As the High Elf Spearmen box contained 16 blokes and in 8th Edition Fantasy ranks have to be at least 5 wide, I made 15 Spearmen and used some spares from other High Elf kits to make this chap into a Noble with Great Weapon:


I think a Great Weapon is a pretty good choice for a Noble because it gives him a much-needed +2 Strength bonus while still allowing him to strike at his regular Initiative of 7 (Always Strikes First and Always Strikes Last cancel each other out) and still leaving him with 50 points to spend on magic armour. A Prince with 100 points allowance can buy an Ogre Blade or Giant Blade to preserve his Always Strikes First and still have enough to get a decent suit of magic armour, but the Noble doesn’t have that luxury, so he’s better off with a 6pt Great Weapon.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I imagine you’ll have noticed that the wrinkles in my High Elves’ sleeves are quite profound - that’s because I’ve been using the Apothecary White Contrast Paint on them, which really acts like a very light grey wash with a bit of extra thickness to it. Certainly I think it makes their sleeves look a bit more muted and dirtied up a bit which makes it a bit more realistic and a bit less garish. I’ve tried it also on the Archer Champion I made a while back when I got him out again to give him a proper High Elf quiver from the Spearmen kit (used normally on Lothern Sea Guard):

Now let’s have a look at the original photo I took of him without the Contrast paint:

As you can see his clothes look a lot more detailed now than before. A very satisfying result.

 

[Lizerd]

Your high elves look excellent! The freehand on the shields especially is well done but overall the level of detail is very well done, especially considering the detail on a lot of these guys, with their fabric and armor. Your use of contrast paint is definitely well done

 

[Aginor]

Agree. Good job!

 

[Warden]

As someone who has attempted to paint many Bretonnian shields, I sincerely admire your freehand work for all that heraldry!

Well done, especially with all the color in a single heraldic device!

7th Edition: Battle for Skull Pass, Dwarfs vs Goblins. This is my all-time favourite of the boxed games, not least because it was how I got into Warhammer, but also for the excellent value for money this one was. You think Soul Wars is good value? Battle for Skull Pass blows it out of the water - there were over 100 miniatures in this boxed game as well as scenery and (for the first time) generals for both armies, all for merely £50. Soul Wars has around half the number of minis and no scenery for double the price (the only redeeming factor for Soul Wars is that the sculpting is of course better as it was designed around 10 years after Battle for Skull Pass). I also think that the Goblin army loadout for Battle of Skull Pass was the inspiration for Gloomspite Gitz in AoS, as it combined Night Goblins, Forest Goblins (now Spiderfang Grots) and a Troll, and it contained a miniature ancestor of the Loonshrine scenery piece - if you like Gloomspite Gitz and can find a complete copy of Battle for Skull Pass (or at least the complete Goblin side), that would actually give you a pretty decent starter force - A Loonboss, a Shaman, 2 units of 20 Stabbas, 1 units of 20 Shootas, 10 Spider Riders and your Loonshrine (there was only one Troll in the box, so if you can find the other two metal ones around the internet you could combine him with them to make a unit of River Trolls, but otherwise he isn't really usable in AoS).

Really wish I had gotten this box set back in the day.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Waaagh! Da Orcs - Big’Uns in fact, complete with Modular Movement tray!


These were the chaps I made out of the 4-pack Orc boxes I bought back around Easter time and a load of spare Black Orc bitz, and I completed them around the end of September. Only just remembered about them now, but better late than never.

As usual, any and all comments are much appreciated!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Waaagh! Da Orcs - Big’Uns in fact, complete with Modular Movement tray!
View attachment 61473 View attachment 61474 View attachment 61475

These were the chaps I made out of the 4-pack Orc boxes I bought back around Easter time and a load of spare Black Orc bitz, and I completed them around the end of September. Only just remembered about them now, but better late than never.

As usual, any and all comments are much appreciated!

Very nice work ... but aren't those guys the mortal enemies of your beloved Dwarfs / Fyreslayers ? Are you in danger of switching sides?

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Very nice work ... but aren't those guys the mortal enemies of your beloved Dwarfs / Fyreslayers ? Are you in danger of switching sides?

Got to give the Greenskins some reinforcements now and then, otherwise it wouldn’t be sporting if I gave my Dwarfs everything and Greenskins nothing.

Besides, I’ve got a box of Ironbreakers/Irondrakes to add to my Dwarf army if the Greenskins get out of hand

 

[Warden]

Fantastic few more boyz for the horde!

 

[Cageyblood]

I know I’m well late to this thread but I have to give you major kudos for doing the heraldry on all those shields freehand. Also, as someone new to the hobby I always appreciate hearing about the older editions of warhammer.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Thank you @Cageyblood and @Warden for the kind words!

As I’m finally managing to catch up with the disgraceful amount of inactivity I’ve shown in recent months on this blog, here are the Necrons I’ve been making and painting this month:
Khamutekh, Ambassador to the Triarch:


Amankhet, the Persistent Anomaly:


A second bodyguard for my Phaeron, seen posing with his brother-in-arms and his charge below (the new one is on the right):

And a Canoptek Scarab Swarm tearing apart a hapless Space Marine:


The first three are all additions to my Royal Court, and the latter is just an extra Swarm base I made out of spare scarabs.

As always, any comments and likes are much appreciated!

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Sorry about this double post lads, my iPad’s being unusually temperamental at the moment and kept stopping me from loading images and reloading my blog because of ‘a problem occurring’. Please bear with me

EDIT: Fixed the issue by restarting my device. Was annoying though as whenever I tried to upload a file it kept saying I had no photos or videos when I had loads

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Here’s an early Christmas present to you all at Lustria Online, from me - some pics of my finished Night Goblin job lot!

In case you have been living under a rock since September last year (or didn’t join until after that time, whichever applies), I found a collection of old Night Goblins from various editions as part of a box of loose assorted old miniatures in one of my favourite hobby shops (alongside several old 5th Edition Saurus and Skinks who have already featured in my blog).

A year and three months later, here they are, reborn and ready to join my existing Waaagh!

First up, a couple of the old multipart Night Goblins who have been repurposed to be a Warboss and BSB with Bad Moon Banner:


The Warboss is done up in an especially fetching bright red outfit as da General should be, while the BSB to his right is dressed in a more muted red which is the same as that worn by my other Big Boss from the Battle for Skull Pass box to represent his inferior status. The Bad Moon Banner Battle Standard was converted from a Wolf Rider Banner with the Wolf tails cut off and a big round circle that came from the centre of a sprue (yet another of my sprue conversions ) and will will be especially helpful in supporting my Leadership 5 Night Goblins...

Next, some additional gobbos with spears to join Da Silver Moonz:


These little guys originated from the 4th Edition boxed game, but have been transformed with later Edition heads, Spear tips to replace some that had been broken off prior to me purchasing them and moon shields from the old multipart Night Goblins from 5th(?) Edition.

Da Silver Moonz have become renowned in my battles for outstanding courage, resolve and tenacity beyond the call of duty for their diminutive race, and these four feel honoured to be joining their ranks. Here they are with one of their comrades who originally came from the Battle for Skull Pass box:

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Next we have some slovenly wretches who have been press-ganged to join da Gold Moonz:




Unlike their brethren in Da Silver Moonz, Da Gold Moonz have proven to be rather pathetic during their history of many battles, to the point that the only way their regiment can gather new recruits is through forcing the dredgings of Night Goblin society, even prisoners like the one on the left (who must have done something bad to be seen as a criminal by even the spiteful Night Goblins) to join them.

Then we have three Archers from the 4th Edition boxed game to join my existing unit:



Finally, we have some Squig Herders and a baby Squig in anticipation to hopefully being able to get a box of the new Gloomspite Squig Herders at some point soon:



I had a good few more of the 5th Edition Night Goblin bodies and heads from the 5th Edition multipart set, but I felt they would clash with the smaller ones from the Battle of Skull Pass box a lot, so I made them into extra Squig Herders, as you can have as many as you like as long as you have at least one per three Squigs, and more Herders reduces the chances of the Squigs going wild and attacking every unit nearby before disappearing.

As always, any comments would be much appreciated!

 

[Aginor]

Generally speaking I am not a great fan of old models, but I think that they look cool in horde armies.

Are you going to expand that army?