Cheaphammer!!!: Talisman

Showing posts with label Talisman. Show all posts

Sunday, 5 January 2025

Howdah You Do?

Obviously, having painted a Mumakil with a massive howdah, I needed to paint up some guys to ride in it.

Enter the Haradrim.

The War Mumak of Harad kit comes with a sprue of Haradrim warriors to act as the crew, as well as an officer figure. Additionally I had a single Haradrim warrior knocking about my bits box (I was sure I had a few more) and one extra special addition to the force.

I was pleased to discover that I could fit all 15 of them in the Howdah, meaning that I don't have to find extra storage space for them and they can live in my display cabinet.

Mind you, they are not exactly models that I am massively proud of. The sculpts (and their moulds) are showing their age.

There was quite a lot of clean up to do on the mould lines and some of the archers have smudged blobs for hams where they are reaching back to their quivers.

Therefore I decided to not get too worried about the paint job and just aim for table ready - like I've done for the other old plastic sculpts in my Rohan and Mordor forces.

I used a red base coat and added the flesh tone, wood, leather and gold before giving the whole model a wash in Agrax Earthshade.

After this I used contrast black to add variation. I actually used images from the films and cosplayers to guide what to paint black on individual models, ensuring that I avoided being too uniform.

I didn't bother with adding any purple (which some paint guide go mad for) as from my research there's only a handful of warriors in the ambush scene from The Two Towers with any purple on them.

The captain model is a bit of an odd duck as he has a bird helm which I can find no reference for in the films. It's one of those designs which would feel more at home in Age of Sigmar and is indicative of what happens when the Games Workshop design team start inventing things - it all gets a bit over the top.

It also seems an odd choice to include in the kit when the Mahud, who are featured relatively heavily in The Return of the King is right there.

Mind you, Games Workshop did turn him into an individual model you can buy (currently at the bargain price of £16.50), so the omission is easily explained.

But why a bird helmet?

Anyway, whilst we're on the subject of models that don't fit in, I've also done this guy. He's the Saracen character from Talisman and was one of my favourite characters to play in the game because his artwork looked cool.

It being the eighties and me being very young meant that I didn't really think about his handy ability to sell people into slavery, something that was changed in the only later iteration of the game he appeared in.

Anyway, with the addition of an old plastic shield which handily features a snake (the emblem of Harad) I've added him to this force as another captain because he's a close enough fit I can't imagine what else I'd do with the model.

There is a bit of a scale issue, but I could argue that he's from Near Harad and the plastic warriors are from Far Harad...sorry.

I'm really pleased to have got this whole kit done so quickly and it's made for a strong start to the year, which has been added to as I've begun another round of selling off some old models.

This time it's some second edition Bloodbowl miniatures that I've decided I'll never get round to. I have kept a couple of teams in case the urge to play Bloodbowl ever returns, but I already have four other painted teams so I should be fine.

Acquired: -18

Painted: 16

Lead Mountain: 625

Saturday, 5 October 2024

Nobody expects the tiny Inquisition!

One of the elements that I really like about Carnevale is that even though the miniatures are excellent, the rules are freely available online, allowing you to bring other models you like into the game.

It also shows TTCombat's confidence in their own miniature range, encourages creativity and I think it's an approach other companies could benefit from adopting.

Therefore, whilst perusing my copious backlog, I stumbled on this ancient Inquisitor from the original Talisman board game and immediately thought that I'd like to find him a home amongst my nascent Vatican force.

The model is really simple, and so was my painting of it. The robes are Emperor's Children with a wash of Carroburg Crimson, whilst the hood is simply Grey Seer washed in Nuln Oil and dry brushed white. Everything else is done pretty much how you'd imagine.

At this point I feel I should address the outfit. Obviously, robed and hooded figures like this have certain negative connotations, especially if painted white.

However, outfits like this (specifically the capirote hood) have a longer history linked to the Catholic church and Easter celebrations, especially in Spain where they are still worn today. They were originally placed on people accused of heresy and later adopted as the garb of the confraternities of penitents.

When I originally decided to paint him for Carnevale I had intended for him to be used as a Priest, but upon learning the provenance of the capirote I thought that the Martyr might be a more appropriate profile.

However, when I stood him next to the Inquisitor and Executioner and realising what forty years has done to scale creep, I figured that he might end up as an Altar Boy.

Acquired: -66
Painted: 338
Lead Mountain: 659

Wednesday, 27 December 2023

"Advance the OLD Guard!"

I hope you all had a nice Christmas.

I had a fairly quiet one and so in the days around it I've been able to find some time for painting some very old miniatures indeed.

I've had most of these Men-at-Arms done the release of Advanced Heroquest in 1989, and I've been intending to add them to an army for much of that time.

At one point they were to be included in an Empire army built with the contents of two reinforcements boxes for Battle Masters, but ultimately they ended up in the pile of shame and we're given to my friends when I moved overseas for a year.

Fast forward twenty years and they've come back into my possession (along with some that belonged to a friend), and with me being caught up in the hype for Warhammer: the Old World, they presented me with the opportunity to paint a unit for 'the game of fantasy battles' for the first time in over a decade.

They are surprisingly good models despite their age, although there were a good number of mould lines to clean (I'm sure I didn't get them all) and there's a circular injection point at the base of the tunics at the rear.

A couple of the weapons had broken off and so I replaced them with sections from the twelve billion spare halberds I have from the 6th edition plastic Men-at-Arms sprues - an example is on the left.

In terms of painting it was almost exactly the same compilation of base coats and washes as I used ten years ago, although I did get all advanced and use Gulliman Flesh contrast paint for the faces.

The shield transfers are from the Reikland Reavers Bloodbowl team that came in the 3rd edition box for that game.

Obviously, monopose models lack the command team that poor quality troops like Bretonnian Men-at-Arms need. Therefore I used one of the of the models with a broken weapon to fashion a standard bearer with bits taken from my metric ton of Bretonnian spares.

Similarly, adding a horn to the belt of another turned him into a much needed musician. It's still WYSIWYG even if you can't see it from the front.

The unit champion is an even older model and is from the Talisman boardgame (actually from the Talisman Adventure expansion) and is from 1986. Clearly a veteran.

The helmet and perpetual Gallic shrug make him blend into a Bretonnian army really well.

I have a number of other Talisman miniatures which I intend to sneak into all sorts of different projects.

Even with the command group, I only had 16 Men-at-Arms, which is not really enough for a melee unit. Therefore I fell back on a tried and tested Cheaphammer practice of using a unit filler.

I had intended to put together a cart full of gear, but I stumbled on some geese I'd inherited from my dad and had an idea

Using one of the last two archer bodies I still had, I put together a model who could conceivably be ineffectually trying to shoo away some geese that were intent on disrupting the formation.

When put with the rest of the unit it adds a element of comedy, which I think is always important, but often missing, in Warhammer Fantasy, as the unit is essentially being flanked, or, for want of a better term: goosed in the rear.

Recent marketing information has shown that the Bretonnian Men-at-Arms have had a little bit of a glow up in their rules, making them potentially more useful than they were.

Most notably is the addition of the Grail Monk, carrying a blessed tryptich, allowing the unit to hold ground in the face of any enemy for at least a round.

Again, using my last Man-at-Arms body, I cobbled together a Grail Monk to go with my larger (and more likely to get used) unit of Men-at-Arms.

Here he is with his unit, ready to stand against the Hordes of whatever is sent against them...for a short while, at least.

This represents the last of what I have available to paint my Bretonnian army, although I do have one thing that I want to work on, but I need to get my hand on a knight first.

Here's the current army in all its glory.

Yes, I'm aware that I need more knights.

Pleasingly, I now have more than the equivalent of the Bretonnian army box for the release of Warhammer: the Old World, and the rulebook is going to be available separately, meaning that I don't need to buy the box.

The only thing I would be missing out on is the new Royal Pegasus kit, but they will pop up on eBay, I've no doubt. Also, the thing I'm trying to work on might address that issue too.

So that's a sizeable chunk of miniatures painted: 21 if you count the geese as individuals (which I do) but accept that the Grail Monk was in the bits box...bits.

However, astute readers will possibly be asking themselves, "if he has the Men-at-Arms from Advanced Heroquest, does that mean...?

Yes, yes it does.

I have 31 Advanced Heroquest Skaven, along with 16 plastic Clanrats from different generations, 22 Giant Rats, 2 Rat Ogres, a Beastmaster and Grey Seer Thanquol.

On the up side, that's the beginnings of a new army and a potential project for next year.

On the other hand, that's 73 miniatures that are worth about 500 points, and most of that is Thanquol, who can't be used in small games anyway.

And I've still not finished counting all the additions to the Lead Mountain.

However, Christmas was quiet on the gaming front, and the only hobby-related gifts I got were a Horus Heresy character model, and 3 Gondoliers, a Gondola and some more cardboard terrain for Carnevale.

Which, with only a couple of days to go and yet more to count, leaves the current totals as:

Acquired: 290
Painted: 323
Lead Mountain: 589

Ouch!