Beastmode engaged!

During my recent move I had the opportunity to dig through a lot of my miniatures and models as I restored the Neverness Archive back to it's former glory. In particular, I got to look through my old Warhammer Fantasy stuff. I am particularly keen to build something new (even though it's really old) for the Old World game. The Dwarves were the first to interest me as I had a small force of them back in the day but I only ever managed to only paint up one of them. So the obstacle of having to rebase them isn't there, unlike my Orc & Goblins. 

But then I came across some beastmen:

"...hmmm, I wonder if I can get them to look like this?"

I bought this back in the mid '90s (when the price point for boxes of this size was just $12.50!) with the intention of using them in 40k. The 2nd edition era Codex: Chaos had rules for using beastmen and I was going to put either bolters or lasguns into their left hands. The edition changed before I could get around to that project (a fact that shouldn't surprise even a semi-regular reader of this blog) and the beastmen have only just recently returned to the WH40k game via Killteam. These miniatures did get a new lease for life on my gaming table around 15 years ago when I ran a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd edition campaign. My players killed quite a few beastmen! 

"Comoany, -look left!!!"

And then I stumbled upon some more miniatures for this faction. These guys are some of the original Ungors. Again, I only ever used them for WHFRP. There were five of them, including a mis-cast with no legs. 

I got these guys around year 2000 in a bulk blind-buy metal deal GW USA did after they had a shelf collapse in their old Glen Burnie location. I think it was a pound of random metal for $10? I bought two of them and found the weirdest assortment of metal bits in them. These guys were part of that as were the next lot...

"Colonel Baaa-ann"

Then I found a few metal minotaurs including a Doombull. Curious to see the in game value of what I had,, I did a quick calculation and determined that I had a good start to a decent sized Beasts of Chaos force. 

The scattered bits of a Doombull. 

The Doombull and the Minotaurs had been a project I started on in the mid-'00s for Bloodbowl. Bloodbowl had been kept alive by GW via an online "living' ruleset and my immediate gaming group was keen to get a Blood Bowl league going. We only got a few games in but I was still very inspired by it. I found the Minotaurs and the Doombull in my collection of metal bits and decided to make them usable for Bloodbowl. This ment ordering a few spare bits from GW mailorder (a golden age we were all taking for granted back then) and hacked off their axes.  The models were mounted on 25mm bases as this was the requirement at the time. Then the whole project died and they were set aside for almost 20 years. 

Which brings us to the present, and my renewed interest in these chaps. I was quite happy to see I had a good amount of 50mm square bases in my bitz bins. Why I initially got them is a mystery to me but I'm taking full advantage of their presence. The Doombull looks awesome on it, as well as having his axes back on him. Drilling and pinning the metal parts together gave me all manner of flashbacks from the turn of this century as I recall doing a lot of it back then. Sadly, one of the axe pummels has been lost but I don't think it looks too obvious. 

The assembled Doombull.

Luckily I simply had an extra arm for this next guy so the amount of drilling and pinning I would've done was minimalized. 

Minotaur #1. 

This next guy was a bigger challenge however. I couldn't find the missing axe head (I think I used it on an orc or an ork) but I had one from the old daemon prince bitz stash. So I cut it in such a way that once joined together it would look a bit longer. However I was displeased with the join and rather than using greenstuff and attempting to sculpt a repair, I had the impulsive idea to just tie a twist-tie around it. Once painted it should appear like leather banding. 

So tempted to stick on 2 googly eyes and call it. 

The other problem was that I was missing a single, very important, bit: his head. I had horns and the lower jaw, just not the head.  Desperate, I searched ebay, and after awhile I found the exact bit I needed. 

Head games. 

The seller, as you can tell from the description, wasn't entirely sure what he was selling. After I left him a positive review he reached out to me in private and wanted to know what the heck they were.  I joyfully explained that one of these heads was a vital piece I was missing and the other was a skull that likely went to a banner or something. 

There was also another metal Gor from that "by the pound grab bag deal" which I use as a unit leader. 

Leader of the herd. 

And I found another minotaur, to give me a unit of three! I think these classic late '80s Minotaurs are just the best. They had so much character and individuality. 

Does he belong in a museum or on my gaming table? 

I also dug up the old multi-part Gors and Ungors boxed set circa the early 2000s. Which I have spent a few evenings assembling, and on the current base sizes. I recall getting these guys to use with WHFRP but the campaign stopped before I could assemble them. 

The herd assembles.

In the background you can see the package for the Beastmen Great Bray Shaman, whom I've been calling Billy Bray Cyrus. Again, he was bought for WHFRP but was instead lost in the archive when we stopped playing that game. 

Cheers for Billy Bray Cyrus!

As you can see, I seem to have bit into a decent sized project here. So far it's a fun distraction from the 40k projects that have dominated my attention over the past year. Since I last dabbled in WHFB Contrast Paints have been incorporated into my painting palette and I think I can get these things painted way quicker than my approach of a decade ago would have resulted. Be we shall see in time.