Warhammer Tilean (Empire) Mercenary Spearmen - Second Rank

Since taking a break from the chaos army, it's taken a few weeks to decide on what's next. After a couple of ideas were attempted without success, I decided to get back to a project I last worked on four years ago, my Tilean mercenary spearmen.

My Tilean mercenary army has been an ongoing project for several years and it's been great to revisit after so long away from it. I do love painting empire troops but they always take me so long so that's probably why it's been such a slow burning project.

As you probably can tell, the second from right is not the real Nuln spearman but in fact a proxy sculpt by Geoff Sims of Oakbound Studios. It's a damn fine tribute to be fair.

The dwarfs are from The Assault Group dwarf range (formally White Knight) by John Pickford and are an absolute joy to paint. This is the first time I've worked on this range and have quite a few in the lead pile so there are definitely plans for more.

The other models are two from the 90's Empire spearmen range and lastly, on the far right end, Edmund from the earlier Citadel F4 Men At Arms range who works quite well as a young lad, yet to receive the regimental black armour.

So I've one final rear rank to complete the regiment but I think attempting them straight away would be a little overwhelming as they take so long but I'm sticking with the Empire theme and am currently working on a command group for another regiment.

Citadel Chaos Chariot

I've always wanted a chaos chariot in my armies over the decades but it's never quite happened, until now.

I'm surprised there was never a C Series mid 80's one, in a time where other races did have them. Eventually the late 80's Realm of Chaos one was released, with the ginormous plastic non chaotic looking steeds, generic for mounted models at the time, fantasy and 40k alike. I do own that one but wasn't ever really a fan and I don't think it really fits into the earlier chaos range.

One of the primary issues for me with creating a custom chariot, is the choice of steeds. Whenever I've considered creating one before, I've always ended up drawing a blank and giving up. This time, the idea dawned on me of using the lizard horse from the Undead cavalry range. I've always loved that model but found that it doesn't really look at home with the skeletal horsemen it was released with. Now, another bonus is, that there are two variants, one being a two piece casting, the other a single one. There are differences in pose and appearance, which is ideal as I can have two matching steeds but slightly different. Perfect!

Anyway, the chariot itself is a Bob Olley goblin effort, which I think suits the chaos ethic pretty well. As usual with chariots, one of the original wheel scythes had been lost at some point so I've used two halberds from the chaos warrior, Utokh Vilespike. This does sound a tad extravagant, I know but one was damaged and the other has recently been converted to a standard bearer in the regiment.

The crew are two chaos warriors, of course, the driver being Ludmilla Loinripper (her newly acquired whip is from the driver from the late 80's chariot) and Panedal, whose pose is ideal for being stood behind. I'm pleased with how the demonic looking yoke appears to be gripping the reins of both steeds.

I'm wondering whether, after getting this completed, I should give the chaos project a break for now. I'm more than happy with what I've managed to achieve over the past five months and feel I'm at a suitable stage to pause it. I'm not totally decided on this plan as yet. I'll give it some thought over the next few days.

Citadel C23 Chaos Ogre

Continuing with the army, next up is one of the two ogres that will feature in the ranks of chaos. Now this guy is my favourite of all of the C23 Jes Goodwin ogres, the chaos ogre, released in July 1985 (Christ! Nearly 40 years ago!).

This is the third or fourth time I've painted this model over the years and each time, I've added the same SH1 metal shield, basically because it's the only one I have that's big enough to look suitable on him. Plus, it's a damn fine chaotic looking shield of course.

The face is an absolute joy to paint with such menacing detail. I went for a fairly pale complexion to contrast nicely with the weathered dark bronze armour.

The plan was to get started on Skrag the Slaughterer next but I've discovered that my one has casting issues around the face so I'll have to have a rethink on what's next while I look out for a replacement Skrag. Meanwhile, there's another ongoing army piece to finish off which hopefully should be sometime next week.

Citadel Chaos Warriors - Second Rank

 

 And so the second rank is complete. I've gone for a visual variety of models, ranging from pre slotta C35, slotta based C35 and CH2 ranges.

 Most of these featured in my original chaos army from the 90's, stripped for the greater good. L to R: Bandog, Udkar, Ulrich Doomface, Chenghis Crump and Pifco the Deliverer.

Some individual shots:

Pifco the Deliverer

Bandog

Ulrich Doomface 

Chenghis Crump 

Udkar

 

Front and second ranks complete 

 I will get to work on the back row soon enough but for now I've got another couple of chaos projects on the go, one I've been picking away at while I've been working on the guys above, something that I'm hoping will be among the stand out models of the army.

Citadel C33 Adventure Pack - Chaos Hero

  So, as promised, I've painted another of the C33 Adventure series, this time the Chaos Hero. Another one of my all time favourite sculpts, he will be my Chaos General's lieutenant in my growing army.

 It takes me ages to paint the horses for these characters, the tassles are in particular, very time consuming and fidly. I do reckon that these are by far the finest chaos steeds ever produced; with that wonderful baroque barding and detailing plus the tassles just set them off perfectly.

 I just love the C33 foot and mounted range. I do plan on painting more in the series in the future as a project, once I'm bored of painting Chaos figures. 

The Chaos General, army commander with his trusty lieutenant 

 So the plan is to carry on with more warriors for now but I'm bursting with other ideas for the army so I will most likely chop and change with various other chaos models over the coming weeks.

Citadel Chaos Warriors - Front Rank Finished

 

  So I've managed to get the front rank of my chaos warrior regiment squared off, which has included a converted standard bearer. 

 The standard top is an excellent piece which is from the standard bearer from the Regiments of Renown Despoiling Hobgoblins of the Darklands set. I was a little reluctant to knife up such a nice miniature but the standard top was too good not to use for this project.

 The right hand model is Bone Racker from the C35 Chaos Warrior range, a Perry sculpt, armed with an impressive looking battle axe. On the left is Mighty Zog Arkwright, an Aly Morrison model (I believe), which I actually painted a couple of years or more ago. Zog is probably my most favourite chaos warrior of all. 

So with the addition of the recently painted unreleased chaos general and the Counter Collect warrior, the front rank makes for a pretty unique display. 

 I'll be working on a second rank very soon, with the plan to have three ranks of five. Meanwhile, the next project will be another foot and mounted character. 

 

Citadel Unreleased Chaos General and Counter Collect Chaos Warrior

 

 I've been meaning to make a start on a chaos warrior regiment but wanted a couple of ranks of broo finished first. The first pair are done and I've gone for two rarities to kick off.

 On the left we have a very rare model indeed. In fact, I only purchased this a couple of weeks ago and had never even seen it before, other than the image in the unreleased section of the Collecting Citadel Miniatures wiki page. I think it had been in my ebay watch list for about 12 years and was stunned to see it come up. I'm delighted to have been able to add it to the army and to be honest, never expected to ever get my hands on one. 

 On the right is the fairly scarce chaos warrior from the Counter Collect range from 1984. Basically, you would collect counters from blister packs that would form the image of a particular miniature; Wizard, Barbarian, Ogre etc, then send them off to claim the figure. This particular model is one of my favourite chaos warriors. I just love that armour and his elaborate mace. The shield is very unique also. 

 I don't always take photos of the backs of my miniatures these days but seeing how scarce these boys are, it makes sense to.

 There are more chaos warriors to come and should hopefully have another two or three ready next week, one being a converted standard bearer.