'Oldhammer' - Lizardmen Army - WIP - Part One

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been part of the discussions on Space Cow Smith’s excellent “Tales From Farpoint” blog regarding collecting and painting an ‘Oldhammer’ army similar to the method made famous by the old “White Dwarf” series of articles entitled “A Tale Of Four Gamers”. The plan is to run the project for the next six months with the main goal being that every month we paint at least 5-6 miniatures; either ones from our current lead mountain or up to £25 worth of ‘new’ ones. Space Cow Smith has actually created a blog called “A Tale Of Several Gamers” for us to all post our ‘Oldhammer’ themed posts on so if you’re interested or want to take part then I’d recommend you give it a visit at:

A Tale of Several Gamers is Go!

Or simply pop across to “Tales From Fairpoint” at:
http://talesfromfarpoint.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-tale-of-several-gamers-is-go.html

As I really wanted to try and capture the spirit of the original “Games Workshop” editorials, I’ve decided to stick to just models made by the British games manufacturer and so have chosen to build a small force based upon the 1996 “Warhammer” Lizardmen Army book.

As a result I scoured Ebay for a reasonably priced small band of Skink Warriors with which to begin my cold-blooded army of Lustria. As one of the challenge’s other goals is to create a force capable of telling a story, I eventually decided to purchase a collection of seven ‘old school’ metal skinks for £15 including postage and packaging. I had promised myself that I wouldn’t spend more than £2 per (foot) miniature but as this auction contained a drummer, standard bearer and a champion I figured it was actually fairly priced. Certainly it was nowhere close to some of the other outrageously high bids other sellers seemed to be anticipating for their half missing partially damaged or horribly painted Lizardmen plastic miniatures.

Admittedly the champion was missing his metal base tab but I recognised him as the Skink model from my Army Book and knew he carried ‘The Favour Of The Gods’. Thus Gluckle the Greedy was born, white skinned with the mark of the Old Ones and destined for greatness. He would be my warband’s leader and take them deep into the ancient tombs and crypts of Lustria to seek his fortune, no matter how many of his followers he lost.

For now I’ve based all of my fledgling regiment and undercoated the majority of the skinks with “Vallejo” Turquoise and then washed them with “Citadel” Asurmen Blue in order to bring out the detail on them. As Gluckle is going to be an albino, I’ve simply painted him white and then, having given him a watered wash of Nuln Oil, applied a layer of Abaddon Black over all the non-flesh areas. I aim to get the majority of these foot soldiers finished by the end of the month, and then hopefully add some Saurus Warriors to my force.

As one of the challenge’s other goals is to actually play some games with the figures, I’m actually hoping to try and go right back to “Citadel Miniatures” beginning and use these figures with the original ‘Mass Combat Fantasy Role-Playing Game’ rules from 1982; albeit using their statistics from the 1996 Army book. I’ll need a second force (for my opponent) at some point in order to do this, so for one or two months during “A tale Of Several Gamers” I also plan to paint up an opposing warband of the Undead. And as Gluckle the Greedy will be pilfering the graves of the ancient dead, that undoubtedly means lots of Mummies…