Tuesday 17 March 2015

Going retro

No, this is not a suggestion that I have decided to become an Oldhammerer or something like that.

There may be an element of spoiler in this post, so if you're trying to avoid finding out what has been happening in the End Times, don't read on. I think by now most people that care are across things, though.

The destruction of the background that I have known and loved as a Warhammer player has left me more than a little bit nostalgic. I have not yet read the final End Times book, but I will do so when it arrives on my doorstep (I have ordered a copy). I've read the other ones though, and it's pretty clear where things are heading. And by the end of the Thanquol book, there's really not much left of the world. In fact, I am somewhat curious to see how the remaining events can fill a whole book. Apart from Nagash's undead forces, the only major settlements left standing against the Chaos and Skaven in the old world seem to be Karaz-a-Karak, Averheim and Athel Loren. Perhaps the Forces of Order are done, and all that remains is the Forces of Destruction bickering over the ruins.

I have always been an Elf player at heart. My first armies were High Elves and Wood Elves, and despite sometimes spending years without touching those models (I've been avoiding them recently because they're just too popular), I've always considered them to be the true heart of my collection. It is somewhat strange then, that the thing I find most depressing about the events of the End Times is not the destruction of Ulthuan. Nor is it the smoking ruin that remains of the Empire, which I focused almost exclusively on for the last few years. Instead, it's the obliteration of the Dwarfs.

They may not have always made for the most enjoyable games, but the Dwarfs have always felt like an important part of the Warhammer background. Their glorious history, sad decline and grim determination to hold on to what was left gave them a strong identity and depth of character that I always found appealing. And they had great models back when I started playing in 4th edition (Marauder Dwarfs 4eva!) The ruined holds made some of the best background for things like Warhammer Quest, and glorious campaigns to retake them were probably the most appealing in terms of potential campaign material.

The End Times is basically the end of all that. The Skaven have given the Dwarfs such a pasting that nothing really remains. And if I fail to let go and move with the times, the Dwarfs will be a large part of the reason why.

Anyway, it's with these thoughts in mind that I am finally breaking out of my hobby malaise and painting something. Now that he is dead, it seems the perfect time to paint up Thorgrim Grudgebearer. The same could be said of Belegar, Kazador and Kragg (all of whom I have kicking about), but Thorgrim feels too iconic to ignore, and I feel the need to work on him before he fades into irrelevance. I want to paint him (and maybe some of his contemporaries) up and take him for a bit of a spin on the battlefield.

Now, I have never really liked the more recent "viking boat" model of Thorgrim. I'm a traditionalist, and I like the original model. I've had a second-hand one for about 10 years, which means it's probably his turn for some love and attention (although he is by no means my longest-suffering model). I've re-based him to be consistent with the more recent model (which can actually rank up properly in a unit), and he's just about good to go.
Back in black. And really not fitting on his new 40x60mm base. Barge-ass.
In keeping with the retro-ness of it all, I think I'll basically be painting him like GW did. That's not my habit at all, but I am feeling very nostalgic at the moment.
Yep, that's the biggest pic I could find on the net. Behold his tininess. I'll do something about the flags. Mine lacks banner poles at the moment - I'll have to make some. 

9 comments:

  1. Yarp, I am planning to do the same. Just got to get King Alrik painted first (as well as my Irondrakes, Stone throwers, gyrocopters, etc.), and ask John to paint Throgrim of course. I also would aim to have him painted like he is in the 5th Ed. rulebook.

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    1. I've had trouble pinning down a decent photo of him, but I think I located one now.

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  2. I hope for all of us that 9th ed proves to be some kind of miraculous rules-haven-cum-fluff-paradise. Otherwise we've all just wasted years of our lives painting and buying rubbish.

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    1. Only if we consider it invalidated by GW moving on. If there is enough backlash at what 9th ed offers, there could be a very strong 8th ed community that lives on beyond the new edition.

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  3. I feel that need to return to modeling things purely for myself as well, when it comes to working on Warhams in these twilight days. For me that means doing weird stuff for my on-going 'counts as' project (Necrons as Skaven / Dwarfs), though I give you extra props for giving modern GeeDub a bit of the finger by returning to a (now defunct?) icon of 5E, painting style and all.

    Two Asides on T-Grim:

    1) Twenty odd years ago my brother and I used to throwdown with our palanquin riders on a regular basis - Thorgrim for him, Slann Mage Priest for me. I'm not sure what happened to his Grudgebearer ... (As for my toad, I very recently cleaned him up, converted to a flying stand and gave him to a fledgling Lizard player to use as a starter slann. Happy to see the guy get paint after so many years!)

    2) I have never seen the new Thorgrim model in person, ever.

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    1. Actually, I've never seen the new model either. I think it's partly a symptom of him being too expensive to field in a normal game, so he never really got a run on the table. I assume some people bought him...

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  4. No matter how it plays, it will make a great centrepiece for a Dwarf army. I have Thorgrim and the Throne in my own leadpile (although the bearers seem to have wandered off...)

    I've got the original army book, which has a full 'Eavy Metal page on the Throne, so if you do need a bigger image of how it was painted, let me know.

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    1. Yeah, I thought I had a copy too. Can't find it, but I did manage to locate a copy online through scribd, so I think I'm sorted. Thanks for the offer, though.

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  5. Look forward to seeing it. The old 4th/5th Ed metal minis certainly had more character to them, and the paint jobs in the Old army book tended toward the colourful. Curious how much of that old book was replicated in the most recent version.

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