Happy Halloween!

Here's a citadel familiar next to his enormous dad, an Asgard FM71 "Jack-o-Bear" Bugbear, which I've painted for halloween. I thought painting this old figure would be a doddle. Boy, was I wrong. Just couldn't find a way to bring out the magic. Oh well.

Spent a fantastic day at the Foundry on Saturday celebrating the "Night of the Living Lead". I painted a handful of undead highlanders for the occasion - more on that soon. But I had been planning to bring these pumpkinheads too, largely because Matthew Dunn had said he was bringing his gnomes again, and last year they ran the sweet little familiar down in a hit-and-run incident.

This year I wanted the familiar to come back with his dad for revenge. But Matthew was celebrating his birthday (what kind of an excuse is that?) and so his gnomes stayed at home. Revenge will have to come on another halloween.

A scene from Miniature Wargames magazine in 1986

Here's a bit of a curiosity. I posted this on facebook a few weeks back but figured I should share it here as well. This is the back cover of Miniature Wargames No. 36, from May 1986. This is about the closest they got to fantasy content at this period. No information is given about painter or collectors here; all it says is "Back cover: Life's dilemmas in microcosm. Beset by beggars & booze, priests & prostitutes. Go on, lad! Take the King's shilling. Figures & buildings: Citadel miniatures. Perplexed peasant: Essex miniatures."

I've been trying to figure out who the painters for these miniatures were, whether they come from the Citadel studios or someone at Miniature Wargames magazine or what. Certainly the railway gravel approach to the floor of the diorama doesn't look like citadel style. I know you guys like a challenge, see if you can identify who's responsible for this little lot!


I did a bit more digging and Miniature Miniature Wargames no. 16 has this Citadel Wars of the Roses Bombard and crew "from the editor's [i.e. Duncan Macfarlane's] collection" (Steve Jones on facebook had a recollection that the backdrop might have been painted by Tony Ackland)...


...while Miniature Wargames no. 19 includes these Citadel Samurai again from the editor's collection, and here it says "The samurai were picked up ready-painted at Bill Brewer's 'Rye Stamp and Hobby Shop', Rye Lane, Peckham - always worth a visit". Later in that issue there are essex miniatures which were also purchased read-painted at the same shop. Soooo, I suppose it's not a wild guess to say that the minis in the first pic were also from the editor's collection and could have been bought from the same place? However, on facebook Andrew Mersh said that he used to buy figures from Bill Brewer's shop and they the ones at the front of the scene don't like his style of painting; though the pikeman at the back do. So the mystery is not entirely solved...