Thursday 18 April 2019

The Captain's Log Returns - Oldhammer Lizardmen Project Begins

When I first started this blog, I often had odd editorial's filed under the "Captain's Log" tag. As time has gone by, I've dropped a lot of the odd little articles that I used to do, some more due to a lack of time than anything else. Some I'll bring back with time (my terrible fiction will never die!), but it seemed a fitting title to use for this little snippet.

There have been a few years that I've considered entering one of GW's Golden Demon competitions, but I never really had a project in mind. I'm a good painter for sure, but I'm not really up to the standard of those people who spend their whole hobby in search of painting perfection and spend hundreds of hours on every model. The truth is that I don't have the stomach for it, and I've got  enough other things to be getting on with that I don't have that kind of time. With that in mind, my chances of winning anything are pretty low.

That said, it's one of those things that I'd enjoy doing, and would be a great place to test some techniques and work on some skills. I've often thought that it would make more sense to enter something that was more of a personal project - something I'd create to own and enjoy.

So, a few days ago, I got to thinking about my first army - 1990s Lizardmen. I've wanted to revisit them for a whole long time, and to have a go at stripping and re-painting some of the most characterful miniatures of the day. I know that most people probably have no recollection of what the sculpts even looked like back then, but a lot of the metal models were actually really nicely formed and had a lot of character. They'd also make a great palette for experimenting with bright tropical colours and jungle flora, which is something I've never done.

I also absolutely loved the diorama that was made for the Armies Book in 1997. As a kid, I spent what probably amounted to weeks of my life staring at pictures of that thing. It was just amazing at that time, and I recently had the chance to see it in person at Warhammer World too. I started thinking about the 40k Shadowsword that I painted, which was sort of a childhood dream since Epic came out, and I thought - why not really live the dream?


As most people don't remember the models of the time, here's a picture of that famous Diorama featuring them. 


Taking the basic idea, I thought that I'd have a go at making a prehistoric (get it, because they're so old) Lizardman diorama. Something like a jungle scene - a rocky temple backdrop for 2 sides of a base with a sort of central pond. Maybe a waterfall. My old Slann could be relaxing in a temple thing with a view of some type of fish hunting going on below. The idea would be relaxation, they've earned their retirement by now and deserve to enjoy it! I've got pretty much every model from the generation, so a Terradon sailing by somewhere in there, and a submerged Salamander would be easy enough. I'll probably add a bit of a sub plot in with some baddies sneaking up, but I'm still working on that part.

So, earlier today, I clambered through the darkest cupboard of doom. After being assailed on all sides by forgotten childhood memories, Goosebumps books and an old Nirvana cassette tape that nearly bludgeoned me to death; I finally reached my prize. A big box of ancient Lizardmen!

Upon opening the box, perhaps because of the bludgeoning, I became almost convinced that I was in an episode of American Pickers. Yep, I was junk drunk and surrounded by rusty gold. It had the patina, and the price was irresistible!

Oldhammer for the Oldhammer God! I won't be able to use everything, but I wanted plenty of options!


Anyway, I grabbed a bunch of the good stuff and prepped it for stripping. What happens next, who knows, who cares, but at the very least, I expect to enjoy painting a few very deserving models. With any luck plans will work out and I'll get a cool piece I can keep and display with all my favourite childhood models in it - and that'll be pretty priceless. I might even put in a few in-jokes (that Slann needs his Forbidden Rod and Amber Amulet combo for sure!). If it goes well, I'll enter it in Golden Demon just to put a smile on some faces that remember the good old days.


Original metal skinks! Collect the whole set. I know I did!
In some ways, these are the models that I owe a lifetime of fun to. They had hundreds of battles back in the day; probably thousands. I think it's time they retired with the full battle honours they deserve!


13 comments:

  1. Oh man, these models are ancient.... I vividly remember the early lizardmen from the Warhammer fantasy 4th edition days.

    As I traded mine away, I still see them from time to time on the battlefield. These days they are Kings of War Salamanders, in which they are perfectly fine!

    Good luck completing your project!

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    1. Thanks, I'm hoping they'll evoke that same kind of nostalgia in other people too. Grimdark and Blanshitsu are all the rage, but we'll see if people like a taste of 90s primary colour assault!

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  2. Ooh! I can't wait to see where you go with this! Unfortunately, due to both storage and financial constraints, most of my ancient minis have long since been sold off.

    And hey ya never know on the Golden Daemon. I once got an honorable mention (and a pic of my Predator on GW's website for a year) from back when they had Gamesdays in Atlanta, GA. Being the closest I'd ever come (or ever will) to a GD, that tank will live out it's days in an display case.

    So I say go for it! Ya never know what'll happen, and given your painting talents, odds are it'll be something good...

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    1. That's a really cool story! thanks for sharing. It's great to see some old hands coming out in support of my idea, as to be honest I thought people would think I was mad!

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    2. We're gamers. I think being a little 'mad' is a perquisite.

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  3. Loving this project man! Good to see those childhood memories flooding back!

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    1. Yeah, to be honest, I was thinking about those baddies to put in the scene. With the history and all, it might have to be some old metal dwarves! I could just see a thunderer behind a rock aiming off at an oblivious skink... maybe after their mining tunnel had accidentally dug through to the spawning pools....????

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  4. Very cool! I got into GW stuff shortly after this, so the nostalgia is hitting me pretty much full force as well. I look forward to seeing what comes of this!

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    1. Thanks. It's nice to hear people actually remember the classics! I've been reading the 1997 armies book for inspiration. They sure don't write 'em like that anymore - tons of jokes and stuff.

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    2. I still have a number of my books from the 90s, and pull some of them out semi-regularly to flip through. There's some really good stuff in there. The Skaven Army book, the Chaos Codex, and the Wargear book from the 2nd Ed 40K core box, particularly.

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    3. I've got the Chaos codex from back then and the Skaven Armies Book! You're right, they're both great. That Chaos one is really thick too and has so much of the original background of the legions and stuff in it that it's a real treat. It always makes me laugh to see stuff like Minotaurs in the army list though!

      Codex Imperialis from the core set is awesome too, it's full of almost everything that was exciting as a kid that got removed or never really got expanded on (like the stuff on squats or arbites). Not to mention the migraine bright paint schemes!

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    4. Yep, still got that one, too! There were some great little touches back then that have sort of fallen away in the decades since.

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  5. Never read much backstory about the Lizardmen ... I guess I got into Warhammer too late. While I didn't really paint much stuff on Warhammer other than as proxy minis for another franchise, I do however have a lot of good memories of this universe from some old Black Library novels as well as playing the online Warhammer game back when it was still on the servers.

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