Unreleased female Space Marine: update

A couple of years ago (almost to the day) I blogged about an unreleased female Space Marine that I found in Bryan Ansell's collection. The sculptor was a mystery - but no more! Kev White from Hasslefree Miniatures has stepped forward and claimed the honour. Here is what Kev has to say on the subject:

"This gods-fugly miniature was possibly the ninth miniature I had ever made. As with all my other first attempts, she was made in my lunch breaks while working as a miniature painter (yes, the jokes you're thinking of were done at the time as well) at GW and were sent off by Rick to be cast. As she was one of the last I made I never received any castings because I left my employment shortly after handing her over (there's also another Squat out there somewhere - one with a heavy bolter on his right shoulder).

So, yeah, she's an ugly mini, but she's mine. From an age when I believed in genetically engineered women with power(!) armour and access to guns that fired explosive ammo."

Thanks for the update Kev!

Unreleased female Space Marine (1993): the Bryan Ansell collection

During the time I've spent trawling through Bryan Ansell's collection of Citadel Miniatures castings, looking for unusual and unreleased figures, I've uncovered a few gems. The feature of today's post is certainly one of them!

From 1993 I present to you an unreleased female Space Marine:

Previously unreleased "Empirical Squads" now available from Wargames Foundry

The good folk at Wargames Foundry are now selling some of Bryan Ansell's science fiction miniatures that have been unreleased since 1987. Here's an image from their website:

If you want to order a squad of these you can give them a call or purchase them directly from the website. Details here.

If these figures are a complete mystery to you then you might want to look here, here, here and here.

They come with integral solid bases similar to the ones on all their other models.

Here's what the Foundry website has to say about these figures:

We believe that these newly discovered items are the almost mystically rare deathcasts of the elite

EMPIRICAL ABSOLUTION and LIQUIDATION SQUAD. We estimate their value as somewhere in the region of an ENTIRE GALACTIC EMPIRE, probably with a couple of lost mythical lands thrown in.

The Empirical Abs etc. demanded absolute and immediate unthinking obedience to the Empiricator [BLESS HIS NAME!] and not only from the inhabitants of Known Space, but also from the entire population of the Multiverse.

Indeed: after a boozy afternoon of high stake rune casting and seven episodes of the most sacred tapes of STARTREK, the EALS (as they liked to be known) took to speculating as to what their ultimate rewards would be for their lifetimes of ceaseless holy work:

At this point the Empiricator [BLESS HIS NAME!] got a whiff of what was going on. He sighed heavily, made a few passes in the air, clicked his heels together twice, shouted SHAZAM! And he had obliterated the foolish boozy EALS. All that was found was a neat pile of bleached skulls. Each bore the word HUBRIS and each had a tiny lead ceremonial Manikin perched there on its dome.

Warmonger's forthcoming Kev Adams beastmen...and a bit of Blanche

First off, please note these haven't been released yet, so don't go calling Foundry/Warmonger asking if you can get some because they aren't at the production stage. But I couldn't resist sharing them with you.

While I was helping the Warmonger Miniatures crew pack for Salute just gone, I had the pleasure of seeing some of greens of the beastmen heads that Kev Adams is sculpting. There's some proper old skool chaos-y stuff going on here:

It's difficult to pick out a favourite but for sheer bonkers check out the two on the left of the middle row.

Another one I'd like to single out is the one on the top left, which you can see here in side profile:

Unfortunately I didn't quite manage to get it in focus, but there's something about the eye that gives a real look of melancholia, of a beast doomed to follow the path of chaos.

While I was wandering around Stoke Hall packing up various bits and pieces I happened to notice part of a painting sticking out from behind one of Bryan's sofas. Hang on I thought, I recognise that...

It's only the original cover art of the first Citadel Compendium, painted by John Blanche and one of my favourite pieces of art EVAAAAHH! Drool over it ye mortals and despair. If you're thinking that part of the painting in the centre has been erased (that white patch) then don't worry, it's just the light hitting the glass.

Bryan also produced a card that had been sent to him many years ago, that had another piece of original John Blanche art attached to the front!

Beautiful.

Bryan Ansell's Rogue Trader Space Marines: part 3

If you've seen my previous posts on this subject (Part 1 and Part 2) then you'll already be aware that Bryan has some wonderful old Rogue Trader Space Marines in his collection, most of which were painted by the 'Eavy Metal team and appeared in various publications of the time. So today I present some more for your delectation.

Foundry's forthcoming Kev Adams Beastmen...and some orcs

These have not yet been cast! I wanted to put this disclaimer in right at the start so (hopefully) nobody gets confused and calls Foundry to order a bunch because these have not yet been cast!

I called in on Wargames Foundry yesterday and took the opportunity to see the line of chaos beastmen that Kev Adams is starting to sculpt for Bryan. These will probably be released under the Warmonger Miniatures banner once the time is right, but I'm afraid I don't have information as to when this might be. Bryan is still pondering how to approach the release, and he may go the Kickstarter route; he hasn't decided yet. I don't think the name of the figures themselves is set in stone either: although they are clearly "beast men" they may yet end up with a different title.

Kev has sculpted a bunch of heads, and is now starting with some bodies. As you might expect from Kev the quality of the work is stunning, with bags of character and a "proper chaos" feel. Currently the heads are mainly of the "goat man" type (which he has executed brilliantly I'm sure you'll agree) but he assures me he will also be sculpting mutated beastmen, so there's a right mix to come - exciting stuff!

Bryan Ansell collection: Warlock of Firetop Mountain miniatures

Just a quickie from me today. Yesterday, James of the Realm of Chaos 80s blog posted the Metal Mayhem articles from the now defunct Warlock magazine. Within these articles could be seen the figures from the 1980s Warlock of Firetop Mountain range by Citadel. James posed the question as to whether the figures illustrated were the original plastics or metal counterparts.

Well, not only can I confirm they are plastic, but they now reside in Bryan Ansell's collection:

Nicely painted, I'm sure you will agree.

Update on unreleased unseen Heroquest prototype figures (Bryan Ansell's collection)

Back in May I posted about some fascinating figures I found in Bryan Ansell's collection that appear to be unreleased and previously unseen Heroquest prototypes. Well I recently had the pleasure of discussing these figures with none other than Jes Goodwin, and he appears to have solved the mystery.

Firstly, Jes confirmed that of the seven mystery figures, he sculpted the following five:

 

 

He suspects that the remaining two were sculpted by the Perry twins:

 

Now, with regards to why these prototypes do not resemble the known prototypes, Jes' theory is as follows:

Jes seems to recall that the seven prototypes above were the very first prototypes created for Heroquest when the game was in development. He suspects that the two knight figures were dropped and didn't make it into the final game. The known Heroquest prototypes (seen here) were later created to be painted and used in the box art. So the known Heroquest prototypes are in fact a second incarnation of prototypes. The neat thing about this theory is that it explains why the known metal prototypes closely resemble the plastic production figures (for example, here), but most of these previously unseen prototypes do not!

Thanks Jes!

Have you ever seen a Sphincter Beast?

Well you have now:

Sculpted by Rick Priestley, who comments:

Ah - I think that's a Bouncing Vrubee (or some such) sculpted for Asgard back in the day - pre-dates RT by quite a few years - not sure if it was ever officially released though as it's not on the Stuff of Legends site.

This one is in Bryan Ansell's collection.

Go on, admit it - you NEED one of these...

The Bryan Ansell collection: Space Marine Scouts (Rogue Trader era)

Just a quickie today to showcase some of the painted Games Workshop/Citadel Miniatures Space Marine scouts in Bryan Ansell's collection. A mixture of metal and plastic (from the Advanced Space Crusade set). Some of the plastic scouts are particularly well-painted, and the metal scouts look great with the face paint!

Unreleased unseen Heroquest (?) prototype figures (Bryan Ansell's collection)

This is potentially something a bit special. I say "potentially" because there's a bit of a mystery surrounding the origin of these figures. They were all found in a zip-lock bag in Bryan Ansell's collection with "HEROQUEST" written on the bag in marker pen. Although I can say for sure these are unreleased sculpts, I cannot be certain on their link with Heroquest. First the figures, then the reasons for why they are a mystery:

Barbarian

Unreleased Rogue Trader adventurer (Bryan Ansell's collection)

Today's offering from the Ansell horde is yet another unreleased Rogue Trader Adventurer:

This figure is labelled "Feral Shaman" on the tab and was produced in 1987. I don't know who sculpted it but at a guess I would say Trish Carden or Aly Morrison. Could be wrong though. No idea who painted it but it was part of the collection of Bryan's painted Rogue Trader Adventurers that can be found in this advert from White Dwarf 99:

I have no idea what he's carrying under his arm - any suggestions? Also, does anyone recall reading about feral shamans in the old Rogue Trader rulebooks or White Dwarfs, or do you think he's just a "generic character"?

Unreleased playtest/prototype Titan (Bryan Ansell's collection)

Work and family commitments have resulted in a lull in my blog posts recently, but now I'm back and my unreleased cup overfloweth. I've got plenty of fine figures to show you, both from Bryan Ansell's collection and also ones I've accumulated for my own personal collection over the last few months. So, on with the show.

***PLEASE NOTE*** this blog post has been updated since the start of the day. I initially though I was blogging about an unreleased Rogue Trader era robot but it appears it's an unreleased playtest/prototype Titan.

Today's offering was found in Bryan's collection and is an imposing Citadel Miniatures unreleased playtest/prototype Titan sculpted by Bob Naismith (thanks for confirming that Bob!):

Happy Birthday to my blog! A review of the year

It was a year ago today that I started this blog, and what a year it's been! Some incredible unreleased and previously unseen Games Workshop figures have emerged in the Bryan Ansell collection; Tim Pollard's collection has revealed some fascinating surprises; Dave Perry's painted old-skool figures have wowed us; and I've started gaming and painting again after a 25 year break! There's plenty more to come in my second year - and I might even do some more painting and gaming.

The blog has attracted 157 followers, and another 51 people are my google+ followers. Does that count as 208 followers?! I guess so...Anyway, the blog appears to have had around 133,000 pageviews which I'm delighted about because more people need to see the stuff in these collections. So please spread the word!

Please indulge me as I revisit some of my favourite posts of the past year.

The blog kicked off with preparations for the forthcoming Oldhammer Weekend at Wargames Foundry, which was still 6 months away at that time, but much needed to be done. My first post offered some suggestions for chaos beastmen colour schemes, based on some of Bryan's beastmen to be seen in the pages of the Realm of Chaos books. Continuing with the beastmen theme, I began documenting the contents of Bryan's "Cabinets of Chaos" which revealed some truly stunning figures.

Unreleased Rogue Trader Adeptus Mechanicus (Bryan Ansell collection)

I'm starting to run out of adjectives to describe the figures I'm unearthing in Bryan Ansell's collection. Today's figure - an unreleased Adeptus Mechanicus from the Rogue Trader era - is exquisite. But on first glance you may not fully agree with this sentiment:

New unreleased genestealer in Bryan Ansell's collection

The original Rogue Trader rulebook contains a section on the alien races found throughout the Imperium, and includes an illustration of a prototype Tyranid that later made it into very limited release (essentially unreleased). It now appears that the "proto-nid" was not the only Tyranid-related illustration to have resulted in a miniature: the original Genestealer or "Ymgarl Genestealer" seems to have been produced but not released. This figure was found in Bryan's collection of castings in a zip-loc bag labelled "Genestealer":

Unseen Rogue Trader Space Ork Weapon Platform: Bryan Ansell collection

Here's a curious little item that I unearthed in Bryan's collection: a weapon platform for Rogue Trader era Space Orks:

The gunner and weapon are standard issue from the Ork War Buggy of the period. It's the platform that is unreleased. Here is a view from the top-down:

You can see the hole for the weapon mounting on the left, and two indents where the gunner's feet sit on the right.

Here is a view of the underside:

Are those three discs on the perimeter some sort of anti-grav devices that allow the platform to hover? Have you ever come across rules or descriptions for this in one of the old Rogue Trader rulebooks?

So it may not be much to look at, but this particular collector thinks it's a lovely little piece of kit.

The Bryan Ansell collection: Daleks and Cybermen

This week saw the 800th episode of Doctor Who and Matt Smith's final appearance as The Doctor. Although "my" Doctor will always be Tom Baker, I think Matt's performance has been up there with the best, if not the best. I for one will miss him, but I have faith in Matt's replacement, Peter Capaldi. Here's to another 800 episodes.

To celebrate Matt's time in the Tardis I thought it fitting to show these Dr Who figures in Bryan's collection. They are plastic Cybermen and Daleks, and made their appearance in a boxed set in 1987. The figures below are the ones that appeared in an advert in White Dwarf 89, and if you look closely at the colour schemes of the Daleks you can see that they are still ranked-up in the same way as in the White Dwarf 89 advert. You will also see, if you look closely, that the painting is pretty crude: they certainly looked much better in the advert!

The Bryan Ansell collection: Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers and Elven Attack Chariot

Seeing as it's Christmas I thought Elves would be the most appropriate focus for the season. OK, tenuous links aside, here are some pictures of the Elven Attack Chariot that appeared in White Dwarf 88, and the Regiment of Renown Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers from White Dwarf 92. These figure sets now reside in Bryan's collection. Enjoy (oh, and Merry Christmas!).

Elven Attack Chariot

The Bryan Ansell collection: Bob Olley's undead

There are many figures that Bob Olley produced for Citadel/Iron Claw back in the day that I absolutely love, and are among some of my favourite figures from that time. But there are also some which I...don't...quite...like...so...much...These undead fall into that second category. But hey, each to his/her own and it would be wrong of me not to post these just because of my personal tastes. So here goes: