Citadel box set scenarios: useful Oldhammer inspiration

Back in the early 1980s Citadel Miniatures produced a number of box sets of figures, several of which came with insert sheets detailing specific scenarios and/or character stats designed for use with the associated boxed figures. This post presents, to my knowledge, all of the inserts together with a review and a discussion of their use in Oldhammer. If you do have any inserts which I have not covered I would love to hear from you.

There are quite a few inserts and it might take a little time to read them all in detail. If you are an Oldhammer devotee and are short for time I would recommend you read the Chaos Marauders insert first, which is a great example of the ethos of what it meant to play Warhammer at that time.

The Oldhammer ethos permeates many of the inserts, which I've tried to highlight in my introduction to each, and I've also picked out some of my favourite features of the various scenarios and character profiles provided. I've been deliberately vague about the details of the various scenarios, in case those reading wish to play them for themselves. The inserts can be seen in detail on a Scribd link I have provided at the end of this post.

(Note that "Toughness"  in early Warhammer was designated by letter, and not number, in case you get confused).

The  inserts are from the following sets (the contents of each box can be see on the excellent Stuff of Legends):

Bryan Ansell's Genestealer cult

On 15th December 2012 Foundry Miniatures in Nottingham played host to an old school Rogue Trader participation day. It was a fun day with some gorgeous old school figures and game boards on display. Bryan Ansell had brought along some of his old Citadel figures, including his fantastic Genestealer cult. I took a bunch of pictures of the cult, and decided to get blogging...(6 months later!).

Many of the figures below featured in Bryan's Khornate Genestealer Cult that was described in a series of articles in White Dwarf issues 114 - 116. These issues featured a background to Genestealers in Warhammer 40k written by Paul Murphy, some fabulous artwork, and a number of figures painted by the 'Eavy Metal team (together with "how to" painting guides). Not all of the figures below were strictly speaking part of the particular cult featured, and sadly not all members of the cult were present on the day.

My blog post starts with the pictures of the figures from the day, followed by some of the 'Eavy Metal figures and painting guides.

Apologies that some of these are out of focus - I was so wrapped up in the figures that I didn't check the pictures as I went along! It was only after I arrived home that I realised my mistake.

Genestealer hybrids

Bryan's cabinets of chaos 3

Time to ramp-up nostalgia to the max and take another peek into Bryan's cabinets. Some more chaosy delights for you today. I still have to pinch myself at times to remind myself that these are the actual figures I used to drool over as a spotty teenager in the likes of White Dwarf and the ROC books.

First up some Khorne, and a front row that again demonstrates how an overall red/black/brass colour scheme can actually be quite varied:

Bryan's cabinets of chaos

In my last post, private wierd (check out his blog if you want to see some truly inspiring Oldhammer battle scenes) asked if I could post some more pics of Bryan's chaos army from the Warhammer Armies book. I couldn't find any more images from the Armies book on my PC, but I did find pics of some of the chaos units currently on display in Bryan's cabinets, which I'd like to share with you. Bryan's display cabinets - as I'm sure you can imagine - are seriously impressive.

(Incidentally, if you're planning on getting married then you could do a lot worse than hire Stoke Hall as a venue. If you're now wondering, "Where the hell did that comment come from?!" - Stoke Hall is Bryan's home and its where these cabinets are on display, which wedding guests are able to view.)

A couple of shots, mainly of beastmen, to start with. Not all of the figures on display here are Citadel but most are:

Paint your beastman

Over in the B.L.O.O.D. forum and across the bloggosphere, ascendent chaos captains are beginning to nail their colours to the mast for the forthcoming Oldhammer Weekend over at Wargames Foundry. Will it be Khorne? Will it be Slaanesh? Or will you - ahem - swing both ways? In true chaos style you may choose to rebel and align yourself to one of the other Great Powers - some putrescent Nurgle perhaps? Or if you really can't decide then Tzeentch may be the one for you... Whatever chaos god you choose to align with, a staple troop choice of many a chaos warband will be the humble beastman. There's a 30% chance you'll acquire some beastmen each time you roll on the retinue table, if that's the route you decide to take in generating your warband.

OK, let's assume you've decided to stick with convention in this Slaves To Darkness anniversary year and go for Khorne and/or Slaanesh. What will be your colour scheme? According to John Blanche (and let's face it, he's the man in the know):

"A livery mainly composed of the martial colours (red, black and brass) suits the followers of Khorne perfectly, whereas Slaanesh has pale skinned followers bedecked in pastel shades, offset by shiny black leather and studs."

If you decide against these colour schemes, then good for you - your place in the pantheon of chaos will be assured. If, however, you decide to follow tradition and John's suggestions you'll be following in the footsteps of the great and the good. Let's take a look at some of the colour schemes evident in Bryan Ansell's collection.

First up is Khorne:

Kill, kill, kill, kill...