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The 4A Mad Hatter's

June 24, 2014, 3:15 am
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The 2013/2014 Brush Slave League season has come to an end and we have found our new champion as this years league was won by bas_2312. Well done Bas, it's so well deserved.

For this our last round I also manage to finish a team. Was working on a themed team based on old Heroquest plastic miniatures, but as I dropped one of them into the wet palette, due to some not-so-tacky Blu-tack, I had to come up with something fast.

Luckily, I have had my John Pickford sculpted Four A Miniatures chaotic dwarfs sitting here on the bench in a 90% done stage. Have been sitting here for some time, as I've never finished their shields and bases, so "now" was a good time to do so. And all four miniatures was ready, just-in-time, for our final "Round 8".

Ended up looking like this:

Four A Miniatures: Resus Redgrave



Four A Miniatures: Erik Brokentusk 



Four A Miniatures: Lupus Crackedhelm 



Four A Miniatures: Hiargh and Lowargh






And here is a family photo of all five "dwarfs":






++++++++++++ EDIT ++++++++++++

Axiom asked: "How do they look against your own Ewal Dvergar?" Well, I'll let you be the judge of that :)

Ewal Dvergar mixed with Four A Miniatures


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Collecting John Pickford: Puck's Dance

June 29, 2014, 9:15 am
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Back in 2007 the Frother’s Unite Community ran their 4th Pro-Am Sculpting Competition. The theme for this competition was, as always, a very open theme trying not to limit the sculptor's creativity. The theme for this 2007 Competition was:"The Unseelie Suspects or the dark side of faeryland" and sculptors where to do fantasy characters, spirits and creatures with inspiration taken from the classic folklore and fairy tale without going Disney.

John entered this competition and was competing in the "Satyrs and woodland spirits" category. For this category John did a entry called "Puck's Dance" - a diorama piece with roots in classic English folklore and Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - but with the usually little twist of evilness and humour that is seen on many Pickford sculpts. Puck was inspired by Neil Gaiman's"the Sandman" - in here Puck aids the Norse God Loki in kidnapping Daniel, and am playing a small role in the death of the Sandman.

Entry commentary: 
The main figure is Puck, dancing on a rock, his true nature revealed from behind. With him are Peaseblossom on lute and Mustard Seed on trumpet, who provide the music for Puck's dance. 
They do not care that they are disturbing the inhabitant of the rock, and are therefore neighbours from hell. It must be early morning as he has not yet brought in the milk from the doorstep. ©Frother's Unite

The Frother's sculpting competition concept has that the winner/winner's and selected runners-up are moulded and sold through Frother's for a limited period of two months. After that, the miniatures faith are up to the sculptor.

John didn't win his category, as it was won by Kev White's lovely Oberon, but Puck's Dance was moulded and cast in limited numbers. Unfortunately, I wasn't around in time to get myself a copy. After the limited sale on Frother's the rights went to White Knight (WK). White Knight has then released the two characters Peaseblossom and Mustard Seed - both available in his Hors Série - line - but he has never released the entire "Puck's Dance" - diorama. Such a petty, I'd say - and I've been nagging him over and over again releasing it - but with no luck .... till

... 6 weeks ago when WK surprised me with an offer of letting me have Puck's Dance and put it in production, cause as he said: "It's more chaotic anyway, so makes more sense in your range than in mine". 
For me, it was one of those offers you can't really refuse, so I gladly accepted his strict license terms and signed the 50 page contact ...., in blood - and I've just donated the first kidney. Hopefully he can wait a bit for the second one :-P

So, here is the master cast I've got from WK, and I will now try and give it a proper release:

The 2007 FU!-UK Sculpting Contest "The Unseelie Suspects" - Puck's Dance





The trained eye will see it's now after breakfast, as the little Milk bottle on the doorstep has been brought in. The little bottle might have been lost in transit or it was still sitting in the master mould, when the master's were spun :-?

Here's all the diorama pieces:



And here is Puck, will work great as a stand alone piece as well :)



And that's not all. It actually came with an additional head piece. Puck head ain't a separated piece, but think it's an easy conversion - should you like replacing the awesome head he already has.



Hopefully Puck's dance will become available Autumn 2014 - so interested keep an eye out for the Claminiature-blog
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Collecting John Pickford: Ewal Dvergar Crossbowmen and Infantry Command Group

August 11, 2014, 3:07 am
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Old news, some might say, but just noticed that I forgot posting pictures one here of the crisp new casts I've had made for me own little venture - the Ewal Dvergar.

Back in February, I showed you the greens of the upcoming Crossbowmen and Infantry Command - and about 6 weeks ago I finally got metal casts of what I believe are the best Dvergar I've had made, till day. I love all of the Dvergar in the range, but I'm soooo impressed with the level of details one these.

Ewal Dvergar: Crossbowmen

Ewal Dvergar: Infantry Command

Should you like following my little venture, I suggest checking the ClaMiniature-blog regulary, as it seems I forget telling about it on here :-)
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Collecting John Pickford: Latest news from Iron Mask Miniatures

August 11, 2014, 3:58 am
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As posted back in June 2014 Iron Mask Miniatures/Gary Price's Kickstarter is soon to be fulfilled. I posted pictures of the WIP halflings back then and promised coming back when the Dwarf Queen has been done.
And what a beautiful girl she is. Another spectacular sculpt and will play the dwarf-queen-role in many game settings, just fine.

Here she is - in all her glory:

Iron Mask Miniatures: Dwarf Queen (green)


So the final 4 sculpts to fulfill the Iron Mask Kickstarter - ended up looking like this:

Iron Mask Miniatures: Dwarf Queen and Halflings Kickstarter Add-on's

An exceptional finish, and look much forward seeing them cast up in shiny white metal.

And speaking of Kickstarter fulfilments. A few weeks ago I received the last two campaign bonus figures. The wonderful Milady de l'elfe and the brute Ogre Captain Jussac.


Iron Mask Miniatures: Milady de l'elfe





Iron Mask Miniatures: Jussac, Ogre Captain





My box of Iron Mask goodies also included 2 sets of Special Hands and a set of Heavy Rapier hands, all to be used for personalizing your Dwarf Musketeers.

Set 1 - Crossbow, hat, torch, bottle, tankard closed and pipe

Set 2 - lantern, bomb tankard open, lace handkerchief and goblet. There should have been a scroll hand as well, but unfortunately it missing from my little set (had 2 goblet hands instead), but pretty sure Gary will include one with the next shipment.

Heavy rapiers

The trained eye will see there's a hat holding hand here and will also know that all current dwarf heads already have hats on, so to make up for that a new bare head has been made - or actually 2 - and another 2 with hats on, so 4 new heads in all.




All these new items has been added to the living Collecting-John-Pickford-wiki - Iron Mask section including this little (or could probably call it big) gem - the Mk. I Jussac, Ogre Captain.
The Ogre Captain's Hat had to be re-sculpted due to casting issues, and the plume was then made a separate piece, but Gary have kindly donated one of the successful master cast of the Mk. I version.


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TFF Legacy Team 2013 - Halfling Chef

August 11, 2014, 4:44 am
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I had the honour of getting a copy of the little resin Legacy Team reward Axiom/Exoditejon have had made for the participants of their annual Legacy-Team-event at talkfantasyfootball.org. The Chef and camp fire are sculpted by John Pickford (shouldn't you already have guessed that :))

Painted my copy a few months ago but yet again couldn't make up my mind regarding how to base it. Have about 50 unpainted halflings, and as I like unified bases I had to make a decision. Went for a country field look with long grass and flowers.

TFF Legacy Team 2013: Halfling Chef







And yes, there's a small change made to the camp fire. Originally it was a roast football, but for my fantasy needs a chicken is better :)

And just as I finished this, I found this here in my mail box:


A metal version of this beauty. Apparently, Axiom ended up with an empty slot in one of his Beast Face Miniatures master moulds, and had this made. What better use of an empty slot in a mould can you imagine? I just looooooove metal :)

Thanks, Jon - guess I'll have to paint a second one now - and two Chefs for a Halfling Warband ain't one too many, really :)


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Collecting John Pickford: White Knight have released their Dwarf Artillerists and Inventors

November 9, 2014, 10:05 am
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White Knight Miniature Imperium have recently released their Dwarf Artillerists and Inventors all by John Pickford. A must-have fore any Renaissance Dwarf fan (or Pickford fan ;-))

The new releases are:


  • Dwarf Artillery Crew set
  • Dwarf Hackbut and Crew set
  • Dwarf Inventor With Snipergun 
  • Dwarf Inventor With Handgrenade

WKD-50: Dwarf Inventor With Snipergun


Check these cool new releases out at WK's blog (and now you are there you might like to check out the wonderful Sea Elves sculpted by Mark Evens and MickDarpa's Human Zombies).
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Sword and Sorcery

November 11, 2014, 2:11 pm
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27th August 1982, 3 days after my 11th birthday, a innocent little children's book was first published in the UK. A book, that at first glance, might have seem "one of a kind" and strange to many. And not many would have thought that this little book, the first in a series of 59, would soon become a publishing phenomenon - and how it would form and shape a hole generation of kids, there imagination and joy for fantasy gaming.
I speak of course of Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson's: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and their Fighting Fantasy-series published by Puffin Books.

I'd be laying if I said I was first in line to pick up this book. Being an 11 year old danish kid, I had just started talking english lessons in school, and was just capable of saying: "My name is ..." and trying hard to learn the verb: "To Be". I remember it being quite a struggle actually. All the new sounds and tongue-twisters was quite hard learning, and the difference in grammar was significant. Back then, the international (british/american) exposure on a danish kid from the country side was .... "insignificant". Nothing like today's kids. It's now harder learning them to speak proper danish, that english, I'm afraid :)

So, it would be another 2 or 3 years before I actually got introduced to Sword and Sorcery. The danish publisher Borgen didn't name the series Fighting Fantasy, but had the name change into: Sværd og Trolddom (meaning "Sword and Sorcery") - and for many years I actually thought that it was the original title of the series.

Now why this rambling about Sword and Sorcery? Well first, like for so many other fantasy gamer's, collector's and miniature painter's, the Fighting Fantasy book series awoke a deep interest for fantasy reading, gaming and role-playing. That happened to me as well and I'm pretty sure, that if I hadn't been introduced to these gamebook in my early years - fantasy miniatures and fantasy gaming would probably never had become an interest of mine - and I've would probably have kept on building and painting Spitfire's and Messerschmitt's.
Over the years, I'd always put blame on Dungeons & Dragons for my geekiness - but now that I'm really think of it Fighting Fantasy is probably as much to blame.

Secondly, I might have thought that I'd put Fighting Fantasy behind me, but "suddenly" an old interest has awaken. Mainly due to two events.

First, a wonderful book called "You are the Hero, A history of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks" written byauthorJonathan Green - which landed on my desk back in September.


This book was brought to life by a successful Kickstarter back in late 2012 celebrating the 30 years of Fighting Fantasy.
I have to admit, thought - that I totally missed out on the Kickstarter campaign. As said, Fighting Fantasy and game-books haven't really been a part of my hobby the past 20+ years. Though, I did pick up Ian Livingstone's thirtieth anniversary book: "Blood of the Zombies" for the iPad - most out of nostalgia as I actually never played it through (yeah, yeah! I admit it, I didn't survive) - but Fighting Fantasy would again fade into oblivion.
Just till I heard of Jonathan's books on Facebook (of all places :)) - and I was delighted finding out, that the book had reached its goals and found its audience. So when it went up for public sale, I got first in line  - keen to join all the brave sons and daughters of Allansia that made this book possible.

The book gives you a detailed insight to the history behind the Fighting Fantasy (FF) series and gives all the details and little stories that goes behind every single book and the FF-spin-offs. The book is written with such love and passion. Jonathan is such a great story-teller (having lots of books under his belt) and with contributions from the two founders Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, most other co-authors, publishers, editors and leading artists added the book is such a pleasure reading.
But that's not all. The books is packed full of exceptional art work and wonderful reprints of book covers, internal illustrations and maps made by fantasy art legends. Many of the original covers (and covers from the side-kicks, RPGs, novels and magazines) are printed in a full colour A4 format. The book also including brand new art by iconic Iain McCaig, Russ Nicholson and Matin McKenna.

These cover re-prints are a pure eye candy - here's a glimpse of what treasures you can find inside this tomb:

FF cover art by Chris Achilleos (Temple of Terror)

Internal art by John Blanche (Steve Jackson's Soercery! series)
Terry Oakes

Russ Nicholson

This book should be laying on every fantasy miniatures gamer's or painter's coffee-table, even with those without any actually interest in Fighting Fantasy - cause this book is a piece of art and it's worth every penny.


The second reason for this new/awoken interest is a more personal one. My wife and I are trying hard stimulating and motivate our oldest into do more reading, but as he finds that anything without a LED-display and an on/off switch, is a time-waster and old fashion, and it hadn't been easy for us making him think otherwise.
During a summer-clean-out I then came cross my Fighting Fantasy collection including a few of my danish edition's and out of nostalgia I handed them over to him - as I hoped, they would have awaken his interest for reading (and perhaps fantasy gaming), like it awoke me nearly 30 years ago.

From my collection: Starship Traveller, Deathtrap Dungeon,
Island of the Lizard King and Caverns of the Snow Witch.

However, it didn't had the immediate effect I was hoping for, but then our 7 years old spotted them, and he was "sold" just by the looks of the covers.

So, he and I have put our daily dose of Captain Underpants aside, and have completed: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Citadel of Chaos and Forest of Doom and are now deep within Port Blacksand (reading The City of Thieves) - half an hour each night - just before bedtime. Haven't made the job easier (all that adrenaline kicking around) but it's been joyful. He cheats as hell, but haven't well all been there, but with Forest of Doom, he already gave up the standard Skill 12, he gave himself and played it with a regular score of just 9.
And guess who sneaks into the room now and join us? :) So, it might not have had an immediately appeal, but the stories still have their appeal - old fashion or not. And the other night he ran of with Starship Traveller, a few dice and a pencil - milestone #1 reached :)

However, it also has a downside, as it also awoke the collector gene in me. The danish publisher "only" translated and released 24 of the books - ending the series be releasing: Heltenes Slagmark (Armies of Death). Back then I borrow most of them from the public library, but also collected a few - but around 1989-90 I started picking up the original english ones.
So, I got most books from Firetop Mountain to Creatures of Havoc (but left out most of the Sci-Fi ones) - after that I lost interest/found other interests, I guess. Looking at it now, it seems I stopped reading FF when Ian and Steve stopped actually writing them. So, what did I miss out on (if I missed out on anything, that is)? Which books, should I start looking for? What adventure is your favorite?  I know I need go finding Steve's original Sorcery! books (if not for the stories then for the Blanche art) and also Jonathan's contributions - but what else should I look out for? Don't say "all", please - not "all" ;-)

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A troll called Derek

March 1, 2015, 1:08 am
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I won't bore you with details regarding my absent from here, but only fair to add a few words, though. Those that have been following me on here, over the years, will know that I suffer from a bad back. In December it's became real bad again ending up by having yet another surgical operation, but after 3 weeks of recovering, it's time for a come back :)

Haven't been able to sit by the painting table yet, but I have a few things planned for December 2014 that I'll try and post the coming weeks - also have some interesting things to share regarding Collecting John Pickford.

First, I'd like to pick up from where I left you all, in December. So, today's post will be another post about re-discovering the Fighting Fantasy genre - but this time from a miniatures point-of-view.

In the golden years of Fighting Fantasy the book series was supported by a magazine called Warlock  - The Fighting Fantasy Magazine. The magazine was manufacturer Games Workshop and published by Penguin Books between 1983 and 1986. The primary focus of the magazine was on the Fighting Fantasy universe of cause, but it soon developed a wider focus on the fantasy gaming genre in general, almost like a more junior version of the well established White Dwarf.

The magazine was never distributed here in Denmark and I first learn about after it ceased publication in 1986 - but in the following years we succeeded finding rather a few issues.

Each issue of Warlock included a mini-solo adventure using the fighting fantasy rules engine used in the main gamebooks, with some of them expanding into a full adventure books, later on. The magazine also included features like official announcements and GW adds, interviews, a monster bestiary (being the basis for the Out of the Pit-book), maps of the Fighting Fantasy, supplementary illustrations and new art work, competitions and even a miniature figure painting tutorial by Mr. Rick Priestley. And then there where the comics - especially a strip introduced in issue #7.

I am speaking of Derek the Troll, of course.


Derek the Troll was written and illustrated by Lew Stringer and he became one of the most enduring characters of the magazine. He appeared first time in a strip in Issue 7 - and came back in issue 9 and was a regular feature until the end. The much put-upon Derek  even broke out of his strip and started stating his opinion in book reviews and other articles. In issue 13, we even saw him in an short 16-frame "gamebook" strip called: Derek the Troll's 'Orrable Troll-Playing Game, where readers had to take Derek past Trev the Vampire. A strip that has now been reprinted in Johathan Green's "You are the hero". And even more interesting, in You are the Hero you find a brand new strip form Lew's hands, as Jonathan Green commissioned him doing a brand new strip for the book. So would this be Derek's final appearance? Only Lew knows of cause, but he gave this answer on his blog: "No. Now that the character is back I want to keep him around so expect to see him back again, somewhere, some day. Probably not for a few months at least as I'm busy on other comic strips, but he will return!". So, fans should definitely keep an eye out for news regarding Lew Stringer and his works ;-)

Now, what has that to do with miniatures painting, you might ask? "A lot", the answer is :)

I 2013, talented George Fairlamb (aka redshadows on various forums) sculpted Derek, as a tribute to the old comic character - and with the help from David "the Dozing Dragon" Wood (of internet fame and author of the fantastic Dear Tony Blair blog) the sculpt has been mastered - and I have been given the rare opportunity of painting one of these super rare copies.

- and here he is:

Derek the Troll by George Fairlamb/David Wood



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Article 1

March 14, 2015, 4:13 pm
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In January White Knight Miniature Imperium revealed his plans for the next dwarf  release. Next release will be all about monstrous cavalry as John Pickford have sculpted him two magnificent Landgriffons to be used for the coming Dwarf veteran knights.

Here'a a little teaser of what to expect:





The dynamic duo did it again :) Magnificent work - and looking much forward getting my hands on those.
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More Ewal Dvergar, a Bird Shaman and an ugly beast

March 14, 2015, 4:13 pm
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These here were also painted back in November/December. Most of them are from my private Ewal Dvergar/John Pickford adventure - but also 2 pieces sculpted by myself.

First, the most anticipate Ewal Dvergar core warriors with Crossbows. You simply can't do a Dwarf Army without a huge section of missile troops, can you? When I set out on this venture the crossbow men where second on the list of what I wanted to build, and am very pleased with the result. John did an incredible job sculpting them.

Clam Miniatures: Ewal Dvergar Core Warriors with Crossbowmen



At the same time John worked on the missile troops he also took on the task of doing a command group/support - or more precise a musician and a standard bearer. He did a fantastic job - and the two was an absolutely joy painting.


Clam Miniatures: Ewal Dvergr Standard Bearer 








Clam Miniatures: Ewal Dvergr Musician







And the complete group beside each other:



One of the many benefits of doing your own miniatures are that a empty slot in your master mould can be filled out with your own weird creation just for the price of metal - and with 8-10 spins from those moulds, I'd have enough piece playing around with and perhaps paint. In the latest master mould I found room for two of these home-brewed miniatures.

First one is a "Bird Shaman". Haven't had the courage yet, to try doing faces - so I covered his face with a huge bird skull. Will make a nice proxy Sorcerer in my Dwarf Army till John can do me a proper one :)








Second one is slight more weird. I've had some sculpting practise dwarf dollies made which I've been using for spare epoxy putty - one of these dollies ended up as a snake/beastly creature and have been painted too. To emphasize his snaky look, I gave it a Coral Snake colour scheme ;-)






So, I got 10 more "men" ready for the battlefield:


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Collecting John Pickford: More Ewal Dvergar

March 19, 2015, 10:22 am
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People that follow my Ewal Dvegar blog would already have seen these last sunday, but I'd really like to share them on here, too.

During the winter, John Pickford has been working on the next for my Ewal Dvergar forces - Core warriors with guns. A few weeks ago I received a nice big box with all the new greens but also a few nice "gems" from John's sculpting youth. But today's post is all about the greens :)

The new warriors are are mainly rework of the existing Crossbowmen - but for a proper aiming pose, a completely new sculpt have been made. Apart from this new aiming pose, the gunners will re-use the swappable Sallet/helmet system found on the Crossbowmen.

Here are the 3 new headless gunner-poses and their helmets:




As said, non of the excising poses where optimal for an aiming pose so we decided doing a brand new piece:


But we didn't stop there. After building command groups using the 3 different standards options on existing warrior bodies, I'd realised that I needed an alternative musician. I have made a head swap on one of the existing ones, but saw that I needed a more general change to the overall appearance - so challenge John to do another one based on the original. I think he was rather successful, don't you?




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Collecting John Pickford: Curiosities and oddities

March 20, 2015, 9:53 am
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As said yesterday, the box from John included quite a bit more than just the new greens. One of the great many things being a passionate Pickford collector (wife would probably call it "obsessive", though I'm not sure why) is the opportunity of getting insights to the birth of long and glowing sculpting career. Today's update is about such "lost" gems - and I'm very excited sharing these 5 new miniatures, that have been added to the collection.

First one is a little miniature that was brought to my attention by Mr. Bernard Lewis (a former employee of Wargames Foundry). Bernard shared his huge collection of painted Foundry Trolls with me, but he also presented me to an unknown human female Druid/Sorceress:


Many here will know that John's sculpting career really took off when Foundry commissioned him doing huge ranges of fantasy figures for them. The connection with Foundry also offered an opportunity of having some of his earlier works mastered and cast in limited numbers for a personal use, This female Druid is one such miniature (you can find her and all the other's here at the Wiki).

She is one of the first human sculpts John did - and definitely the first human immortalised into a metal miniature, and didn't take on the human subject until he made the seven sisters for Wargames Foundry (the UND11 Witches and UND12 Witches' Coven)

UND11 Witches ©Wargames Foundry

UND12 Witches' Coven ©Wargames Foundry

I confronted John with this story and he plead guilty of sculpting her. The exact words, when asked if she was on of his, was: "- that's awful! how could you possibly think I made her? Sadly enough, I did, but in my defence it was before I worked for Foundry. I sent it to them and they cast her up. At the time I thought she was great!" Does it sounds familiar :)

- but I disagreed, of course, as I found her rather cute - so after a search in the closest of shame, John managed to dig one out this:


- and it really seems that Foundry did help with this one - packed in a classic Foundry blister. The left one is a miscast (missing her leg) but the second one is just perfect.

Unreleased Female Druid by John Pickford



And sitting with Bernard's original painted one in the Collecting John Pickford-Wiki


See that was the curiosities, now the oddities. Again the theme is humanoids and the next 3 miniatures are actually official Foundry's Miniatures, but I don't think, that they have actually found the moulds for them, yet.
In the glory days of Foundry Fantasy, John started working on a range of Evil Barbarians for them. Not sure how far/serious they took this project, though - but I know of 4 different packs being made - a leading character and 3 packs of 3 warrior types.

The pictures here are rather small, but they are the only evidence I have of their existence.

CS001 Evil Barbarian Warriors General
©Wargames Foundry

CS002 Evil Barbarians Warriors
©Wargames Foundry

CS003 Evil Barbarians Warriors
©Wargames Foundry

CS004 Evil Barbarians Warriors
©Wargames Foundry

They are the only proff I had till I found these 3 guys in my box:


Wargames Foundry: CS004 Evil Barbarians Warriors


I know, that John doesn't really like them and would have liked re-sculpting some of their details. To me, I think the do the their job as retro fantasy miniatures suitable to be mix with other ranges of chaotic warriors and barbarians from the pre-2000 era - and they will definitely be added to my Warriors of Chaos Warband.

And speaking of a possible re-sculpt, John also gave me this test-piece where he tried changing some of the "problematic" elements, but was never commissioned to do the overhaul. 

Converted CS001 Evil Barbarian General
I have to admit, that I prefer the retro-styled miniatures, but also have to admit that my taste in miniatures are rather old-fashioned.

Next time, we'll look at much more tradition Pickford subject .... a Goblin - stay tuned.
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Collecting John Pickford: Wiki update

March 21, 2015, 11:28 am
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I've given the Collecting John Pickford Wiki (@Wikia - and forgive me for the annoying adds - but moving it to another server will have immeasurable consequences) a bit of an overhaul the last few nights.



Most interesting updates are these newly added miniatures:
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Collecting John Pickford: Goblin on dead Dwarf

March 22, 2015, 6:55 am
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I cant' speak about John "Poshgoblin" Pickford's early career without it's involving goblins, so today's update will be focusing on a very victorious greenskin sitting on his slain arc enemy.

Today's miniature is another lost gem and was sculpted in the mid 2000's, I think - about the same time John did the probably more famous "Dave, on slain dragon head" released by Hasslefree Miniatures.

The Goblin on dead Dwarf has only been cast in very limited numbers (if more than one have actually ever been made). So, for a long time I'd admitted this from a distance and only known of its existence from a picture John had shared with me. So you can probably guess how I felt finding it in my box. I'm overwhelmed by the generosity shown and I'm very honoured and deeply touched being granted this unique opportunity.

It's an incredible and humorous piece with the goblin smoking on his dead enemy's pipe. It's so rich in details and the sculpting quality is very, very good - and the diorama is in great contrast to all the Dwarf, on... (insert any word) pieces made by various sculptors/certain companies. It's brilliant.












As said, it's made in the same period ad the Hasslefree released piece. Can't say why this wasn't picked up by anyone. I love all the personalities in Foundry's Goblin range, but to me this one here is probably the most lovely and characterful goblin John has ever made. This one, and the Hot Pot Fanatic made for Twisted Tales (range now with Hasslefree Miniatures).

The diorama has also been added to the Wiki.




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Collecting John Pickford: Here, There Be Dragons

March 28, 2015, 10:07 am
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For long, I thought the story of John Pickford doing a Dragon was nothing but a Myth. Much has been said about such a creature exists, but I'd never seen one piece of evidence - and even John had barely any recollection of a such. All he gave me was a few key words like "maybe there was, but its gone and wasn't really good" or "lost, broke apart during moulding" - you know, just like in most dragon tales - they are said to be there, but no one have ever really seen them.

So, you can probably imagine how surprised I was finding this pair of wings ....


Could that be the piece of evidence I have been waiting for...? A close examine showed clear signs of attempted moulding - and especially one of them had take quite some beating, but both showed clear signs of of heat and forced by pressure.







I was rather convinced that this here was the proof I'd been looking for. Here it was, the strongest argument for that there really had been a dragon. And just like any paleontologist I started laying out the puzzle pieces and building an image in my head, what the creature would have looked like.

But why bother? Cause, if I had just started emptying the hole box in the first place, I'd seen, that all answers would be in there :) Because there it was. Deep down the bottom, in a nice zip lock bag, a perfect master cast of the entire dragon body (and dragon rider) where to be found. 



And all metal pieces fits perfectly together - so with a little blu-tac I can proudly present: the for a long time thought lost, Orc King on Dragon by John Pickford :












And with the battered wings he looks like this:





The mystery is solved. Yes, there is indeed "a Dragon". And a magnificent one it is, too. A beautiful scaled dragon with a unique, squig-like, dragon head, a fantastic set of richly detailed and nicely textured wings and a magnificent Orc-king-rider, true worthy of such a beast. The rider sits proud on his beast ready for leading his army and he is spiced up with classic (and characteristic) Pickford facial details sculpted on the saddle, armour and shield.

So the true history is, that John did make a Dragon and he even tried having it moulded and cast up. Moulding of the dragon body and rider had been successful, but the wings proved difficult and took quite some damage - and no successful cast was ever made. A master cast and the damaged wings was returned to John - probably with the intention of being re-sculpted, but it never happened and the dragon ended up in a box, well hidden. But its been found, and will now be the "Crown Jewel" in my Pickford collection. I will try and do a repair on those wings and then eventually paint the beast. If I dare ..... ;-)

The Dragon has been added to the Odds and Ends section of the Wiki as well.


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Collecting John Pickford: Yes, you can call me a Nerd

April 24, 2015, 2:47 pm
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A few days ago I stopped by the local "post shop" for picking up this 9kg box and brought it home with me.


I've been pretty excited about getting this, and think me wife felt the excitement too - as she came into the kitchen when I opened it. Will show you what's inside, but please promise me, you won't laugh as much as she did.

So, here we go:


Have you stopped laughing? 

Now, your next question would probably be, what's that? So just like I told her, I'll tell you all now. This box holds the two black rubber master moulds John Pickford had made in the very youth of his sculpting career. Most of his early sculpts are found in these two moulds. Sculpts that would late convince people that he was qualified for more professional work at Foundry Miniatures.

John was moving house and when packing he came cross these. So, rather than put it all into a moving box with a clear "Man Cave"-label on it, he offered sending them over to me including the 15-20 master spins from each mould. But that's not all, no! John even handed over the rights so I can now use them as I might see fit. Extremely generous of him and I'm deeply honoured by getting these old gems and I'm pretty sure that parts of this collection will be made available through my little "the Old Bag" side project.

But lets look more into the two moulds, shall we? 




Like said, its all pieces from John's early career, and most of them have been in my collection for a long time - and can be found on the Collecting John Pickford Wiki. Hey, you'll even find some of them painted on this very blog.

Mould on the left is nearly an all goblins one and in this mould you'll find the fantastic Goblin Jesters (the Commandos), the goblin shield bearers, Lance-a-little, the goblin Santa and Mom with the kid goblin holding a balloon. 


The little hooded familiar holding an orb (second row, first from left) is however an unseen/unknown piece. And so are the facial shield piece (bottom row, first from the left).



The mould on the right is also filled with goblins like the burdened goblin, the female warrior, Kings Guard, the King himself and the voodoo-doctor (called Papa) but there is also a throne (for the goblin king), a squig, a four-legged creature, Blip, Snork and the King's cat.



Again all pieces I'd shown before, but again a few "new" pieces as there's another little facial shield and a tiny Viking doll, I haven't come cross before.



Once again it's been such a great pleasure getting insight into John's early works - but seeing the black rubber moulds has been probably been an even greater experience. We all know how miniature castings is done but we don't usually see the process up this close. Next big wish would be to actually see these mould spun.

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Collecting John Pickford: News from Otherworld

June 28, 2015, 2:07 pm
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Otherworld Miniatures have recently released two new monsters by John Pickford.

I'm so happy finally seeing Otherworld bringing out Pickford monsters again. They've focused way to much on PCs/NPCs, if you ask me. Not that Kev Adams, David Soderquist, Patrick Keith, John Winter and Ian Mountain didn't do a spectacular job doing the Adventures-range, but to me, Otherworld has always been all about the monsters - and Pickford monsters in particular.

The two newly released monsters are the long awaited Xorn and the Landshark.

Xorn, is my all time favorite D&D monster and I am so pleased, that Otherworld has asked John to do him. That said, the Land-shark *cough* Bulette *cough* (as most will know it as) is a real piece of art. It's an incredible, huge and a most beautiful sculpted piece, so I'll forgive them casting it in resin.  .

Otherworld Miniatures: DM33 – Xorn
DM33 Xorn blister pack

Xorn bits


Otherworld Miniatures: WE22 – Landshark


WE22 Land-shark blister pack





Sorry for the un-assembled Xorn - but I will move him up the painting queue, so you can see this weird 3 armed/legged monster.

Till then, check it out at the Otherworld online store. And while there, perhaps you might like to take a look at Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish rulebook, now on pre-order (as it looks very, very tempting) :)

EDIT:
@ Wouter Wolput, the Lan-Shark it a big chunky piece.58mm long - 42mm high - and quickly made this comparison for you:
OW Goblin, Citadel Dwarf, Land-Shark, Crusuader Gladiator, Foundry Viking, WWW2 Red Skull (all 3 true scale 28mm)
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Son's of Siegward

July 15, 2015, 6:43 am
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As summer is still not on the cards, I don't have to feel guilt siting inside. And what better is there to do, than paint some of the latest casts from my own miniature project - and for a change it's not some of the Ewal Dvergar, but miniatures from the new Son's of Siegward - sculpted by Sjoerd Trouwee.

The Son's of Siegward is a small range of mutant stunties with special powers/abilities and will all be added as characters in my always growing Chaos Dwarves.

First, we have Grinner Dragarm. Grin has been gifted with immunity and immortality at the price of his good looks.

Clam Minis: SOS-01 Grinner Dragarm






Next is Sanqis Bigleap. Sanq has been blessed with the powers of the beast and will strike down anyone that comes between him and his demonic hammer.


Clam Minis: SOS-02 Sanqis Bigleap







Last, but not least we have Branding Hyld, Bran is a magician with the ability of flying the air-shark.


Clam Minis: SOS-03 Branding Hyld








And here are all 3 new charcters. Ready to enter the battlefield :)




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Another Troll climbed down the Hill

August 15, 2015, 2:26 am
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I've just finished the second of the total of five gigantic Hill Trolls John did for the Wargames Foundry's fantasy range.

First one I painted was the Troll Champion. For this second one I choose the Axe-Bearer. This guy holds a ridiculous huge axe. The Troll is about 3½" tall in itself - but the axe ...? it's bigger ... almost 4½" - this guy will take down a house, if he has to :)

Again, it was a enjoyable miniature painting. I just love these Troll characters. Sculpted with such great humor and love details breaking up the enormous skin areas.

The guy is really top heavy so it really need some base weight. So spend quite a bit of time making it as I had to use slate stone to give it enough weight but also needed to pin the miniature down.

Wargames Foundry: BSTR1 - Giant Hill Troll wielding enormous Axe









And as you see on the pictures they were actually rather challenging taking without stealing the focus :) - so here's some pictures zooming in on some of the details.







And last, the two brothers-in-arms - just three more to go :)


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Collecting John Pickford: Iron Mask Miniatures on Kickstarter, again

August 28, 2015, 11:40 am
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Good friend and fellow John Pickford enthusiast Gary Price of Iron Mask Miniatures is now running his second crowd funding campaign on Kickstarter.

This second one is all about bringing mounted dwarf musketeers to his fantastic fantasy musketeer universe.

As with the first wave of Dwarf Musketeers (the Musketeers on foot) the new mounted dwarfs come as multi part figures with an extensive selection of hands, weapons and head options.

The Mounted Dwarf Musketeers includes four different ponies with exceptional personality. These ponies were originally sculpted by John Pickford for White Knight Miniatures and his Renaissance Dwarf light cavalry range and are now, with WKs kind permission, used for the Dwarf Musketeers as well.

All the miniatures have been sculpted and mastered. Therefore, all the many choices can be seen on the campaign page - but here are some samples of the wonderful builds we can do, when the campaign is successfully funded:







And I must say they all looks stunning. Just look at the Four Musketeers down here all painted (pretty sure it done by Terry Matheny of Sword and Palette):


Now, who wouldn't like such a unit to hunt down Lord Buckingham's spies or the Cardinal’s Guard - or maybe even the Cardinal himself? For let us hope this goes all the way. Because one of the many wonderful stretched goals are just a mounted version of the Cardinal.


I feel in love with the Cardinal on foot, but this one is even better. Lovely, lovely sculpt.

To find out all about the Kickstarter Campaign - just click this banner down here:

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