I recently travelled from the furnace of heatwave Japan to that grim and cold place where I, Rattlebones, was originally spawned. Actually, it wasn’t grim, although it is the north of England, and people playfully refer to it as such, the wags. What a blissful change it was to feel a bracing wind and the drizzling rain after 40 degree heat, let me tell you.

I am now back in Japan in a state of jetlagged contentment, sated by daily feasts of fish, chips, sausages, pies, cakes, real ales and so on, some 4 kilograms heavier.

Anyway. Prior to the trip I began cobbling together a post about my five most coveted old school Citadel miniatures. This kind of listy navel-gazing seems de rigeur in an oldhammer blog. Why not join the club, eh? Even if we are all just bellowing our tedious memories into a vacuum!

Here is what I wrote, my five most wanted in vague order of desirability, starting with 5th place. It’s fairly personal to me as you’ll see. Off we go.

5 – Hobgoblin Rocket Crew

Eh? Well, yes. Certainly a minor release, and not really iconic, but a lovely little set all the same. I’d like it purely because I owned it once and still possess the rocket launcher itself, but the 4 crew members are long since scattered to the four winds.

I think that this was one of the last fantasy releases I bought during my original run with citadel as a teen, but it never hit the tabletop. I’d really like to reacquire the crew and actually get it into action one day. I wonder though why it’s titled ‘Hobgoblin rocket crew’ rather than ‘Hobgoblin launcher AND rocket crew’. Honestly. You people.

4 – Man Mangler

Any of the goblin or orc based machineries of destruction (the MD series) could go here really, but the Man Mangler has a special place in my heart (gimme that lovely lead belcher too though!).

I drooled over adverts for it in White Dwarf (this was pre-puberty you understand). Looking again at photos of the bare metal components for this contraption, it now looks to be slightly underwhelming, doesn’t it? I realise now that it was the incredible Kev Adams paintjob (on his own sculpt of course) that made this desireable back in the day, and indeed now.

The shields he did especially speak for themselves, but the base is terrific too and really ties it together. If I ever own this one, I’ll try to replicate his version as far as my meagre skills will allow.

I actually saw a boxed one in an independent shop in Osaka, priced hopefully at somewhere around 20,000 yen. That was then about 140-150 pounds sterling, no small potatoes. I passed.

At time of writing, there are some incredible Kev Adams goblin warmachines available from Knightmare (they put out these models in the Greenskin Wars Kickstarter before they sold them online, even more formerly these were the ones which you may remember being available from Crooked Claw).

They are fantastic! I do think that these more modern sculpts are, in aesthetic and technical respects, superior to the old models and are clearly inspired by the machineries of destruction. If nostalgia isn’t an issue for you and you have a goblin army in the pipeline these are a great way to go, as they really are something.

3 – Orc Bodyguard

Again, I once owned a little limited edition Citadel set – LE11 consisting of a “Giant Orc Chieftain and Bodyguard”. Luckily, I have the Chieftain still. Both were quite tall sculpts.

The Chieftain is part of that breed of long jawed, almost canine orcs that Kev Adams created around ‘86-’87 – there seems to have been a definite trend towards this toothy look with models such as Chopper Kaglod, Kroglod and Graglob in the following image (thanks to Stuff of Legends, from whom I do borrow images willy-nilly).

There are others I’m sure you’ll have noticed – I remember another orc named Slyss with this greenskin version of Habsberg Jaw – these vicious looking critters didn’t stick around, though. Sad, as these lanky sharkheads look far more threatening than todays gorilla ‘Orruks’ (or whatever the GW beancounters have rebranded them as this week).

Unfortunately my model of his bodyguard counterpart has been lost. I want to reunite the team. Seems only right to do so, plus the bodyguard is a wonderful sculpt in his own right, and looks unlike many orcs from this or any other citadel era. This uniqueness is evidenced by the heavy studded leather coat and basin helm. He looks to have been heavily influenced by, or at least to have had some interaction with a human faction (Bretonnia you might say, except they didn’t exist at the time). Can you think of any other orc they did that’s quite comparable in look? The bodyguard is a unique oddity.

2 – Goblobber

Another Machinery of Destruction, I have a feeling that this was a more limited release as although they are usually to be seen on ebay, they are always very bloody expensive. It is of course a dwarven catapult which (perhaps unsurprisingly given the name) hurls bound goblins at the enemy.

It’s a wonderous thing. The crew is great, from the bonus mini of a chef roasting a spitted pig, to the crew member sitting on a netted goblin missile. I don’t know if I’ll ever own one. 9.95 it was, but you would pay about ten times this now to the chiselling ebay Fagins.

Hmm. It might be possible to buy the parts seperately, saving some money.

1 – Hrothyogg

Ah, Hrothyogg! When the ad below appeared in White Dwarf I wanted that ogre captain desperately (or at least quite a lot). Skragg was also excellent, but Hrothyogg appealed most.

Clearly, this Jes Goodwin mini is a masterpiece. The proud stance, hand on the hilt of a terrifying sword (which judging by the rotted scabbard has seen better days) – he exudes a real aura of swagger and command. The best miniatures are those that tell a story, and Hrothyogg’s is one of faded glory, if the shabby gear and piecemeal clothing is any guide.

It’s that belt buckle which is the main focus though, really tying it all together with that old Citadel red sun emblem. What was that anyway?

I suspect for me and others he is so iconic of the studio at that time as he is literally wearing what seemed at the time to be a kind of unofficial Citadel logo- the red sun/face used to appear throughout the fantasy material in the late 80s, on goblin shields, orcy banners and so on. And memorably on the paintpots of the classic period.

Now as I understand things, this red sun image has been appropriated as a symbol for a 40k Ork faction, and the gallery entry on this wiki page makes it seem that that was always the case. Bloody cheek.

Hrothyogg’s official backstory has it that the belt, with its grimacing crimson fizzog was a reward for winning an eating contest. I much preferred that.

When I was a young lad, I felt Hrothyogg must be a massive, towering brute of a model – not that I’ve never met anyone who owned him. Judging by the base size now, I suspect he’s a little less imposing than I once thought!

I always associate this sculpt with the Jon Blanche artwork called The Awakening, which surfaced in White Dwarf about a year later, and features an equally confident looking ogre – perhaps another mercenary – in similar furry Attila the Hun style headgear, surverying what might be a unseen battlefield with his dour but rather colourful dwarven chums. Someone is about to be effed up royally.

There seems to have been something of a phase, a micro-period if you will, when these hairy chapeaus cropped up a lot. Mid-eighties it seemed to be quintessentially Citadel, you couldn’t move for furry hats.

The furry hats of the Citadel Golden Age. Hmm. A topic for another fascinating post?

Well there you have it. I appreciate your saintly patience, gentle reader, in making it this far. Thanks for reading this ramble!