Ninjabread

Hailing from the depths of 1995 comes this Marauder Miniatures Flamer of Tzeentch. This one in an experimental pale chalky scheme that’s an attempt to copy the studio scheme from the 1997 Realm of Chaos.

Marauder Miniatures?! They’re not Games Workshop. Well, back in the days Marauder was brand that Warhammer miniatures sculpted by Ali and Trish Morrison were distributed under. They were gradually subsumed back into Citadel in 1993 (according to Source of Legends), though these models are tabbed Marauder and 1995. Who knows. Actually, I’m fascinated to learn the reasons behind the split and subsequent reabsorption.

I recently discovered thanks to the Collecting Citadel Miniatures Group that Marauder also produced a pair of Greater Daemons – one for Khorne and one for Tzeentch. I’m rather excited, as there have been several Lords of Change knocking around eBay that I’ve dismissed as knock-offs. But no! They are official Games Workshop models. And ones I go rabid for as they’re obscure and retro. If anyone out there’s got a photo of the Khorne one, I’d love to see it.

Something more modern for Project Change – a Generation 3 Pink Horror (far right – the other models are a Generation 1 Blue Horror and a Generation 2 Pink Horror). Wow, this is not the normal crazy retro lead I obsess over, but sleek and sensible modern miniatures without big goofy grins.

Well, I say modern – these models have tab dates of 2001, and they’re also in the tiny part of the current Citadel range that’s still in metal. Here’s hoping for plastic Horrors with the rumoured second wave of Daemons.

I have to say , this model isn’t great. This is my second attempt at painting one of this generation of Horrors, and both times I’ve been frustrated at the indistinct detailing. Not indistinct in the gribbly Tzeentch way of “ARGH THIS ARM IS MY MOUTH AND IT’S COVERED IN EYES”, but in a subtley-detailed way that’s largely lost in the molding and casting process. There are warbly bits I’m not sure if I should file off because they’re tentacles or feedlines. There are what I imagine started as sharp crisp details that have been rendered down to smarbly indistinct metal wibbles during the production process. Not that fun to paint when you’re trying to be a perfectionist. Maybe by the time I get round to doing the others I’ll be used to the quality of the casts.

Haha – just got to work out how many variations of these models there can be with all the arms and horns.

And I now have nine horrors of various generations and scales.

When’s a Pink Horror smaller than a Blue Horror? When it’s Epic scale.

Look at his big cute smile. Grinning loon, like one of those giant cartoon M&Ms. You can see why this generation of Epic Chaos models have been swept under the carpet. That, and the fact that for a 6mm wargame they were ridiculously out of scale.

So, this Epic Pink Horror can also double as Bowie Inconstatine’s familiar of Tzeentch. There are several familiar models Workshop have produced for Tzeentch, but none of them are quite the “miniaturised form of a Horror” Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned makes them out to be.

And because I felt like one tiny Epic model was a real con for the latest Project Change update, I also did an old Dark Elf Harpy. In a pasty pink colour that combined with the lumps around his groin makes me want to itch.

“But that’s not Tzeentch. That’s not even proper Chaos.” I hear you cry. Well, this gem from Marauder Miniatures (yes, not Citadel) was originally a Dark Elf Harpy – one of the descendants of an outcast tribe that settled in Naggaroth near Karond Kar. But in 1997 Harpies were also available to Chaos armies (as scavengers from the Northern Wastes). Ahhh – so they can be proper Chaos. And maybe this model could be used to represent a Chaos Fury – one of the undivided Daemons that conforms to the gargoyle archetype. Perhaps. Maybe. Possibly.