“Blax the Kleric’s top ten of 2021”

For those eager followers expecting another of Dick Garrison’s mouth-wateringly good weekly postings I fear you are in for something of a shock, as for the seventh time in eight years, Roger will be writing an entry on my wargaming website “Fantorical”, and I’ll once again be back at the helm of the good ship “Rantings From under The Wargames Table”. The past year has definitely seen Roger ‘churn’ out some of his greatest hits, in my humble opinion, so kindly strap yourselves down as I take you through a rocket stop tour of his Top Ten ‘best in show’ during the last twelve months…

(10) “Mantic Games” – Enforcers (March 18^th):

Whilst I am not a fan of these particular miniatures from “Dead Zone”, there can be no doubting just how impressive Roger’s camouflage is upon their armoured carapaces. These “splotches” of stone green and “combination of zigzag lines and tiny stylized tree branches” added in dark green work very well indeed, and definitely help elevate what I consider to be mediocre sculpts at best, into something truly eye-catchingly special – especially when applied to a killer robotic canine.

 

Enforced labour

(9) “Lucid Eye Productions” – Runcorn (June 19^th):

I am a huge supporter of “Lucid Eye Productions” and their “Toon Realms” range, so was absolutely delighted to see Roger tackle their wonderful sculpt of Runcorn the unicorn. The contrast between the animals pink mane and white hide is excellent, but what I especially like about this piece is Roger’s delicately dainty base-work, complete with tiny mushrooms and flowers, which really helps sell this beast as a magical being.

Runcorn the Unicorn

(8) “Wargames Terrain Workshop” – Sabretooth Tigers (May 14^th):

Crafted by the legendary Dave Stone, these two prehistoric big cats really do look scarily realistic thanks to Roger’s excellent ability to merge their famous reddish-orange striped fur with the animals’ cream-coloured underbelly. This ‘blending’ is particularly noticeable on the Tiger mid-way through a bone-rending leap, and really helps sell the notion that the deadly animal was caught in mid-action.

 

Moggy Mayhem

(7) “Mantic Games” – Forge Fathers (March 4^th):

I’m probably a but biased with this choice as I absolutely adore the aesthetic of “Mantic Games” Forge Fathers, and also happen to like dark green quite a bit too. Resultantly, when Roger merged these two aspects together, and added some bronze/copper into the mix, I was completely sold on the small-sized squad, and certainly arm to duplicate the colour scheme whenever I finally get around to painting my own space dwarves.

 

How’s your father

(6) “Copplestone Castings” – Babe With Gun (September 25^th):

As a massive fan of Kevin Copplestone’s figures, I always pay a particular interested in Roger’s work whenever he decides to paint such models on this blog. Dee’ Dee “Night Night” Knightly is by far my favourite of such postings during the past year, as her costume’s colour scheme reminds me of the spy-fi/time travelling worlds of Tara King and Dodo Chaplet all rolled into one.

 

Spy-hardy

(5) “Games Workshop” – Blood Bowl Referees (January 27^th):

Providing a veritable virtuoso performance in black and white stripes, this elf and dwarf combination completely blew me away when I first clapped eyes on the pair towards the beginning of the year. The couple’s striking official match attire wonderfully contrasts with the colourful characters green and light blue leggings, and clearly marks them out as something special upon the Astrogranite pitch.

Who the B*stard in the black

(4) Self-sculpted – Elvira (February 10th):

Clearly there’s a lot to enjoy when looking at Roger’s brushwork for this Chibi miniature of the Mistress of the Dark – the visible contrast between her pitch black hair and dress just being one such success. However, what is truly flabbergasting about this particular figure is that Roger sculpted it himself using Green-Stuff. Such an incredible knack with the tricky modelling clay is worthy of high praise alone, but when coupled with the aforementioned paint-job, this piece really does present itself as being exceptionally well done.

 

Unpleasant dreams

(3) “Lancashire Games” – Indian Braves (February 25^th):

I actually had to re-read Roger’s original posting for these native Americans on horseback, as his attention to detail on their mounts, leathers and feathers made me believe the figures were significantly larger than his claim that they were 10mm in scale. These really are gobsmackingly good, and whilst Roger would follow these diminutive, rifle-toting warriors up with some incredibly well pigmented settlers and wagons later on in the year, I feel these are far and away the very best of the bunch.

One little, two little, three little

(2) “Games Workshop” – Imperial Nobility Blood Bowl Team (January 22nd):

What a stunning visual this entire team of purple and gold proved to be when they were first revealed to the world at the very start of the year. Roger’s detailed description of the painful process he went through in order to get the players tabletop ready, such as two days alone being spent simply touching up his paint-jobs before varnishing, only added to my admiration for all the tiny details these gorgeous miniatures contained. Ordinarily, it’s a case of leaving the best until last. But on this occasion, I feel Roger gave us one of his very best straight from the start.

BB Queue

(1) Self-Sculpted – The Trollenberg Terror (May 23rd):

Whilst I’ve never actually seen Quentin Lawrence’s 1958 science fiction film, Roger’s use of Green Stuff to create the movie’s utterly repulsive and blood-chillingly terrifying, monster certainly made me want to. Coupled with a truly excellent paint-job, alongside a photograph which shows just how monstrous Roger’s creation actually is, this was easily my favourite piece of the year – and it’s just a shame that sadly “Wargames Supply Dump” is no longer around to get the brute cast for others to enjoy.

The tiny tentacled terror of trollenberg

Of course, there are many other models which Roger has either crafted, converted or painted to perfection over the past twelve months which have unluckily been bumped out of these choices. So I would heartily recommend that you go back and spend some time pouring over the postings I haven’t mentioned in this Top Ten as well. Happy New Year.

Simon.

So as usual all that remains is for me to say, a huge thank you to Simon, for taking the time out of his busy schedule (and it is busy at this time of year!), of course thank all you lot who read it, and all of the nonsense I’ve written myself during the last twelve months, and to wish you all the very best of new years, here looking forward to all the stuff you lot paint & post in 2022.

Oh and please check out my “Top Ten” review of Simon’s 2021 output over on his esteemed blog….

https://www.fantoricalwargaming.com/post/top-ten-miniatures-of-2021-a-rantings-from-under-the-wargames-table-viewpoint

Cheers Roger.