The Fantasy Warlord mass combat game, published by Folio Works in the 1990s was accompanied by a range of miniatures, mostly sculpted by Bob Olley, and
probably based on designs by Gary Chalk. Several of these figures are still in production today, under the banner of Kennington Miniatures.
Camera-phone photo examples below:
OG3 Large Ogre Shield Warrior is
£4 from
Kennington Miniatures (bases not included) - the model I received is a crisp and bright casting with no obvious defects. The figure is cast with his hand open, and the spear fits inside quite nicely. Actually, while identified as an OG3 on the packaging, the miniature sold under that code by Kennington is different, so I'm not quite sure what I've got here!
From a design point of view the Ogre Shield Warrior
has a slightly woodsy fairy-talesque quality that I admire greatly. Obviously these are Ogres in the mid-to-late 80's Citadel sense of
the word, not the AD&D giant cavemen nor the fat-guy mammoth mounted
mongol of current GW stock. He's slimmer than the Olley Ogryn and the chain mail is finer, but side-by side the faces look 'of a kind' together.
Although I'm not aware of any original drawings, the Ogre Warrior is almost undoubtedly a Gary Chalk design - think the original Talisman Ogre card, with the leather cap and the ornamental brackets on the privvy door shield, there are echoes of
Froud and
Elmore in the character.
Alongside this Ogre Warrior there are 3 other models in the Kennington Large Ogre range: Clan Chief, Blade Master and Bowman. Since posting this MBM (the original source of the identifying miniatures) don't seem to be carrying the range, and the Kennington miniatures may have been re-coded.
| Folio Works | Kennington |
|---|
| uncatalogued? unreleased? | ??? (facing left ragged shield) |
|---|
| FW9/2 Ogre Necromancer | OG 1 Large Ogre Clan Chief (skull staff) |
| FW9/4 Ogre Warrior | OG2 Large Ogre Blade Master (facing forward) |
FW9/1 Ogre Hero | OG3 Large Ogre Tribal Warrior (winged helm) |
| FW9/3 Ogre Hunter | OG 4 Large Ogre Bowman (bow & quiver) |
I really like them, especially the Tribal Warrior and the Bowman who stylistically seem to be a pair (strangely the Fantasy Warlord rulebook says that Ogres don't use bows). The
Clan Chief (originally named Ogre Necromancer) is a bit too much of a
halloween cartoon for my personal tastes (perhaps with a little conversion work he'd be perfect) but he could slot into someones
1990s Night Goblin army with very little problem.
Then the price, £4 for a 54mm Bob Olley / Gary Chalk Ogre? can't be bad!
They can be found at:
SHQ / Kennngton Miniatures Shop
Urucks!
 |
| Kennington HO 3 Hill Orc Warriors (40mm base) |
HO 3 Hill Orc Warriors
£4 (2 figure pack) from
Kennington Miniatures.
The Uruck Warriors are quite chunky for Orcs. Perhaps smaller Ogres,
or even giant Giaks - much of the costume design is quite similar, and
these could make great extensions to the
Citadel Lone Wolf range.
Both Urucks are of the ape-like (dare I say Kevin Adams-esque?)
countenance, that fits nicely with mid-late 80s Citadel Orcs.
The
example of 2(a) has some minor casting problems, there's a bit of a
mould line and some flashing around the head and raised arm - nothing
that the average miniatures enthusiast isn't used to dealing with. The
detail on the front of the torso does seem a little soft, but in
comparison with early 80s pre-slotta miniatures it's nothing too
drastic. That aside, there are some amazing details - there is a little
goblin face carved into the pommel of his sheathed sword, and the Urucks
head is crisp and full of character. He's wearing something akin to
spiked american football armour a-la Mad Max - dungeonpunk!
3(b) has chainmail with
some hanging plates, and a nice fur trimmed helmet - the open armed pose
is a little odd, but given how the arm connects to the chain mail top
makes it ripe for cutting of and repositioning - making ranks of differently posed troops
quite easy.
Below I set out a table trying to
cross-reference the original Fantasy Warlord range and the current
Kennington pack names, mostly by reference to the photos on
The Lost Minis Wiki and the
MBM site.
| Folio Works | Kennington |
| FW5/2 Uruck Command (winged helmet) | HO 1 Hill Orc Command (winged helmet) |
| FW5/2 Uruck Command (shaman) | HO 2 Hill Orc Shaman and Bodyguard (shaman) |
| FW5/3 Uruck Warriors 1 (?) | HO 2 Hill Orc Shaman and Bodyguard (bodyguard) |
| FW5/3 Uruck Warriors 1 (?) | HO 4 Hill Orc Warriors II (?) |
| FW5/4 Uruck Warriors 2 (long mail coat) | HO 4 Hill Orc Warriors II (Long Mail Coat) |
| FW5/4 Uruck Warriors 2 (spiked plain helm) | HO 3 Hill Orc Warriors I (spiked plain helm) |
| FW5/5 Uruck Warriors 3 (plumed helm) | HO 1 Hill Orc Command (plumed helm) |
| FW5/5 Uruck Warriors 3 (spiked furry helm) | HO 3 Hill Orc Warriors I (spiked furry helm) |
| FW5/6 Uruck Warriors 4 (round furry helm) | HO 5 Hill Orc Warriors III (round furry helm) |
| FW5/6 Uruck Warriors 4 (round helm w. mail) | HO 5 Hill Orc Warriors III (round helm w. mail) |
Overall it's a nice range with enough variants to keep things interesting!
The
miniatures themselves have a chequered history - when Folio Works
ceased trading (the company dissolved in 1993), the moulds were bought
by Mayhem Miniatures before they were purchased by Kennington in 2000. However,
these miniatures didn't appear in
Red Giant - Folio Works
in-house magazine nor in the core
Fantasy Warlord rulebook itself, so defining the
provenance of these 20 year old models has relied a lot on the
comparison with miniatures in collectors hands (and the photos they've
put of them on the internet), text catalogues (notably
The Games Quaterly Catalogue Nov. 1991 the relevant parts of which were scanned and uploaded by
Deckarudo
to the
Fantasy Warlord Yahoo Group)
As far as I can see
the other miniatures in the Kennington Fantasy Range originated in
other lines and are not related to Folio Works or the Fantasy Warlord
miniatures, and don't look much like Bob Olley sculpts. Having said
that, there are several items in the resin scenery whose names match,
and names in the Scifi that match the High Command Folio Works scifi
range.
The rulebook itself:
Fantasy Warlord can be gotten 2nd Hand at Amazon prices start around £2.50, and it really deserves a post of its own...
For me the winning combination of Bob Olleys and Gary Chalks talents that really
make these old figures stand out.
They can be found at:
SHQ / Kennngton Miniatures Shop
