80's Citadel LoTR / D&D Diorama

Throne by Stuart Parkinson

From White Dwarf 69.... isn't it amazing? It's the Cleric from the BDD1 D&D Adventurers Starter Pack  (the version with the Crucifix, not the Ankh) turning a skeleton and an I dunno what - (possibly an Aly Morrisson Hobgoblin?) in front of the insane edifice of gibbering eyeball topped weirdness that is the mighty ME61 Sauron - The Dark Lord. Behold the baleful eye watches! Such stuff dreams and pulp fantasy covers are made of...

 Who wouldn't want to play a D&D Module with that cover?
Jack Gaughan (1965) | via

...specifically this one!

OK I'm stretching the link a bit, the lighting effects aren't quite so dramatic, but come on, there are some minor colour and composition coincidences aren't there? No. Just me then.  Jack Gaughan's work on the copyright infringing first US editions of LoTR for Ace Books make me wish that Hanna-Barbera had made a cartoon of Lord of the Rings around 1966, a la Herculoids or Mightor.  Hmm.. S03 E08: The Giant Cyclops Ghost of Mordor. S03 E12: Beyond the Cyclops Throne.

Lord of the Rings Miniatures from White Dwarf 81 (September 1986)

Gandalf and Sauron painted by none other than Colin Dixon. ME56 Sauron, in standard issue black, with a nice grey drybrushing and shiny palantir.  Also here is a potentially unreleased "Gandalf Greyheim", which the article says is forthcoming. As far as I can tell  this version of Gandalf didn't get a release as a ME range figure or a C11 Wizard. I believe this is the ME1 Gandalf , sold in a pack that included a Strider and a Frodo. Stuff of Legends doesn't list this, perhaps because it never appeared in a catalgue or advert. This also highlights the non-sequential numbering of the citadel Middle Earth range, as ME1 was ovviouslt released after ME56.

Dixon started off painting miniatures by winning the Chaos Battle Banner competition in the Second Citadel Compendium and ended up with a job painting miniatures for Citadel - then sculpting miniatures for years on end then leaving GW in 2002 and sculpting for Foundry.

This post marks a departure - gone are the days of Dever and Chalks Tabletop Heroes reviewing miniatures from Asgard to Grenadier, and in it's place, the citadel catalogue and painting guide that is 'Eavy Metal.

This is also the last post on this theme for a while - I forgot to scan the Balrog advert from WD87 (the box artwork re-used in Warhammer 3rd edition) and the Jes Goodwin Uruk Hai ad from WD100, so those will have to wait...

Lord of the Rings miniatures from White Dwarf 76 (July 1986)

  ME 44  Uruk-Hai - Orc Guards

Here he is again! It's the ME-44 Uruk-Hai guard- this time converted by Kevin "Goblinmaster" Adams from way back in July 1986, this is the exact same model that John Blanche took his green-stuff and Stanley knife to back in October 85. Coincidence? Possibly. Alternatively there might have been a number of reasons to show various conversions - to show the adaptability of the range to non Tolkienites - a good Orc mini is a good Orc mini.

And this Uruk is especially exotic - Kev has trimmed down the sword for less of a scimitar look and given the Uruk a wicked two-tiered horned helmet. and shoulder spike. Something of a baroque candelabra or insectoid carapace about it. And added a hobbit-skull and some vegetation to the base, in fact a lot of Kevs bases are awe-inspiring, with tiny  mushrooms and ferns. Ov course Khaos Orkz needz mor skullz!

It should be noted that Kev has done the decent thing and painted his orc Tolkien Orc Brown, not Games Workshop Orc Green. Well done Kev!

Lord of the Rings Miniatures from the Third Citadel Compendium (1985)

ME 55  Mouth of Sauron painted by Phil Lewis.

At its head there rode a tall and evil shape, mounted upon a black horse, if horse it was; for it was huge and hideous, and its face was a frightful mask, more like a skull than a living head, and in the sockets of its eyes and in its nostrils there burned a flame. The rider was robed all in black, and black was his lofty helm; yet this was no Ringwraith but a living man. The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dûr he was, and his name is remembered in no tale; for he himself had forgotten it, and he said: 'I am the Mouth of Sauron.' But it is told that he was a renegade, who came of the race of those that are named the Black Númenóreans; for they established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron's domination, and they worshipped him, being enamoured of evil knowledge. And he entered the service of the Dark Tower when it first rose again, and because of his cunning he grew ever higher in the Lord's favour; and he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron; and he was more cruel than any orc.

J.R.R. Tolkien - The Return of the King

Despite the liberties taken with the design of this model - the text states he was a "living man" not a wraith, and certainly not "Skeletor in quasi-oriental armour heavily decorated with eyes" - I really like this figure. As an undead general or a Necromantic undead warrior-priest, can't really get much better than this skull bearing armoured freak. Phil Lewis' paint job doesn't draw attention to the overly ornate nature of the armour - which is a kind of plate-mail, where every plate is embossed with the evil Eye of Sauron but does highlight the large chest-place eye device, giving him a somewhat iconic supervillain feel.

The scroll has sculpted writing, and this is one criticsm that the whole range falls down on, from the horse on the mounted Rohirrims banner, to Pippins tabard with the White Tree of Minas Tirith, all these decorative elements are sculpted on, giving them a bulky appearance and in my opinion are more difficult to paint than free-handing the devices on. Nontheless, the scroll is great, with loads of crinkly edges, and just seals him as a messenger, or a magic user.

Lord of the Rings Miniatures from White Dwarf 73 (January 1986)

ME-32  Noldor - Deep Elf, painted by Pete Prow, evidently as one of Finarfin's kindred as the Noldor were generally dark haired.

I'm not overly impressed with any of the elf designs in the 80's citadel Lord of the Rings line, and I generally like Elves. There is some Errol Flynn in Robin Hood or Richard Taylor in Ivanhoe vibe about the costume, but the whole thing just comes off as kind of bland.

Having said that, the big feather is odd, Tom Meier was championing the look back in the early 80's and still does it today with his fantastically sculpted Thunderbolt Mountain miniatures range, but it's not true to the source material. Eagles were the servants of Manwë and the Noldor were favoured by Aulë the Smith. Which begs the question - why is that pole-arm so poorly sculpted? These guys were master craftsmen, ornate arms, armour and detail would have made sense - so what do we get? big feather head-dresses.

Fellowship of the Ring Box Set Advert White Dwarf #72 December 1985

Fellowship of the Ring Box Set Advert

A classic John Blanche illustration of the Fellowship, on the edge of Hollin country, taking their first glimpse of the Misty Mountains.

The swift-flowing clouds lifted and melted away, and the sun came out, pale and bright. There came a cold clear dawn at the end of a long stumbling night-march. The travellers reached a low ridge crowned with ancient holly-trees whose grey-green trunks seemed to have been built out of the very stone of the hills. Their dark leaves shone and their berries glowed red in the light of the rising sun. 

J.R.R. Tolkien - Fellowship of the Rings

Credit goes to Blanche sticking to the text and incorporating many of these details into the environment, and restraining his dungeon-punk aesthetic a little. Most of the characters are costumed in a reasonable mix of Errol Flynn's Robin Hood and Hildebrandt-esque travelling clothes.

Incidentally the Hildebrandt brothers were portraying Gimi with a red beard way back in the 1970s.  The Fellowship image is one of the earlier pictures by Blanche portraying a Dwarf as being a red-head, the other appears the same year (1985) on the cover for the The Dwarf Lords of Legend box set, where Kimril Giantslayer has the trademark orange Mohawk of the Troll/Giant/Dragon-slayer Berserker class (this artwork was also reused for the Autumn 1985 Citadel Journal cover) . Whereas the 1984 Dwarf berserker "Juggo Joriksonn" drawn by Blanche for 2nd Edition of Warhammer  has very attractive bright blue hair. Whether the orange hair idea stemmed from the Tolkien influenced sources or not,  the red headed dwarf meme continues in GW products right up to today.

Games Workshop also got more mileage out of Blanches Fellowship image as the cover of Warlock  - The Fighting Fantasy Magazine #7 (Dec / Jan 1985)

This issue of Warlock includes an article "Fantasy in Miniature" written by non other than Rick Priestly which highlights Citadels Lord of the Rings range, accompanied by a small black and white photograph of a ME54 Easterling and the 3 ME Corsairs of Umbar. I'll be revisiting this article (and scouring my collection of Warlock Magazines for LoTR miniatures photos) in the not too distant future!

...and a slighlty belated addition - used as an illustration for an article on Middle Earth Role-Playing by Grahame Staplehurst in White Dwarf 79 (July, 1986):

Lord of the Rings minis from White Dwarf 70 (October 1985)

 ME-44  Uruk-Hai - Orc Guards

A little leg-repositioning, a little weapon removing, sticking a spear on the helm, a gurning goblin face shield and ta-da, gone are the Tolkienesque eye and sensible armour, and in it's place the mad raving Hieronymus Bosch-esque vision of none other than Citadel art supremo John Blanche.

In many ways this (is/was) a quintessential 80s Citadel miniature, cool "come get some" pose, huge shoulder-pads with spikes, boots with turn downs. Also I'm guessing the global population of orc miniatures outweighs the rest of fantasy-dom put together, so it's a popular choice. Later in the series we get to see this miniature converted by another classic Citadel staffer. There's something about making the miniature 'your own' and also Citadel saying 'it's not just for Tolkien fans' in showing off these conversions.

Lord of the Rings minis from White Dwarf 69 (September 1985)

ME 11: Gandalf the Wizard
Gandalf remains an archetypal wizard character and the miniature  has a life in both RPG and wargaming, so is a prime candidate for a Tabletop Heroes photoshoot. Here we have Gandalf the Sky-blue, painted by Stuart Parkinson with some wicked-cool drybrushing on his big bushy beard. It's a nice sculpt that captures a lot of Tolkiens descriptions - the bushy eyebrows, Glamdring at his side. The pose is reasonably neutral, he could be admonishing a fool of a Took, deciding which route to the nearest pub in the Shire, or about to fire lightning down on some Nazgûl, which makes it very useful for gaming.

Interestingly the Citadel sculptor has given Gandalf the pointy 80s shoulder-pads of magic, supported by the likes of the Emperor Ming and a whole range of Dark Elves and Chaos Sorcerers, and almost any wizard drawn by Tony Ackland. Slightly strange because pointy-shoulder-pads tend to signify evil, perhaps Gandalf has a dark-side we never quite uncovered.

Lord of the Rings minis from White Dwarf 68 (August 1985)

ME 13: Frodo the Hobbit

Just one photo from the Lord of the Rings minatures range this time. What's this then? Frodo on a pony. Never happened. Nice pony tho', obviously a Shire horse. Have we mentioned the 80's Citadel designers love of puns before? I think we have. Shire horse for a hobbit, get it? Oh how they must have gaffawed over their green stuff

But yeah, Frodo not once rode a pony. I suppose that's a problem with creating a formula, 3 figs 1 mounted, 1 standing, 1 mount, and then sticking to it, is that there are certain incongruities in the range. Damned useful for gaming tho' - especially as you can have a mounted and dismounted version of your general, commander, unit leader. or character. Unless you're playing a LoTR game of course, when you'll never ever need a Frodo on a pony.

The really nice brushwork (what is that - high wargaming standard? pro?) is by Lindsey le Doux Paton. The earthy tones of the halfling against the dark horse make a nice dramatic contrast. I'd be tempted to have done that horse "bay", and kept the colour scheme all neutrals. As black Shires are more expensive than bay ones, perhaps this signifies something about Frodos accumulated inheritance from Bilbo.

Lord of the Rings minis from White Dwarf 67 (July 1985)

ME 61: Sauron the Dark Lord

Sauron doesn't really appear in the Lord of the Rings, and we're certainly not given a description of him, so we get what is essentially a wraith on a giant ornately carved throne (there are naked figures entwined with entrails, like somehing out of Dante's Inferno), surmounted by the Eye of Sauron. As a diarama peice or dungeon furniture this is a very cool mini, but not really useful on the wargaming table. The back of the throne is a giant backbone with shoulder-blade bones, making it an impresive miniature 'in the round'. I quite like the uncredited paint-job here, the rust and blood colouring giving the whole thing a suitably hellish intestinal feel.

In this issue we were also treated to a small black and white collection of other miniatures from the Range photographed by Richard Harcourt (thanks Rich!). Top row: ME 34 Merry, ME 34 Bilbo, ME 34 Pippin, ME 82 Gollum, ME 34 Sam and ME 34 Frodo, with a ME-25 Ranger of Ithilien. The second row comprises ME 83 Tom Bombadil mounted on Fatty Lumpkin and Standing, ME75 Knight of Dol Amaroth (standing only), and a mounted/standing pair of ME 12 Aragorn: Strider the Ranger.

Lord of the Rings minis from White Dwarf 66 (June 1985)

First of a short and hopefully not too sporadic series of pieces highlighting the photos in White Dwarf relating to the 1980s Citadel Lord of the Rings Miniatures range.

ME 11: Gandalf on Shadowfax (P. Benson)
Nice choice of yellow accent colours, keeping the figure lively.

ME 23: Rohirrim on Mount (Peter Prowl)
This is the earlier of the two Rohirrim variants (a photo of the later variant can be seen here). However, the banner is somewhat different from that on the standard miniature, so this is either a minor conversion (which isn't noted in the article) or perhaps a painted prototype? The blazing sun device being modelled on the shield has always struck me as odd, as it was clearly Tolkiens poetic language rather than a description of the Rohirrims arms - however it gives this representation a certain quirk.

ME 73: Barrow Wights (Bill Sprint)
Speaking of quirks, why is wight lifting a dumb bell? "wight lifting"... groan... really - Games Workshops designers were full of puns in the old days (just look at the Slaan names), but I imagine its some kind of huge kingly sceptre, and the other two are just wight-ing around for him to drop it.  Sprints Diorama features a C11 Halfling (the one with dungarees and a knife and a bow) and a selection of treasure-chests. Not too sure about pink wights myself, but I suppose it's all-wight really. The smoothed stones are really impressive, a nice piece.

This is probably the largest presence of Lord of The Rings miniatures in the Tabletop Heroes column - published early on in the ranges release. It's a good mix of staple fantasy types - the wizard, the warrior, and the undead, appealing as much to the role-gamer and fantasy wargamer as the dyed in the wool Tolkien fan. Also in the same issue of White Dwarf is Grahame Staplehursts article-length review of ICE's Middle Earth Role Playing, and slightly more tangentially, the Fiend Factory features a mini-adventure set in Koss - the campaign world of the Dungeon Planner series (the Dungeon Planner series of floorplans are the same scale as those in GWs MERP Box. By god I'm geeking out today)

1980s Citadel Lord of the Rings / White Dwarf Index

During the 80s Citadel Miniatures obtained the license to produce Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit), Games Workshops house magazine White Dwarf featured many of the figures, either in standard advertising slots or in the regular miniatures column "Tabletop Heroes" by Joe Dever and Gary Chalk (of Lone Wolf fame). Here is a complete list of images from those magazines. Where known, the painters name is in brackets.

Outline Drawing (Advert) #64 April 1985
Gandalf on Shadowfax (P. Benson) #66 June 1985
Rohirrim on Mount (Peter Prowl) #66 June 1985
Barrow Wights (Bill Sprint) #66 June 1985
Sauron on throne #67 July 1985
Black and white photo #67 July 1985
Frodo on pony (Lindsey le Doux Paton) #68 August 1985
Gandalf (Stuart Parkinson) #69 September 1985
Orc (John Blanche) #70 October 1985
Fellowship of the Ring Box Set Advert #72 December 1985
Noldor Deep Elf (Pete Prow) #73 January 1986
Uruk-Hai (converted by Kevin Adams) #79 July 1986
Gandalf and Sauron (Colin Dixon) #81 September 1986
Balrog Box Set Ad #88 April 1987
Uruk Hai (Advert) #100 April 1988

Feel free to update any missing or incorrect details. I hope to update with scans or decent photos of the images as as soon as I get the White Dwarf magazines out of storage again.