Snake Cults and Pig Men

It's been a busy ol' month so far. I have managed to squeeze in a bit of painting time. Not as much as I would have liked, but isn't that always the way?

Anyway, first up we have a classic Jes Goodwin beastman sculpt from the 1988 Realm of Chaos range. I was very pleased with how he came out.

This is from an era where Citadel stopped naming their minis in the catalogue, so he is uninspiringly identified as '022004'. The miniature did. however, feature as a Combat Card (GW's 1992 take on Top Trumps) where he is called 'Gregor-Kurt the Twin'.

Now, it has been said, somewhat unkindly, that the snake-arm mutation looks a wee bit like a sock puppet. To this I say, well maybe it is! Maybe Gregor-Kurt is a worshiper of the Warhammer equivalent of Glycon? 

In our world, the cult of the snake god Glycon was founded in the mid-2nd century CE by Alexander of Abonoteichos. Glycon was a large snake with human features and hair on his head, who would whisper prophesies to Alexander in a human voice. Alexander claimed he had discovered  Glycon in Macedonia, brought the snake god back to his home town in Paphlagonia, built a temple and set himself up as a mystical healer and Glycon's oracle. Initially Alexander and Glycon specialized in fertility treatments (allegedly Alexander was quite hands on), but it was when the Antonine plague ripped through the Roman Empire that the cult really got going. Alexander claimed that Glycon had whispered to him a charm that would, for a fee, protect his followers against the plague. In the midst of a pandemic, Glycon's magical protection proved incredibly popular.

Late-2nd century statue of Glycon from Constanta, Romania

The cult spread rapidly. Cult inscriptions have been recorded as far apart as Antioch in the south and Londinium in the north. Emperor Marcus Aurelius even asked Glycon to foretell the outcome of his war against the Germanic tribes north of the Danube. Someone who was having none of this, though, was the satirist and realist Lucian of Samosata. His treatise Alexander the False Prophet doesn't pull any punches. Lucian called out Alexander as a fraud and a grifter, citing frequent examples, and exposed Glycon as an elaborate sock puppet hoax. 

The cult has been revived in modern times by comics legend Alan Moore, who says he worships Glycon as he's unlikely to start believing 'a glove puppet created the universe or anything dangerous like that'.

So, what would a snake cult look like in the Warhammer world? I think we all know exactly what it would look like.

Rexor and Thorgrim from Conan the Barbarian (1982)

I've also made a start on some command models. This musician is from the first Heavy Metal Hordes Kickstarter from last year, sculpted by Aaron Howdie.

He's a pleasingly chunky fellow. He probably scales better with the 4th ed. beastmen rather than their '80s brethren, but the aesthetic is Oldhammer through and through. For those interested in a comparison, here we have (from left to right): Broo (1983), C27 (1985), CH4 (1987), Broo (1983), 3000/6 (1994), HMH (2025).

While I've struggled to find time to paint, I seem to have found plenty of time to buy stuff! I've added enough beastmen to the lead pile to keep me going for a good while. And even though I have PDF versions, I finally weakened and rebought WFB 3rd ed. and Warhammer Armies (I blame Mike from the Warm Ale and Mud blog for this). It's been a particular joy to have a physical copy of Armies again. I loved this book as a kid and it still hits the spot. The previous owner has also carefully inserted the errata from White Dwarf, which is very helpful.

Cheers

More March Muties

 Despite being insanely busy at the mo', I still managed to hit my goal of finishing off a few more Oldhammer Citadel beastmen before the end of the month.

Age before beauty and all that: I've finally got around to basing the Fiend Factory FF68 Goat-headed Ogre (1982).

The next two are from the C27 Chaos Beastmen range sculpted by Trish Carden back in 1985. I was particularly pleased to pick up 'Kiss of Death' late last year and hope I've done him justice.

While there are a load of ram-headed beastmen out there, 'Axe Wielder' is probably the first lamb-man I've come across.

Finally, this is 'Merd', a CH4 Chaos Beastman from 1987. 

He needed a shield so I raided the bitzbox and grabbed him an uruk shield from Ragnarok Miniatures. 

All-in-all, I don't think March has been too shabby for painting beast-people. 

Hopefully more soon.

March Muties

Kicking off March with a batch of Oldhammer broo and beastmen.

I also daubed a few of their buddies in fits and starts over the winter.

From left to right we have: 

CH4 'Braksh'(1987), blister pack RuneQuest Broo (1983), Box 4 (v2) 'Broo' - these are the ones with the swappable heads (1983), Box 3 (v2) 'Attack of the Broo' (1983), Box 4 (v2) 'Broo' (1983), C27 'Cloven Hoof'' (1985), Box 4a 'The Broo!' (1983), blister pack Broo (1983). Phew!

One reason Citadel were able to pump out so many broo in a relatively short time was the canny reuse of body sculpts with new heads (and in some cases reused heads with new bodies). This particular body was used again (with modifications) for Cloven Hoof from the C27 Chaos Beastmen range. 

That takes me up to 20 refurbished '80s broo/beastmen. I couldn't resist taking a progress photo of the herd so far.

Having ranked them up, one thing that occurred to me was the basing looked a little off. I think the mossy tufts looked OK individually, but I'm not sure I like it en masse. I think I'm going to pause basing anymore beastpeople until I've investigated some alternatives. Which means this poor chap will have to wait a while longer. He's a Fiend Factory FF68 Goat-headed Ogre (1982). He may well be the OG beast-guy!

There's plenty more odd-bods in the painting queue (I've got another 20-or-so reeking of Dettol and ready to go). If I can colour in another 4-5 this month I will be well chuffed.

Cheers

Beowulf & Wiglaf

 

Here's a few more 18mm Wiglaf Miniatures Saxon and Vendel culture chaps. The aim was to finish off my remaining Saxon/Vendel miniatures from this range before jumping tracks and hitting some Oldhammer.

First up are Beowulf and Wiglaf (or possibly Wiglaf and Beowulf - I'm not quite sure who's who) from the PEN16 Legends and Luminaries pack. I'll be honest, I rushed them a little bit, but at 18mm they'll look just fine on the gaming table.

Accompanying them are a right bunch of Geats, ready to bravely run away at the merest whiff of a dragon!

I'm chuffed to have completed a playable army! The rest of the lads can be viewed over in the Saxons gallery.  I'll hopefully return to this project later this year and make a start on the Welsh.

Saxons gallery

Last updated 24 Feb 2026

Command

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

Gesiðas

15mm Forged in Battle

15mm Forged in Battle

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

Geoguð and Duguð

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures (Vendel culture warriors)

Skirmishers

18mm Wiglaf Miniatures

Small Victories

Happy New Year folks. 

Over Xmas I managed to get the hobby cave's electrics back up and running. Hooray! But then, over New Year, I had a short stay in hospital and spent the next couple of weeks flat on my back tripping balls. Boo! All of which meant that I hadn't painted any toy soldiers for nearly two and a half months. Double Boo! I'm feeling much more my old self this week and decided to get back in the saddle. I wanted to start with an easy win. I remembered I had half-painted a couple of bases of 18mm Saxons nearly a year ago so now seemed like a good time to finish them off. 

These are from the superb Wiglaf Miniatures range, sculpted by the legendary Mark Copplestone. The bases are a mix of PEN03 Anglo-Saxon Unarmoured Warriors and PEN08 Anglo-Saxon Princes and Warriors. These are mercifully easy to paint, which was very welcome while I tried to remember which end of the paint brush to use.

As a bonus, this means I now have enough Wiglafs painted to field an entire army in glorious 18mm.

I also took this opportunity to magnetise all the bases from my Dark Ages project to date so that they can be transported without all the spears pinging off. This is another thing I've been meaning to do for an age, and another easy win.

I picked up some packs of the Wiglaf Welsh towards the end of last year and the Saxons have definitely wetted my appetite to paint more 18mm this year. Let's see how distracted I get.

I was also pleased to receive my copy of Brother, Why? from Hive Mind Games at the weekend. I'd ordered this for Xmas, but due to an issue with the factory HMG have only just received the finished product. They did offer a refund, but I really liked the concept for the game and I think it's important to support small indie games companies. I am pleased to report it was well worth the wait.

The game itself is really simple. You play as medieval monks who have been illuminating manuscripts and have maybe let their minds wander off. Each player draws A Very Serious Quote card (Biblical verses) and a Silly Lil Guy card, which are genuine 12th-14th century marginalia. You then take it in turns to try and justify why, for example, a weasel-man shitting into a bowl is a suitable illustration for Corinthians 10:31. The worst answer from each round, as voted for by all the players, gets a strike. Three strikes and you get sent to the Abbot! As someone who loves marginalia, but who is more often than not completely baffled by it, this is right up my alley.

We played a family game of this on Sunday, before vespers, and it was an absolute hoot. I'm looking forward to playing this again after a few ales or a spot of mead. Recommended. 

Hopefully more soon. Toodles.

Hastings 960

I'm still trying to get the electrics in my workspace sorted, so there's been little to no progress on any new minis. Hasn't stopped me buying more though...

So, instead, here's a little love for an amazing project - Hastings 960 - which is aiming to recreate the Battle of Hastings at 1-to-1 scale in glorious 18mm, for display games at various wargames shows next year. That's a whopping 8,400 warriors per side!

To achieve such insanely huge armies they're using Peter's Paperboys. Even then, that's still a massive amount of work, so the team are asking for help with producing element bases for the game. If you sign up they'll post you enough paper minis for the number of bases you've committed to do and all contributors will be credited on a fully illustrated rolling banner that accompanies the game at shows.

Bases are around 300 minis each. I'm not sure I will be able to commit to this myself. I would like to, but suspect I'll be too busy (2026 is looking full-on). I am definitely thinking about it, though. Anyway, if you want to know more then please follow the links above.

I suspect that's that for the Evil Lead for 2026. Much love to everyone who's interacted with my ramblings over the last year. It's always appreciated. Catch you on the flipside.