If you look at his more recent work, he's done some fantastic 18mm dwarfs, goblins and whatnots for Splintered Lights Miniatures. It's not Citadel, but it's as close as one can get. Have a look at Mega Miniatures for more of the same. The dwarfs are individually hit and miss. The black orcs are mostly a bloody mess, I don't like them at all. His beastmen are great, but quite rank and file. I know Kev Adams is supposed to be the goblin master, and when I think about gobbos it's the smirking Adams faces I think of - but next to each other, I always prefer Olley's gobs. The goblins are where the real nuggets are to be found. Not his best work, but a giant step up from his adventures with Essex. Bob has a tendency to sculpt bone as thick as a grown man's arm. Regarding your analysis, I think you're spot on about the skeletons. I even have a fully assembled warband of various chaotics of different manufactures, all sculpted by Olley. I have plenty of Olley, he's one of my favourite sculptors for some reason even I myself can not fathom. The evil crimson eyes are a nice touch too, certainly worth emulating. The bone is certainly interesting but there are so many ways to paint them. I prefer my undead to clothed in drab browns, blacks and greys. But there are too many bright reds for my taste. I probably take a couple of the Grim Reapers and definitely the standard bearer, but that's it. I much prefer the standard Citadel metals and will always favour the good old plastic Skeleton Horde figure or the Nightmare Legion for my choice of skeletal troops. I am not too keen on this set, so I'd probably pass. More wings and horns that are distinctly Olley.
![iron claw game iron claw game](https://fischdeal.de/media/9637aacb5b3c5269.jpg)
There is a fair about of dark comedy about some of the early Citadel skellies, as those of you will know if you own the lovely skelly who is holding up his own skull, and the later plastic and metal examples are rather, souless, but that, perhaps, was the point.
![iron claw game iron claw game](https://hanoicomputercdn.com/media/product/53102_chuot_corsair_iron_claw_rgb_3.jpg)
However, I feel these skeletons to be rather more 'daemonic' looking than the standard Citadel sculpts. Again, the miniatures have that gnarled, swarthy look (as gnarly and swarthy as a skeleton can be I suppose) that is typical of the Iron Claw range. As the quote from Solegends tells us, these were the first Iron Claw releases. I'm going to steal the brown and yellow cheque design from the Kislevite looking chap on the bottom right for a future model. Lots of bright, 80s blues and oranges but lots of depth too, most likely created through subtle use of inks. They look too thick for my taste and tend to lack a flat, paintable surface to do skull or ugly face designs on.Īs for painting quality of the models on show I'd say they had been handled nicely. One thing I don't like about the set are the shields.
![iron claw game iron claw game](https://www.heavenlyswords.com/images/D/Iron_Reaver_Claw_MC1026.jpg)
The piggy back pair would make a fantastic unit champion or leader and you could invent some suitably amusing rules for them.
#Iron claw game series
There's 13 in the series (including two standards) so a little 12 piece unit would be possible. I certainly would be interested in collecting this little set. Perhaps that is what they mean by Gothic? Looking at them, they make me think of a Victorian performance of 'Ride of the Valkyries' performed by midgets. There is a strong nordic sense about many of these sculpts as well as a Russian feel, especially the last model (bottom right) though the miniature on the opposite left looks positively arabian. Quite unique are they not wings, horns and turbans that are rather distinctive. The first thing that strikes me about them are the helmets. I am not quite sure what a Gothic Dwarf may be but these models are certainly original.