Happy Deadcember Terrans, I hope you all had a good festive occasion as per your chosen proclivities! I know I did – way too much food, family visits, barely any arguments, and some solid hobby time! I’ve been batch-painting Orks for my Wolf Time project, but I also had time to wrap something up for Deadcember – an Old Hammer Nagash tribute. Now, most Grogards of a certain vintage will hear the word ‘Nagash’, and will think of this guy…
Yes, it’s the (in)famously gash Gary Morley sculpt of the arch-necromancer – widely considered one of the worst GW minis of all time. There is a strange story behind this mini – after all, Gary is no slouch when it comes to sculpting! Apparently, this was Gary’s first big multi-part mini for GW, and he was very much left to wing it… His original version had a zombie-like face, but the design team didn’t like it & sent it back to Gary for revision. Gary claims he then submitted the clownish skull face as a deliberately shite alternative, figuring that the tight production deadlines would make his original (and better) version the obvious choice. Much to his horror, the design team went with the big ol’ skull face, and this became the definitive version of Nagash right up until his reincarnation as the towering plastic tour de force that is all the rage these day. This presents something of a problem for a dedicated lead-head like me – how to have a version of Nagash that had that Old Hammer vibe while avoiding the Morley debacle! First world problems, eh?
Anyway, imagine my delight when the eminently talented Geoff (Oakbound Studios) showed me his own re-imagined OH version of ‘Gash across a beer-soaked table at the last BOYL… I jumped at the chance to grab one of the very few examples that he had cast in lead, and made a mental note to save it for Deadcember. Well, Deadcember is upon us, and so here he is – the Oakbound Not-Gash version of Nagash:
I embellished the original slightly with the addition of some spooky skulls whooshing around the place, but other than that, this mini is as intended. I’m sure you’ll agree that it is a huge improvement on the Morley original.
Anyway, that’s about it for today – I’ll be back in the new year with the last of the Wolf Time Orks before starting on the Space Marines needed for the campaign. I’ll also be fitting in the odd bit of fantasy as and when – my rather excellent Brother-in-Lead Ross got me a copy of Dragon Rampant for Christmas, and I’m really looking forward to giving it a whirl! Until then, I wish you all a Happy New Year!
Leadballoony - It's a lead thing 
Nice!! I have seen him before somewhere, and this is impressive conversion. Sculpt itself is not very beautiful, but this version is banging. Colorful, lovely painjob. Congratulations. As usual
Thanks mate – he was actually quite a challenge to paint! So much detail, and quite a heavy piece a well, so I needed to break up the sessions while stuff dried and my wrist recovered :-)
Very nice mate and a Happy New Year to you and yours. Looking forward to what you come up with in 2019. 😊
Thanks mate & likewise! :-)
Sounds like you had a great time. Happy New Year!
Cheers C&M, and to you :-)
Definitely a better model all round! All the best for 2019!
Sure is mate & same to you :-)
Gorgeous work Alex! Way to end(?) the minis year on a high note.
Cheers dude & yep, that’s me for 2018- nice to sign off with a god ;-)
Really nice work, and kudos on working in metal!
Thanks Mark, lead-or-dead baby ;-)
Wow. Jaw dropping. I had seen the greens at the Oldhammer forum, but not a painted model. It’s awesome beyond words. Congratulations!
And happy new year!!
Thanks Suber, it really is a lovely mini – tons of little details & loads of character. Happy New Year to you too dude :-)
You’ve done a very impressive job here. The freehand details on his tome really stand out to me. The sculpt is also sublime – a worthy companion piece (at last) to Mark Gibbons’ iconic illustration of the Undead Man himself. That hat is a bit overkill, but then it *was* the 1990’s.
Cheers dude, it’s certainly is an awesome sculpt – so close to Gibbons’ picture,(which I totally should’ve included in my post!), and it was a joy to paint. As for the hat?? Yeah… 90’s :-)
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The old sculpt isn’t that bad, it’s just the grinning skull but I think I’m still the only person in the world who still doesn’t mind it 😀
I’m quite fond of it myself tbh – it’s goofy as hell, but very ‘of its time’ :-)
Great stuff!
Happy New Years!
Cheers dude, and to you :-)
What a tremendous improvement! Nagash looks properly scary now.
Have a happy 2019, hopefully full of lead.
Cheers mate, and to you :-)
Amazing fig! The basing is great and I really dig the spooky skulls. Highly appropriate for the fig IMO. I remember getting the undead army book and *loving* the picture of Nagash…..I couldn’t believe the stepdown with the model. This story at least helps me understand how such a thing came to take place.
Cheers mate, glad you like him :-) It is an interesting story & tells us a lot about GW at that time I think!
Damn that’s a good model! Excellent work my friend and yes it’s a vast improvement on the original. Happy New year to you and hope to catch up soon.
Thanks dude – likewise :-)
Very nice work, mate!
Cheers dude
Excellent work, Alex! He’s quite close to the actual Nagash artwork in that old Undead army book, if memory serves.
On a related note, I am only slightly ashamed to admit that I own the original Nagash with the clownish skull face — it was actually the first big multi-part metal model I ever painted, and for a while, I really thought it was the bee’s knees ;)
Cheers mate, and no shame in that – it is what it is. Any chamce of you digging it out & sharing a pic?
Hm, I’m afraid not: I never took a proper picture when the paintjob was finished (20-ish years ago), and the partially painted parts of the model have been in my bitzbox ever since. The legs might see use for a 54mm Inquisitor conversion at some point, though ;)
Very nice indeed. Must confess I’m not a fan of either the original Nagash or the new one (an unpopular opinion I know!) but that nails it for me, very much Nagash of the Old World as he should have been. Great paintjob too (goes without saying really).
Cheers mate, glad you like him, he hits the sweet spot for me too… I’m lucky I managed to grab one! :-)
Good painting. I’m quite impressed by that new sculpt too – it’s identifiable as Nagash but could plausibly be ‘big zombie baddie’ if the copyright lawyers come a-knocking.
Cheers mate, it’s a cracking mini to paint :-)
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