Sunday 4 May 2014

Iron Claw Goblins (part three).

This is the third and final part of my look at the Iron Claw Goblin range designed by Bob Olley.

 Apart from the Iron Claw Goblins I would like mention that as of this evening I have reached 35,445 views on my Blog! Thank you again to everyone who has viewed and continues to view my Blog.  :)

The last release of Iron Claw Goblins happened in White Dwarf #106, in October 1988. It consisted of  32 Goblins, meaning that from July 1988 to January 1989 Iron Claw released 90 Goblins, one Catapult with three crew, and a Chariot with two crew! Personally, I think that is an outstanding achievement, especially considering that Bob Olley and CItadel/Iron Claw were producing Iron Claw Squats, Black Orcs, Space Pirates during 1988 too, and after producing most of the rest range in 1987.

These Goblins are the same style of sculpting and basic model types as the other two releases, which, along with the small time frame, suggests Bob Olley sculpted them as an ongoing project. In this release there are even more Goblin fanatics, and an awesome standard bearer. I have all but three of this release, missing numbers 06, 21, and 31 at the moment.

Enjoy :)

 Release page from White Dwarf #106, October 1988 (page 78). 
 The Goblins on the magazine. 
 Goblin numbers 1 and 2. 
 Goblin number 1 is one of three standard bearers in the range, and personally I think not only the best in the Iron Claw range, but detail wise one of the best from Games Workshop during this era. The head is highly detailed and looks like a horned Goblin. I painted it up to suggest the look of a 'Green Man' as that is what it reminded me of. 
Not to be overlooked, Goblin 2 is a great looking dynamic Goblin in a conical helmet with polearm.
 Close up of ther front of the head. 
Note the two little heads on the crossbeam.
 Rear view of the head revealing... another head!
I like the way the front head is stern, the rear one happy.
 Goblins 3 and 4, both wielding double handed axes, with Goblin 3 with a shield on his back, and also note the really good detail of the rope on his axe. 
 Goblins 5 and 7. 
Goblin 5 is a lot more heavily armoured with a great natural pose that suggests he is holding his double handed mace with intent of use. 
The archer, number 7, is another great example of an Iron Claw Goblin shooting his bow.
 Goblin 8 and 9, archer with a taller bow, and spearman also with a short sword. He has a characterful Goblin faced belt buckle too, reminicent of other Goblins in the last two releases.
  10 and 11, a pair of Goblin fanatics. 
They both seem to have similar faces, although 10 has an eye patch adding to his moodyness.
 Goblins 12 and 13.
Number 12 has a cutless with fancy basket hilt and concial helmet. I thought he looked a bit like a sword and buckler Goblin, so gave him a brighter paint scheme.
Goblin 13 has a hammer and a broad bladed spear. 
 Close up of the Goblin headed basket hilt.
 Goblin 14 and 15, another archer and a halberdier in a fancy helmet.
 16 and 17, an archer with larger bow, and detailed shoes, and 17, a swordsman.
Goblin 18. 
This is a lovely detailed Goblin wearing heavy armour and concial helmet, and of course armed with a double handed axe. The right shoulder pad armour is a great detail...
 ... Bob Olley sculpted it in the shape of a face of a Goblin.
 19 and 20, swordsmen. Again a lovely concial helmet. 
The shield is from Harlequin Miniatures.
 Side and rear views.
 22 and 23, armoured spearman and left handed axeman with lots of teeth.
The spearman looks quite happy, it must be because of the great looking scale armour he's wearing.
 Number 24, a Goblin fanatic, with a hole in his shoe,  who seems to be being strangling himself with his ball and chain.
Number 25 is a Goblin with hammer and pointy helmet.
 Rear views, showing the chain wrapping itself around the poor unfortunate Goblin.
 Number 26, an armoured archer, and number 27, a Goblin with a pick.
 28 and 29. 
Both Goblins seem to also have similar faces, and pointy helmets. 
Goblin 28 has a slighty more battered helmet than other Iron Claw Goblins, as well as scale armour.
 Rear views.
 ..and finally, Goblins 30 and 32, a pair of Goblin archers. Both are great shooting poses, and 32 has a nice fancy belt buckle. Love the expressions on thier faces, and their long noses.
Rear view showing the quiver details.

And that's the Iron Claw Goblin range. 
90 excellent Goblin Infantry and two warmachines, with superb detailing which I think have real individualistic looking personality, and with sculpting touches that you don't often get in other ranges. I am a great fan of Kev Adams Goblins, but Bob Olleys Goblins provide an interesting alternative take on Goblins from this era.

I am unsure what next weeks blog update will be. I have'nt done a great deal of painting in the last few weeks due to work. I have put the Slann army on hold as I feel I want to paint some other projects rather than be locked into one vast project. I might photograph one of my armies I have'nt looked at yet, or focus on a new project and start a WIP update.

10 comments:

  1. Great to see the Bob sculps. So very personal style - love them!

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    1. Great, glad you liked the post.
      I don't think enough attention is paid to somr of Bob Olley's ranges, especially the Goblins. I love their individualistic detailing and how they differ in approach from Kev Adams Goblins.

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  2. A wonderful collection of Goblins, thanks for sharing Lee.

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    1. Thank you,
      as may be apparent I do like Goblins, and I thought that it would be good to take a closer look at a specific range from the 1980's. I don't always think the Bob Olley Goblins get a lot of close attention. So I thought it would be nice to show people who were not aware the lovely detailing and character of the miniatures, with a little bit of background and comment too.

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  3. Awesome work on these guys. Such a great paint job and excellent to see that you haven't gone with the greenskin look and really done the models justice.

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    1. Thank you, glad you like them.
      I wanted to go for an approach which combined Brian Frouds art and Goblins of the Film 'Labyrinth', Arthur Rackmans art, Alan Lee's art, and just a more general Fairytale/Folklore style.

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  4. Great to see an almost complete collection ๐Ÿ˜Š as a fellow collector of iron claw goblins (albeit nowhere near as successful as you! ๐Ÿ˜•) do you have any spares you'd be prepared to sell? Cheers ๐Ÿ˜

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    1. Thank you, glad you appreciate the Iron Claw Goblin range as well. They are lovely miniatures, with suprising amounts of detail.
      I do have a several duplicates, but I am currently sorting out army lists for the various armies, and so unsure if I have enough Goblins. If I do, I will let you know. :)

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    2. Thanks Lee

      They are great and so much more robust than other goblin minis. I agree, the detail is great on these guys and this helps to differentiate between some of the variants which are quite similar ๐Ÿ˜

      Love the blog by the way....hoping to see a lot more ☺

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