Oldhammer Fun: My "Citadel Colour" Paints

My private little collection of Citadel Colour paints is all I need. Well, that and a few good brushes.

Warning: This is another frothy Oldhammer Blog post.

Like many miniatures fanatics, I have alot of unpainted miniatures in my closet. And since I've been so busy sculpting original miniatures lately, my painting habits have atrophied terribly. Once in a while, a game convention or an RPG campaign would fill me with the urge to paint some quick table-ready stuff. But lately I've not even been bothering to paint my own miniatures for my own webstore.

I know, I know.. For shame!

But I've recently been bitten by the Oldhammer painting bug once again! And for the first time it isn't really about acrylics. This time, I'm getting excited to use oil paints on my miniatures. (I'll save my discussion about my adventures in using oils, later. Perhaps in another blog post.) But this change might mean saying "Goodbye" to myprecious  Citadel Colour Pots.

Well, when I said "Citadel Colour Pots", I didn't really mean "Citadel Colour Pots." 

And when I said "Goodbye", it might not really be "Goodbye." 

Let me explain...

For decades, up until the early 80's, enamels were the default hobby paint.

In the Beginning.. 

Back in the mid 1980s, Games Workshop launched a line of acrylic paints targeted at a younger market than the older traditional model paint companies were accustomed to. And for those kids who were hungrily gobbling up everything Games Workshop was selling, from the boxed editions of game supplements, to the books and magazines, and the miniatures, those paints were an instant hit, and a big seller. And as the game company grew, so did their variety of paint colors and their popularity with the players. 

The Citadel Colour range was formulated and packaged for appeal to younger fantasy hobbyists.

But in the early 1990s, for whatever reasons, Games Workshop made the choice to switch to a different paint supplier (a French company), and many of us gamers were disappointed with the new product. 

A lineup of Citadel paint pots through the years. Pic by Nevelon posted to Dakkadakka forums.

Some of the colors seemed different, there was less paint in each pot, and those hard plastic lids failed to prevent the products from drying out! For the younger gamers of that decade, the change was tolerated, but for many who had grown up on the earlier version of Citadel Colour, the decrease in overall quality felt like a betrayal.

This nasty little f**ker was a f**king disaster. Pic by Belazikkal.

For my part, I felt so disappointed with those changes to Citadel Colour that I pretty much just gave up on buying any more for decades. But when I learned that the same old paint pots from the 1980s could still be bought via the internet, I immediately went to work to recreate my collection anew.

The Facts

So, for those who never knew about this stuff before, let's step back and trace the history in detail:

In 1985, Games Workshop began using HMG Paints Ltd. (Manchester) to supply their own brand of hobby paints. The original pots were round, soft plastic, with white vinyl lids, and had a generous internal volume of 20ml. 

By the early 1990s, HMG were directed to change their bottle to the 17ml hexagonal design (probably for efficient warehousing and shipping purposes). At that same time, I believe Mike McKay and other GW staff contributed to reevaluating some of the color formulas. 

In the late 1990s, GW made the choice to drop HMG for a French paint company who introduced the now notorious "Bolt Shell" paint pots, which were made of hard plastic, contained an even smaller liquid volume, and allowed their contents to dry out. Though matched to the previous HMG formulas, the new paints were also different in several regards. Since that time, the Citadel Colours paints continued to change, often times for the worse.

Meanwhile, HMG continued to provide paint products for other game companies, including one Gladiator Miniatures. 

From 1996, Gladiator Miniatures were selling a line of model paints that they called Cote d'Arms. Evidently, when Games Workshop ended their contract with HMG, the Coat d'Arms line of paints adopted those same abandoned Citadel Colour formulas (as well as the original pots they came in) for use in their Fantasy Paints line. The only difference was that the names of the paints had to be changed. 

In 2006, Gladiator Miniatures was acquired by Black Hat Miniatures, and to this day Black Hat Miniatures still sells the same Coat d'Arms paints, including the Fantasy range. 

And so the "Coat d'Arms" range, now sold by Black Hat Miniatures, contains the same popular colors we loved from 1985, and in the same 20ml pots too!

Last Note: Since I gathered up my precious collection so long ago, Warcolours has deliberately formulated their Nostalgia 88 range, which are also in these same pots, and deliberately formulated to emulate the old Citadel paints. The methods described below could be applied to that range as well. I've left a link to Warcolours' Nostalgia 88 page down at the bottom.

The brilliant Coat d'Arms Fantasy Colours range (Citadel Colours relabelled).

Why Coat d'Arms?

Now, one might resonably ask why I would want to use paints and colors that are over thirty years old. Particularly when the market is full of much more modern paint products like Vallejo, Army Painter, P3, and Secret Weapon.

For starters these pots are very generous. For less money than I'd spend on most other paints, I get much more. Modern Citadel pots contain a measly 12 fl oz. of paint, while the old pots that Coat d'Arms uses contain 20 fl oz. That's nearly double! Also, these pots have held up to the test of time, and have a proven track record of keeping their contents fresh for over 30 years, while many other pots are letting their contents dry out within just a few years after purchase. To this day, old gamers regularly marvel at rediscovering long forgotten pots among their belongings, and finding their contents as fresh as when first bought decades earlier.

And just as important, the paints themselves are rich and vibrant, with decent coverage and mixing properties that I'm already very well acquainted and comfortable with. They are easy and fun for me to use, and I even enjoy the way they smell. 

Most of all, I'll admit it, they fill me with a strong sense of nostalgia that connects me directly with my earliest years in the hobby.

As an Oldhammer gamer, when it comes down to it, my reminiscences of collecting those miniatures of yesteryear is evenly matched by my fond memories of buying and using those old paints. So for me, collecting and using Coat d'Arms paints is just like buying Asgard Miniatures from Viking Forge, or Feudal miniatures from Wargames Foundry.

Making New "Citadel Colour" Labels

And now that I've explained the history of the original Citadel Colours paints, and where they can be found today, I'll tell you what I did with mine. And yoooouuuuu will now learn just what a silly bugger I can be!

As soon as I learned about the Coat d'Arms range of paints, I was determined to acquire each of the colors from the original range. I sought out paint range compatibility charts online which helped me to match the names and product codes of Coat d'Arms paints with their original Citadel Colour names.  At the bottom of this blog post are the original links to the charts that I drew from. 

When my new paints arrived, before even opening them, I stripped the Coat d'Arms labels from the pots, and applied my own, homemade, 'faux' Citadel Colour labels with the 'corrected' names. At first, I focused on the Fantasy range, but I began to realize that several of the Military range were also involved, and noticed that some of the colors were not true to the originals. 

For example, the legendary Titillating Pink, as well as the brilliant Bilious Green, were not quite as bright as in the CdA range. I called up HMG by phone (from San Francisco to Manchester) to learn that the only way to replicate that color would be to mix in a percentage of black light glow pigment. So that's just what I did (See further below).

Soaking the CdA pots in soapy water to loosen the labels.

After removing the paper, I soak them some more.

To remove the residual glue, I used paper towels and Goo Gone.

Printing in color on full sheet Avery labels. Be sure to use a good laser printer though.

Cutting the labels out with a hobby knife was tedium, and did hurt my fingers towards the end.

My babies all fresh and unopenned! Ready for some Oldhammer painting fun.

Now I was warned to not bother with the Coat d'Arms inks and washes; that they were not the same. When replicating my inks, I learned from my colleagues that what most Citadel Miniatures staff used when painting for White Dwarf, Eavy Metal, Warhammer etc. in-house was actually Winsor Newton and Rotring brands. So I bought those and re bottled them as well. 

These"Citadel Inks" are really rebottled Winsor Newton. 

(Well, not the original Rotring Artist Color bottles from the 1980s. Those things are so rare, I just kept the original dropper bottles with their yellowed labels falling off.)

These OOP Rotring Artist Colors are so old the labels are dropping off.

The secret ingredient to Bilious Green and Titilating Pink is...

Then, in the following weeks, I began to buy additional colors from the Coat d'Arms range, as well as a few other unique colors from other ranges, and made up new GW-esque names for them. Doing that might make it harder for me to communicate with other painters about what colors I'm using, but it also makes my painting sessions just that much more fun!

Thinking up GW style names for paints can be just as fun as naming your painted miniatures.

But, after all that effort, I'm going to just give up on using these and move onto something new?

 Ha! Not likely. Though my babies might become a tad neglected, I know that if I keep them around.. even in a box.. for however many years.. they will always be there for me.

So that's MY flavor of Oldhammer crazy. What's yours? 

Printing Your Own Citadel Colour Labels

Now I will try to share my crazy with the world! Below are links and images you'd need to create your own "Oldhammer" style, Citadel Colour paint collection. I used Photoshop to create the label sheet, taking pains to replicate the fonts, the colors, and the curve to match the (taper) of the original pots. Here are some images of the pages for you to use, as well as links to a print quality PDF, and even an editable Photoshop file so that you could create your own custom color names.

Get the, print quality, color PDF here.

Get the Photoshop file for naming your own colors here.

Resources:

The "Archaeopainting" article posted on the Realm of Chaos blog back in 2012 is a definitive and indispensable introduction to this topic. http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/2012/09/retro-painting-and-modelling-or.html

Jeremiah Embs provides a very deep review of not just the Coat d'Arms colors, but several related products as well. This page is quite long and in depth. http://embscomputerart.com/miniatures-painting-a-fallen-citadel-rebuilt/

A rightious rant on the disasterous paint pots Citadel switched to in the mid 90's, by Belazikkal. https://www.deviantart.com/belazikkal/journal/A-rant-on-Citadel-paint-pots-366726070

This is the UK business which currently supplies and distributes the Coat d'Arms range; Black Hat Miniatures. https://www.blackhat.co.uk

If I were to try this all over again, I might have turned to the Nostalgia 88 range from Warcolours. Evidently it is a deliberate effort to replicate the same paints from that period, but I've not tested it for myself yet. https://www.warcolours.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=146

Just so we are clear, here is the link to HMG, the company that has always made these paints. https://www.hmgpaint.com

This is the current U.S.A. importer/distributor of the Coat d'Arms range; Scale Creep Miniatures. https://scalecreep.com

Doctor Fausts Painting Clinic features this simplified page which matches most of the Citadel Colour names with their CdA range counterparts. https://www.brookhursthobbies.com/paintingclinic/productreviews/cdaconversionchart.htm

This Paint Range Compatibility Chart at Dakka-Dakka includes many other products besides just CdA. http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint+Range+Compatibility+Chart

A separate source for buying the original style of paint pot (UK). https://www.theplasticbottlescompany.com/shop/product/paint-pot-20ml-polypropylene-natural

Another source for buying the original style of paint pot (UK). https://www.shcweb.co.uk/store/20ml-plastic-paint-pot-with-white-flip-top-lid.html

Another source for buying the original style of paint pot (Euro). http://www.warcolours.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=90

Wargames Foundry also gets their paints from HMG. Though the color shades and their 3-Color system are unique, the product is otherwise indistinguishable from the original Citadels of old. If i buy any from them, I have fun relabeling them with made up GW-esque names. https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/paint

Few know that most of what became Citadel Miniatures was in an earlier business called Asgard Miniatures. And few know that many of those early figures are still availalbe at Viking Forge Miniatures today. http://www.thevikingforge.net/25mm-asgard-fantasy.html

It's no great surprise that Bryan Ansell's old family business, Wargames Foundry, ended up in posession of many discontinued molds and master from the early days of Citadel. https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/ex-citadel-games-workshop-models

OLDHAMMER: Skirmish on Rynn's World!

 I think I owe Aiden and Curtis a beer.

Or maybe a new set of figures from my studio?

Or perhaps a tank? Or a robot? Or a robot tank? 

Original 1987 Rogue Trader Space Orks and Space Marines.

  This, my first blog post, is a retro-posting in more than one way. It's a fond reminicing of my experiences at the BOYL (Bring Out Your Lead) 2018, held at Wargames Foundry just up river from Newark on Trent. But it's also about the glee I had for finally running the classic Rogue Trader 40k scenario, "Skirmish on Rynn's World; The Battle of Jadeberry Hill". With mere months to go before the annual Oldhammer meet-up, I reached out to fellow gamers who I hardly knew offline. Aiden of Warfactory and Curtis of Ramshackle Games.

(Visit Warfactory  and Ramshackle Games ). 

  Aiden's enthusiasm for the project was infectious, and Curtis' put alot of energy into coordinating. Between the two of them and their experience with running past Oldhammer tables, I had reason to hope they could pull it off. Because I was flying over from San Francisco, all the custom scenery would need to be brought by Aiden and Curtis (Who lived just a few miles closer).

White Dwarf issue 94, the very next month after Rogue Trader is published.

 

  The Battle of Jadeberry Hill was a Holy Grail of Oldhammer in my eyes. Written by Rick Priestly and published in White Dwarf 94 (the very next month after the debut of 40k), it was the first battle scenario made for 40k, and was the start of many things to follow. It was a tidy setting, with unique plot points, and a suitably epic backdrop. And I could not understand why there was no sign of anyone having ever actually played it out. With help from the guys, I hoped to rectify that. Here are the pages to the original 1987 article.

   So I had the old 1987 miniatures coming together nicely, but the building of the table was a bit concerning. The centerpiece of the scene was Jadeberry Hill, and the entrance to the Underzoom that lead a highway beneath the Pakamak River to New Rynn City. The components also needed to be made in such a way that it could be transported to BOYL with little hassle. I set to work drawing up some propositions based upon the original map from the article, the size of the table being used, and the suggestions written by Rick. 

The original map from the article.

The grid breakdown.

Adjustments to spacing.

A proposition to expand the table for more players and tactics.

What ended up being the final layout.

A 3D representation of how the Underzoom could be cut out of foamcore panels.

  Could the guys make something like this? Would they make something like this? I remained hopeful as I finished up the Crimson Fist Space Marines and Space Orks we needed. Into my backpack, I stuffed two Chessex army boxes full of these guys, and boarded my plane.

My Crimson Fist Space Marines force was composed of all original metal figures from 1987 (The same year the scenario was published). Even the backpacks were metal. Note the hex bases used too. 

I didn't have much time for unique paintjobs, so I "assembly-lined" the Space Orks with a range of drabs and browns to contrast their Orky green flesh. Only a few highlight colors were used. These figures were also all original 1987 metals.

With little room to spare in my luggage, I packed my figures as tightly as possible into to old Chessex boxes.

  When the day arrived, Aiden not only came through with the hill, the highway, and the underzoom, he also supplied the trees for the Jadeberry orchard, several abandoned vehicles, craters, and a crashed ornithopter prop! 

  And even though I had originally offerred to help run the game, in the end I just played a third of the Space Orks, Aiden & his son ran the other two thirds, and it was Curtis who tirelessly ran the table for us. Jesper Moberg and Alex Jelly commanded the New Rynn City Guard's defense.

Curtis brought Aiden's scenery and set it up. This picture shows just how faithful Aiden was to the original scenario map.

The main difference the guys made was to add more ground on the Eastern edge.

The Highway was littered with abandoned vehicles.

Though I originally imagined glued flocking, they made efficent use of painted fleece to great effect.

The Space Ork deployment zone was along the entire Southern edge. Aiden's son ran the Ork right while he ran the center.

We all felt it was resonable to add sandbag defenses considering the humans anticipated the assault.

Rick Priestly suggested that the Northern edge (behind the hill) could represent the shore of the Pakamak River.

The downed Ornithopter made for effective cover, but was the last stop before a long stretch of exposed ground.

A structural lip above the Underzoom entrance served as an improvised defense position.

Behind the sandbaged position, Huron Grimm redies his New Rynn Guard for the onslaught!

We couldn't get many "jadeberries" onto the alien orchard trees. Maybe they had just been harvested before the invasion? 

My Space Orks advanced rapidly onto the Guard's right, looking to use the orchard as cover.

Rick's Space Ork reinforcement rules piled on, fortunately Aiden provided even more classic Space Ork figures.

The range between the Guard position and the cover of the Ornithopter was covered by the Guard's heavy weapons.

Space Orks stalling behind cover? A shameful display! I think this was Aiden's son being cautious.

Jesper's New Rynn Guard moved through the orchard and toasted my Space Orks trying to advance on the right.

Several Space Orks survived the flamethrower, but they soon were sent into a panic after their tactic had been foiled.

More Space Orks enter the battlefield, promisding to overwhelm the New Rynn Guard if they don't leave soon.

The Space Orks finally dash out from behind the Ornithopter, but Alex Jelley's Guard on the hill is ready for them....

Again with the flame throwers! So much for the first wave of Space Orks.

The Space Orks near the center move up through the cover of the abandoned vehicles.

Aiden pushes even more Space Orks accross the open ground.

Even MORE Space Ork reinforcements move in and take cover while under missile fire.

My second wave of Space Orks finally begin moving through the orchard....

But my Space Orks advance is again thwarted, as Jesper's Guard deliberately sets the orchard alight!

The New Rynn City Guard squads, still mostly intact, begin to move to fall back into the Underzoom.

But the Space Orks have brought a heavy weapon into range, and open fire!

Startled by the casualties sustained in the burning Orchard, my Space Orks decide to seek out an easier victory somewhere else off the Western edge.

A last minute showdown as Jesper and Alex try to fall back through the Underzoom in an orderly fashion.

And the Orks finally see an opportunity to open fire! How did this battle end? I can't remember! I think the humans escaped in time. But what really mattered to me was that the battle was finally played out properly. We did it!

  And so.. after two years since returning to San Francisco, I came accross these images in my archives, and the records of my back-and-forth with Aiden and Curtis over the details. And I read this forgotten line from Curtis, "I would be happy to build these items if needed but would need to ask for at least a token payment. Work is work!"

Did I give him that "token payment"? Did I even thank Aiden properly? I don't remember doing so..... Uh oh!  I might be in trouble when I return to BOYL in 2021.

If YOU were one of the other BOYL guests there, who came over and took pictures or videos of this battle as well, please send them over and I'll add them to the post. 

Cheers!

The attendees of BOYL 2018 at Wargames Foundry near Newark-on-Trent.