Collecting John Pickford: An era has come to an end

Just a short update to let you know that an era is coming to an end. Otherworld Miniatures (OW) is closing.

Back in November 2023, Richard Scott (Funder of Otherworld Miniatures) announced that he would be retiring in the summer of 2024. An era is now ending. 

WORDS OF GRATITUDE

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"For my, OW was the main reason for returning to this hobby of mine. It was with Otherworld I learned about the great talent of Mr. John Pickford (and others) and to be proud of retro-looking, old school miniatures, again.

To my eye, John's job with OW was the job that lifted him from 'just another miniature sculptor' till one of the absolute best fantasy hand sculpting sculptors (if not the best). The combination of Richard Scott's high ambitions and courage and John's enormous talent they have moved the limits of what can/and can not be done, miniature wise. 

So thank you, Richard! Thank you for all the magnificent and beautiful miniatures over the years. It has been such a great pleasure following the growing of Otherworld and to see, how you have evolved into one of the best miniature manufacturers. You've done such a great job for our hobby. You've done an excellent job and many of your miniatures have really made my life a lot happier. 

I'm wishing you all the best for your retirement."

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Collecting John Pickford: Perv, the dwarf beast handler

Yes, it's been to waaay to quite in here, I know and I do apologise :(
- but I shall spare you all the poor little excuses for not painting or bringing you news.

However, I shall try make up for it over the coming weeks, as I've got quite a few Pickford gems and news to show and share.

This one, today, is a special one - and probably the most exciting one of them, cause I guess most of you (just like me) probably didn't even know of it's existence.

But back in 2010, around the time where John did til Artisan Dwarf for the CCM-Yahoo-Community, one of the members commissioned John doing him a dwarf beast handler with two beasts.

I haven't noticed this being made nor has John told me about it. He do enlighten me about his earlier works, but its all based on "memory" and an old online email inbox - both are close to be put out of service, hi hi :)

But back in August, a good collector-friend of mine, Threadbare, sent me a link:

http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Pervs_Collection#.22Perv.22_Miniature_-_Sculpted_by_John_PoshGoblin_Pickford_-_Painted_by_atacam

I was all over the moon, because at the very end of this link a little gem is hidden - a "Perv" Miniature, sculpted by John "PoshGoblin" Pickford and painted by "Atacam".

Sculpted by John "PoshGoblin" Pickford ?? Those 5 words are sweet music in my ear :)

Collecting John Pickford: Pig-faced Orcs

Prior to the Sporks I showed you Friday, John did a small range of Fantasy Pig-faced Orcs. The range were sculpted during 2010 (I believe), but again unreleased til 2012 when Foundry published the God of Battle's rule set, written by Jake Thornton.
In GoB the Pig-faced Orcs are part of The Thousand Tribes. In here Thousand Tribes are described as a loose confederation of tribal people how share similar believes of animistic spirits.and ancestor worship. The Pig-faced Orcs seems rather useful as such.

The original range consisted of following 8 sets:

1. Orc Command (Chieftain, Champion, Shaman, Standard Bearer, Musician)
2. Orc Warriors armed with a mixture of crude hand weapons (5 models)
3. Orc Warriors Slightly armoured, armed with a mixture of crude hand weapons (5 models)
4. Orc Warriors armed with a mixture of crude spears (5 models)
5. Orc Warriors Slightly armoured, armed with a mixture of crude spears(5 models)
6. Orc warriors with Crossbows and arrows (5 models)
7. Orc warriors with bows and arrows (5 models)
8. Orc Warrior characters (5 models - incl. Black Smith, forge, helper)

However, the initial release only included these 4 set - here (all available from Casting Room Miniatures):

TT402 - Pig Faced Orcs

TT403 - Pig Faced Orcs Command

TT407 - Pig Faced Orcs

TT408 - Pig Faced Orc Archers

But with the help of Maria Ansell and David Wood I can now "reveal" the missing codes from this wonderful range:

TT401 Pig Faced Orc warriors with hand weapons

TT404 Pig Faced Orcs with Crossbows

TT405 Shaman and forge

TT406 Pig Faced Orcs (slightly armoured) with hand weapons

So lets open them and see what's inside, shall we?


Wargames Foundry: TT401 Pig Faced Orc warriors with hand weapons

Wargames Foundry: TT404 Pig Faced Orcs with Crossbows

Wargames Foundry: TT405 Shaman and forge

Wargames Foundry: TT406 Pig Faced Orcs (slightly armoured) with hand weapons

All new pig-faced orcs have been added to the Wikia - here: http://collectingjohnpickford.wikia.com/wiki/Wargames_Foundry_-_Pigfaced_Orcs

Collecting John Pickford: The Sporks (Unreleased Sci-fi Pig-faced Orks by Wargames Foundry)

Well, I said the next couple of updates would be about my Pickford BOYL-haul but to my dismay I've just realised, that I'd never shared my set of Pig Faced Sci-Fi Orks with you.

In 2012, when the Ansells took over the everyday management of Wargames Foundry again, John where about to finish a range of of Pig Faced Orks in Space with the working title "Sporks". The ranges consists of several sculpts and war gear items and got finished and delivered but stayed unreleased, unfortunately.

For a long time the only proof of their existence was this picture from Foundry:

But at BOYL 2015 people saw them and a few Oldhammers even picked up samples of these - and if you remember, I have (with kind permission of James Halloway (@Gonzo History: Gaming Edition)), shared these here on this very blog.

April 2017 I got approached by good friend Jamie L (@the OS Miniatures Company) who had purchased a set set of these unreleased Pickford Sci-Fi Orks of eBay. But as he didn't really had any plans for them, he offered me a chance of having them. One of those offers you can't refuse and a few days later 16 crisp Sporks landed on my desk. And how awesome they all looked

And now, they have all been photographed and documented on the Collecting John Pickford Wiki - but they deserve a blog-update here as well:

Wargames Foundry: Spork Command

Wargames Foundry: Sporks with pistols

Wargames Foundry: Sporks with assault weapons

Wargames Foundry: Sporks with heavy Weapons

Wargames Foundry: Spork Sergeant

Still a few more to be collected - like the weapons team on the original picture, the 5 jump-pack guys and the Dreadnought Axiom spotted at a visit at Foundry and then the beautiful Grotz standard bearer, I'v heard so much of, but never seen - but it's a start - a good start - and I'm very happy having all of these.

Only catch here really is, that I've committed myself painting them all up, but I can't come up with a colour scheme I like. So if you have any ideas feel free to comment and I'f you got any inspirational art or pictures please share.

Thank you

- clam

Collecting John Pickford: Here, There Be Dragons

For long, I thought the story of John Pickford doing a Dragon was nothing but a Myth. Much has been said about such a creature exists, but I'd never seen one piece of evidence - and even John had barely any recollection of a such. All he gave me was a few key words like "maybe there was, but its gone and wasn't really good" or "lost, broke apart during moulding" - you know, just like in most dragon tales - they are said to be there, but no one have ever really seen them.

So, you can probably imagine how surprised I was finding this pair of wings ....

Could that be the piece of evidence I have been waiting for...? A close examine showed clear signs of attempted moulding - and especially one of them had take quite some beating, but both showed clear signs of of heat and forced by pressure.

I was rather convinced that this here was the proof I'd been looking for. Here it was, the strongest argument for that there really had been a dragon. And just like any paleontologist I started laying out the puzzle pieces and building an image in my head, what the creature would have looked like.

But why bother? Cause, if I had just started emptying the hole box in the first place, I'd seen, that all answers would be in there :) Because there it was. Deep down the bottom, in a nice zip lock bag, a perfect master cast of the entire dragon body (and dragon rider) where to be found. 

And all metal pieces fits perfectly together - so with a little blu-tac I can proudly present: the for a long time thought lost, Orc King on Dragon by John Pickford :

And with the battered wings he looks like this:

The mystery is solved. Yes, there is indeed "a Dragon". And a magnificent one it is, too. A beautiful scaled dragon with a unique, squig-like, dragon head, a fantastic set of richly detailed and nicely textured wings and a magnificent Orc-king-rider, true worthy of such a beast. The rider sits proud on his beast ready for leading his army and he is spiced up with classic (and characteristic) Pickford facial details sculpted on the saddle, armour and shield.

So the true history is, that John did make a Dragon and Wargames Foundry even tried having it moulded and cast up. Moulding of the dragon body and rider had been successful, but the wings proved difficult and took quite some damage - and no successful cast was ever made. A master cast and the damaged wings was returned to John - probably with the intention of being re-sculpted, but it never happened and the dragon ended up in a box, well hidden. But its been found, and will now be the "Crown Jewel" in my Pickford collection. I will try and do a repair on those wings and then eventually paint the beast. If I dare .....! ;-)

The Dragon has been added to the Odds and Ends section of the Wiki as well.