Armies of Fantasy Warriors

So, it all started with me seeing an ad in the rpg magazine Sinkadus, or so I thought. I have a memory of an ad in which the front cover of the box is in the middle and is flanked by an orc spearman and a dwarf crossbowman. Therefore, I set out to find the ad in my old Sinkadus magazines. Turns out there is no such ad. There are only two ads that entirely consist of text descriptions of the game before and after its release in Sweden. However, in Sinkadus 32 (Okt 1991) I found a miniature painting article with a dwarf crossbowman in it. This might have been the article that sparked my interest in Fantasy Warriors.

On the same page there is an ad for an upcoming miniature release of Mutant 2089 miniatures. This is the only mentioning of these miniatures and nothing would come of them as far as I know. I’ve only been able to identify the guy with a long coat and blue skin. He (3005a) is from the Cyberpunk miniatures range that was licensed to R. Talsorian Games and their Cyberpunk 2020. From the description of the upcoming miniatures, including guitar wielding and suitcase carrying characters, I suspect that the Future Warriors range might also have been a potential source. The agreement between Grenadier and Adventure Games ended some time later. In Sinkadus 35 (April 1992) it was announced that Heartbreaker was the new miniature supplier for Adventure Games and Mutant Chronicles was slowly rising on the horizon. Adventure Games would also change to Target Games.

The painting article of Fantasy Warriors is a basic description of batch painting tips. Paint 5-10 models at a time, focus on contrasting colors, don’t mind details like eyes (unless painting red orc eyes) and varnish the miniature to avoid paint chipping off. The probably weirdest tip is (my translation): “If you don’t have the energy to put grass on all the bases then you can paint them green or black instead. Black contrasts very good against the miniature”. I think I’ll just stick to my grass basing.

Inspiration wise for my dwarves there is not much to go on, except a light brown and the red lining along the chainmail. I wasn’t imagining my dwarves to have red as a main color. However, I do want the presentation of Fantasy Warriors in Sinkadus to somehow influence my hobby project. Enter my narrative from Dragons and Demons world of Ereb Altor.

The dwarves of Ereb Altor can be found all over the continent of Ereb. They have a major settlement in the eastern Aidne mountains which is from where my army will come. The largest dwarven holds can be found in the Grynner mountains that lie further to the east. Due to the increase of orcish raids the Aidne mountain dwarves have hired a company of crossbowmen, the Iron Bolts, from the Grynner mountains and the dwarven kingdom of Tarat-Khon. The Iron Bolts are renowned all around the Copper Sea for their accuracy and sturdiness in the face of the enemy, made famous after the siege of Bedorum in Hynsolge. The chainmail of the Iron Bolts is lined red signifying the blood of their felled foes.

Since I have more than the 17 crossbowmen dwarves of the Fantasy Warriors box, I will make an extra unit that will be the Iron Bolts. They will be painted as close to the painting article in Sinkadus as a homage to the inspiration that started this project. However, they won’t have black bases.