BROADSWORD MINIATURES

Wednesday 7 August 2013

RUSS NICHOLSON AND THE FIEND FOLIO

Back in the 1980's the wonderful art of Russ Nicholson featured heavily in White Dwarf, Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (what fun they were) and The Fiend Folio. Following a recent post on Russ' blog I thought I would dig out a few figures that seem to have been based on his work (he confirmed my comment that he remembers Citadel sending him some samples).

First up, one of my favourite figures produced by Citadel in the good old days The Dark Creeper (sold as a Gnome assassin in the Fiend Factory range). What a great sneaky pose

The Skeleton warrior is in a different pose, but wearing exactly the same armour tunic and headband


 The Styx Devil (marketed as a Satanic angel). I remember this was produced way before the Fiend Folio was published,

A quick flick through the Fiend Folio and I can't find any more directly relating to Russ' art (except the Grell perhaps?). 

8 comments:

  1. Nice bit of research there - top job!

    Might be worth looking through the WD issues that had the Fiend Factory articles in as well, as some figures might have got made from those that didn't make the final cut of the book?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Zhu, I suprised myself finding time to do it. Amazingly I managed to lay my hands on the figures straight away having sorted through a lot recently. The WD's are a different matter and currently reside in the far reaches of the attic eaves. I think a lot of the Fiend Factory monsters that did get into the Folio were redrawn (the assassin bug for instance).

      Delete
  2. Love the book, now I love these minis too. To me the dark creeper is everything I,d want in a fantasy miniature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I loved the Fiend Folio when it was released, but it was slated by a lot of D and D players. Monster Manual 2 however really was bad (and still is). Great figure isn't he, with Russ Nicholson's trademark 'wrappings'. I have 3 so far but could do with a few more.

      Delete
    2. You may well have some competition for that miniature now though. If you haven't already you should have a look at out of the pit for Fighting Fantasy, a similar book with a similar feel. I agree with MM2 most disappointed when I finally got my copy.

      Delete
  3. "Satanic Angel" was the original title of the Styx in the White Dwarf Fiend factory series, which the Fiend Folio largely drew from. TSR for somewhat obvious reasons changed the name.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Not familiar with those minis but I'd like to be.

    I do love the artwork to and Russ Nicholson is a favourite, mainly because of Fighting Fantasy. Have you seen his blog before?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I think his art reminds me more of the 80's than John Blanches. There was a mail order troll or similar which Russ did the illustrations for and then Citadel produced a figure for it, but I can't remember his name. Shame GW treated Mr. Nicholson so shabbily.

      Delete