These were the last of the kobolds I still needed to paint up (although Scottsz’s two Heritage kobolds are now added to the pile…but they will be it!)
Here’s a group shot:
I’m not sure who at Grenadier sculpted these guts but I am pretty certain it was not Andy Chernak nor Ray Rubin. John Dennett? These guys came out in what I think of Grenadier’s silver age (the golden age being the Wizzards & Warriors/AD&D period, which lacked technical skill but made up for it in character, and the Silver Age is the post-AD&D period where the lines multiplied and improved technically, often replacing earlier Golden Age lines, and featuring a lot of Julie Guthrie’s work; the Iron Age would be the coming of Nick Lund and Tom Copplestone who did amazing sculpts but their respective styles were very different and very distinctive, to the point the models are more identifiable to me as Lund and Copplestone sculpts than as Grenadier).
The mounted kobold is on the “Old World Dragon” Grenadier also made without a rider, and I wish I’d bought one of those too; it’s a great model. The rider is a modified version of the kobold with a short scimitar; this is more obvious from the top and from the other side. Grenadier never mastered the art of re-using poses and parts like Citadel does but they did a lot more of it than other US figure companies back in the day. You’ll often see the same weapons, faces, etc. cropping up over and over. Anyway a kobold on top of a dragon is nothing to sneeze at!
I love the blue! Reminds me of my much beloved Xvarts!
Peace,
Christian
Thanks!
When I was a kid, my parents took us to see the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings film (a very underrated film) and around the same time the Yellow Submarine was also on TV. For quite a while I thought of orcs as blue, because they seemed so like the Blue Meanies. I’m not even sure what color color kobolds are “supposed” to be these days, but cobalt (kobold) blue seems right.
I also like the blue skin on your kobolds. I always picture them reddish-brown, going back to AD&D. But I think 4E depicts them with more of a greenish skin tone, so your blue works well I think.
TK