On the Topic of Homage

After a couple of slow nights at the painting table, I managed to put the finishing glazes on and then varnish the batch of dwarfs I've been working on last evening:

As I was finishing up the beard on the stout little fellow in the middle with the steel skullcap, I was suddenly struck with the impression that I had seen him before. That face. . . it looked incredibly familiar . . . could it be?

Is this guy possibly

none other than our favorite Citadel jack of all trades?

I have a sneaking suspicion that whichever Perry bro sculpted up this polearmed stunty, he did so either in homage to, or possibly poking fun at, Dave Andrews, Oldhammerer extraordinaire. We've certainly seen this kind of personalization many, many times before in the early days of the design studio- there's a long history of the big names at the company ending up as inspirations for the minis they were churning out at the time. I think that I was just particularly struck by this possibility because DA has always been one of my very biggest inspirations in the hobby. I have long admired how well he seems to do, well, everything- his artwork, cartography, and shield designs are some of the most memorable visuals from those heady times, and I give him a lot of credit for maintaining the look of the old Warhammer world all the way through to today- he continues to build or design a lot of the scenery that is still in marketing pictures and battle reports. All those old card buildings. . . his. All those dungeon floor plans. . . his. If only he had managed to keep that sweet beard and long curly locks (more recent pictures from the "How To Build Scenery" books show him bald and goateed now). Alas.

Five more warriors with hand weapons reporting for duty

On the subject of homage, here's my own much more humble attempt. Like many of you out there, I have a special love for the RT601 code of Adventurers from the early Rogue Trader days. In all but a few cases, I think the 'eavy Metal team at the time did an admirable job illustrating the wackiness and randomness of the 40K universe as it was originally imagined. So, I have done my best to keep my own collection of these minis very inspired by the "originals."

RT601 Navigator, Halfling Chef, Ventolin Pirate, Pilot, Squat Engineer, and Armored Squat

Enjoy, brethren. Have a good one, wherever you are.