ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

About Me


Aly Morrison

Aly was born in “The North “a long long long long time ago, he left school at the age of 17, before most other people were born.

He then started a career in Cartography, drawing most of the world as we know it today. Having run out of ink and paper Aly decided to take up a career in Dwarf chiselling, this having been a long time hobby he picked up while drawing Norway for the Forestry Commission.

Finding Games Workshop lying beside the river Trent in a place called Snottingham he joined them as a full time designer in 1893, his great age ensuring he was a senior designer from day one.

In his time here he has made everything at least twice.

Aly still works for Games Workshop and now spends most of his time working in the virtual world where he also listens to Death Metal, Country and Western and Jazz.

When in the physical world Aly is co-owner and co-designer for Great War Miniatures and the sole owner and designer of Shiny Toy Soldiers and Little Britons.

DISCLAIMERS
The views , opinions and positions expressed by the author and those providing comments on this blog are theirs alone and do not reflect the views , opinions or positions of my employer.
This blog is dedicated to my interest in historical and toy soldier wargaming and as such I will not be posting or engaging in any conversations about my activities with Games Workshop.
If you have any specific questions about Games Workshop and their products please go to the Games Workshop Warhammer Community pages...

All the best.  Aly





17 comments:

  1. Hello Mr Morrison,

    I've been enjoying your posts; smartly done all around.

    Do you accept commissions to paint those 42mm shiny toy soldiers?

    Best,

    -Carl

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Carl.
      I am afraid I don’t accept commissions... I barely have time to paint my own toys.

      All the best. Aly

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  2. Hello Aly,

    Thanks for letting me know. Best of luck with all your endeavors.

    Regards,

    -Carl

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  3. Mr. Morrison, I have a collection of 15mm miniatures from about 1979 that I am told might actually be rare Mikes Models ancients. I also read somewhere that you may have sculpted for Mikes Models. They were beautifully painted 40 years ago as an Arab Conquest army and still look great . Could I send some photos to you for your review? Thanks! -Paul Pecena

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    Replies
    1. Hi Paul...
      Many apologies for missing your comment...
      Yes I did sculpt for Mikes Models... mostly medieval, renaissance and seven years war... the ancients were mostly made by Mike himself...
      There is a Yahoo Group dedicated to Mikes Models... The Fans of Mikes Models...
      though I am not sure what is going to happen to it now that Yahoo are stopping their support for Groups...

      All the best. Aly

      P.S. if you want to send some pictures, PM me through The Lead Adventures forum... I am registered there as AlyMorrison

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  4. I just posted some photos on the Lead Adventure Forum. I was not sure how to send pictures using IM!

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  5. Dear Carl
    Inspired by Irregular Miniatures and Aly's STS, both of which I own armies of, I also manufacture unpainted and painted 42mm figures. With Aly's permission I could pass on the name of one of mt painters who is used to the high gloss toy style. Aly if you are interested I could send you some photos of my STS Italian Wars of Unification figures,

    regards

    Christopher



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    Replies
    1. Hi Christopher...
      I am sorry I haven’t responded sooner...
      I don’t often visit this end of the blog...😁

      Please fell free to send some photos via Lead Adventure... it is very easy to join and is a good point of contact... I am there as AlyMorrison

      All the best. Aly

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  6. Hi, What green dye colour and make would you recommend for towelling terrain boards? I'm looking for a light yellow/green that would hopefully fit in a western and also an eastern setting. Struggling to find a suitable colour! Many thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Unknown...
      I am afraid I don’t think that I can help you out very much here , as I don’t use towelling on my terrain boards... actually to be honest I don’t use it as the top surface...
      My boards are covered with a deep green towelling/fleece material... I picked up a load of this at a local market many years ago... I then cover this material with various layers of flock and static grass...
      I know someone who used Dylon fabric dye ( Olive Green I think) to colour his white towelling ... he then used spray paints and dry brushing to get the effect he wanted....hopefully that is of some help...

      All the best. Aly

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  7. That's a help Aly, I'll get my hands on some Dylon olive green. Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

    Kind regards. Marc

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  8. I placed my first order for S.T.S: A unit of 12 French Guard infantry; 6 French Guard Lancers, a French Gun and Crew and a general to lead them to glory! I am looking forward to seeing some in real life. If I can gather together a couple of small armies, I plan to use them for A Gentleman's War.

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    Replies
    1. Splendid 😁...

      A Gentleman’s War is a fun game... hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do...
      I must have another game myself soon...

      All the best. Aly.

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  9. Not sure how many models I have which are your designs but I do know one of them

    Ye old Chaos Toilet.

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  10. Dear Mr Morrison,

    i always wanted to say this; i want to thank you for all the great warhammer sculpts you made over the years. It's a joy to paint them.

    I also have a question, and i hope it's ok if ask it here, because i saw you are the original sculpter of the classic 90s Chaos Bloodletters. As a child, i was always fascinated by these Bloodletters miniatures from the late 90s. And now, several years later, i'm still am. There is a battle scene i especially love, it's a battle between Chaos and the Undead: https://i.postimg.cc/d1RjmCjz/untitled.png

    Now, 2023, i'm trying to recreate this scene. So buying all the classic miniatures seen in this picture. But there is one problem, and i hope you can help out with this. In this picture, there is a Bloodletter included that is nowhere to be found. I also can't find it at Solegends.com, the website for old miniatures.

    This is the mysterious Bloodletter i am looking for: https://i.postimg.cc/t4kTPtfK/untitled2.png

    So my question is, do you know if this particular Bloodletter has ever been released? Or is it a unreleased miniature? And if that is the case, do you know why it has never been released?

    With kind regards, Flo

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    Replies
    1. Hi Flo…
      Thank you for your kind comments…
      To be quite honest I had forgotten that I even made these 😳
      I think Colin Dixon also had a hand in making some…
      As far as I know they would have all been released but some figures did get dropped from ranges… if they were changing the mix/numbers in the packs or if it was problematic to cast in any numbers…
      I am sorry that I can’t give you much more information than this.
      I hope you manage to find the missing beastie or at least a good proxy.

      All the best. Aly

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