A Return To Youth, Resulting In A Fanboy Experience And A Wonderful Model

January 23, 2020

Like many of my age group who cut their teeth in the very early days, reading White Dwarf when it was a young and vibrant magazine, much like ourselves, I was drawn to the adverts for Otherworld Artefacts and their wonderful scenery kits in 25mm, sculpted by Chris Bulis and cast in durable dental plaster.

They were exactly the type of structures and features I imagined in my fantasy worlds. tall towers, brooding Mansions and forests of giant fungi. The limits of the real world were thrown aside whilst attention was paid to how buildings are constructed.

Alas, on £3 per week spending money, and with a rather serious 'Orc habit' to feed which allowed me to buy 10 figures per week, my chances of getting any O.A stuff were close to zero.

A couple of years ago now, and quite by chance after I posted here, I was able to make contact with Mr Bulis in one of those fanboy moments which always make my blood rush, even at nearly 52 years old, and so began a series of irregular exchanges between us. Chris has always been patient and has indulged me in my frothing, whilst at the same time being very firm and upfront about the state of the O.A range.

Sadly, it became apparent that O.A was no more, but Chris kindly said he's see what he may have hanging around. My heart leaped of course and I had to pop downstairs and take a Propranolol and my blood pressure meds...

So imagine my joy when Chris said he had found something which may interest me. It was a 'one off' and was originally going to be a prize in a competition run by a PBM company which sadly never saw completion. I'll let Chris describe it here:

'My original brief was to make something that looked different to any existing OWA set, so it is certainly an original. I imagined, as a piece of pseudo history, it might have been built in stages, starting with the round tower. Then the adjacent storehouse/ guard tower was added, and then finally its courtyard was properly enclosed, so it could house a small garrison serving as sentries on some frontier/borderland. Looking at it assembled for the first time in over 30 years, I now wonder if I had originally planned to add a small lean-to shelter on the otherwise blank right inner wall of the courtyard, perhaps for horses. That would make sense.

As said before, its base measures 27cm wide by 30 deep, and the tip of the small conical roof is 42.5 tall. As you can also see I was part-way through filling in a few cracks and I’d rough painted the gates and interiors. It is only loosely assembled/ butted together and not properly finished. Only the gate, side turret bases and some of the courtyard flooring are glued to the expanded polystyrene base slab. I had planned, once it was fully assembled, to landscape that and stick it all on a firmer presentation base board.

As I could not decide which orientation was best for the balcony and watchtower turret of the main round tower relative to the rest of the structure, it separates into two at the junction marked by the ring of projecting corbel stones, so the upper half can be rotated to suit.'

Well, we discussed a price and payment was made, and yesterday, I took delivery (sweating at the thoughts of Royal Mail's idea of careful handling) and I am really happy to say that it appears to have arrived in perfect condition. Removing the packing made me feel 13 again, and I am already planning to get it painted and suitably mounted, so that it may take a centre place on the ongoing 80s style display game that I am working up.

Chris was also kind enough to send me a scan of the last O.A catalogue, and you can see just what went into this models: