During the 'Goblin Wars' Joseph Bugman ran a famous brewery, supplying beer to both Goblins and Dwarves. This was fine until Goblins killed his son Bono Bugman. In true 'not to be messed with' Dwarf style, Joseph gathered together a collection of his workers and went off after Goblins in search of venegance. So Bugman's Dwarf Rangers were formed.
This went fine for a while until they returned home to Bugman's Brewery exhausted from campaigning. It was at this point that they were attacked Goblins, who overran the Brewery, killing everyone, as Goblins are occsionally want to do! Joseph Bugman's body was never found (at least until late 2nd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle, but that's another story, and set of miniatures!).
Here is a link to the background of the first version of Bugman's, and the miniatures:
http://www.solegends.com/citrr/rr01bugman.htm
Concerning the miniatures, I have been looking forward to painting them for sometime. They are all one-piece solid based/pre-slotta models produced in 1984, although the first version Champion is a slotta based model, and like many of the other Regiments Champions was added later. I never bought them at the time, but picked up the models in dribs and drabs over the 1990's and 2000's, but had never got around to painting them.
In the end I managed to collect a unit of 20, including the three orginal command miniatures, but alas not the very rare champion, Jorj Ruddle. If I ever get him, I'll probably expand the Regiment with a few more Troopers as well.
Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with them when I came to paint them. Bugman and the Command models were fine, but the Troopers were terrible to paint. I found the sculpts a little flat and dull, and although the quality of the sculpts were fine, they did'nt seem fun or inspiring to paint. The paint kept chipping or rubbing off whilst handling. Additonally the eyes were very tricky to paint on the Troopers, being very deep set, and I had to repair several of the crossbow arms which seemed to be miscast. It might just be that I was unlucky with a couple of the castings, but I much prefer the Fantasy Tribes Dwarves I have for the 'Goblin Wars' project, or the later 1980's Dwarves.
However, depsite my misgivings, I am pleased with how they look on the gaming table. I based them the same as the other of my 'Goblin Wars' miniatures, and painted them according to the uniform description given in the first version of the background. There was no infomation on the shield colour, so I painted them blue, the same as the second version, and to give the models a dash of colour from all the drab buff and browns.
Gaming wise they are a formidable foe. They look like they are wearing heavy armour (heavy Buff coats and Chanmail), with a shield. They are armed with hand weapon (axe), additional hand weapon (short sword), double handed weapon (axe), and of course the crossbow. This makes them well equiped, armoured, and with a full command unit.
Enjoy :)
20 Bugman's Dwarf Rangers.
Battle line.
Joseph Bugman and Muscian.
I quite like the Joesph Bugman miniature. Like a lot of the leader miniatures of the first versions of the Regiments of Renown, he is striking a standing pose, almost posing for a photograph.
The horn player is a great dynamic posed miniatures.
Rear view showing the shields.
Standard bearer.
There was no design for the standard, so I painted the beer mug from the shield. I also painted in Dwarvish Runes (from the Lord of the Rings appendix) the Bugman's warcry "Mhinz Abeir", which I assume the open mouthed Standard Bearer is yelling, expecting the reponse "Z'yor Rond" from the rest of the regiment!
There was no design for the standard, so I painted the beer mug from the shield. I also painted in Dwarvish Runes (from the Lord of the Rings appendix) the Bugman's warcry "Mhinz Abeir", which I assume the open mouthed Standard Bearer is yelling, expecting the reponse "Z'yor Rond" from the rest of the regiment!
Rear veiw of the standard.
Bugman's regiment Trooper, front and rear.
To be fair, the Troopers do look mean and weather-beaten veterans.
The rear shows the double handed axe and cloak.
I painted the Double handed axe shaft green to add a little more colour and suggest their Ranger role.
Side views, showing the crossbow and short sword.
Line of Troopers with a mix of beard colours.
Bono Bugman!
Well, not quite.
However this Citadel C-Series Dwarf miniature is converted from the 'Trooper' miniature, and you could even see wear they had scrapped of the beer mug icon from the shield! So I thought it would be fun to paint him up in the same colours scheme as the rest of the Bugman's regiment, although I have'nt included him with the other 20 Bugman's.
Next update will probably be more Goblins of the 'Goblin Wars' as I have a wish to paint more Goblins. I am also painting up a couple of Trolls, so they should be ready too! :)
They look great - well done for persevering with the troopers.
ReplyDeleteBugman's Rangers is one of the ROR I've never really been familiar with so great to finally read the back story. Equipment-wise, they sound a lot like Ruglud's Armoured Orcs, who I dare say they would give a good account of thanks to their higher stats - much as I hate to admit that!
Coincidentally, I came into the possession of a few of the 90's/2000(?) version of the regiment. The latest version of the champion isn't too bad but Bugman and the rest of the regiment are not to my tastes at all. Happily I've just traded for Bugman's Cart and a few other bits so that should go some way to redressing the balance!
Thank you, they were a bit of a task to paint, but I am am happy with getting them done. In regards to the 'Goblin Wars' they are one of the iconic and important forces involved.
DeleteI have got the later 1980's Bugmans set and the cart, which I prefer, but have not painted them yet. Same with Ruglud's who need re-painting. In a showdown I would'nt like to say who would win. It would make an interesting game, especially if played as a skirmish game.
I have'nt payed too much attention to the much later Bugman's Miniatures as they were not to my taste either. My later edition army of choice was Tomb Kings.
I am currently working on a blog update on the background on the history, chronology and forces involved in the 'Goblin Wars'. I am taking the information from the background in the 1st/2nd Edition Rulebooks, supplements, and from the back stories of the Regiments of Renown involved, and writing it up together. I wanted to keep it to the first two Editions of Warhammer to keep it in line with the pre slotta miniatures era. For me, the background and game changed in the 3rd Edition, and the switich over to slotta based models meant a change in style and look of the armies in a good way, but different from the earlier two editions.
Excellent as ever. I realy like the look of worn out leather you gave to the capes, really suits the ranger side of them I find.
ReplyDeleteThis all reminds me I have 2 regimenst of renown (Red Redemptionists and Knights of teh cleansing flame that I'd like to paint and throw at each other...
Once again, the lovely bases really bring the best of those old sculpts.
Thank you JB,
DeleteI wanted to give them that weather-worn look. The background mentions them wearing ' heavy earth coloured rough weather cloaks', and so thought I would try to give them that on campaign feel. It's why I painted the shields blue, and the added colour to the axe handles, to give a little bit of colour, but also to contrast that with the dull, worn, browns of their clothing.
The miniatures took up a lot of room on the bases as they were quite bulky. This meant that there was little room for adding flowers and other things to the bases. I had to be a little more sparing on adding items, and decided to add more of the grey stones. This added something to the base without looking too much, and suggestd that the Dwarves were on campiagn in the foothills of the mountians.
It would be good to see your Red Redemptionists and Knights of the Cleansing flame painted, especially given their rivalry in their respective backgrounds.
Excellent painting and backdrop too! I remember when these were released there was a lot of grumbling about the single pose trooper with no variation....but I rather like uni-pose regiments so it didn't bother me.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI don't mind uni-pose regiments, but I found the Bugmans were a little dull and arkward to paint. I am currently painting Harboths Black Mountain Orcs (first version), and they are much more fun.
Great stuff, Goblin Lee! I never really was a fan of these Bugmans but seeing yours so nicely done is making want to go looking for mine and perhaps even give them some paint. And nice connection about the C series trooper in the last photo - brilliant, I love that figure and he seems perfect for another character for that regiment.
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Deletethe command miniatures were great fun to paint, it was only the Troopers I found a little dull, but they do present themselves as a solid looking unit once painted. I found the faces and eyes unusually difficult, but that might be just me. It would be great to see your Bugman's as well.
I was looking at my old solid based miniatures a while back and noticed that that particular Dwarf was based on the Bugman's Trooper body. So I thought why not have him as an optinal extra to the Regiment, and have him as the doomed Bono Bugman just for fun? He was fun to paint too.