Friday 31 July 2015

There's a Troll in the Garden!

Well not exactly in my garden, but more of that later.

This week it's a bit of a smaller update as I have'nt had the time to spend on painting. For those of you from the 'Oldhammer' Community who read my blog, I won't be able to make this years BOYL due to work commitments. :(
...still it will give me another year to finally finish the Slann army and invade the North!

Anyway, after spending the last two weeks painting Regiments of Renown, I have returned to the painting more general miniatures of my idea of the participants of the Goblin Wars. I have painted one C series Troll, re-painted a Ral Partha Troll and Giant on an Elephant, a pack of wolves, a random Orc, and the old solid based Thrud.

 Enjoy :)
The latest batch of minautre, ready to wreak havoc in the Goblin Wars.
Citadel C20 Troll, 'Rattlebones Bowlegs'. 
I wanted to base him up to suggest that he had broken into someones garden and is about to cause chaos.  
Rear view.
Top view of the base.
I added some smaller flock to suggest a lawn, some stones for 'crazy paving', a small flower pot, and a couple of model Hosta's in the bare earth strip by the fence.
Ral Partha RP5 Monster range Troll.
I had painted him before, some time ago. However I decided to re-base him (on a 50mm round lipped base) for the Goblin Wars, and re-painted part of the skin, adding slightly pink flesh on parts of his grey skin to give him a little more life.
Left side.
...and yes, he is a naked Troll.
Close up of the face.
I think it's an excellent piece of sculpting and deserved a closer look.
As far as I am aware, he was sculpted by Tom Meier.
Thrud the Barbarian, of the White Dwarf comic strip fame. 
This is the first miniature of Thrud to be made by Citadel, and released in the SS6 White Dwarf Personalites box set. 
He was fun, and very easy to paint, and will lend some support to the Dwarven cause, providing they keep him in beer!
Rear view.
Ral Partha Giant riding on an Elephant. 
He is another of my miniatures which I had painted before, but decided to re-base and give a painting 'make over' to.
He's a great miniature and an unusual model, and adds a potent line-breaker to any army.
Left hand side.
There were several variants of the Giant produced (only one elephant I understand), with the Elephant and maybe this particular Giant sculpted again by Tom Meier, later riders by the Perry Twins. 
For more on them here's a usful link:
Close up of the Giant.
Wolf pack.
One of the three Wolves from the pack. Three of the Wolves are the 'Vicious Giant Wolf' from the BC2 Monster Starter set.
The fourth wolf is the FF69 Giant Wolf.
A random Citadel C 15 Armoured Orc.
Lots of teeth!
FTD 9 Dwarf standard bearer, not painted yet, but I am just happy to have bagged one (and not broken) on e-bay.
Dragon tipped standard.

Next update will be more Goblin Wars stuff, but not sure what as I have'nt painted them yet! Probably some Goblins. :)

Saturday 25 July 2015

Orcs of the Black Mountains: Harboth's and Notlob's Regiments of Renown.

Carrying on with my Goblin Wars theme, I have verted slightly into another two of the non-Goblin Regiments of Renown who are said to have taken part: Harboth's Black Mountain Boys, and Notlob's Orc Artillery.

Both Regiments are part of the first release of Citadel's Regiments of Renown series, 1984 amd 1985 respectively, and are both regiments of Orcs.

This is the first incarnation of Harboth's Regiment of Renown, being later re-sculpted as slotta based Orcs  armed with bows, and then being released in 1987. All of the miniatures are pre-slotta, with the exception of the Champion which was a later addition to the set, something which happened to several of the first sets of Regiments of Renown.
Catalogue page of Harboth's Black Mountain Boys. 
...and a link to the background:

Notlob's Artillery on the other hand are all slotta based. The regiment was a lot smaller than the other Regiments of Renown, consisting of just four Orcs, and two Bolt Throwers. 
The bolt throwers are what seems to be the original sculpt used as the basis for the later Orc and Dwarf  bolt throwers. The main differance of the later bolt throwers is that the base has an added spare bolt, and the top 'bow' part has a different spear head, bow arm and body details, and an added lever. 
One of the Orcs (the one second from right below) ended up as a general release Orc crew member for the later Orc bolt thrower. 
 Catalogue page for Notlob's Regiment of Renown. 
The name Notlob is taken from a Monty Python sketch about 'The Gangs of Bolton'. 
...and another link to the background (Notlob's, not Monty Pythons!): 
Both sets of regiments are great and full of character. Harboths's have very varied and interesting command group, and nicely sculpted Trooper miniatures armed with the delightfully named 'Dwarf Tickler', a form of cleaver. They were fun to paint, and quite straight forward. I painted the Orcs skin tone slightly darker than the later 3rd Edition shades as I wanted a more 'realistic' and grubby looking feel to them. I kept the eyes red, but added a pupil.
Background wise (taken from the background stories from both Regiments) , both Harboth and Notlob's Regiments spent most of the Goblin Wars based in the Black Mountains, living in a squalid town around Black Fire Pass on the border of the Dwarf Realms. They spent their time bored, drinking in the saloon, running a toll booth, occsionally killing (and no doubt eating) unwary passing travellers, and generally raiding and making a nuisance of themselves. The whole thing has a slightly 'Wild West' feel to it to me.
When, towards then end of the Goblin Wars, the Dwarves decided to 'clean up' the area they attacked the Black Mountains and attempted to size the Pass. By this time Harboth's Orcs had been joined by Notlob's Orcs, and both sides fought a series of battles, forcing both Harboth and Notlob to eventually
flee tactically relocate. 
Personally, I think this sounds like the basis for a great little skirmish campaign. 

I painted both regiments because I wanted to paint up another Regiment of Renown after painting Bugman's Dwarf Rangers last week, and I did'nt want to paint up Grom's Goblin Guard yet. From the background I see both regiments as very closely linked, and so it made sense to me to paint them together, especially as Notlob's are a small regiment.
AI also wanted to paint up some Orcs for the Goblin Wars. I don't want to paint up a lot of Orcs for the Goblin Wars, I want to keep the Goblin vibe to it all, but I thought that as these Regiments of Renown are directly mentioned and involved in the Goblin Wars, they would be good to do. 
Enjoy :)
 The Orcs of the Black Mountains!
As both Regiments of Renown are based in the Black Mountsins, I decided to base the Orcs differently from the other Goblin Wars miniatures I have painted recently. I wanted to convey a dark and rocky feel to the bases suggesting the terrain of the Black Mountains.
 Haboth's Black Mountain Boys.
 Harboth, leader of the Black Mountain Boys.
I really like this miniature. He has that sense of confidence and casual arrogance gained from being in charge of a whole bunch of Orcs and a town atop of a mountain. 
He is quite a big Orc for the time, and his solid base was too large to place inside the dip of the lipped base or trim down.So I built up the base a little to suggest he is stand on top of mound, making sure everything is done his way.
 Yaskin Forit, the Champion of Harboth's regiment. 
Yaskin is slotta based miniature, who also required a plastic shield for his back.
He is armed with an unusual looking double handed weapon, which I painted up to look like the teeth of some big monster. 
The name Yaskin Forit is of course a play on the phrase "You asking for it?", as occsiaonally prelude to physical violence.
 Rear views of Harboth and Yaskin. 
I like the bottles hanging off of Harboth's bandolier (reminding me of the 'apostles' of a matchlock armed soldier of the 16/17th Century).
Yaskin's shield has 'Yaskin' painted on it in dwarf runes.
Standard Bearer and Musican.
I like the howling Standard bearer, with a standard made up no doubt of the skulls of poor unfortunate travellers who strayed too close to the Black Mountain, or perhaps did'nt have enough change for the toll at Black Fire Pass?
The Musican is wearing the fur of some creature, not sure what, might be a type of bear or lioness.
Rear view.
The Musican has drums made of what look like Ogre Skulls!
Troopers, front and rear.
They are armed with the infamous 'Dwarf Tickler' and wooden shield. 
The background suggests that the Black Mountain Boys wear a collection of cast-offs and clothes. However I wanted to give them a more unified regimental feel, especially as they are to have a mix of shields. So I painted them to suggest they are all wearing black leather jackets, reminiscent of a bikers, 1950's hoodlums, or  heavy metallers.
I was going to paint them with heavy metal band names and album covers on the back, but after a couple of attempts I decided it was too fiddly.
 There were a couple of C-series Orcs based on the body of the Trooper miniature. So I added a few of them to add a little variety.
The Orc on the left, with the halberd is pre-slotta, the Orc on the right an early slotta based one.
 Rear view, showing the extra different added details.
Some of the mix of shields.
The background states that the the Orcs have a mix of shield designs, so I have painted up a mix of designs.
Here, left to right, checkerboard; Moon (based on a design from the 3rd Editon Orc artwork in Warhammer Armies); and quartered.
Another crescent Moon device; Goblin/pumpkin face; and a gaping maw face which was based on 'Fizzgig' from 'The Dark Crystal'. 
Stylised face; a shield with 'Zog off' written in Dwarf rune; and an eye. 
Green Man; 'Orc' written in Dark Elvish (from a list written in the 1st Edition Forces of Fantasy supplement; and a stylised sun.
Finally, another check pattern, this time black and red. 
The Orc with a spear is a repaired version of  another pole-armed Orc from earlier.
 Notlob's Orc Artillery.
Four Orcs and two Bolt Throwers.
Notlob (left) and an Orc crew member.
 Rear view.
 Two more crew.
The one on the left became a wider released Orc crew member.
I like the Orc on the right, testing the sharpness of the bolt.
 Rear view.
The Bolt Throwers.
As mentioned earlier they are similar to the later 1980's Bolt Throwers used by the Orcs and Dwarves.
The background stated that Notlob's Orc scrawled graffiti on the Bolt Throwers and Bolts, but I decided to keep them plain as I thought it might look too much. 

Next update will be the couple of Trolls I am currently finishing off painting, and some Goblins, as I want to get back to painting some more Goblins. :)

Wednesday 15 July 2015

RR1 Bugman's Dwarf Rangers (Version 1) Regiment of Renown.

As a change from painting Goblins, but in keeping with my 'Goblin Wars' project, I decided to paint some Dwarves. And not just any Dwarves, but the first version of the Regiment of Renown, Bugman's Dwarf Rangers.

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!
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! :)