Koyote's Age of Magic -SAGA

[Chimpfoot]

Gone are the days of rank upon rank of identical soldiers marching toward the enemy in with clocklike precision...let's have little goblin taiko drummers blasting the enemy's eardrums out it of their heads from a safe distance instead...Magic. inspirational as usual.

[Koyote]

I built a Static War Machine for my Masters of the Underearth forest goblins.  I used bits from the Arachnarok Spider kit that I purchased on eBay to make the catapult and Shieldwolf Miniatures' for its crew.  When mounted on the Arachnarok Spider, the catapult isn't fitted onto a raised structure, so I used different parts of the kit (a raised howdah assembly) and a good deal of pinning and greenstuff to assemble this particular build.  It still needs some touch up and a little more GS work, but it's in good enough shape for play testing.

Based upon its rules, I don't believe that the Static War Machine is a very good option, but like the Destruction Teams, this catapult is an excuse to build and paint fun models.

[syrinx0]

The cobbled together aspect of the build really works for a Goblin war machine. It might not be effective but it looks cool.

[pixelgeek]

Wow! That looks amazing. Great work.

I find that warmachines are really effective at putting hits on heroes as well as monsters. Nothing like taking out a giant with one shot from a warmachine after you have exhausted it

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great kitbashing! That siege engine is genius.

[Koyote]

I don't have many virtues, and of those I do possess, patience certainly isn't one of them...

I couldn't wait for my frog sacrificing goblins to arrive from Poland, so I made my own from the Shieldwolf forest goblin kit.  The masks are shields from the kit with eye holes drilled through them.

My tiki-mask goblin minis have arrived. 

Spellcrow advertises that it's miniatures as 28mm or  "ideal for use with 28 mm scale models".  Based upon my previous experience with Spellcrow's minis (I own a couple dozen of them), their models are on the larger end of the 28mm heroic scaled model spectrum. So, when I ordered these goblins, my concern was that they would be a tad bit too large.  It turns out the opposite is true.  This particular goblin mini is quite a bit smaller and skinnier than my Shieldwolf forest goblins.  The model's proportions are comparable to Games Workshop's Ogre Kingdom's gnoblar minis.

Thanks to the size of the mask, the difference in scale isn't too obvious when you look at the front of the model. The difference becomes most noticeable when you look at the rear of the model.



Rather than convert these diminutive goblins into drummers, I'm going to stick with the forest goblin models that I previously converted for my Destruction Teams.

Fear not, the Tiki-masked, frog wielding goblins are too cool not to incorporate into my forest goblin warband, so I will find a use for them.

One idea is to use them as counts-as Shapeshifters for a forest goblin Lords of the Wild warband.  I have a friend who has as dwarven Masters of the Underearth warband, so when I play against him, I intend to use my forest goblins as a LotW warband.  In my desert nomads LotW warband, I use assassins as counts-as Shapeshifters. I can do something similar with my forest goblins.  Instead of assassins, my counts-as Shapeshifters will be fanatics who, by licking the skin of poisonous tree frogs, enter into a nigh unstoppable frenzy when battle is joined. 

These fanatics are recruited into the Cult of the Frog Lickers as adolescents (who are generally too young and dumb to know better). Sadly, because the cult's activities involve two very dangerous pastimes, imbibing poisonous hallucinogens and frenzied hand-to-hand combat, few of the cult's warriors ever make it to adulthood.

[scatterbrains]

They are indeed too cool!

[von Lucky]

And back story seems legit.

[Koyote]

After a couple of close losses with my Masters of the Underearth forest goblins in scenarios that include objective markers, I've come to the conclusion that my footslogging warband would benefit from some mobility.  One idea is to add a small unit of mounted Hearthguard.  Since it's a warband of forest goblins, the obvious choice of models is Games Workshops' Forest Goblin Spider Riders kit.

Even before purchasing the kit, I had concerns that the scale of the riders was a bit too small in comparison to my Shieldwolf goblins, but I didn't realize how small the riders were until the kit arrived in the mail.  My first thought was to convert the kneeling Shieldwolf goblins, but after some test fittings and more thought on the matter, I decided against it.



The GW spider riders are some really fun models, so it would be a shame not to use them.  Also, after assembling a model and putting it beside an infantry model, I realized that the difference in scale doesn't look too bad.  I may end up using a bit of greenstuff to do some subtle enlarging of the models features, such as its arms, cranium, and ears. 



The most obvious modification that I will make to the models (as pictured above) is spreading out the spiders' legs. Games Workshop designed these models to be used in units of closely ranked models, as such, the spiders' legs are bunched together to fit nicely on a rectangular base. 



The 'bunching up' of the spiders' legs is a practical solution for the particular problem faced by GW's model designers, but in my opinion, it takes away some of the characteristic creepiness of all those long legs spread out in every direction. 

I use a hobby knife to separate the two inner legs on each side from the two outer legs.  By bending the plastic and doing a bit of pinning, I was able to reposition the legs so that they are spread out some, yet still fit on a 40 mm round base.

[pixelgeek]

Those spiders look so much better that way. They'll be easier to paint as well

[Koyote]

Those spiders look so much better that way. They'll be easier to paint as well

It also lifts the model off the ground, so it isn't resting on its belly.  This makes the spider look larger.

[Grumpy Gnome]

I do not see a problem with goblins having some diversity in size, if anything I think it helps lend credibility by avoiding a cloned look.

Changing those spider legs really improves that model!

[Sangennaru]

Changing those spider legs really improves that model!

I totally agree! Nice modding!

[scatterbrains]

I totally agree! Nice modding!

+1 absolutely agree!

[Koyote]

I'm glad that I decided to stick with the original riders.  They have so much character and fun little details.

 I still need to to some greenstuff work on them, but they are in good enough shape for play testing the unit. 

In my current build, these mounted Hearthguard will provide me with a seventh SAGA die and give me the speed to tackle objectives.  In games without objectives, they will serve as a mobile reserve.