UVS Oathmark - River Barge 18/06/2023

[Major_Gilbear]

That goblin spellcaster looks great! 

There's a part of me that wonders if a kit of troops that's even worse than regular goblins will be useful in game terms, but I am glad that the option is there anyway. I also reckon with ghoul or similar heads, they would make for great human slaves/wretches/rabble of various sorts, and that mixed with the FG cultist kits it would easily allow you to make two visually-distinct echelons of dark worshipper too.

I have to say though, I was a little disappointed with the Oathmark orcs... Whilst they are a bit more upright that the goblins, they don't seem to be much bigger/bulkier to me? They're still very nice models, but I think I was hoping for something a bit more visually distinctive to reflect their beefy statlines, and which could make for some chunky low-tech/savage types for Star Grave too. Oh well, back to my original plan of using FG Demons with Orc/Goblin heads! 



///Edit: spelling gremlins...///

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great kitbashing as always mate! I need to get some of those Oathmark Goblin slaves. 👍

[Hobgoblin]

I have to say though, I was a little disappointed with the Oathmark orcs... Whilst they are a bit more upright that the goblins, they don't seem to be much bigger/bulkier to me? They're still very nice models, but I think I was hoping for something a bit more visually distinctive to reflect their beefy statlines, and which could make for some chunky low-tech/savage types for Star Grave too. Oh well, back to my original plan of using FG Demons with Orc/Goblin heads! 

I sort of know what you mean. I really like the Oathmark goblin line - even the much-disparaged wolves - but I'm not sure that they're a great fit with the descriptions and statlines in the game. For one thing, the goblins are described as "some of the weakest, least reliable and most ill-disciplined soldiers you can find", but in both the illustrations and the miniatures, they look quite muscular, scary and fierce! It's the same with the wolves - the statline doesn't seem to reflect the grizzly-sized carnivorous mounts.

(We haven't played Oathmark much since an initial flurry of games, and I chiefly use the miniatures for Kings of War and HOTT. So such discrepancies make no difference to me; I'm looking forward to getting hold of the goblin slaves. And I'd rather have the fierce-looking regular goblins than weedy ones!)

That said, I think the orcs are sufficiently bigger and fiercer than the goblins to justify their (effectively) human statline in Oathmark. I wonder if the orc heavy infantry will be significantly bigger. While orc soldiers and spearmen have human stats, orc warriors and linebreakers get an extra boost to their F score (3 and 4, respectively, vs 2 and 3 for humans). So perhaps there are bigger, beastlier orcs in the works.

[Major_Gilbear]

@Hobgoblin:

Yeah, but I can't help but feel that I could have made a perfectly passable/equivalent orc soldiery using a mixture of FG barbarians and soldiers, mated to some spare goblin heads (since you get so many goblin heads, this would work well with very little waste in terms of kits). It's just that for a whole new plastic kit, it's all a bit underwhelming I suppose, but I'll stop whinging about it now! 

I wonder if the orc heavy infantry will be significantly bigger. While orc soldiers and spearmen have human stats, orc warriors and linebreakers get an extra boost to their F score (3 and 4, respectively, vs 2 and 3 for humans). So perhaps there are bigger, beastlier orcs in the works.

I hope so! I'm crossing my fingers for big, heavily-armoured troopers, with a mixture of bare and heavily-armoured heads, and lots of big two-handed weapons! 

[Pattus Magnus]

That kitbash looks quite good. I like the idea of using packs and stuff from the Frostgrave sprues to make militia/ servants. I may do something similar to make a ‘baggage train’ for my orc/goblin force. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Thanks for the kind comments.

I like the idea of using packs and stuff from the Frostgrave sprues to make militia/ servants.

It is also useful to make the figures distinctive, especially if you are using the plastic figures for characters.

The Engineers will have Frostgrave packs and tools from the Dwarf Light Infantry.

I am not a particular fan of the orcs (I would have been happier to have the Human Militia - but then there are plenty of suitable human figures).

For my narrative background, the orcs are raiders (inspired by the picture in the Oathmark rule book). The mini army is just seven ranks of soldiers with two Champions.

Someone asked why you would want any figure with worse stats than the goblin infantry? For small points values, only for narrative reasons, but if you have larger points values and bigger tables, they can prevent easy flanking or make Speed bumps.

[Pattus Magnus]

I haven’t tried the tactic yet in a game, but I have been pondering using the goblin slaves as “goblin mantlets” to screen the first combat line as it approaches (“But Ted, those goblins aren’t carrying mantlets.” - “I know Rolf, the goblins are the mantlets. They soak up the arrows while the orcs behind them advance.” - [short pause] “Ohhh, yeah.”)

Archers could fire over the slaves, but I’m not sure how their morale would hold up when a screening unit broke. Also, the advance would be limited by the screening units failing command rolls (although movement is a simple action, so they could still advance at least one move per turn).

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Painted figures are like buses, except for waiting over a year and four come at once.


For those not up to speed on Oathmark, there is a Woolly Rhino in the (Dwarf) army list.

These are Stone Axe Miniatures Wooly Rhinos that I bought at SELWG 2022 from the Irongate Scenery stand.
https://irongatescenery.co.uk/product/rhino-set-1/



Comparison shot with a North Star Oathmark Human Infanfantry figure.


More photographs here: https://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2022/12/stone-axe-miniatures-irongate-scenery_31.html

[Grumpy Gnome]

Looking good! 👍

[General Lee]

Oooh nice work! Cool blog too

[AKULA]

Like those a lot - good work mate 

[Pattus Magnus]

They look the part, and nice job n the paint and bases. Also, thanks for the link to the web shop, I hadn’t come across that company before and they sell some cool stuff.

[Red Orc]

Nice find on the woolly rhinos, they look like they'd be good for the base size.

I might have to beef up my Dwarf contingent with a couple of indrik now!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Thanks.

I might have to beef up my Dwarf contingent with a couple of indrik now!

A good plan.
On the Oathmark Barbarian army thread, it was suggested that Mammoths make a good substitute for Giants.

[Red Orc]

That might be a good plan. Having only got the rules for Christmas (and even then, when I saw my brother on the 27th rather than Christmas day itself) I'm still trying to find out what I can use for 'counts as'... I did find a forgotten dragon while looking through a box of Heroscape minis (probably haven't opened the box in more than 10 years), and 2 blue-Orcs-on-dinosaurs that I figure can count as flightless dragons, if I need them ('need' being a very subjective term here).

Mostly I've been trying to start an audit of minis so I can work out what I can field at any given juncture. And also, how much painting I have to do on unfinished projects... but one more reason to actually finish things is always good.