Kings of War in 1/72 (scratch-built, ahem, Archfiend of the Abyss ...)

[Sunjester]

Those look really good!

[Bloggard]

fantastic stuff.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks very much! Painting has been limited by that toad work in the past few weeks, but I have been adding to our ogre army for Kings of War. We've also played quite a few full-size games: yesterday's being a four-player affair with each commanding 1,500 points. I got the feeling that we might easily escalate that to 2,000 points per player (so 4,000 a side) without the table feeling cramped.

I must say that I've really been enjoying KoW; to my surprise, it feels much more Hordes of the Things than Warhammer. So far, all our games have been straight fights, but we'll work in scenarios and objectives for next time.

We've also been fielding a lot of 1/72 and 28mm figures at the same time. It seems to me that any 28mm figures that counts as "heavy infantry" in KoW can comfortably be fielded in a 1/72 game; almost all of those troop types are as strong as ogres (at least in terms of Crushing Strength), so they work just fine next to smaller humans. That's especially true with older (80s) metal figures.

I managed to assemble a couple of 40mm bases of Dark Alliance orcs to supplement my Hordes of the Things orc hordes. Each 40mm base turns a HOTT horde base into a KoW troop base, so two of these allows me to field a goblin regiment in KoW. I have six horde bases, so another four of these 40mm squares will allow me to field three regiments, a horde and a regiment, or a legion.

An added bonus is that the 40mm bases will work in 15mm HOTT - whether as hordes, warbands or brutes (double warbands) - as will the ogres on 40mm bases.

I'm using the same fix for some 1/72 HaT El Cid spearmen that I have based for HOTT; two spear bases and a 40mm square give me a troop and twice that a regiment.

Unfortunately, there's no quick fix for my HOTT warband bases (Caesar orcs), although I might see if I can get a suitable movement tray that extends 120 x 90 to 125 x 100. I am, though, increasingly going for somewhat bigger figures for orcs, given the 25mm base: Mithril, Prince August and Ral Partha, along with Oathmark.

[Old Hob]

I have been amazed at how quickly you seem to turn around such beautifully painted units. Always a pleasure to see.

Rewinding a couple of posts - I really like the white furs the orgres are wearing. Fur is something I always struggle a bit with. Would you mind sharing your recipe? Thank you.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

The ogres were part of a big wave of Nick Lund nasties that I painted up a while back; everything but the skin was washed in Agrax Earthshade and then highlighted quite minimally. I think the furs were Vallejo buff, washed in Agrax and then drybrushed with buff again and then Vallejo silver grey. The whiter ones probably got a heavier dry brushing.

[Old Hob]

Thank you. Very much appreciated.

[Hobgoblin]

Here are some speed-painted trolls done with contrast paints. It might seem like heresy to treat old Asgard, Ral Partha and Citadel miniatures in such fashion, but I'd rather have them on the table than not! The Mantic trolls deserve no better!

I will add a few more highlights to the old metal ones and generally neaten them up. But they're OK for some action this weekend.

[blacksmith]

Well, they look really good, especially the one in the middle.

[Little Odo]

^ ^ ^ My thoughts exactly. Beautiful miniature, wonderfully painted

[Pattus Magnus]

I like those old school figures a lot. I had (have somewhere?) the RP shouty troll who doesn’t have a shield, ages ago when I played WFB 3rd as a teenager. I think your paint job looks a lot better than mine was! Those trolls should fit right in to a number of games.

[fred]

I like the look of the Trolls - which contrast paint did you use, it’s always good to know the more muted shades?

A few posts up you mention sabot bases for the Caesar Orcs to add 5mm or so - from my experience of KoW v1 I’d not bother, I can’t see those few mm being critical in game.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, guys!

I like the look of the Trolls - which contrast paint did you use, it’s always good to know the more muted shades?

I used Plaguebearer Flesh (over a black undercoat drybrushed with buff and then ivory).

A few posts up you mention sabot bases for the Caesar Orcs to add 5mm or so - from my experience of KoW v1 I’d not bother, I can’t see those few mm being critical in game.

Yes, we've played them as orcs a few times without any sabots. But I've now hit on a solution: while the Dark Alliance orcs form my goblin 'rabble' units (with a couple of 40 x 40mm blocks turning two 60 x 40mm HOTT elements into a 100 x 80mm regiment), the Caesar orcs work as 'luggits' (goblin berserkers).

I've been assembling a few HOTT blade units (60 x 20mm) to go with my current warbands (60 x 30mm) and some 40 x 40mm blocks. That allows me to field 'luggit' troops by using two HOTT blades and a 40mm block (100 x 40mm) or regiments by using two warbands, a blade and two 40 x 40mm blocks (100 x 80mm). I'm also using up my many spare Caesar orcs by creating dedicated KoW luggit units. The goblin army list allows an army to be build around luggits, so that's the approach I'm taking, for the most part.

The nice thing about this is that all the separate bits are useful in their own right. The 40 x 40s work as HOTT warband or horde units in 15mm while the 60 x 20s are blades in 1/72 HOTT, allowing me to field a more diverse orc army in that game.

So, with the Caesar orcs filling the luggit role (and looking best on 20mm basing), I can keep the KoW orcs distinct by using larger figures that justify the 25mm footprint: Oathmark orcs, old Ral Partha, Grenadier and Citadel figures, EM4 orcs and even some Mantic orcs. All of those are about the same size relative to a 1/72 human as the hulking plastic GW orcs were to 28mm humans at the time of KoW's inception.

[Hobgoblin]

I should add that those old metal trolls above are now ready for use as HOTT behemoth elements (specifically, Olog-hai for Middle-earth ...).

[Old Hob]

Speed painted or not, the old school trolls look fantastic. 

And you've managed to make those horrible Mantic trolls look good, which is no mean feat.

[Elk101]

The troll in the middle is great, I've not seen that mini before.