Some words on Goblins.
I’ve not got as far as I’d intended with my goblins. I have managed to get some painting time in, but things have been a bit weird of late - with people I care about having strokes and heart attacks and dicey open-heart surgery, and one person who I frankly don’t care for one bit breaking into my house and trying to rob me at knifepoint.
But I have managed to paint a few goblins. I’m up to eleven in total. I’ll post some pictures probably tomorrow of the new ones. I’m rather happy with how they’ve come out.
I’ve also acquired rather more than eleven more goblins for the project. The proprietor of Battle Valour Games was happy to sell me one of each figure in his Orc and Goblin ranges, and every other figure in his 15mm fantasy range that looked like it would look at home in the horde. It turned out to be a really rather large order in the end, as it turns out the Battle Valour range has a lot of unique orc and goblin figures. They are still yet to arrive, but when they do, I will probably have enough goblin-types to fill out the horde. I’m still looking around to buy more, though.
Weirdly, it’s been the 10mm figures that’ve come up stumps. Pendraken was happy to sell me figures outside of their usual packs, which was very handy, but no other company seems to want to split up their packs, which is entirely reasonable of them of course, considering the economics of the situation, but it does inconvenience me slightly. I still really like the idea of including some 10mm imps and such scurrying around the feet of the larger orcs and ogres, but I just can’t bring myself to buy whole packs of 10mm figures to use 1/10th of them and relegate the rest to the spares heap.
If anyone reading this happens to have some 10mm figures going spare, I’ve got a
Wanted post going over in the Bazar, and equally if anyone would like to buy 9/10ths of the goblins in Magister’s Lesser/Wild range, drop me a PM.
I’ve also given some thought to the elements of this force other than ‘The Horde’:
For leadership, it occurred to me that I should probably have David Bowie in charge, and after a lot of searching about I’ve set my sights on the miniature below from Splintered Light Miniatures.
The one in the middle.It works for me on several levels – there’s clearly plenty of Jareth vibes going on, but the hair and the waistcoat hint towards The Thin White Duke. I was particularly taken with how the figure leans on the sword in a way that echoes the way The Duke posed with his mike stand. I didn’t notice the ponytail on the shoulder until I’d already been enraptured by the idea, but in a happy coincidence it turns out that Bowie gave sporting a ponytail a go just prior to his Glass Spider tour, which fits this project’s late 80’s setting really rather perfectly. I’ll finish the figure off by adding a cigarette dangling out of the right side of his mouth.
That is if I can get one. The only part that’s not working out is ordering the little guy. Splintered Light Miniatures’ UK distributer is currently having significant health problems, and Splintered Light’s Orcy offerings are relatively thin on the ground as regards to individual figure variants, which makes it dreadfully difficult to justify the slightly absurd cost of intercontinental postage that buying direct from the manufacture would require. If anyone happened to have one (or preferably two, to cover myself against buggering the face up with a pin vice while trying to add a tiny cigarette) of this particular vampire miniature going spare, please do feel free to drop me a PM.
I’d like to have both a Sauron and Saruman type to act as Bowie’s Lieutenants. There are plenty of Wizard types available (though I might go with a White Witch, ‘cus, you know, Bowie in the 80’s), but I’ve not definitively decided on one figure in particular yet.
For the Sauron, well, that’s a whole thing too. There was this figure that I remember seeing a while back, which, at least as I remember it, feels like it’d be the perfect fit for the job, but I can’t seem to find it again. I’ve spent far too long looking. Far, far too long. I can remember that it was from a small independent looking European manufacturer. It was one of a range of assorted 25mm/28mm fantasy types sculpted nicely in a slightly old-hammer style. It might have been advertised as an anti-paladin or a dark cleric or some such. It didn’t look particularly Sauron like to be honest. I recall that it had a particularly tall helmet that looked as though the armoured knight figure had a freakishly long neck. I vaguely remember it being armed with a mace, but I might be wrong. If anyone could point me back to it, I’d be awfully grateful.
I’m also ruminating on some kind of giant improvised cannon in support. I’ve got a fair few orcy-goblin types of all different heights clasping rocks of different shapes and sizes. I like the idea of them all standing around the Lead Adventure Miniatures Death Bell cannon crammed full of rocks and miscellaneous metallic bits and bobs, which used at 15mm would make for a very large gun indeed. If anyone has a bell going spare, again, please PM me.
Oh golly, that’s a lot of words. Got a bit carried away there. I should probably go to sleep.
Goodnight.
MM.
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December 11, 2023, 06:22:39 AM
April 17, 2012, 01:54:21 AM