Some miniatures for Song of Blades and Heroes (undead warband for Mordheim)

[Hobgoblin]

We had a cracking game of Dragon Rampant this afternoon (the debut of the oni and their bull-headed chief). It's such a good ruleset - fast and flavoursome. Games are typically close-run things, and this was no exception.

I really must put more effort into scenery at some point - but I so much prefer painting miniatures ...

[Shub-Nullgurath]

Here's another addition to the oni band - an ushi-oni. These chaps are just about to see action in Dragon Rampant, as an elite foot unit with the spellcaster option.

That's glorious, where is it from?

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks! He's an old Citadel C25 minotaur from 1988. These ones have separate heads: I've got a small herd of them (perhaps four or five). If you compare them with the current GW minotaurs, you get proof positive that the "Whig view of miniature sculpting" is entirely unsustainable!

[Hobgoblin]

I've got loads of half-finished miniatures - mainly from my "cave orc" period - kicking around. I've decided to finish some of them off quickly, now that Dragon Rampant is back on the agenda. Here's the first - I'll give him a good look over in daylight tomorrow and see if he warrants any more attention.

[Shub-Nullgurath]

You really capture the old school vibe in painting.

What do you do for the cave orc skin?

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

For the cave orcs (I was calling them "cave goblins", but my foray into N16 Chronicle cave goblins risks confusion ...), I undercoat in white, preshade with Citadel's brown wash, drybrush white and then, for the skin, use a thin layer of Witch Elf Flesh (or whatever it's called). I then wash that with a mix of medium, blue glaze and green gaze. And then I highlight up again with successive thin applications of Witch Elf Flesh. Sometimes, if the figure demands it, I do a light drybrush of pure white, but usually not. On one or two figures, the blue-green wash and the sculpting has worked so well that I don't need to do further highlights. But that doesn't happen often. Eye sockets get a wash of whatever the very dark blue Citadel wash is called (Nightshade or something like that?), and lips and ears and sometimes noses get a wash of either purple or the Citadel blood-effect paint.

The idea was to end up with a batch of goblins that look like genuinely subterranean creatures - hence the 80s-style glowing eyes. Alan Garner's description of his "fish-white" svart-alfar was an influence here.

[Hummster]

I like the shield on that one, and I've always gone for different skin tones for the orcs and gobbos rather than just GW green.

[Hobgoblin]

I like the shield on that one, and I've always gone for different skin tones for the orcs and gobbos rather than just GW green.

Cheers! Anything's better than that bright green, I think! Even GW used to showcase a whole variety of orc skin colours before the mid-80s. The first ad for Citadel paints showed a Black Mountain orc who was anything but green:

[Hobgoblin]

Here's another brace of horrid little orcs to go with the last one. I did a quick census last night, and I think I've got 18 or so "nearly done" goblins kicking around. I'm going to try to finish up as many as I can this week.

[Hobgoblin]

And another. Further poking around revealed another batch, so I've got 24 "nearly there" candidates for completion: two Dragon Rampant units.

This fellow's particularly horrid, I've always thought. He's a variant of the original - and by far the best - Grom.

[beefcake]

Very cool. That fat gobbo remdins me of the heartbreaker Chaz Elliot one. I bought one from Ral Partha Europe recently.

[Hobgoblin]

Very cool. That fat gobbo remdins me of the heartbreaker Chaz Elliot one. I bought one from Ral Partha Europe recently.

Thanks! This guy? I can see the resemblance - he's almost an homage with the club and belly:



The Citadel night goblins are interesting, because they comprise several semi-distinct ranges. So, there are the very old Fiend Factory goblins: conical helmets with nose guards, three-toed feet (like the Fantasy Tribe hobgoblins and indeed the later Aly Morrison hobgoblins: that trope seems to start here) and wolf shields.

Then there are some that overlap with the Goblin Raiding Party boxed set, with their horned helmets and ram-skull shields. The upper standard bearer, the "night goblin champion" and the one on the right with the flail (who is actually part of the boxed set) fall into this category.

And then there are some that double up as Runequest Trollkin in that boxed set - they have a different physiology, with very big noses, and are rather crude sculpts. Their shields, with a central boss and four round discs, match that of the hooded spear-goblin I posted above.

On top of that, you have the night goblin with the raised flail and spiky helmet, who I think was the very first "night goblin" in the Fiend Factory line (and the first miniature I ever bought), and the chap leaning on the sword, who has a similar or identical head.

Some of the archetypal hooded night goblins also doubled up as "berserker gnomes" or some such.



And then you have the slightly later night goblins, including this fat fellow, which are really the cream of the crop. They overlap with the Grom's Goblin Guard regiment of renown, in that variants of all four original RR figures are include. I don't think any of the later Citadel/GW night goblins are anywhere near as good:

[Ragsta]

Love this thread. Great additions, though your references to hallowed gaming shops of Edinburgh make me sad as I never had the pleasure of visiting them 

Great shots of your recent Dragon Rampant game - I did have a LOL WTF moment when I saw that based T Rex in one of the shots! Terrain wise, I say meh, stick with painting your excellent forces. Mind you, a terrain mat is a quick win and there are many options that are pretty good value... 

Toodles
Ragsta

[Hobgoblin]

Love this thread. Great additions, though your references to hallowed gaming shops of Edinburgh make me sad as I never had the pleasure of visiting them 

Cheers! It occurred to me recently just how many miniature-buying outlets there used to be in Edinburgh. Not all of them existed at the same time, but there was Games Master in Forrest Road, Mac's Models in the Canongate and somewhere else on Dalkeith Road, I think. But on top of that, toyshops, model shops and even department stores also sold miniatures at various times. When I was a kid, I bought miniatures in toyshops in both Morningside and Stockbridge, as well as in Wonderland and Harburn Hobbies (which only stocked them briefly, I think). And the very first miniatures I bought - a night goblin, a Fantasy Tribes orc and a fighter - I bought in Jenners, of all places.

I'm not sure if it was down to the strength of the D&D boom or some excellent marketing by Citadel, but miniatures were ubiquitous for a brief spell in the early 80s, when I was still at primary school.

Great shots of your recent Dragon Rampant game - I did have a LOL WTF moment when I saw that based T Rex in one of the shots! Terrain wise, I say meh, stick with painting your excellent forces. Mind you, a terrain mat is a quick win and there are many options that are pretty good value... 

My son painted most of the T-rex when he was six (I gave him a little help with the stripes and eyes). It's actually made of a very similar material to Reaper Bones.

I must have a think about terrain mats. Three feet square is perfect for HOTT and SOBH, and a couple would be fine for DR. One with a road printed on would make HOTT a great deal easier. Hmmm ...

Incidentally, here's my old Grom (close cousin of the goblin above). He's due for a date with the Biostrip, as I think I'll add most of these HOTT-based models to the skirmish/DR ranks and repaint others for my new HOTT hordes. They're currently based as HOTT warbands, but don't really look the part, given their diminutive stature.

What I love about these goblins above all is that they're not goofy. The later versions of Grom got increasing silly; the first one is one of my favourite miniatures.

[DeafNala]

Your Goblins are all such WONDERFUL Little Rogue, each with his own personality, but the one with the Skull Shield is my favorite. VERY WELL DONE one & all!