The Snottling Wave Restoration Project (Part 1)

 I recently acquired 12 bases of second-hand snotlings.  Which is quite a lot of mini-green meanness to add to my little green wave.

A rambling horde of snotlings.

I almost passed on the deal, as the thought of stripping and cleaning these guys was definitely a turn off. However, upon closer scrutiny, I determined that I could use these existing  paint jobs as a base coat to build more color on top of. I'm still confounded by the  choice made, by whomever painted these models, to use silver as a color for the mushrooms.... but I think I can work past it. 

Can you spot the plastic ones?

I even decided not to repose these guys despite some of the models positioned somewhat randomly on their bases. I figured the more disorganized and haphazard their poses, the more of a rabble they'll appear to be. 

Toot!

The guy blowing the horn is apparently a fragile snotlling because the miniature is broken off of three of these bases, and all of them  at their right leg! 

We said don't break a leg! 

I'm thinking these little guys will work well with the previous group that I painted back in the '90s and hopefully will tie up some of the foes they will end up facing on the battlefield. I recall that I modeled up those ordinal snotlings to use as Shokk Attack gun ammo back in the 2nd edition of 40k,. I also recall my devilish foes would target them in an attempt to deprive my shokk attack gun of it's  precious ammo! 

Wall of snotlings!

This might be a bigger project than I anticipated, but I won't know until I try, right? So let's do this! ...but not today. This post is long enough. Look out for part 2, hopefully soon!

Fanatics! (Part 2)

 

A Work In Progress Fanatic. 

It's been over a year now since I last made a post about these guys, and I decided it was definitely time to revist them. Back in part 1 however I was focusing on the three metal miniatures I was adding to my Night Goblin horde. But prior to that, and having made their first appearance in Equis Tyranus where they made a rather smashing impression on The Bob's High Elves, I had started on three plastic Fanatics. I want to finish all six at the same time, so I needed to get these buggers caught up.

Primed. Just primed.

Anyone who owns these miniatures can attest to how unstable they are. No, not their minds, their mental instability is a defining aspect of their whole character, but no I ment physically. They fall over a lot! I decided to glue down some rocks to their bases to give them a bit more weight. It's not a perfect solution but it helps. 

Rocks added.

And then I added some grit to their bases. And that's all I did on these guys for about a year! 

Grit added.

But my recent focus on 40k grots got me thinking about these guys and getting them out of my painting queue. I decided to use the technique I figured out in Grots! Part 2 for their flesh. This started out with a basecoat of Gretchin Green Foundation paint.  

Gretchin Green Foundation Paint flesh. 

Now over to the metal guys, I used one of my oldest Citadel Paints called Bilious Green on them before washing their flesh with Tesseract Glow. At this time I washed the plastic guys with Tesseract glow also. As you can see they still look different from each other but they're getting closer. 

Tesseract Glow on their fleshy bits.

 Next I added Applebarrel Kiwi to their green skins. This got them a lot closer to a unified look. It was at this time that I washed the metal bits with a thinned brown paint to create a rusted, old, metal look. I got all their bases up to the same level also.

Kiwi layer on the skins.

Next I used Leadbelcher liberally over the brown metal areas, and I think this turned out great as it creates the illusion that those big weight balls really are metal (and to be fair three of them really are...).

Balls of metal.

The ropes were fun to do. They were painted with a layer of Mourning Brown followed by a layer of Averland Sunset. 

 

Averland Sunrise on the ropes.

Next I washed Agrax Earthshade over the ropes to tone it all down a bit, and I think this worked well.

Ink washed ropes.

With hope, and a bit of focus, I should be able to get these guys finished soon, but I think that's what I said last time too...we'll see!

Fanatics! (Part 1)

Do you remember equis tyranus? If not, go check it out. In that WFB battle The Bob 's High Elves kicked the tar out of my Orcs and Gobos but not without losing a few elves in the process, thanks mostly to my Fanatics. I declared in the wrap-up that battle report that I needed some more. Soon after that declaration, I found three very old miniatures on Ebay that I thought would fit the bill nicely.

Fanatic reinforcements.

After I gritted up their bases, it was time to prime them. I opted not to strip the paint off of the one model that had a green base coat and his metal ball painted like an 8 ball as these were fairly thin coats and not really worth the effort. I just took them outside and primed them in Chaos Black.

 Base coated.

Next I added the Caliban Green to the skin to form the base coat. The next layer after that was Goblin Green.

Following this was a thick liberal wash of my ork skin ink mix. Again, this is green and yellow ink mixed to a color similar to anti-freeze and thinned with a little bit of water.

The wash stage...

And... that's as far as I managed to get so far. Things are still a bit slow in the hobby side of my life, but I hope to get these guys completed by the New Year despite the challenges before me...

Equis Tyranus

Equis Tyranus charges thru the Orc lines.

As I sorta prefaced in my previous post, The Bob and I played Warhammer Fantasy Battle 8th Edition this past weekend. This was my first game in about a decade, and it has been a long time for Bob also, so we were treating this game as a bit of a refresher. It was a standard 2k pitched battle.  Despite the rusty rules knowledge, I went in with an open mind and a desire to push these greenskins as hard as I could.

I brought 2k points consisting of:

• A Black Orc Warboss
• Orc Shaman (Lvl 2)
• Night Goblin shaman (Lvl 2) AKA Oddgob
• Big Uns
• Arrer Boyz
• Boyz with twin choppas
• Snottlings
• Trolls (7 of them!)
• 2 stands of spear/shield Night Gobos
• Night Gobos with shortbows
• 3 Fanatics, one hidden in each Night Gobo unit 
• Forest Gobos on Giant Spiders
• And a Boar Chariot

Waaagh Neverness assembled.

Bob tinkered on getting a list he thought would work for reintroducing me to certain situations that occur in WFB, and this is what he brought.

• A mounted Prince
• A lvl 1 Mage
• Silver Helms
• Dragon Princes
• Sword Masters
• Seaguard
• Archers
• White Lions

The elves gather.

I place my Warboss with the Big Uns, the Orc Shaman with the other Boyz unit, and the Gobo Shaman with a Night Gobo Unit. Bob put his Prince with the Silver Helms and left the Mage unattached.

The armies deploy.

Orcs Turn 1.

Amazingly, none of my units gave in to animosity. Most of my units moved forward, some faster than others, in an effort to engage the fearsome High Elves before them. The chariot whipped the boars in a full throttle boost towards the High Lines.

"Waaaargh! Fasta!!!"

The only action on my turn that resulted in a fatality was one of the Gobo Shaman's spells (Vindictive Glare) snuffed out an Archer.

High Elves Turn 1

Bob returned that insult and the Archers shot a volley into the Gobo Shaman's unit slaying 6 of the gits.

His Seaguard fired a volley into the Boar Chariot that was rampaging towards them putting a wound on it.

All in all, it was a fairly soft opening of the game...

End of Turn 1 state of the battle.

Orcs Turn 2

More maneuvers performed with the stupid Trolls actually moving where I wanted them to go. The Spider Riders failed their charge on the Silver Helms but the Snottlings that I sent in to support them actually make it in!

Snotings engage the Silver Helms.

Guess who won that enounter? (I hope you didn't say "the Snottlings"...)

Snottlings run away from the Silver Helms.

The Chariot impacts into the Swordmasters wiping out a whole rank from the impact hits. However the speedy elves are quick to bring down their blades, destroying the chariot swiftly and abruptly.

Chariot impacts the Swordmasters! 

High Elves Turn 2

Showing her magic muscles, the High Elf Mage cast Soul Quench at the Trolls with Irresistible Force! Killing a Troll. She detonated as a result but since no one was in base-to-base with her no one died (much to the relief of Bob).

The Silver Helms led by the Prince charged the Spider Riders. The Prince challenged the Spider Riders Champ and slew him. The other Spider Riders were defeated but they ran far enough away to avoid being ran down.

If spiders were really this big,..

 I bet they would be deadlier than they are in this game.

The Dragon Princes moved in on the Night Goblins only to find the first of the Fanatics.  After that frenzied interlude 2 of the Dragon Princes were dead!

"But I'm your biggest fan!"

The three remaining Dragon Princes easily routed the Night Gobos but they elected not to pursue them.

"They clean with soap?! Run away! Run away!"

Orcs Turn 3

Failing their animosity test, the Night Goblin Archers charged the Seaguard. ("Idiots!" I declared in disappointed awe). The other two Fantaics were released, one went toward the Archers while the other, emerging from the charging Night Gobo Archers, towards the White Lions. The one that crashed through the White Lions destroyed a whole rank as it took out 6 of them! The one Night Gobo Archer unit that attempted to charge the Seaguard lost 7 grots to shooting, paniced, and routed!

The Big Uns, led by the Black Orc Warboss, charged the Dragin Princes. The the Princes were defeated by the raging Orcs. The Warboss challenged the Champion and bashed him to death but not without taking two wounds himself!

The Warboss wins the duel! 

High Elves Turn 3

Set up for a perfect side flank charge, the Silver Helms charged the Trolls. The Sword Masters charge the Orc Boyz with twin weapons, and the Lions charge the unit of Gobos who have yet to run away.

Charge of the Elves! 

Magic phase results in another successful Soul Quench killing 4 Arrer Boyz causing them to panic and flee. The White Lions paste the Gobos with ease and over run into the Gobo Shaman killing him also.

In the middle of the table, the Swordmasters and the Orcs have a tied combat!

Big bash in the middle of the table! 

The Silver Helms and Prince engage the Trolls flank. They fail to wound the Trolls thanks to their Regeneration. The Trolls are fairly ineffective in turn. The Silver Helms horses however inflict two wounds killing an already wounded Troll which forces a Break Test. A Break Test against Initiative of 4. Which after modifers would require that I roll 2 ones on 2d6. Of course I botch that and these Trolls bolt it out of there. What do I roll on 2d6 for their flee distance? A two. A frick'n two when I absolutely needed that a moment before! The Silver Helms easily ran the Trolls down.

I was utterly beside myself and my morale was genuinely crushed.

Silver Helms trample over the Trolls and sight their next target.

Orcs Turn 4

It was tough to continue after that, I wanted to fold. Over half of my living army was in route and the High Elves seemed unstoppable. But I pressed on. The Goblins on the table edge failed to rally and bolted off the table. The Arrer Boyz and Spider Riders did rally, which was a refreshing turn.

The Fanatics rampage through the enemy lines again, killing 3 Archers and 6 Seaguard!

The Big Un's charged the White Lions. My Warboss issued a challenge to their unit champion which he accepted. The Warboss slaughtered the White Lion champ with ease however the faster White Lions massacred the Big Uns leaving only one survivor and the Warboss.

Big Uns cherge the White Lions.

The big tussel in the center continues as Sword Masters and Orcs whittle each other down. The Sword Masters actually lose combat but do not Break thanks to the proximity of their army's battle standard ("cor...we need one of doze!" Says the befuddled Orc Shaman..)

They just won't run!

High Elves Turn 4

Having lost way too many elves to the Fanatics, the Archers and the Seaguard shoot the fanatics to death ending their threat once and for all. 

The White Lions finish off the Warboss and the last Big Un.

The tussle in the center continues as the Orcs crush the surviving Swormasters but still take more losses due to the arrival of the Silver Helms crashing into their flank. Again, it was those hits from the steads that were the deciding element The Orcs don't break (by some miracle) but there is simply no way they were going to survive another round. 

The Silver Helms triumphant!

We called the game at this point, despite having rallied some units, I doubted that they could effectively do any more than harass the High Elves. Clearly the Orc battle line was shattered and we were now in the mopping up stages.

Battlefield overview. 

With that epiphany, the High Elves take the day!

All-in-all, we had a good time. My lack of recall on certain rule elements and tactics regarding the Night Goblins and the Trolls (especially the Trolls!) Cost more greenskin lives that could have been otherwise prevented. I say that, but...my dice.

The Fanatics impressed me more than I thought they would and clearly I need more. But only if I stick with the Goblins. It's really Orcs that I need more of as they aren't only a bit tougher and more effective in combat but their Leadership is better. Bob was suggesting that I acquire some Black Orcs, but making additional purchases for this game is something I am hesitant to do at this stage but I shall ponder upon the notion further...

The High Elves were awesome against this army. I was especially impressed with the Silver Helms who were just so tough to kill. And his damned horses...in our post game discussion we named the one that routed the Trolls: Equis Tyranis.

We'll see what happens when we try it again...

Night Gobos

The only fully painted Night Goblin.

Here is something that may seem a bit out of left-field to regular readers of this blog: I am working on a Fantasy army! And specifically, an army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle! Ah, I hear your collective gasps, stammers and befuddled responses of "But you're a 40k player!" And yes, I am, but some of you may recall that a few years ago I was working on a Fantasy Orc army and that seemed to climax with the completion of da-leada-of-da-waaargh. I did not progress any further due to the announcement at the time of Age of Sigmar. I paused to see what would come of that, and with it's subsequent release, I found it wanting and highly discouraging. As a result I put away all my WFB armies and focused on my 40k stuff instead.

Enter The Bob. The Bob had almost the same reaction to 40K 8th ed as I have had with AoS, and has turned his attention back to Warhammer Fantasy and has been sending me pics of his work in progress. Mostly on his High Elves and Dark Elves. They look great!

A Dark Elf pic Bob sent me. 

Needless to say, I was enticed. I started brushing off my WFB 8th ed books and even tracked a few down that didn't have in case we did get serious.

Gray Goblins.

I exhumed my army and began to access what I had. There was quite a bit, and pretty much all the orcs were at least base coated whereas the Gobos were still bare plastic!

Basing material applied and ready for priming.

I wanted to put our game on this blog, but didn't want to see that much bare plastic in the photos, so I did what I could to get them (at the very least) basecoated before we play.

You have a long way to go mates.

You might have noticed from these pics that I only have the one painted Night Goblin:

 Back in 2015 I did a showcase on the fully painted Night Goblin that you see in these pics. I really like him and I recall how quick it was paint him up. I would like to get all these WFB greenskins done, just to have at least one finished Fantasy army, even if we rarely play ever play it.

Basecoated and battle-ready! 

What has to be a record for me, I have managed to assemble and basecoat 60 Night Goblins in approximately a week!

Volley time!

So how will I do when we meet?  Will The Bob steamroller me? Will my Gobos fold like paper when faced with a worthy foe? Stay tuned my friends...

A Runt, a Squig and a Gobo

Left to right: The Runt, the Squig and the Gobo

Pretty simple title to this post, as it was a pretty simple undertaking. While working on my Orcs, I came across these three models that were still just half painted, and with the way I have my painting station organized now, it's  a lot easier to focus on getting models like this done. So I dedicated myself to getting these 3 models completed. It also helped that there might've been a few snow days with little else to do.

The RUNT
 An ammo runt more specifically. This was the first model like this ever produced by GW, and he is exactly as the name implies: an overworked gun caddy. I am unsure what possessed me to single him our for a paint job back in the late spring of 2012, but on that day I based coated him along with a box set of Fenrisian Wolves whose paws you can spot in the pic below.

The day of base-coating: 6/3/2012

The boss

 I got him from Warfrog along with an assortment of random Rogue Trader era Orks he simply didn't have the time or patience to ebay off.  This model was sold in a blister along with an Ork Warboss (the tab simply says 'the boss') model. He was a big Ork back then, but not too terribly inspiring even back then. I do like that Marine helmet that his foot's on though. Anyway, the pic is included over on the right.

The backside, showing the ammo clips that are adding to his weight

I always thought the best part of this pair was the over worked gretchin, He's miserable in his unyielding loyalty to his cruel master, he carries on no matter how encumbered The Boss makes him. He has a chain dangling from his throat, perhaps used more as a leash than as a means to keep him in place. Seriously, GW, this little sculpt deserves to be in the 'Hall of Fame' that you do in White Dwarf. This model clearly inspired a line of Gretchin Assistants during Warhammer 40,000's 2nd edition, and carries on to this day as add-on bitz on select ork sprues. I feel this grot, out shines and out lasts the master he was sculpted to serve.

In fact just last week I used him in a game!

My finished paint job.

The SQUIG. 
This is the attack squig that goes to the metal (currently "finecast") Ork Warlord. I removed him from my Warboss so I could convert a Power Klaw on to him. But I wasn't about to toss out the Squig! I was very careful at the time to slowly remove the attack squig. Eventually I attached him to a base and started dabbling on him some time in 2013. And now, with a bit of focus, he is done!

Say Awwww!

 \

The GOBBO.
This single night goblin came free in White Dwarf when Warhammer Fantasy 7th edition came out. I painted him as a test model for the rest of my Goblin army. He painted up super quick (as far as actual time painting is concerned) and I like the results.

Night Goblin

 

Here's hoping there is more to come on the Night Goblin front. The sheer number of them though is a bit daunting to say the least. Still, it's cool to have this one guy to lead the proverbial charge.