An Ogre and interchangeable bases

I love this range of Ogres and have been looking forward to painting some from my pile for a while, but I didn't quite have the courage or convictioon that I could do them justice yet. I seem to have got my painting confidence back so I had a go with the intention attempting natural skin colours rather those I have been creating recently for my Nurgle miniatures:

I used some Reikland wash from GW with a touch of washing up liquid to help it flow over the white undercoat. I used several washes of this to build up the skin tone and then worked in some layered highlights. Some blue/brown glazes were applied to the areas of chest hair and stubble.

I couldn't resist some stripes on his pyjama bottoms. He is a bit vain in that he has to have a matching bicep bracelet too, but these ogres are mercanaries and will fight for such things. I quite like his cow-skin ankle-warmers too.

So this guy will be one of four for my Lost and Damned retinue table challenge (the other 3 are on my painting desk, primed) but I had a think about how I could actually use them on the table. I decided that eventually they will grow into a small mercanary force with commander and as stated, would fight for anyone. I then realised that one day, I may move onto another army after my Nurgle one is complete (possibly O&G or Undead) and that I would probably use a different basing system for those armies, therefore my Mercanary Ogres would need to have bases to match....

Furthermore I also have a desire to make my own HeroQuest board and use my miniatures to play that with my son (when he's old enough). So my solution, magnets:

 So far it seems to be working fine. It took a bit of time to align the magnets on his feet and on the base and even more time to make the bases, the latter of which is obviously my HeroQuest idea. He's pretty secure, but I won't be holding him upside-down anytime soon. He can be removed and replaced quite easily.

My only concern is whether the glue holding the magnets will stay strong enough as the bond between the magnets seems to be just as strong. Time will tell and next time I may try to use an epoxy rather than superglue.....

Retinue Table: Chaos Warrior

For this entry in the Lost and the Damned warbands retinue table, there is a chance you could roll a Thug, a Marauder or a badass Chaos Warrior. So for the sake of completeness with my self-imposed challenge, I have painted one of each.

First up is the lowly Chaos Thug whose Chaotic bent has given him a slightly better weapon skill and initiative than mere human fighters. I love the unique and dynamic pose of this miniature:

I like his wild eyed stare, even if the overall paint job isn't my best (or the photo). The swamp reeds are just old brush bristles cut to size and superglued together in a clump. I've attempted a little freehand tattoo on his arm to break up the pale skin and I've also had a go at using the old citadel transfers on the shield and then painted over them with some highlights to jazz them up a bit:

Next up is the Marauder. Now I don't believe any models were released for Marauder's per se, so I've used a Chaos Warrior that didn't look to have gone too far down the path of damnation (ie. no mutations or chaos armour). Again he has a nice dynamic pose:

I've used a lot of my rust effect on him which I think works quite well on all the armoured areas and I've stuck an unwanted Mantic zombie head on his shield.

And then there's the Chaos Warrior himself; a classic Champion of Nurgle from that great range of sculpts (Jez Goodwin?). Not such a dynamic pose, but loads of character. He received a plastic orc shield with the orcish emblem carved off the back to have a simple, square wooden shield again with some fly transfers added in the Nurgle triangle:

Here on his armour I've extensively used layers of yellow ink as glazes over the white basecoat. But before I did that I painted on a layer of crackle paint onto the armour which gives the slight craking effect you can just about make out. After my yellow glazes I applied a very thin wash of green/brown over the armour which sits in the recesses of the cracks and helps define them.

I like the contrasts between the yellows, the greened armour and the rust on the sword. The jewels on his sword came out well too (I had to follow a little online tutorial).

Finally the three Chaos warriors together, visually showing the journey a servant of Chaos will travel as he progresses through the ranks of Nurgle:

Out of interest which shield do you like the best (if any!)?



Retinue Table: D6 Orcs (and the end of Orctober for me)

I finally managed to get the final 3 orcs painted, just about in time for the month end of Orctober, and to complete the D6 Orcs entry on the Lost and the Damned retinue table.

For these 3 I wanted to create some old school shields with a bit of greenstuff, some beads and seeds for eyes and warts - and I ended up with these 3 shields (strongly based on Kev Adam's and Fraser Gray's designs from the 80's):

And here are the three of them with a finished paint job:

I've stuck with my usual paint scheme for the skin (graveyard earth, brown wash, graveyard earth plus increasing amounts of rotting flesh to highlight, then a fine glaze with green ink) but tried to use a bright range of colours for their outfits rather than getting bored with different brown and leather tones.

 For the rust I've been experimenting with a boltgun metal basecoat some highlights with chainmail and then a chestnut / brown ink wash. The rust is a dry oxide pigment with a touch of matt medium to keep it together, just dabbed onto the metal.

And here are the final 6, led by Spike the Feared:

What I would like to do next with my Greenskins is to make a Warband, using Erny's excellent Orc Warband generator (http://ernysplace.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/warlor-battle-in-badlands-guidelines.html) and eventually make an Allied Force to accompany my growing Nurgle Army.... One day, one day......

Retinue Table: D6 Goblins (Blag's Unnamed and Rusty)

As usual I seem to jump between several projects and even though it is Orctober (and I still have 3 unifinshed Orcs for the warband that need to be completed) I couldn't resist the allure of finishing some of my favourite Marauder Goblins to add to my Lost and The Damned Retinue table challenge.

Here's the leader of the group, Blag the Sure, threatening all with his might and courage, in the hope that one may step forward and challenge him - even if he only a level 5. (He has yet to be in a challenge, but he feels ready).

Oozit the Tricksta (quite possibly one of my favourite ever Goblin sculpts - he looks so menacing and grumpy) is an Illlusionist Goblin Shaman, seen here getting angry as one of his comrades interrupts his preparation to cast Illusion of Foe:

 And the rest of the warband, the Unnamed and Rusty. They know how to try and intimidate their foes (it's all bravado) and they only half believe in strength of numbers:

And a group shot of the 6 Goblins of Blag's The Unnamed and the Rusty, ready to be called into action by any self-respecting Nurgle Champion for his retinue or Orc General for part of his mercenary contingent:



When I've finished the other 3 Orcs (maybe this weekend) I'll post a group shot of the completed Orctober Orc & Goblin Warband....

Orctober - some actual painted greenskins!

I've actually managed to get some Orcs painted! First up is Thrakk One-Eye, an interesting sculpt of a cyclops orc with a magical, fire-forged sword:

He's joined in his brutality by Morag Troll Basher with his rusty flail and three pronged helm that he uses to charge, head first into his opponents (hence why it is twisted and assymetrical).

Here you can see his prized, yellow shoulder pad:



And here are the first 3 orcs of the warband being led by Spike the Feared. They are lined up for a photograph for you to study, before they wander off into Drakwald Forest and ambush and batter some unsuspecting victims with sword, mace and flail, purely with the intention of bettering their lot and pillaging some better armour, weapons and leather pouches.

 They will soon be joined by 3 more orcs and some goblins too! 

New old Orcs

So I splashed out on a joblot of Orcs on ebay - Orctober has really given me a green fever - and they all needed a bit of the old dettol treatment (I deliberately included the green splashback in the background to add to the green vibe!):

I love the expression of one of the few goblins in there! The next evening I'd managed to do some cleaning and I've chosen these three to be the next to joint the warband:

I love the extended lower jaw and protruding teeth of the orc on the left and the angled head of the spear wielding orc on the right. And every orc warband needs an Error Boy too!

In between all this preparation I've also made some progress with painting some Orcs, I just need finish the bases. I'll get those done and photographed over the weekend.

ps. does anyone have any suggestions as to where I can source 25mm slotta bases, in particular straight rather than diagonal slotta? I've run out and ebay sellers don't seem to provide or sell any from my searches... Many thanks in advance.

Orctoberfest - my last O&G army

Erny's excellent Orctober plan (http://ernysplace.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/orctober.html) has given me an opportunity to show off my old (2006?) Orc and Goblin army that I linked to in my last post. But rather than have you troll through lots of pages in a link, I thought I'd share the models on here, seeing as this is my little part of the web an all.

I've only ever "completed" two armies, this being the second one, but both of which were of the O&G variety and both of which have since been sold on :(. So forgive my indulgence but I'd quite like to show them off here:

Warboss Azbo:

Even before I knew of "Oldhammer" I was rockin' old school shield designs.

And here is after all the converting, greenstuffing and kitbashing. He was huge....

My BSB, Garthong the Angry:

Shaman, Ummblatt:

Shaman, Ahhwhizz:

The Black Orcs



The Big Uns:

The Boyz:

Chariots:

Night Goblins:

Wolfboyz:

Scratchbuilt rocklobba:

Ansd some army shots of the boyz together:

That feels better and partly sates my desire to share my love and connections with all things Orc, which seems to be a good reason for Orctober.

So expect all my posts this month to be focused on the Greenskins as I move from my past relationship with into my future dealings with them (albeit using models from the past..) I'm resisting the urge to say Waa.....