Goblinoid Combat Cards: Ulg Bonechewer

Ulg Bonechewer; not quite an Orc for the end of Orctober, but a Goblinoid none-the-less. 

He really will need all that WS 9 to be able to wield that massive flail

As I work my way through recreating the Goblinoid Combat Cards, I decided it was time to do a little converting (it's been a while) and so I hunted down a Grom's Bodyguard Goblin (which seems to have been the base model for the original conversion) and with the addition of a few plastic bits and some greenstuff I put together this fella.

He seems suitably armoured for a Goblin Chieftan and more importantly has that wicked, sneering grin that I associate with the early Goblin sculpts. I used my normal Goblinoid skin recipe, even though I was very tempted to go Goblin Green for the shield head as a throwback to the original model and rushed through a pretty swift paint job. Done! Enjoy!

Gravestones

 I’m on a bit of a scenery roll at the moment; lots of partly completed projects are being addressed and here is the next of these. A couple of sprue worth of Renedra gravestones, plus some old/new Citadel, a few left over Mantic ones and a Reaper Bones statue, gave me quite a few to paint! I decided to base them in both multiples of two and three as well as individually (all into plasticard) so that I can arrange them in a variety of configurations for the Cemetery that I've just finished painting. I'll set it all up on my table later, but for now here’s the gravestones (plus a few guests...)

A Cemetery for Halloween

I found and then quickly sold a load of old Magic the Gathering cards to my local gaming store the other day (there were quite a few rares in the collection) and decided to use some of my new funds to buy a bit of new plastic scenery (well, new for me at any rate). Apart from a toy castle that I painted up, all the rest of my scenery is scratchbuilt, so it was a bit of a novelty in buying the Garden of Morr plastic box set and go about putting it together and painting it. It is however a surprisingly joyous set; I love the modularity of it and the sculpts are crisp and clean and sensible. Perhaps apart from the amount of skulls embedded in the walls, these were a pain in the arse to paint.

The whole set was spray coated black and then zenithal highlighted from above with some white spray. I then used multiple washes and drybrushes to bring the details to life and finally a fair bit of weathering too, again with washes of greens and browns. I just applied that GW corrosion paint straight over the undercoat for the roofs. I completed all the painting in an afternoon! Pretty speedy for me.

Next up I'll be adding some gravestones and set it all up on my table..

Orctober - Giant Orc Chief and Bodyguard

A 1986 Citadel Flyer introduces a Giant Orc Chief and his Bodyguard (LE11) to the public and some 32 years later I’ve got to put some paint on them. I never owned this pair back in the 80’s and only purchased these in my attempt to collect all the miniatures from the Citadel Goblinoid Combat Card range. I didn’t love them before I painted them, but you kinda get intimate with the lead when handling it delicately for a few hours as you turn the plain metal cast into a character. And I’ve now fallen for the couple.

I often think about the sculptors intentions when they made these models, as I paint. Was he given a brief to make these two characters, was there a bigger picture (perhaps some scenario to play them with) or were they purely two orcs sculpted and subsequently put together and the theme added later? I always assumed that the horned character is the Orc chief, but he’s hardly giant or imposing enough to be a chief. The supposed bodyguard is just the same size and has a much sterner facial appearance, perhaps there’s been a switch of role here; the chief in disguise? In fact why would such a renowned giant Orc chief even need a bodyguard? Is he worried about an attempt on his life? Does he have lots of enemies within his war host? I can imagine this being the case, just think of all those dastardly orcs (and goblins) sneakily plotting to remove him from the head of the horde. All of this conjecture of course adds to his character and has me yearning to invent some narrative game where the Chief and his bodyguard have to survive the assassination attempts of a variety of foes. Could be an idea for a future BOYL game...

Anyway; to add to the character of these orcs,  I decided to use the influence of Fraser Grey’s style on my shield designs; those puffy, rounded and sleepy faces protruding from the shields have always seemed  apt for these orcs and Grey’s style left a lasting impression on me from seeing his work in early White Dwarfs.