Monstrous challenge

The final Theme challenge round in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge in 2018 was... MONSTROUS. I went back to where I started and completed the brother/cousin/relative of the Demon I painted at the start. I also completed a MOM Miniatures Stone Golem for my Dwarf army. Both of these monsters are for my 'Kings of War' collections.

Painting these also ties in with the Monster March challenge.

These Monsters are both on 50mm square bases. Including the bases they are around 100mm high.

No Goblins to post this week but stand by for future additions to that army.

Cheers from Brendon

Goblin Sharpsticks Legion for Kings of War

This enormous unit is based on the dimensions required for a 'Legion' in 'Kings of War'. A 'Legion' is symbolic of 60 infantry. Like the previous Sharpsticks Horde I went with some base filling with a crazy idea to include a leader Goblin in a chariot. I had spotted two wheels and two side pieces in my bit's that I had kept from long ago and thought these would be perfect for a scratch built giant spider pulled Chariot and this was the project for those bits. The great aspect about being involved in a Challenge is to sometimes do exactly that. Challenge myself to try something.
My initial idea was a small chariot pulled by a single spider. However I dove into construction and ended up with a small but wide platform. In retrospect I knew immediately if I had made the angle less it would look more like a single animal pulled chariot but, this was try as I go building and not much planning involved apart from a quick sketch to cement my brain wave. Perhaps even taking some of the length of the side pieces would have shrunk it as well. So change of plan to make it a two spider pulled boss chariot. I found some more bits and added the wheel blades and the front pointy piece. Everything else on the chariot is just sprue carved up and the platform is a Renedra base. The Chariot rider is a converted plastic Goblin who did have a small Squig instead of a shield and a sickle type blade that went on a previously completed Spider rider. I decided that two gong bashing noise makers walking behind this Chariot to announce his presence would fit the bill.
I hope the presence of the chariot does not confuse people as to what this unit really is. Goblins with spears and shields....and lots of them. That's unit number five completed for project Goblin Army.

 

 

The term for the size of this unit (Legion) Reminds me of a 'KREATOR' songs lyrics....
"We are LEGION! United in Hate!"
So go and play some high quality German Thrash Metal.

Cheers from Brendon

Goblin Cavalry and a Wizard

Hello. Another installment of my Goblin Army in progress.

This is a Goblin Fleabag Riders, 'Regiment' for Kings of War. Based on a Plastic Mantic unit tray. I added rocks, sand, paint and flock of course. I also added a Perry plastic shield and a small Renedra Barrel to add interest and more detail to find. Originally I planned for the Boss looking dude to be at the front atop the same two rocks but I changed my mind and went for four across the front instead.
The leader was a regular Skull Pass Games Workshop Night Goblin but I shortened the spear and gave him the big sickle moon weapon just for fun.

Here is the first Hero. A Goblin Wizard with a golden cauldron filled with Mushrooms and a Grim Reaper looking puppet that bursts to life with nasty Lightning Bolts. In game terms he is only 45 points. A bargain perhaps. I am going to complete another one using the same figure but with some minor conversion and color variation. The Evil Twins. 

About time I added these up for a Kings of War army list.

Fleabag Riders Horde 255

Fleabag Riders Regiment 145

Spitters Horde 140

Sharpsticks Legion 230

Wix 45

Total:  815 points 

Cool! Puts me well on the way to Goblin Domination!

Cheers From Brendon

Goblin Cavalry Horde for Kings of War

Hello. The Goblin Army expands with unit 3 completed.
This unit was a long time in the making as I started this more than a decade ago for Warhammer but abandoned it shortly after starting.
The Barrels on the unit base are from Renedra and the Dwarf (and Hammer) is from Mantic and the unit tray is plastic also from Mantic but the stones are from my yard (painted over of course).
The Dwarf is painted to match my Dwarf Army. One day they will face the Goblin threat in a game.....one day.
This unit felt like it took longer than previous units. Perhaps that was because of the uncomfortable feeling of painting some of the older Spider Riders that I had glued to the Spiders. Any cavalry is easier by not having the rider attached to the mount when painting.

One of the interesting aspects of the Goblin Army is that in my on-line readings players consider all units expendable and no unit is the stand out threat. As scary as this unit looks (especially to those who don't like spiders at all) it's in all likelihood not very tough.

Hopefully another unit gets added soon.
Cheers from Brendon.

Goblin Legion

For Kings of War this is a 'Legion' of Goblins. The second unit for my Goblin army project.
 'Legion' size is a foot print representation of 60, 20mm square based infantry.
I manged to get 32 Infantry painted but also 2 x giant spider rider cavalry to help fill the enormous base. A future goal is to complete another Legion as it's Goblins and that means quantity.
The spider cavalry is a preview of what will be completed next.
There is room for more Goblins on this base and I may place some more but I will wait till I am closer to having more of the army completed to see just how far I can stretch my collection.

You may have noticed the Spiders have hairy bodies. This was achieved by gluing flock onto them. I was not a fan of the Skull pattern sculpted onto some of the spiders so this covers that up.
Originally I had painted them black with red stripes but I wanted to get away from the Black usually associated with GW Night Goblins. The Spiders originally came with 'Forest Goblins' but I want my Army to be mostly the same hood wearing Goblins. Gloss varnish on the Spiders fangs and eyes adds a little visual interest on them.

Not the best photos but they generally portray the real thing. Probably too much contrast with the rocks ending up too bright.

Cheers from Brendon

Goblin archer horde

These old Games Workshop Goblins are my first foray into building them again but for Kings of War instead of Warhammer. I have a few in my original collection but have sometimes added some from Facebook or ebay purchases when I get the Goblin acquisition bug. 

After returning from a holiday all my plans and prepared miniatures for the Painting Challenge had practically been forgotten so I strangely just started a new project which included a bit of prep work like cutting off old bases and the slotta tabs from these Goblins. Of course any new (2nd hand) purchase require flash and mold line removal as well. 

I really wanted to try Goblins with a different skin tone than the Disney witchy poo bright green that is usually associated with them. I reached for Vallejo Green-Grey and stuck with it. I also wanted to avoid the usual black clothing for these formerly 'Night Goblins'. Now they are just Goblins. 

I painted these in a batch wargame style and did not pay any or much attention to detailing or highlights. base paint and wash with Army Painter Soft Tone seeming to work better than Dark Tone. The un-hooded leader probably had more skin treatment that the rank and file and I did an attempt at rust on a few items.

The end result meant that the contrast between skin and clothing is often on the low side. Not a negative really just interesting to see the end result. I am pleased with the final outcome and it's made me eager to get more units done. 

Not the best photos but they convey how they look for the most part.

Cheers from the Monsoon soaked Top End of Australia. Brendon

Big winged Demon number 1

This plastic Games Workshop Demon is one of two that will be 'Count as' units for my Kings of War Varangur Army. His skin is basically three colours with a little dark tone wash. Black Primed, German Grey, Luftwaffe Uniform (a very blueish grey colour) and London Grey (a light grey)...all Vallejo paints.

He sits on a 50mm square base with Rocks from my garden. Super gluing his feet to the stones was probably the most difficult aspect of this miniature but generally speaking painting this dude was probably quicker than some 28mm detailed infantry with more colours. Behind you can see the Varangur army starting to grow with the previously completed 'Sons of Korgan' units.
I submitted this big Winged Demon to Analogue Hobbies Paint Challenge bonus theme round 'Flight'.

Cheers from Brendon

Sons of Korgan for Kings of War

This is the second unit of Sons of Korgan for my Varangur Army for Kings of War. Just like the first unit these are old GW plastic Chaos Warriors. Some are from my very old Chaos Warhammer army and some are new purchases from Facebook. The unit tray is Mantic plastic with sand and some rocks from my yard. I should have enough to create another unit in the future but I may need to get some more Mantic unit trays into my hobby stocks. I managed to get these submitted to the Analogue Hobbies Paint challenge number 8 just prior to flying out to Bali for an amazing Holiday. Been back for a few days now but having typical back to work and routine adjustment problems. I am yet to pick up a brush! This is not a travel blog but I had a great time in Bali and went to some places I had not yet explored. If you want to see some of what I saw there I have an Instagram account (the_brendonius).

Cheers from Brendon

Sons of Korgan with two handed weapons

For my Varangur Kings of War Army here is a Regiment of old Games Workshop plastic Warhammer Chaos Warriors.
Some of these old miniatures have had a do-over while others are from a recent Facebook purchase so some had a total new paint job and build. The ones I painted a long time ago I wasn't that satisfied with them so it was good to have them revived back to life. I had to remove most from the singular basing as well to get them on one Multibase. The base is a Mantic plastic unit base.
My painting time on these was rather quick compared to historical miniatures. Detail can get lost among the unit and so can simple mistakes so less care is needed perhaps. The detail is fairly bold as well as the scale is Heroic.....large hands, large feet, small heads and super huge weapons.
I broke from tradition and placed the converted unit standard at the back of the unit. I completed another unit as well and will post that in the future.

Cheers from Brendon

Creating a unit of 'The Fallen' for Kings of War

This is a small project I had in mind a while back but have taken forever to get around to actually starting. It's been a while since I painted anything but I have been doing a fair bit of building miniatures and prep work recently.

Who are The Fallen? A unit option for a 'Kings of War' 'Varangur' army. Varangur are Evil demon/god worshipers. Kind of like Chaos in the world of Warhammer.
The options for this unit is as a Regiment or a Horde size. A Regiment is 3 miniatures and a Horde is 6. The rules allow to model less figures than 6 and even though I had 6 miniatures in mind I could keep one aside for a Hero option (Cursed Son). No product line exists that I am aware which is kinda cool as the imagination can cut loose on what to use.
Reading the paragraph of background fluff I get this......Blah Blah Blah deadly warriors...blah blah blah..loose formations....blah blah... hefty glaives.....
In the Stats they are Height 1 (Human height), and have a Speed of 8inches which makes them 3 inches faster than regular humans. Looking at the options my Varangur force is going to need some faster moving units.
I thought that these Warmachine Doom Reavers I painted a while back are a great fit for 'The Fallen'.
They have the movement, Giant Glaives, and a kind of crazy evil feel about them.The Stats have Defence at 5+ which is rock hard but I guess getting past a giant spinning sword is hard and also in a fantasy world magic can be used to explain anything. Even though Warmachine is 32mm scale (I think) the larger scale actually helps this unit of magic infused crazy lunatics.
Alternatively if the force was modeled from Historical Vikings a unit of Berserkers would look the part as well. Maybe I will do that in the future (another purchase).

 Above. I did briefly consider basing them on 40mm bases but decided nope opting for the single large base instead. 

Base cut down Mantic plastic unit tray. These bases come with a lip that actually makes them a little bigger than the Rule book base size so sliced them off. I had to trim and file down the lip in the middle zone. This tray was made for standard 20mm units at 5 across which is shorter than 3 x 40mm. Mantic make these at Large Infantry size now. Perhaps I should get some.

Removing the Miniatures from bases involved a strong pair of scissors to snip them one side of the slot. They came apart easy after that with no parts broken. As you can see one side of the Mantic trays has a nice texture.

Removing the slot plug from the feet did result in a sword snap off and also a leg at the knee but was easily super glued back together. I used blister pack packing foam to help avoid paint lose but it didn't save the breaks from my clumsiness. Most gamers would recommend pinning the feet to the base but the feet are actually fairly wide. I have placed them above to visualize final placement but the middle dude is glued to a rock.

Now they are all glued to the base. I have nudged some small rocks next to some feet to try and help them stay attached to the base.

Here they are after the sand has dried with the lone 'Cursed Son' on his 25mm x 25mm base. I may add even more rocks before painting the base. It is most likely that I will paint over the Red Armour as well with black. Red is the faction colour for Warmachine. I will also change the hair colour of the unmasked individual as well to black. The blond just does not contrast well against the skin tones.

Cheers for now
From Brendon

Ogre Oldhammer Flashback

Came across these old Games Workshop Ogres in the depths of my Mancave. Painted a long time back they have some interesting skin tones that if I painted them now they would look very different.
These would have been painted with Games Workshop paints which I don't use now.
These ugly dudes have a lot of character even today and they are all metal.

The basing was natural sand unpainted with a few tiny areas of flock grass. From memory I made a standard for this unit which had it's on pile of rocks to make it free standing and was placed on the grey flat rocks of the front row middle Ogre. That Ogre I am sure is a Blood Bowl character who I added the two severed heads. I added the bell on the chain as well which would have been for the inclusion of a unit Musician.

I am not sure but Oldhammer experts may be able to confirm this or not.....the Ogre with the shaggy hair and goat horns may have been an Ogre Shaman.
With the inclusion of the Purple colour that I seemed to have used a lot back in my Warhammer Chaos days these may have been for inclusion of my Chaos fantasy army. The unit tray was a homemade cut and paste job. Hmmmmm. I could actually re-base these for Kings of War and only use four of them to represent the same size unit of six.

I am currently very slowly cleaning out my Mancave to make way for human occupation again. It will become a bedroom as it was a long while back when someone returns to the nest. I will have a work station located elsewhere so it shouldn't cease productivity. Well.......hopefully not too much.

Cheers from Brendon