Gone are the tanks and aircraft.
What is left is the evil Goblin hoard that has all but broken my will to paint them, but that is what Goblins are good at, being evil and sneaky.
The background to this madness:
It all started when I joined in a HOTT (Hoards Of The Things) Campaign down at my local wargames club. Despite my not having a 15mm army I became an Orc Chieftain (of Bogland) through a generous donation/loan by the campaign referee. The game was a blast (and is still ongoing) so I came away enthused and charged to do some HOTT fantasy figures of my own. The trouble was that I had a stack of unpainted 20mm LOTR (Lord of the Rings) figures from GW (Games Workshop) and couldn't really justify in my own mind doubling up with an equivalent army of smaller 15mm goblins! Rather than base the LOTR figures individually I would HOTT them in stands, a perfect solution, or was it?
The planned HOTT Moria Goblin Army:
9 x 7Hd (Hoard) = 9 AP
1 x 3Wb (Warband General) = 2 AP
1 x 3Wb (Warband) = 2 AP
1 x Shaman (Cleric) = 3 AP
2 x Troll (Behemoth) = 8 AP
Total 24 AP (Army Points)
Variations:
1 x 4Bw (Shooters) = 2 AP
1 x Balrog (God) = 4 AP
2 x Warg Riders (Riders) = 4 AP (2 AP each)
1 x Gollum (Sneaker/Lurker) = 3 AP or 1 AP
It all started well, I batched my "plastics" up in groups of tens and started off in factory production mode. It became an organised ritual part of the day and the figures stacked up nicely. I even decided to upgrade my hoard numbers from five on a base to seven as I was using the 25mm basing sizes. Five on a base looked like a skirmish formation rather than a seething, dangerous hoard. So far so good and I raced through forty eight plastics in about three to four weeks. Here are the "good" plastic Moria Goblins [Work In Progress = basing + 15 plastics to paint for my Army List]
:)
Then I hit the GW metals and promptly got "metal fatigue". The "bad" Moria Goblins [Work In Progress = highlighting and basing]
:(
They just broke my rhythm and concentration, instead of a set of familiar poses they were all oddly unique. I fought the urge to open up my last packet of plastics as I deemed that would be a severe loss of face in front of the metal Goblins. I stood at an impasse.
By way of distraction I started to tidy up, or not in the case of the Jaguarundi and the late war German stuff took my eye. I started searching on the Internet for an appropriate painting scheme, I fell into some blogs and thought I fancy a go at that. So its time to be "up and at those Goblins" (any inspirational comments appreciated) , watch this space ;)
Note: On the upside, after reading a friends recent post on their wargame blog: http://thewargameshed.blogspot.com/2009/08/jws-reunion.html, l liked what I saw on the creative use of a chessboard for Balin's Tomb. Hence I shall leave a good dozen of the plastics individually based after all for those inevitable AD&D adventure nights with old friends from school.
:)
The chessboard idea was developed by a friend of mine who is always tight for space. It started with a Three Musketeers game inside an inn and he's then tried it for various other periods and scales. Some work better than others and the Balin's Tomb game looks right (or will when he's build the 3D terrain to fit onto the board but the rules and victory conditions need a little work.
ReplyDeleteOh god... you've just reminded me of the thousands of those buggers I have in my wardrobe... a huge number of people bought the first issue of the old Paizo Magazine and then handed the goblins off to me when they realised they didn't care. Then I ended up working for GW and was handed sprue after sprue. Then I won a Mines of Moria box..... *sigh* never getting them all done.
ReplyDeleteScale-wise they're actually 25mil, so your goblins will do pretty well for beefy orcs I think.
Sounds like your wardrobe is becoming the Misty Mountains, the Kingdom of Moria and all ;)
ReplyDeleteSome winters night perhaps, when there is nothing on the Telly ...
Well then I should do some work on my Blood Angels, Tanith First and Only, Aexe Cardinale Trenchers, Number 4 Commando, random miniatures.... you get the idea. Currently I've got a backlog of work stretching about ten years + into the past, and I'm not normally a fast painter. My normal red is 14 stages+....
ReplyDeletelol, I think we all know this story, good luck.
ReplyDeleteHence my concerted effort to paint these Nazi kits that have been lurking in drawers for nearly two decades now :(
So I can move on to Allies stuff :)
On the upside they don't "go off" as such
Given that 25mm Hoards are 5-7 figures I can stretch my figures to make the NINE Hoard bases I need for the army list!
ReplyDelete:)