Shut Your Gobbo

I'm pleased to say I've made a good dent in the first 32 Gobbos for BOYL.These 32 get split into 2 units of 16, the "Bone Mob" and the "Iron Mob". I still need to sort out their shields and this should be done before BOYL2016.

Here's the first 10 who will be members of the "Bone Mob":

They're not Golden Gobbo standard but I'm pretty pleased with them. As usual I'd class them as an acceptable gaming standard and if that's the case I'll defo take that!

Oddly you can see their eyes better in a group shot. I guess that means I've achieved my goal of creating the overall impact not an individual brilliance.

These guys will eventually be a unit from Grom's own tribe - the Broken Axe.The yellow and red colour scheme was inspired by the 4th Edition box cover and I think these are the colours I'm going to make the colours of the Broken Axe.

 

 

 

The next lot are Iron Claw who will be the "Iron Mob" for the purposes of the scenario.

I have to confess, to begin with I wasn't that taken with these minis but after painting them I've completely fallen in love with them. The quirky oddness of the Bob Olley sculpts holds so much character and individuality that they've probably become my favourite Goblin sculpts. They remind me very much of the sort of Goblin look of Jim Henson's Labyrinth. There are a lot more photo's of these ones because they're so close to my heart now.

For these guys I've chosen an orange and blue colour palette for the clothing. This was most inspired by the Goblins wearing the hoods that made me think of the Goblins in the 80's Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. No, not the pig faced Orcs but the hooded Goblins that appeared once in a blue moon. They had random colours schemes so I hope I've paid my homage to them sufficiently.

 

One of the Goblins of the is a standard bearer (in need of a banner) who won't be used in the scenario but I'm hoping to get 8 more painted up than I need that will include command groups and allow me to field 2 units of 20.

Anyhow, that's the the first batch down. Time to crack on with the rest................................


Thanks for reading my musings, if you've gotten this far please take the time to leave a comment.

Watsit all abaut Gromie?

So that you all know what I'm banging on about I thought I'd best give you a quick run down of the scenario in question I'm working on.

The Battle for Maugthrond Pass is the scenario from the Warhammer 4^th edition boxed set and pits High Elves Vs Goblins. The Elves have to defend the Pass of Maugthrond from the Goblin attack.

 

The Elf force is led by Eltharion, an Elf Lord riding a Griffon. Under his command he has two units of Spearmen (one 12 strong and another 8 strong), four units of 5 Archers and a Repeater Bolt Thrower.

"Eltharion" (not yet the Grim) riding the Griffon "Stormwing"

The Goblins are led by Grom the Paunch, a Goblin Warlord riding in a chariot pulled by 3 wolves.  The Army also contains an Orc Master Shamen called Blacktooth riding a Wyvern. Sadly, because the scenario boxed set was released prior to the later released Battle Magic, the Shamen has no spells as such but does have a Staff of Lightning to throw a little magic around with. The Goblin units consist of two units of 16 spear armed Gobbos and 3 of Archers (two 12’s and an 8). They also have a Stone Thrower crewed by 3 Orcs.

"Grom the Paunch" as his "original" concept for 4th edition, the miniature would be slightly different as the driver would be replaced by Nibblit, his trusty Banner Bearer.

 NB: the Eltharion and Grom used in this scenario do not use the special rules for these characters from their respective 4th Edition Army Books.

 

Blacktooth the Orc Shamen mounted on his War Wyvern "Doom Serpent"

Battlefield has a centrally placed village (represented, as usual in this sort of thing, by 1 building.................) with a hill placed north and south on either side of the village along the long edges of the battlefield. One the northern hill is a beacon and a watch tower (confusingly called the east watch tower). On the southern hill is a Magical Standing Stone (Blacktooth's objective is to destroy this stone, if/when he does his magical amulet is activated). There are woods in each corner of the battlefield.

The Goblins deploy on the Eastern table edge (one of the short edges) between the two woods in each corner. Blacktooth does not deploy with the rest of the Goblin Army, he arrives later in the game.

The Elves are even more split with Eltharion and three of the four units of Archers starting the game off the board. The remaining unit of Archers starts on the Northern Hill along with the Bolt Thrower. The Spearmen start in the village. On the Elves first turn only the Northern Archers (eee by gum) and Bolt Thrower can move. If they manage to light the beacon it affects when the other units are activated. Eltharion arrives in turn 5. The game lasts for 7 turns (so he best be used wisely when eventually turns up).

That's basically it in a nutshell. So, if you're coming to BOYL2016 are you gonna come have a go?

Grom's actual original portrayal, he even had his own regiment of renown not once but twice.

And so it begins..............................

................................................not with the glamorous silvered steel of the Elves but with the twisted spear of the Goblin.

This year at BOYL2016 I'll be running "The Battle for Maugthrond Pass" and my work on this project has begun. Sadly I've been away this weekend so not been able to get a great deal done but I've managed to get the flesh started on the majority of the spear armed Goblins that I need.

Considering I need 32 of these along with 32 Gobbo Bows too there's a long way to go on the Gobbos but I reckon with a good headwind I should be able to get them done!

I'll be picking out the remaining 8 I need for the scenario from this lot.

One thing that has leapt out at me is the names of the two mobs in scenario - the Bone Mob and the Iron Mob. With a large number of the Goblins I'll be using drawn from Bob Olley's Iron Claw Goblins (http://www.solegends.com/ironclaw/icgoblins.htm) was one of the mobs that they play tested with made up of Iron Claw Gobbo's too and hence the Iron Mob name?

Dunno, but I'll be putting all of my Iron Claw Gobbos into the one mob as a little personal nod to "The Claw". Although I only have 14, not the 16 I need. I may hit ebay afterall, or if anyone has a few and they want to trade/sell/donate (worth a try..............................) then let me know. I may need to see if Erny has a few to spare, I'm sure he has, he's got multiples of most Orcy/Gobbo things.

If I can get the first 24 done from the first photo by the end of the week then I'll defo feel like I'm on track.

If anyone wants a go at this scenario at BOYL2016 then let me know on this thread on the Oldhammer Forum http://forum.oldhammer.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=6725.

Ta Muchly All.



I'm a Turkey and I'm Voting for Christmas

I haven’t been completely idle of gaming related time absorption during my sabbatical from the hobby. I’ve gotten in a few games of “Frost Grave” with Erny and Golgfag and I’ve even painted a few things.

 

The painting involved a new Skaven Warlock to lead my “Frost Grave” Warband, more of which when I’ve gotten the Warband themselves painted up. I’ve taken the time to repainted my Talabheim Battle Masters Crossbowmen to be Middeheim* instead. I’ve also bulked up both the plastic Spearmen and Sword Masters for my 4^th edition High Elves to 20 models including Musicians now. The latter was probably a mistake, at 16 points each these 5 minis are virtually 100 points on their own. In a small game this isn’t cost effective use of points and they’re very brittle only wearing light armour. I think they’re probably best off used in units of 10 to 12 and used as “damage inflictors” working alongside a phalanx of Spearmen (yes, I too can learn from history). Luckily when I’ve completed my BOYL2016 project I’ll have a second unit of 20 Spearmen ready to go.

 

Sorry there’s no photo’s of the above, they’re all packed away in boxes in the loft and the other half is not keen on me breaking them out right now but I’ll whip them out soon as I get a chance to take some snaps. What I can show you though is the last thing I’ve painted, a plastic Grey Wizard originally found in the Warhammer Quest game (I think, or could have been Talisman but I’m pretty sure it was Warhammer Quest) who was part of my Birthday present from Erny and I’ve always loved this model. The photo of him below shows him next to the metal Grey Wizard I painted at Christmas time last year. I admit you can tell he’s plastic but I don’t think it’d be that obvious when he’s waltzing around on the battlefield.

 

It’s a bit suicidal of me painting him up as he’ll most likely get used the most by my mate Alan when he uses his Empire Army against me and borrows these two. He’s obsessed with Grey Wizards (as am I after Erny described them as the Jedi of the Warhammer world) but his obsession is dangerous, or at least it is if you’re playing against him. His choice of Grey Wizards is mainly down to the various movement spells you can get in different versions of the game. He just loves slamming heavily armed and armoured Knights into my big blocks of Rats with them and in our current 4^th edition loving frame of mind that means the most effective version of them all - the game changing “Bridge of Shadows” and more Grey Wizards means a greater likelihood of getting this spell – OPPSSS!

Time to invest in even more Dispel Magic Scrolls me thinks…………………………………

*The repainting of these lovely and expendable plastics is part of an exceedingly long plan to one day play the Storm of Chaos Campaign with my Son when he’s old enough should he ever be inclined. If you want to know just how long term this plan is then all I need to say is that he’s just turned one. So, that’d be a very long term plan then.

We Really Want To See You Crossing Those Fingers...................................

It's time to get back to it.........................................


In the last year I've not much done at all gaming wise but with the Oldhammer Weekender approaching it's time to dust off the paint brushes and get back on the gaming wagon.


Do I dare to challenge myself to get all of the High Elves and O&G's painted for the Battle for Maugthrond Pass as I'd said I would before being a Dad got in the way took up all of my time?


Do I dare?


Fingers crossed.......................................