Troll!

You'll be glad to hear that this isn't going to be a post about those annoying people out to ruin your day on the internets - lord knows there's enough of them so we'll just leave them under their virtual bridges and carry on merrily on our way.

Oh and if you haven't seen Trollhunter, I'd definitely recommend it - cracking film!

Actually this post is the result of a bit of housekeeping. By chance I noticed that I seemed to have quite a lot of posts languishing as drafts for some reason - some even with edited pictures already uploaded and a few words typed in.

This is one of those posts that for some reason I never got round to posting at the time - apologies if you were expecting Titans! They are nearly done. Honest!

Instead I bring you Trolls!

These guys were painted in the big mad rush to get ready for BOYL 2014 - specifically the mammoth Siege game we put on that somehow evolved from a few enthusiastic suggestions on the forum and the Engines of Avalone scenario that I wrote some time ago.

First up is the C20 Hill Troll or Wanewrong as I prefer to call him. Long wanted to own this chap and he pretty much sums up all things trollish to me as he was one of the first I saw as an impressionable young lad. Much as I like the skinny big-nosed D&D type Trolls and the later GW Stone and River Trolls, this guy is what I think of when ever Trolls are mentioned.

Machineries of Destruction

Ahh Machineries of Destruction!

If da Boyz are the main stay of a Warlord's horde then these infernal contraptions are the Big Guns!

Savages

Of course not all Boyz can master the intricacies of such modern technologies as the Cleaver or Chain Mail. In fact some Orcs take it upon themselves to shun such newfangled gear.

For them it is a simpler world of being at one with the past, communing with nature... and then killing it in a berserk rage! Yep it's the Savage Orcs!

Orctober - Da Boyz

Yikes - Orctober is almost over and I haven't posted half of what I planned!

To make amends let me bring you all back to where it counts in terms of Orciness - da Boyz!

Where would any famous Chieftain be now if it weren't for the humble, salt of the earth, common or garden Orc. Faceless hordes of blood-crazed maniacs don't happen all by themselves you know and every horde has to start some place.

A Work of Orc

Happy Orctober one and all!

I'm sure you're aware Erny has launched Orctober once more and there has already been a plethora of Orcy articles on numerous blogs.

Going Commando

Don't worry - I'm not about to share with you my choices in underwear (or lack of)...

This post is in fact to celebrate another little mile stone to warm the cold and ever hungry collector that lurks somewhere in my psyche - Ugezod's Death Commandos.

Charge of the Green Brigade!

Time to have a look at the new cavalry wing of my newly enlarged Goblinoid horde and as with any part of an Orc and Goblin army there exists intense rivalries between the tribes and regiments that make it up.

First up is Crudefell Pullover's Lite Brugayd of Wolf Riders, a twenty strong unit of the nastiest, cowardliest and down right vindictive Gobbo's.

 Can't spot them in the front line? Then they'll probably be skulking around the flanks, looking for an opportunity to kick a stronger foe while they're down or otherwise engaged.

Centre of the picture is Pullover himself - a fine figure of a Marauder Goblin. To his left is Bugler Bragget, an enterprising Snotling who's skill (enthusiasm) for blowing his horn has seen him promoted not only to the unit, but to an unenviable slot in the front rank. Having survived both enemy fire, the enmity of his fellow wolf riders and his own mount, Bragget's place as the Regimental mascot was assured!

To Pullover's right is an enterprising young spearman with ambitions of being the unit's standard bearer - once I get round to making it....

An assortment of archers and spearmen that form the bulk of the troopers of the Lite Brugayd. And believe it or not - a Lord of the Rings Warg Rider on a... Citadel Wolf.

Several more Marauder Wolf Riders make up this next group, along with the chap who seems to be a variant of one of the fanatics I mentioned in my last post - though this time with a spiked ball and chain.

Hoorah - finally a Lord of the Rings Warg Rider as God intended him - mounted on a Warg! Behind him is another loony with a ball and chain who was kindly donated, along with quite a few other greenskins, by the esteemed Citadel Collector, Steve Casey. Not sure where he comes from - I'm assuming he's a later Citadel model?

Thanks also to Harry for his excellent tutorial for painting wolves as shared by Phreedh when he posted up some lovely Timber Wolves some time ago! I must see if I can pick some of those up as mounts for the 90's Goblin Wolf riders I have as I can't stand the later plastic wolves.

Perhaps the bitterest rivalry is between Pullover's Lite Brugayd and Lootcan's 'Eavie Brugayd. Apart from Pullover being a mere Gobbo and a damned jumped up one at that, Lootcan is painfully aware of his position in the heirarchy and so takes every opportunity to lord it over his diminutive rivals - especially with Lurd Raglank and his Even 'Eaviers breathing down his neck and giving him exactly the same treatment!

Lootcan (far right) is also plagued by the rumours that he is somehow related to Pullover by the marriage of some distant cousin. Obviously for an Orc to even be rumoured to be related to Gobbo scum is unthinkable and it is a rash trooper who specualtes on the subject over the camp fire within earshot of his boss.

Lootcan's standard bearer - the standard is made up of some of the naff skulls that came with the later 90's skeleton box sets. I think they were supposed to be stuck on shields? Anyhow, painted bronze and with some liberal verdigris added I think they make a nice nod towards the Even 'Eaviers' standard.

God bless Marauder for their moulded shield designs - I really didn't have time for many freehand designs during the panic of getting ready for Boyl 2014!

'Eavy Brugayd Trooper - again with a handy Marauder shield that was very quick to paint!

Lootcan has been accused of many things by his rival, including being all mouth and no trousers - wonder where they got that idea from?

Although Lootcan likes to think of his mob as the 'Eavies, they really are just a skirmishing force of archers, although they have been known to get stuck in occasion.

The cause of Lootcan's many insecurities is, as previously mentioned, Lurd Raglank and his Even 'Eaviers. At the top of the food chain, Lurd Raglank and his boyz form the main mounted shock troops of the army.

A concerted charge from the Even 'Eaviers is a sight to behold - just preferably not from this angle!

Lurd Raglank is a hulking brute of an Orc who's incredibly low IQ means that he is on a par with, and has an uncanny affinity with his Boar mount.  The two are literally inseparable and operate as one on the battlefield, each anticipating the other's intentions in perfect harmony. Not that difficult a feat really when those intentions only include charging at the nearest enemy and eating them.

The Even 'Eaviers standard is rumoured to have been pulled off a Chaos War Altar and doubles as a pretty good double handed weapon!

The troopers who make up the Even 'Eaviers are the bigger and meaner Orcs who are stupid enough to get on the back of the rabid and highly irritable boars that are favoured as mounts.

I realised as I was taking pictures that I had forgotten to do their shields - I'll have to remedy that at some point...

I painted these two years ago - good to finally give them some company!

Detail of the shield - can't beat a flaming skull or two.

I've always been a big fan of these miniatures - the armour looks pretty outlandish on some and the helmets are fantastically over the top!

I ran out of Citadel boars so will have to look out for some more along with the few other riders I need to complete the set - this chap on the Marauder boar will probably have to be transferred to the 'Eavy Brugayd then - sorry mate!

Orc infantry up next...

The Spawning Pits have been busy!

The months before BOYL 2014 seemed to take an age to pass and as I only had a Goblinoid horde and the best part of an entire Epic Imperial Guard Regiment to paint I thought I had loads of time to get ready. I even spent a day drawing up a painting timetable, Arnold Rimmer style - which of course soon went out the window when real life made itself known!

So, of course once I had realised that I would have to up production somewhat in the couple of months I had left my painting desk came more to resemble the spawning pits of Isengard!

Or perhaps if I was being really old school - Utumno!

Well I'm glad to say that neglecting both sleep and familial duties (at least those that the wife allowed to be neglected!) for the first half of the summer holidays all the blood, sweat, blisters, fire, brimstone and everything else paid off!

BOYL 2014 - The Engines of Avalone: A Hasty Retreat!

The dust has settled, the internets are awash with pictures and the sacrifice of countless miniature heroes are but a memory. 

Yes BOYL 2014 has come and sadly gone.

Once more we are faced with the drab grey of reality. Our battles now are more concerned with staying sane in the real world rather than living vicariously through our miniature armies. Initiative no longer decides who strikes first in combat - only better chances of promotion if we choose to show we have some in the work place. The outcome to the many, varied and entirely dull encounters in life can no longer be decided by the roll of a D6.

Yes, dear reader, I am struggling to come to terms with life after BOYL. Not surprising really considering I have just immersed myself in three (three count 'em!) days of amazing gaming with an amazing, gentlemanly and thoroughly bloody good bunch of chaps.

Actually this is a little disingenuous of me as I am currently typing from the beautiful Lake District and have a few more weeks of School holidays to enjoy!

Armed to the tusks!

Ruglud's Armoured Orcs have featured on this blog a few times before and here they are again. This time they are fully equipped and finally finished!

 



 

Some time before Christmas I managed to snaffle a bargain on ebay consisting of an incomplete set of this Regiment of Renown along with various other goodies (more of which another time), all packed up in the original box. Unfortunately the box had had sellotape wrapped round it for some reason but the collector in me is at least partially satisfied!

 

However, it wasn't the box, or even the additional plastic crossbows I needed to equip each trooper that had me jumping with joy. Rather tragically it was the long bases that you can fit three minis on that really got me excited - sad I know.

Maybe it was the years of ogling Kev Adams' Goblin army in the Warhammer Armies book that had instilled this strange desire of mine to possess and base some of my minis on these longer bases - who knows!

Anyhow, I am now able to field a rather formidable looking 30 strong unit of armoured Orcs, complete with crossbows - ah deep joy.

Some of my down time before Christmas was spent happily painting up the additional members of the unit and basing them. I had another good go at copying freehand some of the Arcane Armourials as featured on the troopers on the box.

So, with more equipment than you can shake a stick at (heavy armour, shields, hand weapons, halberds and crossbows), and a level 10 and 5  hero to lead them, standard bearer, musician and +3 rank bonus with two more ranks to spare - is this the first Oldhammer "Deathstar" unit?

 

What with these chaps and my overpowered Zombie Dragon (Rick Priestley's rules in the back of an old WD - not mine!) I might be accused of slowly turning into a power gamer... ; )



Belly's Gonna Getcha...

Grom - Soldier. Tactician. Fat Bastard.

According to legend he initiated the Goblin Wars by slaying Wulfrun Willowhand, King of the Northern Dwarves in some kind of drunken bar room brawl. Many victories and atrocities have been attributed to "The Paunch of the Misty Mountains" - so named because of his morbid obesity. In fact it was said that Grom was so huge and ugly that he almost resembled an ogre - not sure about that one but I do love the minis! Chiefly remembered among his many black deeds were the atrocities of Zhuf Field. After the Goblin victory there and subsequent looting of the Dwarven Smithies and Armouries, Grom called for a hundred Dwarf captives to be brought before him each day. Each day he personally suffocated each and every one of them - by sitting on them.

Grom was not a pure breed of Goblin (if there is such a thing) and neither were the Goblins he selected to make up his Goblin Guard - large and vicious creatures of mixed Orc/Goblin parentage. I'm thinking of upping their stats and points value to that of Half Orcs.

Enough of the history lesson and on to the miniatures! The troopers were all speed painted in batches using the usual grey basecoat with drybrushed white highlights and black ink wash. Then the base colours were applied in thin washes with ink washes to bring out shadow and colour. Ironically the shields took about three times as long as the Goblins themselves!

The designs were rather fun to do. They are supposed to represent various aspects of the death of Wulfrun Willowhand at the hands of Grom. There is a somewhat veiled reference to Grom's personal shield design in that it depicts the death of Willowhand with a great deal of blood and the fabled toasting fork very much in evidence!

Well I couldn't resist a reference like that so various troopers ended up with crossed toasting forks in tribute to their leader...

and various bits of Wulfrun Willowhand being toasted on said toasting fork.

There is little mention about how this epic altercation started other than the fact that the relative merits of Bugman's Best and Old Sam's Brown were being discussed at the time. This also provided some inspiration for shield designs - a brown take on the Bugman's Rangers' shields for Old Sam's Brown - every Goblin's favourite!

Some of you familiar with a certain Brown Ale from the North East of England might recognise the logo on the following shields...

Old Pukey Brown certainly is a refreshing brew and the choicest of spoils for any self respecting Gobbo.

Ironically Grom's champion, Crud Longbone, happens to be extremely skinny and lanky. Canon and Ball anyone?

Interestingly several variants of this chap are included in the larger unit of regular Goblin warriors I have yet to paint.

Grom himself in all his Ogre-ish(?) glory.

And his shield - I restrained myself from depicting the toasting fork stuck in the part of Wulfrun's anatomy that immediately sprang to mind and went for a more tasteful depiction of his head held proudly aloft on the improvised weapon. Thanks to a large shield boss he seems to have taken on a bit of a likeness for either Statler or Waldorf from the Muppet Show.

The Regimental musician - love the puffed out cheeks on this chap. I should probably give them a bit of a red tinge, although I'm sure Goblinoid blood is supposed to be green?

And the standard bearer with a slightly less cartoony representation of Willowhand's head toasting nicely before the fire.

I think I was running out of ideas for shields by then so both he and Crud ended up with the Pukey Brown logo.

The Command Group together.

And the whole regiment once more. The more keen-eyed of you might have noticed the lone Gobbo on the back rank. Yes, annoyingly I have 31 minis for Grom's Guard and could really do with another 5 troopers to round them off nicely.