Tom's Orcs and Goblins - Leader month

Well, a bit of a break from all those pointy spears of January, and the hellscape of the archers in February - and now on to the interesting stuff for half way through the Challenge! 

Naturally, I painted the leader in January, so as to give me a buffer month, but as luck would have it I have been super productive hobby-wise (and less said about the housework and paperwork the better).

So productive in fact, that I can post my big guys right next to their littlest gobbo leader, as I managed to paint them all!

Speaking of paint, here's the Warlord, resplendent on his cuddly spider 👇

Inspiration taken from the classic GW scheme, with those yellow stripes on the spider, but I switched up the black body for a slightly more colourful purple.

Everything is pinned - including the back banner pole

I kinda struggled a bit with the goblin itself, but he's done enough for me to be happy! I just need to find a shield somewhere amongst the bitz...

The banner is paper, and drawn on with a technical pen, then coloured with paint. I put a layer of PVA glue over it, but unfortunately got the kind that dries a creamy colour, so I re-did everything again. It wasn't so bad really as you could still see the underneath - it was just a bit foggy. Man, I hate painting banners.

On to something a bit bigger. I'm really very pleased with this guy - the remixed Cloud Giant from Drew Day Williams/Satyr Studio. (The original, by the way, is still produced - here).

The skin is painted using a Zorn palette, which was something I was experimenting with just before Christmas. Basically a Zorn palette is 4 colours. Black, Red, White and Yellow Ochre. It does yield some nice skin tone. Here he is with a nice, digitally added, blue faded background 👇

I did toy with the idea of a dedicated orc and goblin symbol for the shield, but went for the fleur-de-lis as I thought it was easy to center on the shield. Plus it's a little more generic I guess... 

I should have pushed myself a little bit, and added a few more tattoos, but bottled it and stuck with that blue banding on the arm.

He came with the MDF square base, which I have pinned him to with the shortest of pins! Every bit helps though.

Little bit of mottling on the back skin there, just below the tattoo. Mostly it was because of an errant blob of paint, and I've just tried to make it A Thing, rather than try to cover it up.

And, flushed with a feeling of accomplishment for painting such large surface area, I went straight into painting the ogres... 

 

I thought the theme of yellow pouches would fit with the yellow pouches on the goblins. Some coin for services, if you will.

And I broke up the big shirt space with some patterning. Mostly because I find painting larger areas of cloth quite hard - you don't have to paint cloth if you paint a pattern 🤔. And secondly because I thought it would be cool!

The lumberjack! There's a few missing squares on his shirt, but I think the effect is still good 🙂

And over to the party loving ogre! 

He loves a cocktail with a small umbrella in it...

I switched up the pouch to blue, because I thought it would read better next to the yellow Hawaiian shirt. Red trousers for that bright party vibe 👊

Here they are together. Again, I'm super pleased with how they came out!

And to make up my model count, I painted up my Shaman. I think though, if I was to do him again I'd probably paint the skull wings on the staff a bit more yellow, and probably redo the blade of the sword a fade from black to red..

I do like the animal print on his loincloth and shirt though! Who knows what that sword is about. S'probably magic yo...

And then, I thought I'd best repaint the base rims of my previously painted Orc Lord and his Squig, so that they too can be part of the army!

And that's me done for March. On to more rank and file for next month :)

Here's the breakdown....

Intro: link

January: Rank & File link

February: Leaders

50....     1 x Goblin Warlord

50....     1 x Giganic Spider

200....   1 x Giant

120....   3 x Ogres

FREE.  1 x Orc Shaman

Total....  420

Cheers!

Trouble on Eight Legs: Dustin's May Goblins (199 points)

The penultimate month draws to a close, and I've broken the thousand-point mark on my army! Part of this involved painting my army general, one of the classic Marauder MM35 Gigantic Spider Riders.

Night Goblin Warlord with Light Armor and Shield, riding a Gigantic Spider -- 103 points

2 Night Goblin Big Bosses with Light Armor and Shield -- 72 points

2 Standard Bearers and Musicians for Stikka Mobs -- 24 points

The Warlord on his White Spider.

From another angle.

The spider rider is a mini that I picked up just prior to the challenge, having wanted one since I first read "The Battle of Iron Peak" in the 4th edition army book, where he was "Gorblum the Magnificent." I read that battle report countless times as a yoof, and now I've assembled a similar warband years later. The big bosses and command elements are part of my plan to rearrange my stikkas based on my experience fighting Blue's dwarfs at Cold Wars. That weekend, I had been using small units for harassment purposes and delivering the odd fanatic, but the only thing that could keep them going in combat was their hatred for their stunted foes. Since then, I've decided to group my stikkas into two larger, 21-strong units, each containing a standard bearer and musician, and led by a big boss. I figure the additional bonuses to combat resolution and leadership (as well as the fighting ability of the big bosses) will make them a bit more respectable on the battlefield (for a bunch of poxy gobbos, anyway).

See you in June for the thrilling conclusion!!

Iannick's Stag's Spida Rida (170pts)

Spiders so large they appear to be wearing the pelts of small mammals.

Excuse my language, but FUCK YEAH! Here's my last unit of Gobbos for the first edition of the OWAC, 10 Spider Riders!

I really worked overtime to get these guys done in time, and I really mean that! Due to work commitment, I couldn't start on these until two weeks ago to the day, which means that I painted 20 figures in 14 days. That's probably my record. They are not as nice as my last few units, they lack some details and highlights, and I had to cut some corners, but I was expecting worse! Now looking at the pictures I'm satisfied with them.

Nathan's January Slann (218 pts)

Well I made it - just. Another mixed lot of slann this month as painting figures from different units helps me from getting bored. I just need to remind myself from time to time what I need to have done by the end of the challenge for my force to actually fit the Warhammer Armies list! Anyway points wise this is what I finished:

- giant spider 45 points
- Slann beastmaster 12 points
- Slann on cold one - 33 points
- 2 venom tribes - 24 points
- 2 spawn bands - 20 points
- 3 lizardmen with two handed weapons - 72 points
- 1 warrior priest - 12 points

All up 218 points worth. I also painted up a 40K slann which I can use as an animal handler as the figure is holding an axe but I won't claim him. Anyway here they are:

Iannick's Zrazoig, Fang and more Doom (228pts)

It does not seem to bother them than their chances of survival are low, but then only the most crazed Goblins would want to be propelled in the air anyway. These Goblins are known as Doom Divers, although it is usually for other (saner) goblins to call them "Bat Wings Loonies". In the dirty, brutal and often painfully short life of a goblin the chance of swooping through the air and smashing right through their enemies is just too good to miss. The Doom Divers know that the ultimate excitement of diving through the air is at high speed is well worth the considerable risks. Though it is a sad way for a Goblin to go, it is infinitely more better than to die an ignoble death by the hands of a hungry Troll.

The first submission of January is Zrazoig, the almighty Shaman, and his trusted sacred spider, Fang the hairy.