G’day Goonhammer readers! With now less than 3 months until the most prestigious of Kings of War tournaments to be held in the southern Australian state of Victoria, we (Urr and Cytoplasm) have been busy. There has been no small amount of assembling, priming and slapping some serious amount of paint on a lot of models. In this article, we will share exactly how much has been done, and how much there remains to go.
For those wondering what this is all about, read about the exciting tournament and the armies we plan to bring in our first article in this series.
Urr
It’s been a productive hobby time for me. After finishing Elden Ring, I had some other free time again, and I spent it well.
First up, it was starting and finishing the main blocks of the army, the Huscarls, the solid core of the army. Sticking with the Mythic America range, I went for their Jaguar Warriors as my model of choice.
For a set of metal models, they were great to work with, with only a bit of flash and a couple of mould lines to clean up, and crisp detail across the models. I’ve kept a similar palette to the rest of the army, while trying to add some extras, to emphasise their role as the elites of the army, adding standout colours to the shield rims and tassels, and adding as much gold decorations as I can fit.
A finished Huscarl RegimentI’m very happy with the base too, and it’s got a little surprise. I want to have an army that can play as multiple factions, and Huscarls are Heavy Infantry rather than plain old regular Infantry, and Heavy Infantry are an uncommon base size in most other armies. Given that would knock them out of consideration as most other mainline units, I’ve made them a weight loss device. Using the power of magnets and superglue, I’ve built a base rim that can be taken on and off as needed.
It does make the base look a little empty when it’s full size, but I value the flexibility more.
The one issue I have with these metal models is the foot tab. They come on a metal tab, and I don’t want to risk cutting it off and breaking a leg, but that does limit how the bases can be put together, as I have to make the bases with the models stuck on to hide said tab.It may have ended up worth it to saw the tab off, but they’re done now, so there we go.
I’d also like to focus on the ruins hidden under the mud. They’re made with some milliput and the Aztec (who’d have guessed?) roller from Greenstuff World, and just painted grey, with successive washes to give in a grimy and worn look, and a drybrush to bring up the edges and emphasise the patterns more.
It’s tied into my own fluff for the army, in which my High Priest (Magus) is trying to reunite the shattered empire of his Grandfather, fighting his brothers and others claiming the title, and using every tool possible to win, even raising their greatest long dead warriors and binding monsters. It’s a bit of ancient Rome in the Aztec Empire, but that is the theme behind it all.
After painting all the Jaguar Warriors, I wanted something different, so up next was the Lord on foot. He is a fancy Jaguar Warrior, but importantly, is not completely covered in a jaguar skin, andI could take my time on a character. But then my next order of models arrived, so I started the Spider Sisters (snow foxes) instead, as you can never have too much chaff, but more on them, and the other big gribbly next time.
Also, I made it to another local tournament day, getting another 3 games in with the list, which has already gone through some changes, but we’ll talk about playtesting next time and run through any changes made and why or why not they happened.
Cytoplasm
Project Goblins has been underway already for half a year, but it was always taking a back seat to my Forces of the Abyss. I painted a few heroes, a few Goblin Rabble to test out the colour scheme, but never really pushed to get any actual units done.
This was a shame. These Goblins have been sitting around for a long time, harkening back to my teenage foray into Warhammer Fantasy Battles in 2009-2015 (RIP). My painting back then was even more sporadic and I was considerably worse at it. Base colours applied thickly, Black Ink ‘wash’ and drybrush white was my formula for mediocre success.
Since then, Citadel Contrast paints have appeared and I learnt one or two things. Not only does this mean I can feasibly paint much nicer looking models, but can do so much faster. I won’t be winning any awards, but no one will be complaining, either.
The Multi-basing
As mentioned in the previous article, I’m going for a creepy forest look that evokes the feeling of forests found in The Witch’s (2015) New England and Crookback Bog from The Witcher 3. This means lots of muted colours on the multibases and mostly greens and browns (and even greeny-browns) for the palette.
But just simple forest bases won’t cut it. What makes the aforementioned source material truly creepy are the hidden places – the disturbing huts and homesteads of the darker inhabitants. I want my goblins to have homes; ominous homes from which the most evil of my Goblins would plan their raids.
It was while accompanying my wife to a craft store (Spotlight in Australia) that I found just the right pieces – Fairy Garden Accessories buildings! These came pre painted in bright happy colours, but I could see the potential of these buildings if I took all these colours away. I bought two different houses (the ones without flowers on them) and set them into my Goblin Rabble horde bases. These houses needed a lot of space and only the horde-size bases offered that.
The landscaping of the multibases is rather simple; a mix of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) glue and grit. This grit contains Woodlands Scenics glue (fine grit) and ground up cork (coarse grit), which I then spread around the medium-density fibreboard (MDF) base. Add in some trees, pine bark and random small stones and an interesting base begins to emerge from all the goop. I leave some parts of the base bare, so I can make it look like murky water.
A real rabble of Goblins
The fact I had a lot of Goblins hasn’t stopped me from adding a few choice models, particularly since these Goblins were part of an Orcs and Goblins army so there weren’t quite enough Goblins to make a force in their own right. This means I now have quite a diverse range of miniatures.
The Goblin Rabble, the basic troops of any Goblin force, contain quite the mix of models on a single multibase thus far. In order from which they fell off the production line I have:
- Goblin Spearmen (Warhammer Fantasy Battles 4th edition, 1993)
The most monopose of all goblins! Warhammer Fantasy Battles 4th edition Goblins! - Night Goblin Spearmen (Warhammer Fantasy Battles 7th edition, 2006)
Night Goblins of 7th edition, both multipose and Battle for Skull Pass variants. - Goblin Rabble (Kings of War 3rd edition, 2020)
Mantic’s Kings of War Goblins have such variety and weapons from all kinds of sources. A lot of character on this sprue (and dogs).
The Trolls I plan to use are even more more diverse, spanning three decades of Troll Research and Development at Games Workshop and a sprinkle of Mantic:
- Stone Trolls (Warhammer Fantasy Battles 4th edition, 1990s)
The old metal Stone Trolls were an original love of mine, hence I managed to pick up a few. So goofy! - Stone Trolls (Warhammer Fantasy Battles 7th edition, 2006)
The multibase is coming together, with these two Stone Trolls’ bases now part of it (removing them from their plastic base resulted in one losing its feet, so I stopped trying). - River Trolls (Warhammer Fantasy Battles 7th edition, 2006)
- Rockgut Troggoths (Age of Sigmar 2nd edition, 2019)
- Trolls (Kings of War 1st edition, early 2010s)
Mantic’s Kings of War Trolls might be a bit top heavy, but all those muscles were fun to paint!
These various models will be mixed across the units, rather than splitting. To me Goblins could differ drastically in appearance and fashion, particularly if called upon from a range of regions. It might not be the most cohesive look, but considering the consistent colour palette across the models it should all come together nicely. The Trolls instead are always thought to have multiple subspecies and types, which encouraged me to paint them all sorts of colours.
The Winggits, which will be used in the larger 2300 pts force, needed to fit the overall theme of dark forests. While a delightful model, the Mantic Winggit is a little too technological for my theme. If Goblins were to get airborne in my army, it would be on something of the forest, so why not giant ravens? Thanks to 3D resin printing I acquired these giant ravens and using all the goblin wolf rider bits I have amassed over the years, created a pair of Winggits that I think work quite well.
The remaining units in my army are a little less eclectic in their composition, and all from Games Workshop. The Fleabag riders will all be Forest Goblin Spider Riders, I have Goblin Wolf Riders but the sculpts are vastly inferior to their eight legged counterparts. The Big Rock Throwers are Rock Lobbers from two different eras, the 1990’s and 2000’s (the former being run by very runty looking orcs). The various heroes are all Games Workshop models, with the exception of Grupp Longnail which I acquired in the two-player Kings of War set “War in the Holds”. Finally, my Wiz will be a Green Hag from Pathfinder Unpainted Minis, this being the Witch of my army.
If you go down into the woods today…
The overall theme of the army is to really bring out the sinister side of the Goblins. In the dank and dark places of the world, Goblins can be found, and none more so than the swampy forests in which mine reside. These forests collect all the nasty yet downtrodden creatures, things that alone pose little threat to civilized society. However, when mustered by some particularly devious Goblins (such as a king or wiz), these creatures can wreak devastation upon the realms of Pannithor.
Over the next few weeks I will come up with some proper fluff for the army, giving each of the heroes names, and figuring out where they exist in the world of Pannithor. I will publish it here and look forward to the harsh criticism that results!
Next time: Playtesting the lists!
Join us in the next article to see just how well these lists go when we put them to the test!
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
