6 months and 18 figures completed

Well not quiet … there are only 17 models here and, I did take 6 weeks off in November/December to paint some Bretonnians but still … this unit has taken a very long time to get onto the table however, I am very happy with it.

 

So, the first unit for my Chaos Dwarf army has been completed… and yet, not a single Chaos Dwarf can be found. Black Orcs, I would argue, are more themed within a Chaos Dwarf list than in an Orc and Goblin one because Chaos Dwarfs actually made them. This unit of 18 will form the centre of my force.

 

The armour is black; washed with Atherax Earthshade to give it a gloss look and edge highlighted with a light grey (which the camera has really picked out … it’s not that noticeable). The skin, for me, is quite interesting. I am planning on having trolls (yes trolls; these will be unit fillers) and hobgoblins within the army making three different ‘green skin’ models. The hobgoblins will give a nod to the past by having the lightest green skin you’ve ever seen whereas, I have decided that the trolls will have a very dark green. This means that my Black Orcs sit in the middle therefore, I have mixed and matched the colour of their skin to blend the two other extremes. I see that, having different tones of green skin, show the different ages of the Black Orcs. The only other noticeable thing within my painting choice is the banner being red with ‘free handed flames’ along the bottom. This is my nod to try and keep the unit together with my Chaos Dwarfs as, they will have red armour. The grey helmeted orc is my champion. Finally the bases are of flowing molten lava and should join up. I decided not to PVA glue the lanes of lava as, on my two test models, it just made the lanes look shiny.

 

So come on Matt; why is there a space in the front rank

 

It’s simple really. The model to the left of the space is my Black Orc Boss and he ‘overfills’ his allotted area, not leaving enough room for a conventional Black Orc model without it looking ‘squashed’. I am therefore going to put a goblin or hobgoblin on that square. Maybe he is the boss’s sidekick. Any funny ideas for a model are more than welcome though, as I play at Warhammer World, it’ll have to be a GW model.

 

Though this unit has taken me 5/6 months, the models are quite ‘beefy’ compared to a Hobgoblin or Dwarf therefore, I hope my other units won’t take as long. The unit is also quite a lot of points:

 

17x Black Orcs

Full Command

Magic Banner – Da Banner of Butchery

9x models with great weapons

8x models with additional hand weapons

Total 283 points

 

(The great thing about having the two weapon options is that I could say to my opponent that the whole unit has whatever the first rank is armed with … meaning that I have two-unit options for the price of one)

 

Black Orc Bigboss

Additional hand weapon

Full plate armour

Trollhide trousers

Total 118pts

 

Grand total 401pts

 

So 20% of the army has been completed within one unit … not bad

 

So what’s next?

 

Next a three trolls I am using as ‘unit fillers’ before I move onto an actual Chaos Dwarf unit. Hopefully my next update won’t be in 6 months! ... Toodle Pip