Orcs & Hobgoblins

 I know, I know

 

It’s almost been 6 months since an update however, what an update I have for you in store. I haven’t spent the last 6 months sitting idle. No sir, I have been putting ‘paint to plastic’ and have moved further towards my goal of having a lovely painted Chaos Dwarf army. Now, without further a-do, let me take you through what I’ve achieved.

 

(Unit 1 – Black Orcs)

 

Okay so slightly cheating but, if you look at the front row of the unit, you’ll find a new edition. When Clive was growing up, his mum and dad looked lovingly into his eyes and said “… you can be whatever you want to be, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise…”.

 

Clive took their comments to heart, did a bit of thinking, and came back to them 3 months later and said that he wanted to be a Black Orc. They laughed. Though disappointed he ignored them. He told his mates at school too and they laughed. Over time Clive developed quiet a bit of a temper and one day, whilst some other goblins were mocking him at school, he found a hammer in the caretaker’s room and started kneecapping fellow students. This got him expelled, but he never forgot his dream.

 

One day he plucked up the courage to find a unit of Black Orcs and, with his hammer ask to join their unit. They laughed however, once joined in battle, they soon found that, having ‘Angry Clive’ with his hammer, taking out the enemies’ knees was a big help. Soon no one mocked Clive. He identifies to this day as a Black Orc and no one says anything otherwise.

 

OR

 

It could be that the Black Orc character next to him takes up more space than his 30cm base therefore, no normal Black Orc would rank properly next to him … so I needed a smaller model.

 

So, 401 points done

 

(Unit 2 – 2 Bolt throwers)

 

I am sorry but, I just couldn’t get the light right for these. I decided to use the Lord of The Rings Uruk-hai Ballista as a bolt thrower with hobgoblin crew. One crew is from the old Age of Sigma Hobgoblin range and the other is from the new. I think they work pretty well together

 

Whereas the Black Orcs stick to a ‘goblin green’ highlight for their skin (and Clive has Goblin Green + Bleached Bone) the Hobgoblins have Goblin Green + Snotling Green mix as a highlight. This now gives me 3 different tones of green flesh, brining more story to the army. Also, as these hobgoblins are special - as they command an artillery piece - they get red armour. Chaos Dwarfs are reluctant to give out red armour as they see it as a prize to note importance. It’s a very rare thing and, usually hobgoblins will have black armour.

 

Points wise, these two add another 90 points to the army

 

(Unit 3 – 2 Sneaky Gitz mobs)

 

Also with red armour are two prized Sneak Gitz mobs consisting of 14 models in each with full command (though Sneaky Gitz can’t have a standard but, doesn’t matter really). These are ambushers, evasive and skirmishers allowing for baggage raids. At 96 points for 14 they are cheap, and they can shoot. I do believe this set of abilities gives them the right to adorn red armour.

 

Finally, I can rank them up into a unit of 32 hobgoblins. It’s 32 because I do have unit fillers coming up next. At the end of the project, if I have spare models, I might fill the last four spaces. Also, within this unit are two standards and four musicians. One of each is placed within the front rank however, the others are scattered in the other ranks. This is a warband levy unit; I just can’t see them turning up to battle in nice neat lines with only one musician and standard. Flags will be flying everywhere and the drums will be deafening. My other Hobgoblin units will have the same.

 

96 points for 14 equals 192pts for all 28 with musician and champion.

 

(Unit 4 – Trolls)

 

As you can see, I have three trolls painted and they, have their skin highlighted a green one level down from Goblin Green. This now gives me four different green skin tones. As these are unit fillers for Hobgoblins, Black Orcs and a unit by themselves, they need to be on 40mmx40mm, 50mmx50mm and 60mmx60mm bases … all at the same time. Whilst scouring the internet I found that Warbases did some bases with extenders. I have purchased them and now all I need to do is paint them up … but hopefully you can envisage what it’ll look like.

 

Round up

 

So 587points now done. Though it’s taken a while, I love the little details of why the armour is the colour it is or, why that model has that skin tone. The army is coming alive in more ways than one.

 

Next up I’ll continue with two more big units of Hobgoblins but this time, being regular, they’ll be in black armour.

 

I have also realised that, as I am painting all the hobgoblins first, I’ll actually be closer to building an Orc & Hobgoblin army than a Chaos Dwarf one. For 2,000pts all I’ll need extra is 5 characters, 9 fanatics, 2 Doom Divers and 2 Giant squigs. That’ll be much quicker to paint up than the dwarf part of my Chaos Dwarf contingent. So, it looks like I am sort of collecting Orcs & Hobgoblins. Then I’ll do a ‘Chaotic Dwarf army’ and, as a result, I’ll have a Chaos Dwarf army. Well, it’s the end result that counts.

 

Toodle Pip!