The strange and terrible saga of Uglug Handbiter

I didn't get a lot of Goblinoid painting done this weekend, I have some bits to paint for a show display so the Combat Cards got a bit sidelined. I did, however, manage to finish what may be my favourite model from the set, Uglug Handbiter. This is exactly what an orc should look like- tribal headdress, ring through nose and a ridiculous weapon.

Lookin at the right knee of the model on the card he appears to have some silky trousers on, my model, however, has an armoured plate on that knee. I tried to paint it with the highlights in the same place but was wondering throughout whether this was another case of greenskin variants. On Sunday, though, I made a bit of an error. All the other models I've photographed before varnishing them. My plan was to varnish in my usual way- heavy gloss lacquer then light spray of army painter matt, but once I'd given them a glossy coat I decided it made them look so nice and old-school I would leave them shiny. Hence I had a shiny Uglug to try and photograph, which is trickier than I would like. Will have to do a proper setup when they're all done and get decent shots. Anyhow, if you look closely at the knee you will see that the metal plate is barely visible, it has blended into the fabric. Maybe there isn't a variant after all, just a trick of the photography...

Fanatical about snotlings

...well I am, I have a drawer full of the little buggers. But this is not a post about the long-awaited return to my cavern snots army. No, this is a post featuring a very particular snotling. A very rare and long hunted-for snotling!

 



 

Fungus, also known as Big Snot, is one of the elusive 'doubles' from the C14 range. It took me years to find him and I've not seen one since (although I'll admit I've stopped looking). He cost me the princely sum of £30, which is far more than I would spend on almost any miniature under normal circumstances. However, projects and completeness will drive people to crazy ends (cough, Nuln Spearmean, cough). I do find it amusing that the two most expensive figures in this set (both large snotlings) are also the crappest in game terms and most diminutive in size. Fungus is a brilliant model though I can't imagine why he's as rare as he seems to be. Maybe people are just hanging on to theirs.

A rarely-seen rear view of the snot barrel, with a cunning hatch for times when a snot just has to make stool. He's actually pretty big for a snotling (hence Big Snot I guess) and is at least as big as some of the smaller goblin models.

As for the fanatic bit, well, Gruk the Loon... what's not to like? These old fanatic models are some of my favourites in the whole history of Citadel orc and goblin ranges. They look appropriately crazy in a way the later night goblin fanatics just didn't. I painted a similar model several years ago when the Golden Gobbo competition was instigated but in the spirit of replicating the combat cards image I didn't spend quite as long on this guy. Still pleased with the results though, you can often tell a good miniature by how little painting it takes to make them pop I think!

I have one more figure on the bench before I grab the next selection from my rows of primed goblinoids. Since his completion will take me to 12 models ( a third of the way through the deck) I thought I'd treat myself to one of my absolute favourite cards. Which one is he? Stay tuned to find out...

Three more Goblinoids

Another three of the Goblinoids miniatures painted- barring shields of course. That takes me over a quarter of the way there (barring shields) which is a very exciting prospect.

 



Gobblin' through Goblinoids

In between loading the car for the West Midlands Military Show on Saturday morning and driving up on Sunday morning I managed to have a quiet afternoon's painting (listening to the wonderful Audible audiobook of Terry Pratchett's Guards Guards... which is another project altogether). So, a couple of shields notwithstanding, my completed Goblinoids collection now stands at 6 models. 29 to go!

 

 

Nobrun Darkfist was already pretty much there, but he now has a shield of the correct size thanks to the generosity of Gary Lewis. I think you'll agree the extra mm or so makes all the difference! That means Ylag can have his shield back.

Klug was great fun to paint, the epitome of a goblin champion! I tried to bend his club to the slightly lower angle of the one in the picture, but it wouldn't go due to being surrounded by metal. I guess maybe the CC one was distorted coming out of the mould or it was a master adjusted to fit more models into the mould. In any case it's not something I'm going to worry about. Zuglod's skin gave me the most hassle out of them as it's a lot whiter than the others'. I went with a Waaagh green wash, which proved a mistake as it came out the wrong shade of green and I then had to rework with a combination of Vallejo black green ink and Foundry bright green. I think it's worked ok now though. Shield just needs filling and painting in (another donation from Gary, thank you sir!)

The checks on Dungbrat's hood took a lot of courage to work on, but I'm happy with how they turned out. I was trying to use folds and goblin anatomy to get the positioning of the black squares right. Brog was probably my favourite of the bunch to work on (but don't tell the boyz), nice contrasts in the leather and metal on him. Any suggestions for the design for the back of his shield? I want to do one for the sake of completing the model and it ought to be a suitable tribute to the era.

Lastly I was able to make a start on these guys on Monday night. Still early days and the skin tones are not quite right but it's often hard to judge the colours when the surrounding clothing isn't painted in so I'll base coat everything else now and adjust accordingly. Then it will only be 26 to go!

Getting ready for Oakbound on tour

I was rather proud last night as I plugged in my freshly wired display cabinet for the first time, and it all lit up with no hitches at all. Now I've just got to make all the wiring secure... I hate electronics.

This is the latest addition to my event furniture and replaces the rather dodgy modified banner stand some of you may have seen at Dragonmeet last year. Not only is this more sturdy, eye catching and a safe place to put painted models but it also packs down easily for transport in the car and takes literally seconds to assemble on site. I built it from plywood, laser cut the acrylic signage and gave the whole thing a stain with 'Victorian Mahogany' and liberal coat of lacquer to ensure some degree of protection when travelling. The lights are LED strip wired in parallel to a rechargeable golf cart battery, which will hopefully give me 8 hours of life- enough to last most shows.

So where can you see this beauty you ask? Well the Oakbound calendar is filling out for this year, starting in a few weeks time. So far we have confirmed:

WMMS Birmingham, 12th March
HorrorCon Trowbridge, 22nd April
Concord Bristol, 29-30th April
Legionary Exeter, 13th May
Easton Arts Trail Bristol, 3-4th June
IPMS Thornbury, 13th August
Blast-tastic Bristol, 7th October
Crusade Penarth, 27th January 2018

Also hoping to be in attendance at
Reveille Bristol, 26th November
Cavalier Tunbridge Wells, February 2018
Beachhead Bournemouth, February 2018

If you have a favourite local show I would love to hear from you so I can book in more events. Obviously travelling abroad is difficult (but not yet impossible for Europe) so mainly UK dates and venues.

We will, of course, also have one of our pretty tables with us: