The siege of Brewer's Droop! BOYL 2019 playtesting

Hello! I am still with you. Yes, I know I have not blogged in ages and ages and ages and with BOYL approaching it's time I pulled my finger out and wrote something. This year I think I have a legitimate excuse for being lapse on the blog front, I have been moving house and sorting out our new studios. With that largely done I look forward to being able to blog a bit more frequently and maybe even get some more videos made.

 

 

For BOYL 2019 I'm putting on an idea that's been kicking around for a few years now, a siege game on a tiny scale with snotlings assaulting a dwarf brewery. My lovely new gaming table means that with just under a week to go I was able to lay everything out for some testing. Of course, since I had painting still to do for it I didn't actually get to test until last night, but thankfully everything seemed to go to plan. Rather than give an account of the battle (which I'll save until after BOYL) I'll just leave some teaser shots here to show some things that could happen. SPOILER ALERT! if you don't want any surprises spoiled for Saturday's game don't look until Sunday!

 

The snotling horde is glimpsed from the battlements of Brewer's Droop

A squad of ratlings pops up from a convenient drain and makes an early raid on one of the stranded beer wagons.

The dwarf brewmaster and his team manage to get the other wagon back inside the gate, but with a lapidified cart weighing the drawbridge down they can't get the way sealed behind them.

It all goes rather wrong for the snotling shaman on turn 2 as his mushroom addiction overcomes him.

One siege troll makes it to the walls and a hapless handgunner is mobbed by 5 determined snotties.

The second squad of ratlings makes a push for the open gate...

...and make it inside just as the dwarfs get the cart clear and raise the drawbridge.

The giant mushroom beast contemplates the gatehouse as the batlings swoop on the defenders.

Big Momma Snot falls prey to an angry watchdog.

The shroomy beast begins to climb the tower...

...and the dwarfs flee in terror as the dreadful apparition scales the ramparts.


All in all the game ran very nicely. Despite the pictorial evidence the dwarfs put up a stirling defence and with the snotlings unable to summon more reinforcements only two barrels were whisked away to the grotty grotto. I have gained some important tactical insights which I will use to test again tonight and see if the snots can fare any better. Of course such insights may be wheedled out of me through the use of beer at BOYL on Friday night.... :D

The siege of Brewer's Droop! BOYL 2019 playtesting

Nabrat's Armoured Orcs

Back when I was a kid and had lots of time and no friends I used to organise my Combat Cards into rival factions to battle against one another. This is how I will be displaying my finished miniatures in the cabinet I have just finished making for them. The main protagonists in this saga were the two Orc Warlords, Nabrat Twocutters with his armoured orcs and Grubod Skullcracker with his royal orcs.

 



 

Nabrat is the leader model from Ruglud's Armoured Orcs. As the story on the box narrates, his armour is straight off the back of a dead chaos warrior. Look at the plates on these guys, dead Slambos and HQ warriors most likely! Now there were incarnations of Ruglud's after this, but for me this is the definitie look for the Armoured Orc.

Nablong is also from the regiment of renown, but there he is a musician not a shaman. I feel he fits better in a magical setting though, using the looted bones of the fallen chaos warriors to commune with nameless horrors.

Rungit gets to be in this group because of the stylings of his arm armour, although it will mostly be hidden behind the shield. I'm still in two minds whether to sculpt a nose on the shield or to paint in trompe l'oeil. I can't tell from the photo, does anyone have any pics of this model from a different angle? At the moment I'm leaning towards a paint effect.

Ah, Bogi. Another 'rare' snotling double that I paid too much for after years of scouring ebay. Totally worth it though, this little guy is so cool! Where he found chaos armour to fit him we can only guess but I can easily imagine him capering after Nabrat as an annoying yet loyal sidekick/pet/lackey.

Rutlog is probably the oldest model in the deck, being a 'slottarised' Fantasy Tribes orc. He was very difficult to get looking good and I'm not entirely happy with him as his chainmail and face don't seem as detailed as the card model.

Another case of flayed snotling appears on Zakash's drum, not readily apparent from the card but the tiny feet nailed to the back of the drum make it pretty plain this isn't a carved wooden instrument!

And here's the case I've made for them. Excuse the sunlight and wood dust, only just finished it in this pic. It will, of course, be wiped down before I populate it.

Nabrat's Armoured Orcs

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...

Fanatical about snotlings

Halloween bogies!

The first Snotling unit is complete! These guys were my task for the October painting challenge on the Oldhammer forum so it felt fitting to give them a bit of a Halloween theme, hence the pumpkins. So here they are, Black Ernie MacSchmuck and the Creeplings:

Black Ernie (centre) and his champions

Pixie Tricksters from Rackham

Django Lanthorn, Reaper's 'Rotpatch'

The Timekeeper and Headtaker

Pumpkin Cart

Deep though the caves inhabited by most Snotling tribes are, there are caverns deeper and darker still; fissures and grottos where the no breezes blow, the air is hot and stagnant and many of the passages are little more than half-flooded crevices. Even here there is life for it is in these dank recesses in the bowels of the earth that the Creeplings dwell. They are small even by Snotling standards, barely a foot high in most cases, and have an unnerving quality to them which makes anyone who encounters them shudder involuntarily and gives them their name. For those who know more about them the shudder may not be so involuntary, for the Creeplings have a reputation for being more wicked than their mainly benevolent larger kin, engaging in violence for sport and enjoying random acts of depravity.  Fortunately they rarely come above ground since daylight hurts their eyes. The most experience a human is likely to have is if mining or caving too near their territory, when the Creeplings will make “knocking “ sounds to lead the humans away. Some humans have found richer seams of metals this way and so speak fondly of the ‘knockers’, whilst others have found themselves lost or trapped and claim they have been tricked by evil mine spirits.

Separated as they are from the bulk of Snotling-kind, the Creeplings have their own king. For as long as any of them can tell this has been Black Ernie MacShmuck. By all reckonings Black Ernie is now over a thousand years old, however he is no taller than an average Snotling. Some attribute this to the Creepling’s genetic shortness, useful for creeping through tight crevices. Those who are in the inner circles of Creepling hierarchy, however, know that although their king is Black Ernie, it is not often the same Black Ernie for more than a couple of years. Intrigue and assassination are rife amongst the Creepling clan and their king goes about cowled with his face hidden and rarely speaks.

Only two types of vegetation are to be found in the caverns of the Creeplings. The first is a virulent purple fungus which the Creeplings eat and use to dye their clothes. Many Snotlings blame this mushroom for the Creeplings’ unsavoury nature since a close cousin of it grows in the higher levels of the caves and is avoided at all costs being highly poisonous, even to Snots. The other plant is a curious type of gourd which produces an eerie phosphorescent glow. This is the only form of illumination in these deep places and the pumpkins are revered by the Creeplings who say that each pumpkin is connected to one single creeper which runs into the deepest, darkest part of the world. There lies the pumpkin king, Django Lanthorn, who watches over all Creepling kind. Should the realm of the Creeplings be threatened then Django Lanthorn would stir from his sleep and rise to the surface to defend his people. It is forbidden to cut a pumpkin from the creeper, but occasionally one will fall of its own volition. This is seen as a great omen and blessing by the Creeplings and the gourds are often carved into ornate masks or carried into battle as totems to secure victory.

The figures are a mix of Citadel (Familiar, Carrion Wraith, Warmaster Night Gobbos and one actual Snotling!), Pendraken, Reaper and Rackham.

Halloween bogies!

The Snots are back! The first base gets assembled about a year after purchase!

Well  my snotling army seems to have grown slightly over the last few months, and having spent a year in a drawer I thought it was high time to give the little buggers some love. Back when the army was starting the muster some genius (sorry, can't remember who it was or find the post) suggested that classic scene from Deathtrap Dungeon as reproduced here should be the theme for a base.

 

 

So I thought "that's a good place to start".

 

A bit of posing and light chopping/gluing and we have the first base assembled. No rocky pillar as yet but it'll come.

 

 

The guy walking on his hands was the most tricky to find a snot to fill the role, see if you can spot who it is!



The Snots are back! The first base gets assembled about a year after purchase!

Complete deck of Combat Cards!

It's taken three years of searching the aethernet but I have finally managed it! Thanks to Mr Mutantdale and Just John at the Bloodforum and numerous ebay sellers the final few goblinoids have slipped into place and so I present a ton of lead ready for painting... now, let's see how long it takes me to get everything nicely done, and can I match the standard of the originals? Set the sights high...

Zugor needs a new sword building , Ylag needs his head chopping off and turning round and a hood building and Grubod and Ulg (being Kev Adams crazy conversions) are going to take a lot of work but I'm pretty sure these are the right starting models. No idea why some of the models have been flipped on the deck, possibly to avoid the edge of the card chopping off bits.

I know there was a horned version of Gublub released but I got the non-helmeted version cheaply so I'll just build one on. Very happy with finding Bogi Dungbreath, those snots were not easy to come by and they ended up being by far the most expensive purchases in the deck... appropriate for the smallest, most crap gamewise!

The thing I'm most scared about is painting the shields, those bad boys are works of art!

Complete deck of Combat Cards!

Crimbo Time!

It's Christmas! To quote Noddy Holder...

That means time for some pressies for friends and family. Last year my gaming chums got some sculpts, blue scribes and a space wolves contemptor dreadnought. This year I had a bit less time, but a syrplus of snotlings! So we present some personalised snotty conversions:

For my Ratman friend, a unit filler for the Skavenslaves unit... dissent in the ranks, just what every verminous warlord needs!

 For my Bretonnian colleague; Robin Snot, scourge of the greenwood. An extra chappie for an archer regiment.

For my Blood Angels pal; the Red Sparrow. An irksome jump-pack-sporting nutcase with more firepower than is good for him! Commander Dante's sidekick?!

And last but not least, my good lady gets a 2CV packed full of mushroom-munching, grass-smokin' hippie snots off to cut some weeds! Flower power y'all!

Oh, and my entry for the 2nd Golden Gobbo competition is finished... tough not to post pics on here but it has to be a surprise! Happy Crimbo everyone!

Crimbo Time!

Resistance is useless...

You could resist Goblins no longer! Well, actually I couldn't resist them back in July, but they only turned up a couple of days ago. These Caesar goblins seem to have been hard to get hold of, the UK stockist was out for ages but, surprise! There they were on the doorstep on monday.

Worth the wait? Well, they're plastic and the spears are a bit bent (not really able to straighten them) but for £6 for 36 models (I got 2 boxes so £15 with shipping for 72) they work out pretty cheap.

 

There's anot a great variation in poses, but it was pretty easy to snip the hands off some and rearrange them, the effect was greater than I expected for such simple conversions. They did have quite large chunks of sprue attached (came in a jiffy bag) but since I need to base them up anyway this wasn't as much work as I initially thought.

Some altered poses

As to how they compare, they're a bit taller than the citadel snots- but in an army which has both Warmaster goblins and an Uglyn Lovelord as representative of the same race scale doesn't matter quite so much! I love their comical gremlin ears and cheeky faces and while their features are as pronounced or rotund as the snots they have a cartoonish feel which fits in nicely. These guys are largely going into the tribe, although 16 spearmen are heading to join Mikey's Pikeys, the 16 with bombs (some bomb hands put on new bodies) and axes are providing muscle and Fuzes for my sawmasters, 8 with bows are joining the Stunty Stikaz and a few are off to don bells in the morris.

Resistance is useless...

The Contingent Plan

Here's a basic layout for the Snotling army, which should make up to about 3000 points worth of snots. Some of the text has not Print Screened very well, but I think it comes across. The idea is to divide the army into contingents. Several of these may combine to make up units, but I wanted lots of variation and to be able to create 80s-style warhammer units with characterful leaders and definite style. Each base will effectively be a mini diorama of the contingent, with an appropriate label giving either the name of contingent or the leader/champion. Lots of colour, lots of variation, lots of crazy madcap fun!

Obviously there aren't 'official' rules for most of these troop types, stay tuned for the Cave Snot Armies Book featuring such glorious entries as the Snotling Blasters, Shroomies, Sawmasters, Shamen and Wierdlings.

The Contingent Plan