More greenskins: Kruleboyz Swampcalla Shaman and Pot Grot join the horde

To be quite honest, I was planning to save my Kruleboyz until I'd finished a lot of other 'open projects'. This ambition turned out te be on par with 'not buying anything new until I've painted what I've got'. Utterly impossible. As I'd finished a lot of longer term open projects recently (and promptly failed to blog about those) I decided I was allowed to reward myself by cutting apart some shiny new sprues and assembling the new line of Orcs GW introduced with the release of the Age of Sigmar 3.0 Dominion Boxed set. Without further ado: here's my take on a Kruleboyz Swampcala Shaman and Pot Grot.

Hello there, can we tell you all about our lord and saviour Mork (or was that Gork)?

The line of Kruleboyz marks the third release of new Orcs Orruks into the Mortal Realms. First we saw the release of the Scalekreep Trybez Ironjawz. Massive Orruks that use the old Black Orc Orruk 'Ardboyz models as the smallest amongst their number. This line has an awesome dragon rider that I still need to own (Mawcrusha). Second was an expansion/re-release of the old Savage Orc line. These Bonesplitterz have a rather fun albeit uncomplicated backstory. My favorite model in this line is the duo of monster hunters holding a massive spear (two handed? No, this is a two person weapon!). Despite having a rather humongous collection of Orcs I actually don't own any Savage Orcs (from any time of release). I think they're a funny, slightly silly, concept, but they don't really scratch my hobby itch for some reason. As an aside, apart from Orruks, the Greenskins saw different armies releases in AoS. The Gloomspite Gitz combine most of the Goblin Grot Spider Riders, Trolls Trollocs and Nightgoblins Moonklan Grotz, Ogre Kingdoms became the Ogor Mawtribez and theres a full-on Giants-only army (Sons of Behemat). 

When it comes to painting there's little I dread as much as a rack full of equipment. I did my best to make all the bags and bundles stand out a bit. In the process I enjoyed discovering the chicken foot (left) and the mandrake root (top right). I also tried the 'paint it light green with a small highlight and add Spiritstone Green'-approach to the bottle (center) with very satisfying results (imho).

The Kruleboyz mark an interesting new bunch of 'might makes right' miscreants. These ladz follow Mork (cunning an brutal) as opposed to Gork (brutal and cunning). That means plotting by using Kunning Taktikz (misdirections, traps and repositioning), poison weapons, sneak attacks through the mist and serious ranged combat. Where the Bonesplitterz added their share of arrows with the traditional approach to Orc shooting (missing a lot), the Kruleboyz go sharpshooting with their crossbows and bolt throwers. As my first White Dwarf (issue 101) introduced Orc artillery in the form of a bolt thrower to me, I can add a modern army and scratch my Oldhammer itch with this army. I don't want to say win-win in my spare time, but I'm going to anyway. That tiny consideration aside, I love the sculpts of the Kruleboyz. Lots of detail without going crazy on belts and buckles. I can't recall ever seeing a line-up with so many models I really, really need to own. Well okay the entire old Realm of Chaos line from Slaves to Darkness and the Lost and the Damned, but I don't think we'll ever see those in a made-to-order (if that happens it should be renamed made-to-bankrupt). 

This picture was mostly added to break up the text. Painting fluid in bottles is quite an experience. I'm also rather happy with the red glow effect on the cauldron. It was a bit of a messy approach to painting (just stab the bottom with red, orange and yellow paints), but it worked out in the end.

Oh dear I got so carried away blabbing about random things, I've actually had to add a picture so I can add more bla bla about the actual models themselves (don't judge me!). I wanted to say a few things about painting the Shaman and his companion. I'll leave the skin color for another post (I can only add so many frivolous pictures). I had a lot of fun trying a new 'textured highlight technique' on the robes, cloth and pouches. I added small 'scratchy' lines of a lighter color to highlight instead of just applying the entire highlight as a layer. It gives the robes a worn look (I think) and it allows me to practice painting tiny straight lines. Aside from playing around with the highlights I had a lot of fun 'mucking around' painting the smoky liquid being poured from the bowl. I got so enthused I even found the courage to finally try the painting 'liquid swishing in bottles' technique. I used it on the Shaman's staff, belt and on the bottle on the grot's equipment pack. Now that was an interesting and rewarding experience. 

Mixing up your own texture paint is a fun process. I do wonder what the good people at GW and Vallejo add to their mixes to stop them from drying in the cup (aside from better cups of course). 

Oh dear I need more pictures to add a few words about the base. I wanted to add a rather nice swamp/jungle/verdant style base to this army. As a first step I decided to wean myself of my staple Vallejo Dark Earth paste. Instead I made my own texture pasate by mixing wall filler (instafiller), Scalecolor Dubai Brown, AK black primer, water, shell sand and beach sand in a cup. It looks nice (and invisible beneath all the plants). I am afraid the cheap cups holding my texture paint will not prevent it from drying out over the next few weeks. Ah well, I'll just make more. As for the plants: I've used a mix of tufts by Gamers Grass, Icelandic Moss, a few drops of Nurgle's Rot and tea. Yes innocent teabags have died for these bases. I've discovered that Rooibos may be a vile liquid to drink, but it provides a wonderful reddish colored leaf for basing purposes. Green tea with a dash of lemon is the best allround for basing. It provides perfect allround greyish-green leaves. The Ceylon blend I tried is just black dots and not very useful (maybe on a lighter sublayer). With that last bit I'll leave this rambling post as is. More on this project (and on painting greenskins) as I finish more of these models. Hell, I may just cave completely and buy new models too. I think this army is just too awesome to be ignored.