Is there such a thing as too many Greenskins?

I remember the old days. With Morrslieb ascendant, Goblin Green was the only green and raving lunatics slathered it onto bases with glee. Ol' Gorfang Rotgut—he must've been at least thirty years old back then—pulled me aside and said: "If da ground ain't shakin’ when yer marchin’, you ain't bringin' enough boyz." 

Come to think of it, this might've just been a fever dream (not even the maddest maniac applies Goblin Green to bases, after all*). 

But the advice still holds, and even if it didn't—no one who values an un-butted head argues with Gorfang. 

That's why I always keep extra Greenskins lurking around the paint station, waiting for a coat of paint. The jury's still out on whether I place them there, or if they appear out of thin air. Either way, here's the latest batch I painted.

* Warning: you need at least one Dwarf flame thrower (or flame cannon) to enter this entirely artificial flame war ;)

Just when you thought it was safe to head back out into the forest...

Over the past few months I've added this unruly lot of 'gits to my collection. For the record I added two of the new plastic Mangler Squigs (on square bases), a Night Goblin boss on a giant cave squig, forty Night Goblins, six (mostly) classic Orcs, a Goblin Shaman riding a giant wolf, a regular Goblin Wolf Rider, a troll and an ogre. I've also repainted five Black Orcs (and added a sixth). Sorry about all the number-blab, it will get worse in the next paragraph, but I promise I'll revert to something approaching less numbery language after that. (Also I should get Numberwang somewhere around then).

I haven't quite figured out if the Night Goblin walking his Squig is a shaman or a unit champion. I do know he's a Git (and so are his companions).

To be honest I was planning to rebase some models on the shelves to get myself a quick extra The Old World army. That shouldn't have been hard. Over the years my collection of Greenskins has sprawled out of control. Just because I like to brag (and it is my blog, so no one's going to stop me). My painted* collection consist of: 90 Night Goblins, 20 squigs, 5 squig hoppers, 3 Wolf Chariots, 3 Doom Diver Catapults, 2 Rock Throwers, 2 Goblin Spear Throwers, 10 Spider Riders, 1 classic Mangler Squig, 1 Colossal Squig, an assortment of fanatics, shamans and goblin characters (including Grom the Paunch and Skarsnik), around 80 Orc Boyz (including classic Ruglud and Harboth and 10 Drastik Plastic Orcs), 30 Black Orcs, 5 Orc Chariots, 5 Boar Boyz, 1 Warboss on Boar, 2 Snotling Pump Wagons and a bunch of Snotling bases, the 'I'm about to fall of!' Orc Warlord on Wyvern, the 'my design makes my leg snap off' Shaman on Wyvern, a Troll Hag, 6 Swamp Trolls, 3 Stone Trolls, 1 Orc Megaboss, 5 Orc Brutes, an army of Age of Sigmar Swamp Orcs, some models I've forgotten and a partridge in a pear tree.

My apologies for this list, I had such a blast going through ancient blog posts to look for links, I couldn't stop myself from adding things.

* Let's not mention the unpainted stockpile :o.
 

Freddie on the right is modeling the latest in base adapters. He earned his name by surviving two consecutive round of Chameleon Skinks shooting him in the back. I will never remove the base commemorating the insane amount of lucky dice rolls needed to do that.

Most of my Greenskins are on round bases as I've been using the Age of Sigmar ruleset for the past years. I probably wouldn't own quite so many models without Age of Sigmar. The reception of that game inspired quite a number of people to ditch their entire collections by the (mover's) box for a pittance. I never realized how good I had it, buying up those boxes, until those times ended. 

With the release of Warhammer The Old World, I 3D-printed some round to square conversion bases to convert painted models to the new standard. They do the trick of turning 25mm rounds into the new 25mm square standard. On the downside, I still want to update the bases anyway. The convertors make the bases look unfinished. With the exception of Freddie (pictured above) I will try to avoid base convertors,

Black Orcs look quite cool on the tabletop, but making them look good with paint is harder than you'd think (getting the camera to focus properly also isn't easy, apparently).

First group off their old round and back on (bigger) squares (Orcs are 30x30 now), here's a bunch of Black Orcs with an updated paint job. Personally I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with these models. On the one hand Black Orcs look quite impressive. On the other hand all they have going fo them is metal on metal (with a bit of green sticking out here and there). It's very hard to get a contrast going, let alone make them look interesting. The models above are a mix of metal and plastic Black Orcs (with a 3D-printed one designed by Avatar's of War on the left). I spent a quiet Sunday updating the skin tones, blocking in squares and adding lots of shadows and highlights to the armor to make the models pop. I think they look better than the other Black Orcs on my shelves. But to be honest, I think most people will not spot the difference, so I'm still on the fence whether I should continue this side-project.

I had such a blast painting rotten teeth, filthy gobs and crazy eyes. The Mangler Squigs where a blast to paint as well :D.

On to the Mangler Squigs. I have an older Mangler Squig. It's a fun model that looks great. But these new plastic versions look so much better. They have all the dynamism of the older model with a lot of fun extras mixed in. I found these two in an old Christmas army box GW sold a few years back. After clapping myself on the shoulder for finding it (and softly berating myself for splurging on a box and forgetting about it), I finally sat down to glue them together. I opted to build both versions as I had two models to play around with. In The Old World the differences don't matter, there's only one type of Mangler Squig in the books (so far). 

I love it when GW sculptors make small vignettes on top of bigger models. 

I painted them in subassemblies, keeping the Goblins (and most of the chains) separate from the two Squigs (per model). This allowed for a lot more airbrushing, gave me better angles to smash a brush onto surfaces and forced me to hurry up (as the sub-assemblies were slowly drifting off towards piles of unclassified miniature detritus, threatening to be lost forever in a place more chaotic than the warp). 

Let's all take a second to think about the poor Snotling running for his life (and about poor me forgetting that green skin doesn't contrast all that well with a green base).

The fun bit of Mangler Squigs on square bases is that they have a real facing (the front of the base) and a top Squig facing in a completely different direction. It emphasizes the chaotic bouncing of these monsters and looks incredibly funny on the tabletop, especailly in combat. The less fun bit is that the suggested base size for bigger creatures in The Old World ruleset is a bit of a mess. Mangler Squigs get a base that looks too small for the model. I think Trolls, Ogres and the like should've been upgraded to 50x50mm instead of staying at 40x40mm bases. And don't get me started on ranking up classic Orc Chariots on their tiny chariot bases. I'm not done applying flock to the new bases of mine, so they will get a separate post with (most likely) a proper rant. 

I really like this crazy modern sculpt, although it looks quite aggressive next to my classic Squig Hopper cavalry.

Here's another new-fangled plastic Gobbo on a classic square base (this one properly sized (as far as I'm concerned)). The Night Goblin boss on his Giant Cave Squig looks great on (and off) the battlefield. As an aside, I tried a painting technique from a spaceship painting guide on the Squig's skin (both this one and the bigger ones). Between layers of ever brightening red, I airbrushed white and grey squigly shapes through an AK Flexible Airbrush Stencil. It subtly breaks up the flat monotonous skin and gives it a bit more character. I also decided to take a short break from all the rusty armors and give (some of) my Gobbos brighter metal armor with only subtle signs of decay. 

This old Troll gets to show of his sparkling new coat of paint.

This plastic Troll was part of the Battle for Skull Pass (7th edition) box set. I found him in one of the boxes full of second hand models I bought back in the day. He was covered in globs of paint (anything but primer) and his two halves did not quite line up because the sprue nubs hadn't been removed. I managed to get his halves unstuck (luckily no glue was used), removed the nubs and mold lines, stuck him together again (with glue this time) and filled out any remaining lines and gaps. Painting him in an (I think) interesting regular Troll color scheme was quite a rewarding experience. Ah, who am I kidding? I'm quite proud to see him looking like a proper, menacing Troll now. Is that a tear of joy leaking out of his right eye? Come here little fellow, have a hug, it's okay, let it all out....hey let go! Arghargl! 

The Goblin Shaman on giant wolf is big enough to tower over his fellow Goblins, and small enough to still look intimidated when surrounded by Orcs. 

This Shaman on Giant Wolf is a 3D print designed by Avatar's of War (Aow). Their wolves (and Goblins) look quite big compared to their GW counterparts. In practice they mostly scale okay against the latest (old by now) GW models; for instance the boars from the plastic Boar Boyz set look slightly bigger than the Giant Wolf and that is quite how I like it. Painting this model took a lot more time than I had anticipated. AoW (quite sinfully) 3D-sculpts riders on their mount, forcing me to paint mounted cavalry. It makes painting a lot harder, but the end result is quite nice. I planned to give the skull on the staff an eerie green glowing fire, but opted for orange instead. It clashes wonderfully with all the greens and greys in the army (excluding the Squigs). 

Painting classic (and semi-classic) Orcs is a joy that's almost impossible to put into words. It's a joy to discover fun details (look at the Goblin skin the rightmost Orc is wearing) and at the same time you don't get the endless pouches, bottles and buckles modern miniatures inflict on you.

Here's a mix of classic and not-quite classic Orcs I randomly added to my horde. The second Orc from the left and the musician (banging an Orc-themed gong) next to him are modern metals by Ral Partha Europe. They have lingered (unpainted) in a random box for almost a decade now. I retrieved them and based them on modern squares. The 30x30mm bases for Orcs are a joy when it comes to ranking them up. I only have the occasional mismatch of elbow and head <insert your own animosity joke here>. If you find yourself waxing nostalgic about smaller bases and consider lining models up one of the joys of the hobby, you can still count on Black Orcs. They are hell to rank up, even on 30x30mm bases (I wish GW had assigned 40x40mm to them).

Are transfers a lazy cheat? Yes and no. It can be easier than free-handing, but it comes with its own challenges.

I took a separate shot of Gorfang Rotgut to show off his shield. I always plan to go wild with shield designs, but by the time I get to them, I'm usually quite done with the model in question. In this case I didn't have a shield primed and ready when the time came to add it to the model. I looked around and found this ancient (well, nineties ancient) Chaos Warrior shield in the shield drawer. I gave it a few quick, successive sprays with the airbrush and then went wild with some equally ancient transfers (Gorkamorka and Chaos Space Marines, I think). I still feel a bit lazy and guilty when I decide to go for transfers instead of trying a freehand, but properly applying and finishing transfers always takes that feeling away. It's a skill unto itself. The skill in question involves a lot of cursing as the transfers keep sliding out of position. I should write a longer tutorial on the subject, For those of you wondering, the short version is this:

1. Apply a basecoat of shiny varnish where the transfer needs to go.
2. Put a bit of water on the target area to ease the transfer from paper to model (or shield in this instance).
3. Carefully move the transfer into position, curse as it keeps drifting away (especially when you're stacking multiple transfers on top of each other and their almost invisible edges push the other transfers out of position (the skulls on the bottom of the shield where a nightmare to align).
4. Use a q-tip to drain the water. Hold the tip to the side of the transfers, so you don't move them by accident.
5. Carefully push the transfers back into position as they've moved anyway. Mind that there's less water left to slide on, so you the risk of tearing them up is higher than before.
6. Wait until the water has completely dried before moving on (I always skip this step because I have no patience).
7. Carefully apply a fresh coat of gloss varnish on top of the transfers. This will stop them from moving (after it has dried). It also hides the transparent edges of the transfers (so don't go galivanting of to step 8 because 'varnish is varnish'!) Warning: You will have to move the transfers back into position while the varnish dries if you skip step 6. 
8. Apply matt varnish on top of the gloss varnish (after it has dried!) to hide the gloss finish (unless you want to go all-out eighties, but then you probably stopped reading after the crude Goblin Green base joke*). 
9. Add a few black lines (if needed) around the transfers to touch them up (the skulls I used had messy white edges above their black edge and that looked bad).
10. Paint a few lines of 'battle damage' over the transfer (a black line with a grey highlight for instance). This blends the transfer in with the rest of the miniature, takes no time (or skill) at all and makes people go 'Wow, you painted an awesome effect! You are ready for the 'Eavy Metal team!**' 

* Although Goblin Green bases are a distinctly nineties Red Period thing if you ask me.

** Warning: you'll most likely wake up after this has been said, but it's a nice dream while it lasts ;).

When I saw the 25x25mm base size for Goblins I thought that would never work. When it came time to mount them, I used the excess space to misalign the goblins, hoping to make the unit look a bit less disciplined on the tabletop. I think this works quite well (and it solves my 'how big is that base?' dilemma). 

On to the final units. I don't know what's wrong with me (or I do, and I'm not boring you with the details), but I always think 'I can paint that in a day, two at most'. In this case I had that thought when I considered adding another 40 Night Goblins to my way too big horde (even though there's no such thing a a horde that's too big). Before I go off on the boring nitty-gritty of the goblins themselves, I'd like to blab about the banner first. It's painted on a print (paper print) of one of the classic banners in an army book (I can't recall which one, but I'm very sure it had the words 'Orcs & Goblins' on the cover ;). I  covered the printed page (well the banner I wanted to paint) with a layer of PVA to stop the paint from sponging into the paper. I've written more on painting banners this way quite some time ago, if you're interested you can find that post here.

I spent a bit of time debating whether to paint the skull on the gong or leave it rusty as its background. In the end I went for paint and I'm happy with that choice. The rusty alternative made the skull nigh-on invisible.

I painted these Night Goblins by applying semi-zenithal blasts from my airbrush over their primer (most likely a red primer (for no other reason than it was in the cup when I primed them)). I started with a Nato Black (Vallejo) coat and followed up with light-grey and white zenithal blasts. After allowing them to dry I covered the models in Space Wolf Contrast Paint (through the airbrush). When this had dried I  applied another blast of white zenithal (on small areas), and followed up with more Space Wolf Contrast. After they dried, I drybrushed the models with Dark Reaper (an older greyish blue by Citadel (Sombre Grey by Vallejo would do just as well)). Painting the robes took a few hours (with the aid of a hairdryer). Painting the skin took longer than expected. I used Olive Green and Golden Olive Green by AK this time (but honestly, any green will do). It was the multiple highlights and washes, as well as unexpected elbows and ears that slowed me down. A final neat trick to mention is one I picked up browsing through old White Dwarfs. I painted pure black inside the hoods of the models. It makes the faces stand out (and allows you to be sloppy with the green).

It's a thrill to snap a 20+ year old shield off a sprue and (finally) paint it.

I took as much time with the shields as I did with the banners. I found this old plastic shield with a moon molded into it and added it to the Goblin Character. I gave the other champion (one picture up) a shield painted in the classic Citadel Face style. That shield was still lying around as a left-over from the Night Goblins' Attack Giant I did a while back. A number of other shields in the unit are molded onto the miniatures. I gave the Goblins that didn't have a molded-on shield a classic round one. I freehanded a moon design, thinking it couldn't be that hard (it turned out to be harder than I thought). To cover up my mistakes, I added a wood-grain effect. I think the shields look a lot better than they deserve. I'm not complaining.

This Ogre spent years in a box (after I stripped his original blue skin). I finally got around to painting him (and his compatriots), I will get back to him in later post.

And with that final bit of semi-wisdom my bla bla about more Greenskins comes to an end. 'But what about that classic Ogre in the overview picture?', I hear you say (I really should ease down on the warpstone-consumption). Well, I added that guy in by accident when I took the shot. I will talk about my ancient Ogres at a later date (I finished a few more of them recently). So just ignore him, and the Goblin Wolf Rider I didn't mention at all. They'll both be back soon, and they'll bring a few happy little friends along with them.