Squabblin’ Goblins – Part 10

I think it goes without saying that I’m hugely, childishly overexcited by all the new Night-Clan Moon-Gits or whatever it is that GW are calling Night Gobbos this week (I know it’s Gloomspite Gits but I was only just getting used to calling them Moonclan). My fungus-addled brain has already gone into overdrive coming up with uses for the new models so expect to see them popping up here over the coming months in various guises. Naturally however this enthusiasm can’t be kept entirely bottled up so I’ve channelled it into getting this spiteful little chap painted.

I got him a while back as part of one of the Greenskin Wars kickstarters and he may actually be my favourite Night Goblin of all time. Plus, inspired by all the new models, I hammered through painting him in no time flat.

I have been chipping away at other models over Christmas and New Year so expect to see a few more appearing soon(ish), once I’ve got the finishing touches on them, starting with a round-up of my current Necromunda projects later in the week.

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Squabblin’ Goblins – Part 9

Not wishing to rest on my laurels – suitably green though they may be – when it comes to my Night Goblin army, I’ve added a couple more recruits, a pair of fanatics whirling destructively into battle. These two were half finished at the end of October and rather than allow myself to get distracted and leave them incomplete for who knows how much longer I wanted to put brush to model and finish them off properly.

Unleash the fanatics!

Something I have been keen to avoid, especially after pouring so much effort into the army over the past few months, is allowing progress to stall entirely whilst I concentrate on other projects. Thus, whilst I was working on the fanatics I decided to press on and paint up this goblin shaman as well.

With these latest additions the heap of unpainted greenskins continues to reduce in a pleasing manner but there is still plenty more to finish and, with signs of a forthcoming Moonclan/Night Goblin release from GW which may well lead to me relapsing into my old goblin-purchasing ways, I’ll keep chipping away at them for now.

Squabblin’ Goblins – Part 8

Back at the end of September I showed a whole load of unpainted night goblin spearmen and archers and swore to have them all finished by the end of this month. As ever at least part of the credit for this rash decision lies with Azazel and the latest of his monthly hobby challenges. This month the goal is to complete a unit (or more than one if one is so inclined) and that’s exactly what I was hoping to do. Let’s take a look at how I got on.

First up there were a few more spearmen needed to round out the ranks of the malevolent little gits.

Such a rowdy bunch of goblins need a boss to keep them in line, a musician to tell them when to march and when to stab and of course a banner with a suitably impressive moon on it.

However that still wasn’t enough bodies to complete four whole ranks of the gits so a couple of quirky unit fillers were needed. This poor gobbo has looted so much he can barely stand up…

And then there’s this clump of friendly looking mushrooms that have sprouted from the floor of the gobbo’s cave…

And with that the whole 40-ish strong mob is ready to make mayhem!

On top of that there were a whole heap of archers to paint…

And they too needed a musician and a banner to round out the squad.

And with that a second goblin squad is ready to defend their cave from any wandering adventurers…

Readers who recall my summary of the gobbos at the end of September will remember that I didn’t get the last squig finished in time. Not to worry here he is now.

Needless to say I’m really proud of the progress I’ve made over the last couple of months. Here’s a reminder here’s how the army looked at the beginning of September…

…And at the end of September…

And here it is now.

Big thanks once again to for Azazel encouraging me to tackle this heap of unpainted models and turn it into a little army that I’m feeling justifiably proud of. Of course there are still various other little greenskins hanging around and waiting for attention – you’ve not seen the last of these boys yet!

Squabblin’ Goblins – Part 6

Before we leave September behind (and yes, I’m aware we’re now in October, Greenday just woke up) I wanted to take a quick look at the progress of my goblin army. I tackled them as my contribution to Azazel’s Neglected Model Month challenge in an effort to clear out the vast, unpainted hoard that was gathering around the edges of my painting desk. At one point I even harboured the lofty ambition of completing all of my spearmen and archers although as it turned out, with the plague furnace to finish off as well, this proved to be biting off more than I could chew. Luckily Azazel’s October challenge is to complete a squad so I’ll take a stab at doing exactly that. In the meantime however here’s a few more additions to the army which have slunk in over the past week.

A nice thing about the goblins is the number of heroes which can be packed into an army so here’s a goblin Big Boss accompanied by a suitably toothy squig.

I love the way that the squig’s crazed expression is mirrored on the face of the goblin – or maybe it’s the other way around? They do say people end up looking like their pets…

Speaking of squigs I still haven’t finished the last one for the little squad of them I started earlier in the month so I suppose that’s going to be another one to finish in October. I did manage to get the squig handlers for the squad done however but in my fugue I forgot the squig itself.

Every night goblin will tell you that you always need more fanatics so here’s another one bouncing into action. Despite my best efforts he’s come out a lot darker than the last one, and there’s something a little odd about how the highlights have behaved, but nevermind, he’ll do!

Unleash the fanatics!

What!? You still want more?! You’re demanding you are! Alright then, couple of netters be enough for you?

Given the hassle I had getting their eyes right it’s faintly upsetting that you can’t really make them out in these pictures but damn it I’m not going through the bother of photographing them again!

With this being the end of Neglected Model Month I also wanted to take a look at progress overall. With that in mind here’s how the army looked back at the start of the month…

…And here it is now.

Solid progress I’m sure you’ll agree, so big thanks once again to Azazel for setting his challenges and encouraging us all to focus our efforts.

I’ll be carrying on with the goblins throughout October alongside various other projects. By way of inspiration I’ve started reading Skarsnik by Guy Haley which may well be the best Black Library novel I’ve ever read. I’m only about half way through but as it stands I can only add to the praise that’s already been heaped on it. If you want to read the biography of the greatest hero the Old World ever knew (Gobbla natch) then this is the book for you. Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll have amassed a horde worthy of the true king of Karak Eight Peaks.

Squabblin’ Goblins – Part 4

It’s time for this week’s progress report on the night goblins (not including the Battle Standard Bearer who got his slice of the limelight earlier in the week). I’m planning to anchor the army around a horde of Night Goblin spearmen, backed up by a smaller unit with shortbows. Together these will represent the rank and file of the clan, who’ve been driven from their mushroomy lair by the call of the Waaarg! This week it’s been very much a collection of odds and ends as most of the models in these two squads are still halfway through being batch painted (something I would previously have shuddered to consider but I’m giving it my best shot nonetheless).

However, in the interests of having something to show you, I cracked on with these three spear-gobbos to get them finished (which also results in a pleasing, albeit only small, reduction of the pile still to be done).

I’ve also started work on the unit of archers with six of the little rascals ready for action.

This chap used to be a spearman but somewhere along the road he got careless and broke off half of his spear. Enter a quick and thematic repair and he’s ready for action again.

When it comes to Night Goblins there’s few things as thematic as a fanatic (try saying that five times quickly!)

Night goblins are always looking to even the odds against stronger, braver opponents (that’s basically everyone). Chucking a net over them is hardly honourable but luckily goblins are sneaky gits and don’t get worried about things like that.

And of course any night goblin army needs a few squigs around.

Overall then progress has been fairly solid, although I could probably have used to break more ground on the spear-gobbos and archers if I’m going to make my target of finishing the unit by the end of the month. We’re roughly half-way through the month now though and, although there’s still plenty to do, I’m pleased with the progress so far.

Squabblin’ Goblins – Part 2

So, having nailed my metaphorical colours (green, natch) to the mast and vowed to paint lots of goblins this month I gathered all of my part-painted models together and decided to make a start with them.

The current count of models I’ve found so far stands at forty spearmen and twenty archers, although others may be lurking in boxes waiting, as goblins do, ready to spring out and make mischief when I least expect it). The thought of batch painting my way through them all fills me with horror so I’ll try to tackle small sets and see how it goes.

Probably the biggest challenge I faced with these was not getting married to each and every one of them. I’m really not the kind of painter who enjoys the whole “speed-paint, batch-paint, bash ’em out in 12 seconds each, get a thousand points done every night” way of working. Nonetheless the aesthetic punch of a horde comes from the mass of nasty little Night Gobbos rushing across the landscape towards you, and not from how nice the eighteenth model looks, so long as he looks good enough not to let the side down. Still, it was a struggle, I may never win a golden daemon but for me the pleasure is in the painting, and these were about as close to speed-painting as I’ll ever go.

Not a bad start then, all things considered, but of course this is only the beginning. With all of these models having been WIP to begin with it’s giving me a bit of a head start on the project. Of course it also means it all gets harder from here!

Garage Days Revisited – Part 3

Exploding out of Chris’s garage like a whirlwind of destruction, here’s a Night Goblin fanatic!

Once again I’m hearing the call of my long unpainted Night Goblin army but with so many projects on the table it may still need to wait a little longer. Hopefully this chap will scratch the itch to paint things green in the meantime.