Old World Army Challenge Wrap-up; a 1000pts army of Forest Goblins!

Well here it is, the end of the Old World Army Challenge. When we decided to do the challenge, I really wanted to start a Goblin army, something that was a dream of mine in my youth, but the task was a daunting one, and made me hesitate. In the end though, the pull was too big, and I plunged! And I'm really happy I did! Now, let's get that Warhammer army pose picture out of the way, shall we ;-)

The look of content after a 6 month marathon

The Plan

My Orcs and Goblins unpainted collection was a hefty one, and here is a reminder of what it looked like 6 months ago (obviously, only a small part of that was painted!).

My original plan was the following :

• 19 Forest Goblins archers, including standard & musician : 63 pts
• 19 Forest Goblins archers, including standard & musician : 63 pts
• 30 Forest Goblins w 2 handed weapons, including standard & musician : 108.5 pts
• 9 spider riders, including standard & musician : 121 pts
• 2 Doom Divers : 200 pts
• 3 Ogres w light armour and 2 handed weapons : 132 pts
• Forest Goblin Shaman Champion on Giant Spider : 87 pts
• Forest Goblin Warlord : 50 pts
• Forest Goblin Big Boss : 33 pts
• Forest Goblin Big Boss : 33 pts
• Forest Goblin Big Boss on Giant Spider : 37pts

A tall task! For while I am a very organized person, especially when it comes to this hobby, I am also an incredibly slow painter, and also a perfectionist! 

The Result

Well, I'm happy to say I almost followed my plans, but for one unit, replacing one archer unit with fanatics. I can live with that! 

Noraz Stickblast regiment (19 Forest Goblins archers, including standard, musician and Big Boss Noraz Stickblast) : 99 pts

Ukag's Mercenaries (3 Ogres w light armour and 2 handed weapons): 132 pts

Kleznot's Forest Goblin Mob (29 Forest Goblins w 2 handed weapons, including standard & musician and Big Boss Kleznot : 141.5 pts)

3 Fanatics : 90pts

Stag's Spida Rida (9 spider riders, including musician and standard, equipped with lances, shields and bows and Stag, Big Boss on giant spider, equipped with shield) : 170pts

2 Doom Divers (200pts) 

Zrazoig, the almighty Shaman, and his trusted sacred spider, Fang the hairy (Forest Goblin Shaman on Gigantic Spider) : 128pts

Graaz the Savage (Forest Goblin Warlord) : 50 pts

Total : 1010.5pts

I like Forest Goblins, I like them a lot!

It's a great feeling to come up from this Challenge with a complete 1000pts force. It's based, I even did all the customized movement tray, so I can say this 1000pts is *completely* finished. Yeah! I'll admit there was a moment in the challenge when I told myself (and Laurie) that I had made a mistake by going with goblins! But in the end my pride, mostly, pushed me to finish!And now that it's over, it's probably one of the favourite wargame army I've painted; the 4th edition gobbos are such fantastic little figures.

Now I'm taking a well deserved break, and I hope to organize part II of the Challenge in 6 to 8 months!

Stag's Spida Rida (April entry in the OWAC)

Spiders so large they appear to be wearing the pelts of small mammals.

Excuse my language, but FUCK YEAH! Here's my last unit of Gobbos for the first edition of the OWAC, 10 Spider Riders!

I really worked overtime to get these guys done in time, and I really mean that! Due to work commitment, I couldn't start on these until two weeks ago to the day, which means that I painted 20 figures in 14 days. That's probably my record. They are not as nice as my last few units, they lack some details and highlights, and I had to cut some corners, but I was expecting worse! Now looking at the pictures I'm satisfied with them.

As usual for anyone who knows me, I went with bright colours for the spiders (I can't help myself), but used cold colours of pinks and purples to contrast them to the rest of my "hot trio" of Red/Orange/Yellow of my army colour scheme (as you can see on the clothes, feathers, etc.) I like the contrast it makes, and these guys really pop! The shields are the plastic shields from the 4th edition plastic spearmen gobbos, nice shields really, it gives a bit more style to the unit.

Now I did a mistake in the painting process; I painted the riders separately from the spiders. Big mistake. These guys are really difficult to pose and glue, so I had to go back and fix some of the spiders to erase some of "white" glue traces (because I had time to do that!). Also, I really should've pinned them. They hold fine, but I don't think these guys would survive a trip across border lines, for example.

Nevertheless, they are going to fight many a battles in my gaming room, for sure! 

In the last two months of the Challenge, I've submitted 43 gobbos and 10 spiders! That's 53 figures in a 61 days period! Last week I couldn''t feel my right arm (growing old sucks).

Oh yeah, points tally :

- 9 spider riders, including musician and standard, equipped with lances, shields and bows : 132pts

- Stag, Big Boss on giant spider, equipped with shield : 38pts

Total : 170pts

As a final comment,  I'm now the proud owner of a completely painted and based 1010pts army of Forest Goblins, and that's what the OWAC was all about! Have a look all May at the OWAC blog for a recap by each challengers of their army. There's some really good stuff in there. Mine will follow towards mid-month...

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Kleznot's Forest Goblin Mob (and fanatics) (March entry in the OWAC)

Quantity has a quality all it's own

Here is the first part of my rather large March entry in the OWAC, at least in figure count, a mob of 30 Forest Goblins infantry! 

The unit is made-up entirely of classic early 90s Citadel forest goblins, sculpted by gobbo master Kev Adams. The unit, equipped with two handed weapons, is worth a whopping 141.5 points (and that's including the Big Boss)! 

But who cares, they look so good and cute! I used my orange-yellow-red colour scheme trio, and, while they were a lot of work, I'm super happy with them. Big units look good, always!

I did swore a lot while painting these, as the amount of details on these guys is absolutely bonkers, especially for troops that you need so many of. I also painted the 30 bastards in one go! I'm going to have nightmares about feathers, that's for sure. And I now have a love/hate relationship with Kev Adams!

The depth picture, to prove all the little bastards have been properly painted!

And then we have 3 fanatics! Yes, I can hear you say "fanatics? In a Forest goblin army?" Well, why the fuck not?! It occurred to me while perusing army lists to prepare for an upcoming game with challenger Chris and a few others in May that my army has no fanatics, which while correct by 4th edition rules, doesn't work in 3rd edition, the edition I actually play (the 3rd edition doesn't differentiate between Forest, Night or regular goblins)! And, I always thought the idea that only Night goblins to have fanatics kinda stupid, and sad. Every goblin army should have fanatics! So I decided to paint some, but in the bright colours of my army instead of black.

As I was painting these, I realized I don't recall ever seeing these guys painted in another colour than black. Yes, I know black is the fluff, but it's still amazing how we fantasy gamers sometime stick with what's "appropriate" or "historically accurate".

Anyways, I think they look great, I intend on painting more for this army if possible next month, and I hope they will cause terrible pain to Chris' Elves and Dwarfs! 

So, the points :

30 Forest Goblins w 2 handed weapons, including standard & musician & Big Boss : 141.5 pts
3 Fanatics : 90pts

Total : 231.5pts

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Ukag's Mercenaries and Graaz the Savage (December entry in the OWAC)

So my first month of the challenge was a busy one, what with a 20 figures unit plus a Doom Diver, so I figured I needed maybe a slightly less busy month. 

My December entry is pure Oldhammer, with a trio of maybe the most iconic figures ever produced by Citadel Miniatures, the famous Jes Goodwin's Ogres mercenaries. 

Ukag's Mercenaries

These guys are exactly how I imagine Ogres, with their touch of oriental/slavic armour and fashions. While my Goblin's colour scheme is a very colourful triad of yellow, orange and red, I wanted these guys to have a more somber, "business" look, while still fitting in the army. Consequently I used yellow and red to tie them the army, but offset by greys and dark green. I'm super happy with them, it's been a while since I've been that satisfied with a unit. I also had a perfectly sized movement trays for these guys, I'll need to order some more for all my units. Convenient and nice looking.

Boss Ukag himself, maybe my favourite miniature ever

For Ukag, the Mercenary Boss, I couldn't resist doing some stripped pants, as is almost mandatory with the model, and I'm quite happy with the results. The big yellow emblem really gives him a dash of colours on an otherwise subdued scheme.

Then we have "Mace" Nakog; I had to do one of the Ogres in a Christmas colour scheme, just had to!

"Mace" Nakog

And the third Ogre, Gurot the Butcher, a fantastic figure which was a lot of fun to paint. The mix of grey and yellow works really well I think, more than I first anticipated! 

Gurot the Butcher

And to finish this month in style, here is Graaz the Savage, the General of my army. It's the only figure of the project more recent than 1992, and comes from the Oldhammer inspired GreenSkins Wars from Knightmare Miniatures (Goblin fans have a look at their ranges there's a lot of awesome pieces). The figure is a bit bigger than the other goblins in my collection (although all were sculpted by Gobbo master Kev Adams) but it works perfectly as "DA Big Boss" of my army. It's also very Forest Goblin in it's style. 

So, for December :

• 3 Ogres w light armour and 2 handed weapons : 132 pts
• Forest Goblin Warlord : 50 pts

Total : 182pts

Forest Goblins archers & a Doom Diver (November entry in the OWAC)

So the first part of my November entry is a regiment of  19 Forest Goblin archers, led by Noraz Stickblast, a Goblin Big Boss.

I must admit painting these fellows in a month has been a challenge; first because work has been very busy, and also because I didn't expect these guys to take that long! I mean, they're small, so they should paint faster, right? WRONG. I never noticed the insane amount of details goblin master Kev Adams had sculpted on these little fellow. Skulls, spiders, ear rings, bones, feathers, etc. He even sculpted them nails! These are not your typical clad in black night goblins. And at a mere 2.5 pts each, it probably makes them the worst deal in Warhammer history when it comes to bang for your painting time! 

But boy, do they look great once finished. The Kev Adams 4th edition gobbos are (by far) my favourite goblins, I love their look of mischief rather than pure evil. They are exactly how I envision Goblins. 

I decided to use the Shaman model as a standard, err Totem bearer, instead

It was my first time painting greenskins since, oh, 1993 or so, so I had to come up with a green recipe. I always liked my goblins to be a very bright green, and I'm really pleased with my results! As for the colour scheme, I went with a trio of bright colours in yellow, red and orange. I always like bright colours when I can get away with it, and I also wanted to give a nod to the "red" era when these figures came out. I also like to use a limited palette when army building, so I used browns and bones for the rest of the details, so to keep the attention on the bright green of the skin and the trio of hot colours.

My only regret is the shield. Didn't have time to paint a proper design

My original idea was to include war paints on the rank & file, but time constraint (and the fact I would then have to do the same on hundreds of other goblins) changed my plans so I only painted them on my Boss and the musician. It's probably something that I will keep doing on the rest of my army, i.e. limiting war paints to royalty and command figures. 

Now, goblins being goblins, the little bastards cost litterally nothing, so that whole unit, with a Big Boss, doesn't even reach 100 points! 

So here comes the second part of my entry...a Doom Diver!! If I'm really excited about this it is because I absolutely love everything about Doom Divers; it's such a perfectly stupid goblin war machine, it fits so well with the Warhammer goblin fluff, and the 4th edition model is just so cute and charming!

I gave him the same colour scheme as the rest of the force (when you kamikaze yourself, bright colours are in order!) and I decided to put him on a nice, big base. I'm not a fan of separate bases when it comes to war machines, and I always prefer to build dioramas and such. I like him a lot.

So to recap :

• 19 Forest Goblins archers, including standard & musician : 63 pts
• Noraz Stickblast, Forest Goblin Big Boss : 33 pts
• 1 Doom Diver : 100pts

Total : 199pts

Next month? I'm thinking bigger...MUCH bigger

My Old World Army Challenge (OWAC) project

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Stick 'em wiv arrers'. Stick 'em with knives. 'an swords, and spears. Stick 'em quick and stick 'em where it 'urts. But most of all, stick 'em when they's looking in the other way.

I've been involved in Oldhammer, and it's awesome community, for around 4 years now. Now I won't bore you with my tales of nostalgia, although should you be interested you'll find it in here. My first love was Warhammer 3rd Edition, and the Realm of Chaos books. So when I started my Oldhammer collecting, and then painting, my first target was a Chaos army. But while I was building that army, my collector's sight were already fixed on amassing my second dream army; Goblins! For you see Warhammer 4th edition came out shortly after I started the hobby, and my White Dwarfs were rapidly inundated with pictures of Kev Adam's wonderful sculpts of those mischievous green creatures. To this day I've yet to find another range that embodies how I see Goblins; evil yes, but also incredibly stupid and yes, kind of cute. Basically, I like my goblins more on the mischievous side than the pure evil side, and Kev Adam's 4th edition Goblins are exactly that. 

But in the early 90s, while I was dreaming about building a Goblin army, the sad reality was that in was just that, a dream. In 1992-1993, I was but 13 years old, and a goblin only army was extremely expensive. Other than the plastic night goblins archers and the goblins spearmen from the boxset, all goblins available were in metal, and you needed hundreds of them! In those days the little guys were sold in blisters of 4 IIRC, so it was simply an impossible mission for a young boy with a 20$ bi-weekly allowance! I did buy many blisters actually, but it was a drop of water in the ocean!

So around 3 years ago I really started to collect a 4th ed Goblin army. And boy, it wasn't easy! One of the great mysteries of Oldhammer is, to me, the rarity of metal goblins and their prohibitive price on Ebay. So I was patient, waited for big lots, and when the big lots came I was as rutless as they come. THEY WERE MINE, ALL MINE! I was especially interested in the forest goblins, my favourite, and the classic goblins. If you haven't noticed yet, my thing is goblins, I'm not a huge fan of Orcs. A necessary evil, at most.

So between trading pages, Ebay and my old original stock I did managed to assemble a vast collection, one that I'm especially proud of. But the collection's been ready for over a year now and I procrastinate and procrastinate. Why? Well I'm a bit afraid of the sheer numbers of figures I'll need to paint.

So when I was challenged by my good friend Chris to create the OWAC, I knew the time had come, and that I could hide no more! The goblins were calling me, waiting to be unleashed upon the world, to swarm their enemies (Greg, Chris, I"m looking at you), to conquer...ok, ok...they are still goblins so conquer is a tad exaggerated. Annoy might be more exact.

Anyways, I talk too much. Let's have a look at my complete Orcs & goblins collection, and my plans for the next 6 months!

When the Challenge started, I decided to make a complete inventory of my collection. Here it is : 

As you can see the majority of the collection is made-up of forest goblins and goblins, with some Orcs and night goblins. The vast majority is also from 4th ed, although I do have some Marauder orcs and goblins, and some really Old School Ogres. 

From that I just had to come up with one 1000pts worth of Orcs & Goblins. Since I had enough of the little fuckers, I decided to go with an all forest goblins force (well, almost). More figures to paint, sure, but oh so more rewarding! Not to mention fulfilling the dream of my 13 year old self! Obviously, in this case I used the 4th edition Orcs & Goblins army book. Too many troops were not present in the 3rd edition (forest goblins, Doom Divers, etc.) Although ironically I do not play 4th, so I intend on building a custom list eventually for 3rd! 

So here's my list! I'm around 70 pts short, which I will use for either more goblins, wolf riders, stone lobbers or orcs, depending on my mood.

• 19 Forest Goblins archers, including standard & musician : 63 pts
• 19 Forest Goblins archers, including standard & musician : 63 pts
• 30 Forest Goblins w 2 handed weapons, including standard & musician : 108.5 pts
• 9 spider riders, including standard & musician : 121 pts
• 2 Doom Divers : 200 pts
• 3 Ogres w light armour and 2 handed weapons : 132 pts
• Forest Goblin Shaman Champion on Giant Spider : 87 pts
• Forest Goblin Warlord : 50 pts
• Forest Goblin Big Boss : 33 pts
• Forest Goblin Big Boss : 33 pts
• Forest Goblin Big Boss on Giant Spider : 37 pts

Total : 927.5 pts

Of course I reserve the right to make changes as I go! But I do enjoy making lists, it's great for planning. The Challenge states that we must paint 200pts per month, and I believe I have a good mix of units, war machines and characters which should allow me to reach that goal while still having fun.

Let the green madness begin!!

Visit the Old World Army Challenge blog to read the projects of each of the other 36 members!