Cave trolls

Deep in the darkest, dankest caverns and caves, they live. Their eyes are almost useless after decades of darkness, their skin has almost calcified in the constant drip of minerals and lava sediments, their wiry bodies gangly and tough as old leather. They exist on the blind fish and crustacae that cling on to existence  in the cold, clammy pools of their subterranean homes. If a goblin or giant spider strays into their realm, it will provide them with food for a month.

And yet, the goblins do make their way into these perilous corners of their realm. The cave trolls are lumbering, almost blind and very dangerous, but this makes them ideal conscripts for the goblin armies. Prodded and goaded, they are pushed into the teeth of their enemies, blunting their defence, weakening their resolve, and possibly soiling their trousers…

It’s been a while since I posted, simply because I almost never paint minis now. However, I did recently feel the nostalgia and dug out these old stone trolls. From around 1992 when I first started Warhammer, though at the time I could not afford too many metals and my limited funds went toward my elves. Fast forward a couple of decades, I have been slowly scraping together a collection from that era. 

I have learnt more about painting, colours, ambience, etc since making the switch to canvas. And so these figures are slightly different stylistically than my other miniatures, though it’s subtle and maybe not that apparent on screen. Anyway, there’s a lot of basic dry brushing and glazing and not much else to be honest. In colour terms, the grey of stone and a pale flesh colour, with a cool red on the main facial features, to represent the effects of daylight on their light sensitive skin.

A little history lesson. The trolls were originally released as single piece models, these three in fact. Later they were released as two pieces (a separate head), presumably to allow variety for those building really big units? I prefer the single piece models, but I am happy to include a spare. 

As I said, I have been away from the world of minis for the past few years and, well, it sure has changed. So much more choice around, it’s quite mind boggling. I have been sorting through my collection, and hopefully I can get back into the hobby on a reduced scale. I have a small unit of orcs to paint next, see how that goes. It would be nice to build a force of orcs and goblins to take on my dwarfs…….

Empire Warrior Priests

It’s been a while since I updated the old blog, but I did recently complete this trio of Empire warrior priests. They were released around 2007 I think and I bought two of them, for some reason I never completed the set. They were painted purely for painting sake, I wasn’t gaming at the time and have never played Empire, even though their background is potentially the best part of the Old World. Certainly, I have always considered warrior priests to be a central part to the Empire lore. And if you consider the Empire to be central to the whole Warhammer universe, then this trio have to be at the very epicentre. 

I think I painted the two hammer priest as part of a Warhammer forum Glass Cabinet challenge (remember those, the good old days). Then the preacher with book, as I liked the model and I had vague ideas to make a small force from Ostland, which got as far as this one figure and no further! The final figure, with the great hammer, was a gift. I mentioned online somewhere that I had never bought the third of the trio and I had given up trying to find it online as prices were so expensive. Up popped a fairy godfather (aka Andrew Rae of Statuesque Miniatures), he just gave it me and I promised to paint it. It took me a couple of years to get to it, but finally the trio is complete.

Mordor reinforcements

I have to admit that I neither play nor paint that much these days. I think it was late summer or autumn of last year when the dice were last rolled. On the painting side, it’s very infrequent and sporadic. Having said that, I did manage recently to knock out this troll, which I had converted some months back. 

For the palette, I ignored any film references and went to the original source, the books. Trolls are described as black skinned with red eyes, so that was my main aim. I did consider black armour too, but thought it might look too much against the skin, so settled on a dark metallic look. 

I have also cobbled together a unit that will play as linebreakers in games of Oathmark, if we ever return to it. These are troops that are heavily armoured and typically armed with double handed weapons. The models are old metal orcs that I picked up on a forum marketplace I think. They have been lying in my cupboard for a good while, I had intended to strip them and repaint them to fit in with my style, but in the end I glazed over a few washes to remove the zingy colours of the previous owner. They fit in well enough, the front and centre figure is the orc commander that I painted years ago. The rear rank is plastic Mordor orcs, armed with great weapons they make decent enough rear rank filler fodder. They will, of course, be useful in games of Erehwon, Rampant and other skirmish system.

Here’s a head on photo of the troll, you might be able to make out the red gleam of his eyes under that helmet. Let’s hope he gets to lumber on to a battlefield at some point.

Orc champion

I painted up an old orc champion, originally released around 1992 when I started playing WHFB. The shield design was hand painted. I have found that orange is the best colour to use as a contrast on green skinned orcs. I tried a square base on this one, but really I much prefer round, two pence coins in fact are my go to base of choice.

More green skins to come maybe in the next few weeks and months, if I can find the time.

Prize Draw - Win a Painted Figure

 The fine folks over at Mierce Miniatures are helping out with the Philippines disaster relief fund. You could win a painted figure just like one of these, or choose your own from their vast, wonderful range. All you have to do is make a donation on the gofundme page, then email them to let them know of your entry. The draw will be made on Monday, 10th January. Every donation makes a huge difference on the ground, so please give it some thought. And please share the news about the draw as far and wide as you can. Thank you.

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year to you all, it’s a bit late I know, sorry about that, I have been a little pre-occupied of late.

MOM Miniatures dwarf wizard

Here’s a little something to add to your Yule festivities. A dwarf wizard, from Mom miniatures, wandering through the rocks and standing stones. Absolutely perfect for the dwarf loving, owl loving nerd in your life.