Grinnah the Goblin and Army List--SBG Paint and List

"Dwarves your malevolence! Found 'em on the front porch!"
-Grinnah, An Unexpected Journey

Here's Grinnah for my aforementioned Goblin Town army.

The baseplates are still rough... sorry about that still. I continued on with the idea of colored cloth as opposed to brown. Being one of the Great Goblin's chief officers, I figured he would also have some very nice, bright pieces. It made him a load of fun to paint.

The whip on this figure is so dynamic and really sets Grinnah apart from the grunts, even without the extra bright colors.

I also tried layering the skin tones with a lot less washing than the previous troops... it worked really well and will probably polish up the rest of the infantry using this same method.

So what do y'all think? A fine addition to the force?

Also, since we finally have two commanding officers, allow me to show off  my lineup for this faction at 500 pts:

Warband 1

Great Goblin (Goblin King)

-13 Goblin Warriors w. Hand Picks and Axes

Warband 2

Grinnah the Goblin

-10 Goblin Warriors w. Hand Picks and Axes

Warband 3

Wild Warg Chieftain

-2 Cave Trolls w. Chain and Hammers

The first two war bands are standard issue Goblintown stuff, but for painting and fielding purposes, I wanted more than what the faction had to offer pure. Moria seemed to be the best place to ally with, and since I have a special place in my heart for trolls, a quick war band with them and a Wild Warg Chief should round off the force. it was a pity I couldn't fit the Scribe and the Captain in the 500 pt. force, since they're such delightful little models... but, perhaps in an alternate lineup!

The thing that will keep this force from winning is, of course, the gaping, vacuous lack of any kind of bows... but that is the great flaw with Goblin Town as Goblin Town. It won't win tournaments this way, but it should rough up the enemy if it gets close enough (I'm hoping the trolls will be arrow-spongey enough to aid in that goal.)

But what do you think of Grinnah and his men?

-BG

The Great Goblin--SBG Conversion and Paint Job

"Clap snap! The black crack!"
-Over Hill and Under Hill, The Hobbit

So, since you got a shot of my Goblin infantry fighting Gandalf, I figure my efforts would be better spent showing off my first Goblin hero: The Great Goblin himself!

Look at that bulbous dirtbag! The miniature is the standard plastic mini from the Escape from Goblin Town box set.

One thing I wanted to do to set my Goblin Town force apart from the rest is, instead of cladding them in orange/brown material (the color it appears on screen when in orange/brown light) I wanted to make it look like mismatched colorful pieces of fabric. The Great Goblin, as the leader then, would get best picks of these fabrics!

Here he is fighting my Rivendell Elves force... and, since I love making things personal, note the rivendell elf cape hanging across the Great Goblin's buttcheak... it's getting real up in here now!

Hopefully you haven't noticed how he is a conversion... this is because that, since I got this model when I was only 14, things have happened to him since then... namely, the skull on the top of his scepter got lost! I sculpted a new one--made to look broken like where he smashes it fighting Gandalf--and hopefully nobody will notice...

Also, note... I'm not sure if I like the grey of the Goblintown baseplates currently... but that will be updated soon as well.

So, what do you think of our overweight, off key, denizen monarch?

-BG

Gandalf the Grey--SBG Conversion

"Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow?"
-Theoden, The Two Towers

Finally onto some more legitimate--although perhaps less colorful--wargaming in the world of Middle Earth!

As someone who has had bits and pieces of the LoTR SBG lying around since Middle School, I've always wanted to play and figured that now would be as good a time as any, and Gandalf would be the absolute best place to start!

First, a shot of him on our new tabletop board while my brother created a magical dry ice effect.

And now we have an actual shot of the paint job and conversion job as he dukes it out with some goblins. He is a plastic from the Escape From Goblin Town set, with the minor conversion of him holding a little blue flame like from Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire. The reason for this conversion was really a necessity... the model was second-hand and missing his second hand! So, a little green stuff, and we see Gandalf revealing himself as the powerful being he truly is.

So, what do you think of the Grey Pilgrim? I'll show some shots of the Goblin Town force I'm cooking up next time! 

-BG

The Pirate Project 4--The Black Pearl

"Strike yer colors, ya bloomin cockroaches!"
-Barbossa, Curse of the Black Pearl

What good are pirates without a ship, ay mates? Welcome aboard the Black Pearl mates!

Here's a basic shot of this. Black hulls, died sales and twine rigging! The hull of the ship is made of soft cardstock and foamboard, using a template that was originally for 10mm scale, which I blew up 250% and away I worked!

Here's one of me wee mates taking shots off the bulwark (is that what you call it?)

Shiver me timbers! Mr. Cotton walks the plank!

The purple jacket fellow shoots over the rails.

 The captain at his station. Wait! Is that ole Barbossa at the helm? XD

The colors fly over the pearl! The flag is that of Barbossa. Also, as my sister told me, that is historically the flag of Callico Jack Rackham!

So what do you think!? Does the Pearl look ship shape to ye? Sound off in the comments below!+

The Pirate Project 3--Mr. Gibbs

"Mr. Gibbs, you may throw my hat. Now go and get it."
                                          -Jack Sparrow, At Worlds End

So here's an actual named character: the ones the Pirates screenwriters refer to as the "beacon of hope for humanity," Mr. Joshamee Gibbs.

It's hard to hate Gibbs. Gibbs appears in every movie, and never betrays anyone ever. He's the only guy you can really count on in a film series flooded with back-stabbery.

Now, perhaps it's odd that the first character I'm showing off is Gibbs of all people instead of... ya know... Jack.

I have a design and Army Card for Jack... but alas, the figure is in the mail still! Gibbs is a figure I already had... a Black Scorpion Pirate.

So here he is! Mr. Gibbs!




And here is the Army Card for Gibbs. His usefulness is as a First Mate to spur on your crew... and he does that very well!



So what do y'all think!? Sound off in the comments below!

The Pirate Project 2--Pirate Island

"Ya know, we Pirates are an awfully un-creative lot at naming' things."

                                                            -Jack Sparrow, At Worlds End.

Previously, we looked at the buccaneers that will make the bulk of our pirate armies. Now, whatsay we look at the island these buccaneers inhabit, ey?

Jungle plants from cut up fake plants.

Palm trees! The fronds are from fake plants, the trunks are from MegaBloks.

An old ruined cart with the East India Co. Brand sits forgotton… save for the map inside!

Every now and again, a pirates gotta fight dirty...

A small unregistered craft takes to the canal (megabloks with a foamboard floor and a sratch built mast.) A modified version of Henry Every’s jolly rodger hangs from the mast (my girlfriend picked it out.)

Thieves beneath the king's flag...

A diversified 401K...

My first attempt at a pirate building, and not a bad one!

A drunk with one leg… not too good!

Reward of £1? Undoubtably the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of!

What are your thoughts of this new terrain? Piratey enough? What's the island missing still?

The Pirates Project 1

"I have no say in it, Mr. Gibbs. It's a Pirate's life for me, savvy?"

-Jack Sparrow, On Stranger Tides


While work is still being done on the BoTF Project, another project has been launched: The Pirates Project!

The goal of the Pirates Project is to make a variety of characters and terrain (which I will sneak in with my characters or the sake of keeping things condensed, if this is alright with our mods) from the Golden age of Piracy, namely as represented in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (of which I am an avid and slightly ashamed fan XD) While there will be a few characters and such from other pirates lores, my plan is to focus on Pirates of the Caribbean (savvy?)

With that lengthy intro, allow me to show you our buccaneer squad characters and the board we have set up for them!

The figures we used for our buccaneers are Black Scorpion miniatures (as will be most of the pirates ya see.) They are about two millimeters short (being 32 instead of 34) essentially a heroic 28mm but they do the job nicely and are really beautiful resin (I believe?) sculpts.

These are of course a common squad that could be assigned to any pirate crew, although one of them just happens to look exactly like Mr. Cotton, the toungless pirate of the Black Pearl.

The Arrrrmy Card is a square (we’ve switched to all squares for our customs about a year ago.)

A simple but effective batch of bad eggs, wouldn’t you agree?