Finland, Finland, Finland

I have just moved to Finland. A new opportunity for work arose and I went for it. At the moment absolutely no gaming is happening. Not only do I not have any time but I really didn't bring anything with me. The best I can expect is a few board games or some games on VASSAL. I did however pack a few paints, brushes and models. I even managed to unpack them last night and start some painting. I only brough a few models, sixty Night Goblins and thirty something Savage Orcs. They should keep me busy during the long dark evenings here. I will actually be heading home to Ireland for Christmas so if needed I can restock my painting inventory from the leadpile there. I believe there is a Wyvern, Snotlings by the score, spear weilding Orcs and Golfags Ogres there that I would like to get painted eventually. As it will be late spring before a restock opportunity presents itself I guess I will be bringing back quite a lot of stuff.

Spider Riders still

Finally some progress on these has been made. I don't think I really like these models much but as I paint them and assemble the regiment they are starting to grow on me. Though I think everyone experiences that as they paint the large regiments in Warhammer these days. Painting the spiders is a chore. I am not sure if it is the sheer volume of the model, the fact I have had to convert almost every spider or that they just take time to do. I like to see a lot of progress on my models and armies but these few seem to have been on the table far beyond their welcome. I had planned to have a regiment of twelve but that number has been slowly diminishing as I continue painting. Just getting five done would be enough I think. I am guessing that they function best in a regiment of twelve or so as they need to outnumber the other light cavalry they will be hunting orat least holding up as long as as is possible considering their quality. The plan for these is to have them operating on a flank where they can intercept light cavalry and hopefully hold them off long enough for them to have little effect on the battle or to drive them off due to the fact that this unit can absorb a few casualties unlike other more expensive light cavalry units. They can also function to hunt down warmachines even though they will be less effective at this. They will probably just occupy the machine for a few turns.

Night Goblin Shaman

While I should have been painting some Spider Riders I instead got distracted with the Battle for Skull Pass Shaman. I don't have much painting time, less than the last time I made the same complaint but I am making some very slow progress on this army. I have recently been browsing the Give'em Lead blog and there have been a few excerpts from old White Dwarfs there. Some of these were fairly influential to me back in the day especially the Stillmania articles. Having read through them I am determined even more than ever to get this army done. I doubt I will hit my christmas deadline but I will make a fair stab at it. Nigel mentioned building the army in blocks or detachments and I will do the same. The first is a 1000pt detachment of Night Goblins. I will stick with the standard force percentages so that it can easily slot into any further developments of the army.

Basically while waiting for washes and glazes to dry on the Spider Riders I managed to complete the shaman. The Spider Riders are easy enough to paint but they can take a while to dry. I found that once I had progressed about half way with Shaman I had the momentum to complete him and so I pushed the Spider Riders to the side. The base needs to be completed much like the rest of the army but that can be done at a later date. I went with a red colour on the staff puppet thing as I thought it would offer a nice contrast to the green. Whie it is fine I don't think it had the effect I wanted. I have two more of these models and I intend eventually to convert them and paint them as a coven to use in a larger battle at some future time. The models are going to be tough to convert but it should be possible.

Forest Goblin Test

Here is my test Forest Goblin, I even managed to do the base. I am not 100% convinced yet on the basing. It is more or less what I usually do but so far so good, eh? As for the model itself I am happy. The green is the same as the Night Goblins. With so much skin exposed it takes a little more concentration to get it looking correct. I went with a neutral scheme overall and avoided too many bright or vibrant colours. The white and black feathers look more natural than say yellow or blue. They still offer a contrast point but don't clash at all. The shield was annoying to paint and I think I shall have to redo it again. The spider motif is poorly defined and as such is hard to paint without it looking like a dark blob. As for the spider mount I stayed with neutral enough colours. The red in the legs and the carapace isn't very vibrant and serves to define the legs a little better. So the first one is done, now to get the next nine finished too.

Horrible Spiders

I think the weirdest thing about the Forest Goblin Spider Rider's mount is that at a distance of two or so feet in a darkened room they look all too convincing.

However I managed to get forty of these models I don't know. Even though it would look awesome on the table I doubt I would ever be that crazy to do it. I will be converting the Spiders in this regiment of ten at least though there are limits to what I can do with the single piece models. Three of the four here have had their legs repositioned. I haven't as yet greenstuffed the joints as I can't find my greenstuff. The difficulty is that when I reposition them they stop ranking up properly. The picture doesn't quite pick it up here. I checked out Psychosis Pc's pictures of his nicely converted Spider Riders and I may get brave and attempt something similar. The miniatures are rather tiny though so I will be limited in what my meagre skills. I would like to try a few feather cloaks though. I guess if you can manage one feather a cloak can't be too much harder right?