Part 7: Niklas' Orcs & Goblins - Wrap Up!

Well it took a while but I eventually painted up the "final" unit for my hodgepodge O&G army! Squigs and squig hunters for a total of 168 points.

And with that, the army is "complete". Or at least done for now. No doubt I will keep adding to this force for many years to come, there's just so much to collect for O&G and I can't just stop here. 

This challenge has been incredibly fun and I'm glad I could be a part of it. Thanks to everyone!

Characters:

- Skarsnik & Gobbla (trollhide armour, venom sword) - 250 pts

- Common Orc Shaman Lord (Level 4)
(Dispel Magic Scroll, Seerstone, Talisman of Luck, Sword of Bork) - 330 pts

- Savage Orc Champion (potion of strength) - 54 pts

- 1 Common Goblin Shaman Champion (Level 2)
(Dispel Magic Scroll, Amulet of Fire) - 120 pts

- 1 Common Goblin Champion
(Black Gem of Gnar) - 28.5 pts

Regiments

- 19 Savage Orcs (additional hand weapons, banner of might) - 201 pts

- 20 Orc Big'uns (with shields) - 160 pts

- 32 Common Goblin Infantry
    (Spears, light armour, standard and musician,
    Banner of Gobbo Awesomeness) - 132 pts

- 20 Common Goblin Infantry (bows) - 70 pts 

- 5 Night Goblin Squig-Hunter with 15 Squigs - 210 pts

- 3 River Trolls - 120 pts 

- 3 Ogre Mercenaries (heavy armour, additional hand weapons) - 102 pts

Monsters

- Giant - 200 pts

 

Total: 1,977 points

Part 6: May - Niklas' Orcs & Goblins

 Man this month went by in a flash! Once again I'm barely scraping by at the last minute, and once again I'm a few points short. This time I painted a duo I've been saving for a while, the iconic Skarsnik and Gobbla! I also managed to squeeze in some mercenary ogres.

Skarsnik and Gobbla were a hoot to paint, especially the red ball of death Gobbla, and I really took my time with these two (a bit too much time it turns out). 

The ogres were a nice change of pace from painting greenskins. The old Marauder sculpts are beefy and just the right amount of old school charm that I like about ogres. I kind of wanted to paint a bit more freehand on their clothes and maybe even give them some tattoos, but I simply ran out of time.

Well, we're nearing the end of the challenge aren't we? Can I reach a full 2000 points next month? I certainly hope so! Until next time!

May points total:

Characters

- Skarsnik & Gobbla (trollhide armour, venom sword) - 250 pts

Regiments

- 3 Ogre Mercenaries (heavy armour, additional hand weapons) - 102 pts

Total: 352 pts

Part 5: April - Niklas' Orcs & Goblins

Well well well, seems like I finally bit off more than I could chew this month. At least it seems like I'm not the only one. Time slipped away from me and I only managed to paint a regiment of savage orcs, half of what I wanted to paint this month.

Unlike my previous units of identical monopose orcs and goblins, this is one quite the mix of models. It is mainly made up of the bulky 6th edition savage orcs, but with some 4th and even 3rd edition savage orcs here and there. 

Talk about scale creep!

I'm glad I got at least something painted this month, even if it wasn't a full 400 points. Hopefully I can make up for it in the end. Until next time!

April points total:

Characters

- Savage Orc Champion (potion of strength) - 54 pts

Regiments

- 19 Savage Orcs (additional hand weapons, banner of might) - 201 pts

Total: 255 pts

Part 4: March - Niklas' Orcs & Goblins

This month was a real doozy! I painted like an absolute madman during the Easter holiday just to make it this month. Somehow I managed it though, and I'm very pleased with this month's contribution.

I started off the month by painting a block of 20 Orcs, all monopose plastics from 3rd edition. This time I even remembered their shields! I will run these as big 'uns just to pump up their points a bit.

I had only a week left of the month when I started my giant. I thought he would paint up quickly but the 6th edition sculpt has a lot of detail and I spent way too long painting his skin.

So when I had painted the orcs and the giant I had a total of 360 points. 40 points short of 400! This would not do! So while the giant was still drying I spent the last hours of the last day quickly painting a squig herder and his 3 squigs. Even though I was rushing I still like how the squigs came out, the herder himself leaves a bit to be desired though but oh well. 

This was truly a challenging month, but I'm happy I made it and I don't plan on slowing down yet! Until next time!

March points total:

Regiments

- 20 Orc Big'uns (with shields) - 160 pts

- 1 Night Goblin Squig-Hunter with 3 Squigs - 42 pts

Monsters

- Giant - 200 pts 

Total: 402 pts

Part 3: February - Niklas' Orcs & Goblins

 

Hello again! This month went pretty smoothly, mostly because I decided to take it easy and focus most of my efforts into a single character, a level 4 Orc shaman. 

What is it about painting greenskins that's so fun? I think most of it has to do with the characterful faces and expressions by Kev Adams that makes it such a joy. This particular sculpt is from Knightmare Miniatures, also sculpted by Adams, and it's an absolute beauty. I had lots of fun painting this grumpy boy, and he'll make a great main wizard for my army.

Since painting the shaman only took a day or so, I had plenty of time left to add another unit, so I decided to paint the 20 plastic goblin archers I had. While these sculpts are charming, they were somewhat awkward to deal with. The previous owner's paintjob almost refused to come off through my usual paint stripping method, and some of it had to be left on. If that wasn't bad enough, these old plastics were absolutely riddled with production errors. A lot of them had bubbles and warping that made some of them look like they have double chins or horrible tumors in certain places. I tried to clean them up best as I could, and decided to just get them done as quick as possible. Overall I think they look alright on the tabletop, and that's good enough for me.

In other news, I'm trying to replicate the old WD photo style in GIMP

Next month will be a bit tougher since I won't be able to "cheat" with a high point cost character. I hope to see you all again then!

February points total:

Characters

- Common Orc Shaman Lord (Level 4)
(Dispel Magic Scroll, Seerstone, Talisman of Luck, Sword of Bork) - 330 pts

Regiments

- 20 Common Goblin Infantry (bows) - 70 pts

Total: 400 pts

Part 2: January - Niklas' Orcs & Goblins

"What're ya standin around droolin fer ya slimy git!? The 'umies are right there! Come on, go over there and bash 'em! Don't make me prod ya with me stikka! There we go, that's better, wait... why're ya lookin' at me like that? Oi! Let me go you- WAAAAH!"
- Last words of former boss Snik Eye-Poker, before being eaten by a troll

Phew! Painting 400 points of goblins in one month is not an easy task, especially when you've joined the challenge 10 days late! I also didn't realize that trolls are a lot cheaper in Warhammer Renaissance than in 5th edition, argh! Luckily I could boost the points of my shaman with an added level and some magic items.

I have painted like a madman the last few weeks and still just barely made it with a day to spare. With that said, I've discovered that painting goblins is super fun! There's just something about working on the little mean green buggers that's very enjoyable.

The regiment of 30 classic monopose plastic goblins painted up fairly quick, and I did not spend too much time on each individual one. I actually forgot to glue on the shields before I started painting them, so they will be shieldless for now.

 The trolls were amazingly fun to paint, and I spent a bit more time on them. For some reason I'm missing the third unique sculpt from this set, so two of them have the same poses.

The only model that isn't a Citadel sculpt this month was this little winged fella. He's an obscure 90s model from Armada Enterprises, and I decided he'd make a good goblin shaman. I'm not sure what the wings are supposed to be but they do give off a kind of forest goblin vibe.

The final goblins I painted for the month was the command group for the goblin regiment. Three absolute classics from 1989 by Kev Adams. All of them are filled with so much character.

January points total:

Characters

- 1 Common Goblin Shaman Champion (Level 2)
(Dispel Magic Scroll, Amulet of Fire) - 120 pts

- 1 Common Goblin Champion
(Black Gem of Gnar) - 28.5 pts

Regiments

 - 32 Common Goblin Infantry
    (Spears, light armour, standard and musician,
    Banner of Gobbo Awesomeness) - 132 pts

- 3 River Trolls - 120 pts

Total: 400.5 pts

    

Part 1: Presenting the armies - Niklas Orcs & Goblins

Once upon a time, I owned a massive Orcs & Goblins army. It was easily over 3,000 points and had almost every kind of unit in it from the biggest Black Orcs to the tiniest Snotlings. 

Though the army was mostly fully painted, it never saw much action on the table, and as the years went by and I lost interested in the game, it only gathered dust in the glass IKEA display cabinet. Until finally before heading off to university I sold the entire army, and for a pittance at that. I’ve come to deeply regret that decision ever since my love for the hobby was reignited a few years ago. 

This challenge might be a kind of retribution for past regrets, and to finally have another painted O&G army in my collection again.

This new army of greenskins started out when I bought a job lot a few years ago. The hundreds of models in the lot mostly consisted of an Undead army which was mainly why I bought it, but it also contained loads of plastic monopose Skaven, Empire, Elves and of course Orcs and Goblins. Since then I’ve been slowly collecting pieces to add to the army. Not all of them are from 5th edition (for example, the giant is a later 6th edition model) and some of them are from other companies than GW, but I have tried to stick to the older models for the most part. 

As you can see, the army needs a lot of work, and I will need to strip the paint off of everything before I can even begin the challenge. Even so, I am determined to have a full 2,000 point army by the end of the challenge. The picture below was taken a few months ago, and I have since added a rock lobber, some spear chukkas, trolls and a pump wagon to the pile. I plan to add further regiments to the army down the line, mainly night goblins and squigs. I’m not overly concerned about list building, and am more focused on having a wide range of units and fun sculpts to paint.

For the first month I will be painting:

30 Common Goblins
1 Common Goblin Shaman
3 River Trolls

For roughly 400 points total.