#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town - TO DONE! ⚪

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town goblins and they're TO DONE! Once again a massive amount of models for me - 53 in total [and 68 hobby points. But that's not actually all, because I did the Goblin town and Moria terrain and some other bits which will be in a separate post.

Here we have the 'command unit' - a Goblin Scribe, Grinnah, the Goblin Throne, a Goblin Captain and the King himself.

I'm not 100% on this guy. I mean he's great for tabletop standard but the stippling leaves something to be desired. For once, it would have been nicer if the the 'brush marks' weren't noticeable and the red sore areas had blended into the pale skin better. A red wash/glaze might do that but for now I'm done with them. I do like the little dig at Otty's Rohan army though 😜

There are elements on this that scream contrast paints, but I haven't used any. I've managed the same effect with standard paints and washes, though it probably took 4 times as long. Maybe one day I won't be intimidated by them and find them rewarding. 

So, another issue - the perpetual pitfalls of varnishing. I had run out of Army Painter Anti-Shine... so have they in fact. It's now Warpaints Fanatic Matt varnish. Anyway, I decided to use my Miniature Paints Matt Varnish. Not that can be more satin but I've two bottles of it and wanted to use them up. They'd been fine on previous models but I somehow saw the return of my old friend varnish foam/frosting. The thing is it never really looks like this while wet. You only find out afterwards and then there's not much you can do. I'll look at some varnish alternatives in the future.

Grinnah next. I'm not a fan of the model, or my execution of him. But in game he's awesome, able to swap positions with any other Goblin within 3" and not counted as a move. Really sneaky having a hero popping an extra move into their threat zone and suddenly be facing someone else who thought they were safe. He's no Aragorn, but he's not rubbish.

The Scribe.

I've actually done two of these and this was the first. I got better second time round. 

In game he's quite hard to use and easy to be taken out - he's always classed as trapped so it's double strikes on him. 

But he can help confer an army wide Heroic Move which could come in handy. 

The completely unnecessary Goblin Throne. I once again added Otty's horse banner for some predictable banter. I hate banners anyway, because Moria and Goblin Town Goblins don't get them. 

When half the matched play missions include points for having a banner and also if your opponent does not it seems particularly unfair to start a matched play game at a disadvantage. Narrative mission sure, but not matched play. 

And here are all the gobbos. Having a horde army is not great for me, but their stats/weapons are all the same [except for the two two-handed armed goblins]. So, less mental bandwidth required.

I love the mutated ones the most.

From the two games I've had their ability to 'spear support' anyone else is awesome. Always having two chances in a duel role has a massive impact on the game.

So long as I always double up, my chances of winning the duel increase dramatically. But also, converting a duel win to a wound. These guys were just offing Hunter Orcs like they weren't there.

I can't believe how effective they were and that's with limited knowledge of their synergies. 

The goblin King's songs also help. Giving them Terror or the equivalent of a 6" banner makes a huge difference to what is otherwise a lightweight army.

He can also sing a song to add a 6+ FnP to any model within 6", which I got off twice in one game much to Ben's intense annoyance.

Or, he can add re-roll 1's to wound for models within 6". 

The King with a 3+ FnP is amazing too. He's so durable. I think one round of combat against a Snow troll and Wulf - 9 damage, he suffered 1 wound!

I can't quite grasp how these are so much easier and effective to play, compared with Moria Goblins. 

Maybe it's the wealth of good rules Goblin Town has compared to Moria. Also, less options means you're not diluting your army with too much choice.

But. knowing my luck I suspect I'll get to our Midweek MESBG tournament and I'll be bottom of the pile once again! 😂 But in the mean time, another Great Big Wooden Stamp of Approval.

'nids part 378 - Leviathan Tyranids - Basecoats

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the remains of my Leviathan box set Tyranids. That is 20 Termagants, something I am convinced will break me. I'm certain I recall just how hard this many can be to paint.

And yet I somehow believe adding 11 Neurogaunts into the mix will make it somehow more achievable... I mean it is not. But I guarantee I will feel a damn sight worse if I finished the Termagants and then throw in another 11 gribblies.

So if I'm all in with 31 models then I might as well the extra 3 Von Ryan's Leapers from Combat Patrol.

AND, 5 Barbgaunts too. You may recall these almost broke me as well.

But I have timings for these and I'll soon have timings for the Termagants and Neurogaunts which should provide me with a timescale. Once I have that it makes the whole process that much more manageable. 

Initially getting these basecoats done felt like such a retrograde step - like it was so far from completion. Yet each step, bone, blue and red has been achievable with some concerted effort and focus. The Soft Tone and Strong Tone wash will be relatively straightforward and then it's the highlights that will be the true test. A test of patience and repetition that hopefully I can overcome.

And just as I acknowledge the value in painting all of these concurrently, however overwhelming such large batches to paint present we get this:

Kill Team Typhon from Warhammer Community

Granted we knew it was coming. But I thought it was a few pieces of terrain and 5 Raveners. But there are multiple copies of each and the big tower. Not to mention 10 Hormagaunts and a base of Rippers! So it would appear I now have to get this and paint them all for AoP too! If I'm focused it just might be possible, so much for 'What's on my palette?'

#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town and the final fellowship

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town and Moria terrain. I previously shared this WiP pic.

But failed to share a close-up of the 3 remaining members of the Fellowship - Boromir, Pippin and Merry.

I also had this second throne of Goblin King. I wanted to paint it differently to the other one, with a Blessed Verdigris 🗽and bronze finish to the chair. So it was painted AP Hydra Turquoise, then I think I did another turquoise highlight. Then it was drybrushed. This was a bronze mix I'd created years ago but had fallen out of fashion using.

I don't know why. It doesn't have the red base colour of Sycorax Bronze, is more yellow, I rather like it. Then, following a tutorial on YouTube there was a drybrush of black.

It's a different way of doing my beloved metallic weathering technique. Can't have too many ways of doing something.

The Goblin Town terrain platforms on the cork board.

I then mixed a load of Burnt Umber art acrylic with equal parts wood glue and PVA. I then poured sand into the mix to create very sticky brown texture paint. Two small yoghurt pots wort to cover the board. I then added some larger stones in groups. On top of this Matt Black spray around the edges and anywhere the unpainted stones were giving a nice varied effect.

I mean the platforms are far too garish in comparison. That green effect stands out way too much. I'd though it would look like mouldy wood but I think I made a mistake doing too many individual planks. It works on the bottom of the ramps where it's 3 planks that might be exposed more to damp. Some of the whole individual planks in green just stand out in a weird way. Nevermind.

Anyway, highlights on the board next. All the stones need to be grey and I need to splash on some bonewhite to replicate the bone chips on my Moria and Goblin bases. Some other bits left to finish and then I can get all the TO DONE! pics TO DONE!

What's on my palette?

Bless me #Warhammer Community for I have sinned, it's been over 6 months since my last confession! Lots of progress both on my previous priorities and numerous other projects that somehow bullied their way into my TO DO list - I'm looking at you MESBG armies. I think I've painted over 100 miniatures in this period. It's bonkers, I've never been so productive!

So my previous priorities were:

1. Leviathan Tyranid Prime
2. Leviathan Neurotyrant and Neurolids
3. Leviathan Barbgaunts x5 [x10 at a stretch]
4. Leviathan Von Ryan's Leapers x3 [x6 at a stretch]
5. Leviathan Termagants x20
6. Termagants x30 base extensions

• Genestealer Cult Sentinels
• Ironsoul's Condemnors x2
• Cerastus Knight Acheron
• Cerastus Knight Castigator
• Adeptus Titanicus Warlord Titan 1
• Adeptus Titanicus Warlord Titan 2
• Adeptus Titanicus Questoris Knights x3
• Adeptus Titanicus terrain

Which leaves me with:

1. Leviathan Termagants x20
2. Leviathan Barbgaunts x5
3. Leviathan Von Ryan's Leapers x3
4. Leviathan Neurogaunts x11
5. Termagants x30 base extensions

• Adeptus Titanicus Warlord Titan 1
• Adeptus Titanicus Warlord Titan 2
• Adeptus Titanicus Questoris Knights x3
• Adeptus Titanicus terrain - this is a second lot of AT terrain 
• Cerastus Knight Acheron
• Cerastus Knight Castigator

All the Tyranids are for this year's Armies On Parade. They're still RAYG rated, but it's changed a bit. Everything highlighted green are my priority before the end of the hobby season. Yellow ones are the stretch goals - a bit more effort. Orange, the Warlord Titans I hope I can get them primed and base as at least one will be my #dreadtober pledge this year. The Termagant basing extensions haven't been started but I've no idea if that will get done, maybe next season?

The Cerastus Knights will be after the Warlords, I suspect that'll be November December. All the red items are low priority but they're clearly more prioritised than The Lion or converted Sammael on jetbike from my actual TO DO List! 😂 So many projects/figures left to paint!

Treasures of Otty's Hobby shed

Afternoon just thought I'd share some various pics of new treasures added to the display cabinets in Otty's hobby shed. I'm hoping I haven't shared them before but I'm sure you'll survive seeing them again. First up, Liam has been working on some Marvel Crisis Protocol villains. He and Ben got very excited very quickly about it. I saw the prices and started to think GW figures are a bargain. You may only need half a dozen models for MCP but they're almost the cost of a Combat Patrol. Still, Liam has done a fantastic job, curse him for his proliferation. He loves the chrome paint, which looks awesome.

But struggles to reconcile it alongside his own passion for NMM, which lets face it, is sickeningly good. I wouldn't mind so much but these 11 figures were a week or so's work! He's like a machine, it;s sickening! 😝

Gamora and Ronan, these have my high-contrast, over-saturated hind-brain tingling. Absolutely stunning.

I'm not even sure which ones these are but they are very cool.

And Nebula, who is equally as cool. He also designed, 3d printed and painted a town house for them, which is fantastic. It will all be brilliant to play with when Ben does his half of the armies.

On top of that he's done an entire SAS Rogue Heroes army for a potential WWII game he wants to play. Not sure what rules system but this convoy rocked up a week or so before the super heroes did.

Not sure what scale it is but there are multiple options for weapons on the vehicles.

It'll be a lot of fun to play with these guys. Otty will be taking care of their adversaries.

They tried to get me into it, as expected, but I didn't have the capacity. Then they threw all those Goblin Town Goblins at me instead! Lots to do in my Hobby Season, it's far from derailed but it's running at full steam right now.

Lastly, what's on the Adeptus Titanicus shelf? Oooh, have some Eldar/Aeldari just appeared from the webway?

Otty has been working hard on his 3D printed and 40k proxies. With the 'Warlord' equivalent Phantom Titan centre stage. A couple of Wraith Lords as Reavers and some old skool metal Wraith Guard as Cerastus Knights

More Cerastus proxies and a couple of 3D printed Revenants to be used as Warhounds.

Some great hobby from the guys. Extremely envious but it's a healthy competitive edge where we're each pushing our efforts. We're all creating some wonderful models and it's great to see them all come together in the shed.