Ranged Reinforcements (WiPs)

While Templecon was a bit of a dud for games played I have to say it has me fired up again to paint my trolls and to try and get more games in. I have been working on lists again, listening to podcasts, watching videos of games at http://endgamegaming.net/ (couple of our guys had games recorded too bad they were both loses). While listening to the latest episode of Lost Hemisphere Radio my good buddy Mr Bell aka Northblade brought up (at least I think) a really good point about seeing painted armies on the table and how they just seem to enhance the game experience. Since I am riding a wave of excitement right now I decided to keep pushing and trying to get more of my trolls painted. The current minis being worked on in the cave are a trio of beasts I have been meaning to start/finish for some time.

Not a bad little battle group. Throw in an impaler and you are all set ;)

 

Here is a bomber I had converted a little back by Rob Hawkins. I wanted him to have the mauler back and head so he looked a little more feral/menacing. I think Rob did a great job of pulling that off. He sculpted the pyg to be hanging off the quills which were sculpted to look more like the classic mauler. So far I have blocked in some of the base colors (skin, leather, and wood grain) via the airbrush. I then went in and blacked out all the sections that will be rock or metal with traditional brush. As you can see there is plenty of overspray of brown onto the skin but I will cleaning this up with brush after I drybrush the rock sections as this too will "mess up" the surrounding skin)

 

 

Next up is a classic blitzer. I think this mini has so much character and I like him better than the plastic multi-beast blitzer. The pyg with the slugger has a large pin that will slot in nicely once the two sections are finished being painted. This guys is a touch further along than his bomber brethren as I have drybrushed his rock section and cleaned up some of the surrounding skin. This work is not new but I figured I'd add him to the post since he will hopefully be finished in short order with the rest of these beasts.

 

Last but not least is one of our newer beast the storm troll. I have seen this gentleman popping up in lists and would like to give him a go. Out of the three beasts in the post I have done the most work on him in the last few days. I basecoated all sections of the mini and the skin/fur have received their shade washes. Next I will drydrush the fur and wash the two leather sections and metals. The skin highlights will be next (following my traditional elemental skin tones Slag,  Pyre, and Winter) and I am playing with the idea of doing all the runes on his skin in arcane blue and edge highlighting them with arcane blue/marrow white mixed. The bumps on his belly and arms will be my traditional troll magenta still....I think.

Ok so that is were we currently stand. hopefully I can keep riding this wave of painting mojo and bang out some more minis. The really trick will be finishing some units :/

 

Oh Buddy! What's in the Box Part VI (I think)

I was up until well past 4am last night with a coughing child so I took a little nap this afternoon. When I woke up my wife brought me a package I received while sleeping.....oh happy days. Those of you that follow along can probably guess whom sent this pack but for those newer to the cave it was from Mr. Rob Hawkins. OK you don't care what I have to say lets get to the shinnies!

 Pretty straight forward....unit of scattergunners cause eGrim demanded it dammit :)

Storm Troll. One of  the last light I didn't own 

 

Bomber #2 cause what's better than two boostable 4" AOEs? Four of them. Once again at the request of eGrim and Gunnbjorn. You can see more angles and info on this conversion here: http://robhawkinshobby.blogspot.com/2013/07/bomber-conversion.html

Here is a little pGrissel conversion. pGrissel was the last of the trollblood 'locks I didn't own and mainly because I don't like the sculpt. Well I figured it was time to pick her up and rob did minimal cosmetic work on here since it is a tough model to convert without major work. He swapped out the much nicer hammerhead/end cap from eGrissel in exchange for the original (they are the same hammer they should look the same now?) This brings us to the best part of the post.......

What can you say but badass! You can see step by steps from Rob here: http://robhawkinshobby.blogspot.com/2013/06/building-better-borka.html the only thing that has changed from Rob's blog post can be seen in the final picture above. Rob sculpted some fur coming out of the gauntlets to match the artwork even more closely. I am so thrilled with this mini I cannot truly put it in works. I cannot wait for the plastic champ kit in September so I can properly fill out my family reunion list.

 One big happy family of troll beat down heading your way!

 

When I took that final photos I realized how much it looks like the cover of Forces of Hordes: Trollbloods. I may have to re-stage this photo when everything is painted up nice and pretty. OK I have to run I think I have a date with my priming stations :)