Monday, January 20, 2020

goblinpaladin's Gnomes - a January update [200 points]

This project is being kindly sponsored by Old School Miniatures.

I'll admit that I was very worried a few weeks ago. The smoke was blanketing my city, meaning that I couldn't undercoat.* This put back my timetable by several weeks, or so I thought...

quarrelling gnomes
I sat down, planned out the next five months, and based the first 200 points. This meant that I was at least moving forward a little - and then (glory be to Ringil) the smoke cleared enough for me to hastily get down some undercoats. Heck yeah:

  • 10 Armbrust Gnomen. 80 points
  • 10 Guarden Gnomen with light armour. 120 points
  • Total: 200 points

I put together some resting or rear-ranking crossbowmen and assembled up the block of elite Guarden Gnomen who will be guarding the Cantonal Standard. I then figured out what I wanted to do for a colour scheme and went down to gnome town.






The crossbowmen got the same greens, browns and undyed cloth as the fox riders I had done before the challenge. This fit into these being recruited from the local furrier guilds; they aren't going to be equipped at the city's expense in uniform coats and be-ribboned with finery.

These were painted traditionally, although the brown wash I gave them did dull down most of the variant colours I originally used on their hats and coats. The beards are mostly either washes or the new Snakebite Leather contrast, which is a really nice paint.






The regiment of Guarden Gnomen, as befitting their status as professional soldiers, have been given handsome blue coats and red felt caps. A few of these soldiers are also veterans, judging from their white and grey beards.

The colour scheme is absolutely based on David the Gnome, and please don't let me ever pretend otherwise. The red hats also lets me pretend I'm giving a nod to the redcaps in English folklore, although I am not reinterpreting these gnomes as some kind of grimdark savages on the border of Fairy.**


These guys used a bit more of the new contrast, especially on the basecoats for the red caps, blue coats, and leather belts. I then highlighted as traditional, although I think I could have made the halberds a bit brighter - they look a bit more like wrought iron than the steel of a city's elite soldiers.

the cantonal standard shines bright! (because it's not painted)
Coming up next month: The rest of the Guarden Gnomen and crossbowgnomes. Need to come up with a design for the banner...

= = =

*Or breathe. Or walk to work. Hell, the smoke drifted through the library stacks and the university shut down. So.
**Although that is a cool idea, and someone else should steal it.

23 comments:

  1. They really work well as units, this should make for a great looking army!

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    1. They'll be really interesting en masse, but they are still very small.

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  2. First blood and great looking units! I sing the praises of Snakebite Leather Contrast also!

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    1. Thank you! I still miss the old snakebite leather, but this contrast one is really great.

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  3. Congrats on the first to post - they look gnometastic!

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    1. Thanks! I hope to keep this energy up despite my new job, but I suppose that we'll see!

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  4. Replies
    1. Thank you! Can't wait to finish the halberdier block.

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  5. Wow, so tiny on those bases! Nice start considering the weather and they look good.

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    1. 20mm bases look a lot bigger with these guys on, that's for sure.

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  6. Gnomes really do bring a smile to the face don't they - lovely stuff :)

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  7. Cool lantern on the Guarden Gnome. I like that you've broken it down into a hierarchy of troop types.

    OK, so I'm tempted to go ahead and steal the grimdark redcap idea per your suggestion. ;) My introduction to redcaps was The Mage comics, from a friend, back around the time I first got into WFB3!

    Good luck on the banner. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

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    1. I think he's meant to be the champion, but I got several of him, so this one is relegated to the rearguard.

      I would 100% love to see your take on redcap feral gnomes.

      Banners make me nervous!

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  8. Very nice minis and really good paint job! I am curious to see them close to a regular man-sized miniature: they look so small.

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    1. I'll try and take some photos next to last year's wood elves for you.

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  9. Those are some luscious tiny beards (no gnomo).

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  10. lush! Great paintwork. Very tempted to buy some of these.

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    1. You should! They're fun little sculpts that have tons of character without being drowned in fiddly nonsense.

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  11. Thanks, Jeff! Waiting for the weather to cool down to get cracking on the next lot.

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