CopperOracle II. 4. Rank and File 4 - Orc Spearmen

The Severed Hands advanced, a shield-wall of garish yellow and black emblazoned with the Icon of a severed hand, smeared with the blood and desperate handprints of those that had fallen before them. Stepping over the bodies of the dead and eager to add to their number the leaders shouted back to the small shapes that trailed them. Lesser Goblins that were barely any use as fodder and arrow catchers scampered up and dived into the corpses with teeth and blade to start the tally, taking the hands for their larger cousins.

Amid the growing piles of hands a smaller mob moved, the smallest of the brave,  taking their own tally and waiting for a gap in the line to make their move and their own mark, raising the ragged standard of the 'Bloody Fingers!'

Picking up the Orcs I has abandoned in my Wildcard month they still seemed to have carried the uninspired air with them and I couldn't feel them so decided to do some extra's first to get myself back in the mood. 

Eight Alternative Armies Goblins. Citadel Lesser Goblin (from Monster Starter set) Citadel lesser goblin Standard Bearer

I came across a set of goblins I had received free from Alternative Armies,  Nilbogs Backwood Goblin band, and after a test figure I got carried away and went through the whole unit and more! 

Test Goblin

The figures would work as lesser Goblins which still existed in Second edition (before disappearing and becoming `Snotlings in later editions) and I managed to find two citadel lesser goblins I had picked up somehow in antiquity and started on a small horde, the Severed Hands are the smallest fo the three Orc Tribes in Bloodbath so they would no doubt be happy to bolster their ranks with some smaller disposables. 

Nilbog himself does not have an identified figure so I settled on one and made him stand out by giving him some shieldbearers to stand on

Nilbog Backwood

'The Bloody Fingers'

Returning to the Orcs I had a week to go (bit of last minute pressure as extra fuel!) but was back in full swing.

As with the other ten, the figures are a mix of various Citadel era Orcs and Black Tree Designs

Converted one with Green stuff giving him some furs and Chainmail

Full unit test, bases trimmed and positions in bases varied to help them all fit

(Standard to be added next month)

The Severed Hand Tribe

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Second Edition (Ravening Horde) Points Value: 

'Severed Hand' Orc Spearmen - 62.5

'The Bloody Fingers' Lesser Goblins - 22.75

x18 - 1p

Minor Hero - 21

Champion - 2.75

Grand Total so far: 275.25

Shadespyre's Rank and File (III) - The Kingdom of The Gnolls (An Orcs & Goblins Army) (343 pts)

OWAC V - Rank and File (III) - Goblins (No, Definitely Not Gnolls)

March

You (some of you, anyway) asked for it - a small break from the Norm(ans), here are some Lesser Goblins.

Never actually labelled as Gnolls... though Ral Partha apparently released the Lesser Night Goblins as "Gnome Imps". I have no words for what I think of that. By the time they officially hit the shelves, the old Fantasy Tribes ranges had been re-organised into the "C-series" codes which are perhaps more familiar.

I got lucky and picked up a whole pile of mixed C14 miniatures as an army lot. In the end, I don't intend to paint quite that many, but it did speed along collecting them compared to the long struggle of gathering all those Gnolls (or is it Goblins?)

After a bit of thought (not too much, you know by now that I'm not really a planner) I decided to do the Lesser Night Goblins in traditional black outfits and with simple unadorned wicker shields, as a contrast to their bigger fellows. They are outside (below, mostly) the feudal-ish system of the Gnoll Kingdom - I'm not sure if they are serfs or mercenaries? They serve the role of skirmishers and scouts and expendable distractions, as goblins should!

There are two groups of Lesser Night Goblins, 20 with javelins and shields:

...and 20 more with shortbows and shields. I'd probably split these into 10s for games, it's not like 20 goblins is an impressive fighting force anyway!

Oh, you will probably have noticed that I started on basing! I didn't really know where to start, and then I found an old static grass mix that I used many, many years ago on a Beastman army. I think it'll look nice with some added flower tufts (back then I used it on it's own). It's a bit "modern" but as I've mentioned before I did my Orc army with 80s style model railway flock and I've never been very happy with it.

Here we have a gang of 30 Lesser Goblins. (Mostly). These little guys are pretty basic in equipment, just be glad they stopped to put underwear on before the battle! By treating them as Goblins under the O&G army list, they come with javelins as standard, which makes them a tiny bit more useful. Despite the models here, I don't think Goblin netters are a "thing" in the lists at this stage.

There's a couple of different models in this unit - a pair of Lesser Goblin Chieftains (who are cast on a joined base) and then a Grenadier model, MM36 Imps. I've had these for forever, and as they are much the same size as the Lesser Goblins, I thought I'd paint them up to spice up the unit a little, even though the sculpts are rather different. 

Unit Update:

I added a standard to one of the Gnoll cavalry, just a simple black boar on a red and yellow background, but I think it works. No, I didn't consciously steal the idea off anyone's dwarf regiment, by the way...

Bonus:

Not a whole unit this month, I'm just going to share a couple of Gnoll command minis with you. Here we have the "official" Gnoll Standard Bearer (FTG5) and with him is a rather later C12 Great Goblin to which I've added a shield. I rather like this chap and his hefty spear so I think we'll call him a Champion? The natural home for these two is probably that small unit of armoured Gnolls that I painted as the Jnauray bonus unit.

Under the O&G army list, the March additions look like this:

Scores for March:        343 points        72 models

20 x Lesser Night Goblins       (Gobbos with Shields)                          70 points

20 x Lesser Night Goblin Archers       (Stickas with Shields)                80 points

30 x Lesser Goblins       (Gobbos)                                                          90 points

Upgrade Gnoll Clan Rider to Standard Bearer                                        21 points

Gnoll Standard Bearer (Orc Boyz)                                                           17 points

Gnoll Champion (level 10 Orc hero with Light armour, spear, shield)     65 points         

Running Total:             1028.5 points        139 models

Maybe I should upgrade those Lesser Goblin Generals to be Goblin Heroes? It's no great bother right now as I'm going to have plenty of points, having passed 1000 already

Coming Next:

I'm going to stick with the plan of finishing the fourth and last Rank and File month before showing you anything really exciting - we all want a big finish, right? So it'll be mostly the middle-ranking Gnoll (or is it Goblin?) soldiery with a few added bonuses, once more.

Coming Later:

Not enough? Okay, I'm actually getting into my Leaders and some Wild Card stuff already, so here are a few silly teaser pictures to be going on with...