goblinpaladin's Gnomes - an April update (195 points)

This project is being kindly sponsored by Old School Miniatures.

I couldn't wait to get to these, so I jumped right in!

big badda boom

An artillery battery, complete with handsome mantlets!

• Orgelkanone. 75 points.
• Orgelkanone. 75 points.
• kleineKanone. 45 points.
• TOTAL: 195 points!

I really love these sculpts. More than any other part of the range, I think that it was these guys that made me want to take on the project. In the end, I spent longer agonising over their colour scheme than it actually took to paint them. They have so much silly character!

I knew I wanted one in a weird colour, so I went with Screamer Pink. He was highlighted by adding some cream to the pink and then some more cream. The chevrons on the carriage came from the those painted far better by Realms of Chaos; I wanted to avoid the boring 'brown wood + metal' of regular artillery.

While Googling for ideas on how to paint the crew, I found these Swiss chaps at Bleaseworld, with their looted Burgundian cannon's frame painted blue. While these gnomes haven't got any Burgundians to steal from, it's a good idea. So I stole it.

While the colours of the other two mantlets are based, as ever, on Swiss cantons, I struggled with how to do the crew. I wanted to avoid the 'black for artillery' that you get with the Empire, especially with one regiment of gnomes already quite drab. I also wanted to avoid too uniform a look, such as by painting the crew the same colours as the mantlets. I wanted the impression to be that they'd painted the mantlets in their favourite colours, rather than them being 'assigned'.

I even considered doing bright orange or yellow caps, but figured that would be too much like modern safetywear. That could have been an amusing joke, but not quite amusing enough.

In the end, I went with simple undyed linens for both their smocks and caps. No point in wearing your finest red-dyed cap if it's going to get covered in soot anyway, right? I actually think they came out quite smart in the end, and it lets the focus stay on the bright mantlets.

'Quena, a Gnome Druid', © Josemi993, 2018

I don't gnome about you, but I'm also excited for what's coming in May...