Shadespyre's Rank and File (II) - The Kingdom of The Gnolls (401 pts - An Orcs & Goblins Army)

OWAC V - Rank and File (II) - In which Emergencies Emerge and are Overcome

February

Remember, Dear Reader, that just last month I said, "I've painted a lot more miniatures than I needed to for this month, but I shall be holding many back in reserve to protect against disaster"?

The start of this month was rather interrupted by my previously trusted work chair collapsing under me and throwing me to the floor, hurting my already troublesome back. A couple of days on codeine later... and I was violently sick at work, rendering me fit for nothing for a couple of days. 

Fortunately, a trip to the physio later and I'm assured my back is okay and so I'm back at it, albeit in a less comfortable chair for now, having only lost a week to this Chaos. And no more codeine for me! 

Holding back that strategic reserve means that, despite all this, I can post my progress mid-month, because most of these were pretty much done in January. I know, annoying isn't it?

This month, for Rank and File episode 2, I bring you my Gnoll (or is it Goblin?) Clansmen. The rough and tumble, half-naked and possibly foaming-at-the-mouth core of the army.

First up, a unit of Gnolls with Handweapon and Shield. Chance to expand my collection of brightly coloured round shields.

I'm experimenting a bit with a Christmas purchase, a small foldable light box from Green Stuff World. It's doing an okay job of giving me a plain background and even lighting, though I find if you turn the LEDs up too far you get shadows, which is what I'm trying to eliminate with a light box... still, happy with my £15 spent so far.

The purple cloaked chap at the front is the FTG4 Gnoll Chieftain. Right now, he's holding a position for a 20th Clansman, or maybe a standard or whatnot. We'll come back to him in afuture installment, probably Leader Month.

From an army list point of view, I would like to count these as Savage Orc Boyz - being unarmoured and all - but for strict army list adherence, I need to paint more "ordinary" Boyz to do that. Such is life.

And to accompany the infantry, my first boar riders. There are a lot of boars to paint, so I thought it important to get to a few early on, just so they are not a horrible surprise later. More dazzlingly bright shields I'm afraid!

Just the five of these for now. I do have some more in this vein but not enough to make a nice neat unit of 8 or 10, so I'll hold off on those for now. Probably obvious to all that there are three repeats of the same model here, just that one has a much bigger mace to replace a broken one. But as it happens the Gnoll (or is it Goblin?) holding the spear is also the same model, with a slight re-posing, a little bit of work on the arm and, of course, the spear added. Interesting that the face, hidden somewhat in the mace pose, is perfectly formed when you move the arm away from it.

Before I finish, he will surely end up with a banner of some sort flying from that pole, but one thing at a time.

Bonus Unit

Actually, I just nipped back to check my intro post, and those Gnoll boar riders are not in my original army list, so are technically a bonus, too. But I was always likely to include them, I think.

Here's a proper bonus - Gnoll Halberdiers! These are a pain to track down, so I'm pleased to gather a round dozen to make this little unit. Most of these were broken so the weapons have been replaced. A couple of halberds are old Citadel Empire plastics, but most of the new ones are metal and from Perry Miniatures! Very much enjoyed repairing ancient Perry Twins models with their own modern products.

Another army list disappointment - there are NO Savage Orc cavalry or Savage Orc halberdiers in the Warhammer Armies list. I *could* count the halberds as double handed weapons, and Savagify (?) the unti that way. OR I can use the presence of these Halberdiers as Orc Boyz to fill *that* minimum allowance and Savagify the larger unit. But somehow I'd rather have all these guys Savage, or none at all.

I think that, as I conjectured last month, all this naked yellow Gnoll (or is it Goblin?) skin is asking for another highlight or two, so that might become a thing that happens later in the project. Highlighting a whole army at once? Fun times...

Anyway, right now the February additions look like this:

Scores for February:        401 points        37 models

20 x Gnoll Clansmen       (Orc Boyz)                                               170 points

5 x Gnoll Clan Riders     (Orc Gruntas with Shields)                    105 points

12 x Gnoll Schiltron       (Orc Boyz with Halberds)                    126 points

Running Total:                685.5 points        67 models

Coming Next:

More Rank and File! Yes, I've started work on the Leaders (and it's going pretty well I think?) and on some stuff for my Wild Card but these are not things I want to rush, which means in March you'll be getting either (Lesser) Goblins or the bulk of the remaining Gnolls.