Ian McMurray's Goblins - Night Goblin Unit (Rank and File 3 - 60 points)

"The darkest side of the night
Burns like a fire
For the wasted lives"

    - Metropolis, The Darkest Side of the Night

In April I painted a unit of 20 Night Goblins with various weapons. They are 2 1/2 points each!!! I add 1/2 point because some of them have spear and/or shields. Almost a whole month of painting... for 60 points! Still no banner though! I hope I will be able to do all the banners in June. I love those Kev Adams sculpts (who doesn't?). They have so much details and characters. My painting skills didn't do them all the honour and old school feel they merit but I'm quite happy with my work. Here's some close-up of all of them:

Now the good news is that I only have 3 goblin fanatics left to paint and then no more goblins! Next month is 5 trolls and I can't wait to start on them! It will be a nice change from all those green skins.

Here's the army at the end of April:

• Grom and Niblet in chariot: 257 points
• 10 goblin wolf riders with bow: 100 points
• 10 goblin wolf riders with spear and shield: 110 points
• 2 goblin chariots with scythed wheels: 180 points 
• 20 Night Goblins: 60 points

TOTAL: 707 points

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...

Glyn's Night Goblin Army - it's a bad moon that heralds doom!

Well, just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any worse, 2021 arrives and a black tide of spiteful, cackling menace washes over you!

Those of you who participated in OWAC III least year will know that I started upon a quest to paint up the forces of Skarsnik, as present at The Battle for the East Gate of Karak Eight Peaks and as set out in the 4th edition Dwarfs Army book. I focused on the orc contingent last year but this year my attention is wholly upon Skarsnik's nasty, black clad little gits. 

Turning my attention to the aforementioned army list, I noted that I could compile both the North and South forces (see below) which, together with Skarsnik and Gobbla would give me the required points. 

Obviously, my points will not reflect those given above as I am not including the magic items and my infantry blocks are rounded to 30 goblins in each case. 

And so, my command group: 

Skarsnik & Gobbla (205); 2 x Big Bosses (72); Shaman Champion (28); and a BSB for the force (68).

My infantry blocks consist of 30 night goblins armed with Spears and Shields (Inc boss, std & mus) plus 3 fanatics (215.5) & 30 night goblins armed with Sword & Shields (Inc boss, std & mus) plus 3 fanatics (200).

These units are supplemented by 2 blocks of 20 archers, each with short Bows and shields and including full command as above. (90.5 each) 

These units are supported by 2 squig hunter teams with 3 squig per team for 136 pts. 

In total this provides for 1105.5 points. 

Depending on how favourably the painting gods look on me, I have a couple more infantry units which I could paint; 2 units of 4 squig hoppers; 2 more squig hunter teams and, deliveries permitting, perhaps the 3rd archer unit to complete the night goblin contingent for the wider army in this scenario. 

I wish my fellow challengers the best of luck and I can't wait to see the resultant armies. 👍

My offering, noting the Overlord's preferences, is this Eldar Swooping Hawk. Never painted anything 40k so this was quite fun 😀

Down, Down to Goblin-Town; or, Dustin's Wrap-Up Post

Well, I did it. I actually finished an army, somehow keeping to a semi-regular painting schedule and even managing to play a few games along the way.

The obligatory "Warhammer Armies" pose. Bonus points for being taken in a hotel room where a game of 3rd edition had just been played.

The final army list:

Night Goblin General on Gigantic Spider - 103 points

Night Goblin Master Shaman - 159 points

24 Night Goblin Warriors with Boss, Big Boss, 3 Fanatics - 238 points

21 Night Goblin Stikkas with Big Boss, 2 Fanatics - 162 points

21 Night Goblin Stikkas with Big Boss, 2 Fanatics - 162 points

3 Stone Trolls - 195 points

Giant - 200 points

TOTAL: 1219 points

A hasty close-up of the assembled Night Goblin horde.

I managed to get in a couple of games of 3rd edition at Historicon with fellow OWACers Anthony Bo and Darren "Lopez" Stephens. In a rare display of greenskin cooperation, Anthony and I joined forces against Lopez's Dark Elves. We crushed the elves in our first game, but fell victim to infighting and panic in the second. My fanatics managed to cause plenty of casualties among the elves, and an almost equal amount among their own kind (sadly). It wasn't all doom and gloom, as Lunkh the Giant managed to show up sober in both games and killed a hydra in the first and a cockatrice in the second!

"Oi, yer wants annuver, do yer?"

Is an army ever really finished? I know I've got a weird number of points. I could pad the list out for 4th/5th edition and add some "Herohammer" magic items, along with a herd of Squigs and Squig Hoppers. I seem to be playing a lot of 3rd at the moment, so I might add some Orcs (I've got plenty of Ruglud's boyz waiting for paint) and a Lead Belcher. Regardless of what edition I play, I definitely want another big mob of gobbos, some wolf riders, more trolls, and possibly another giant. A horde of monsters is where it's at.

Thanks again to Iannick for organizing the challenge (I'm working on your mini, I promise) and to Blue in VT and airbornegrove26 for being my sounding boards throughout this whole thing. Now to get to painting more gobbos!

Dustin's Big Finish for June (200 points)

June turned out to be another busy month, but despite breaking the 1,000 point barrier in May, I really wanted to avoid taking a mulligan on the last month of the challenge. I was originally going to paint more trolls, then I thought about doing some squig hunters, and then it hit me--I should really paint a giant. Historicon is coming up and I'm looking forward to playing some games of 3rd edition, so having a giant drunkenly stumbling around the battlefield naturally sounded appealing.

Giant -- 200 points

This guy is from Reaper (02770: Lunkh, Hill Giant). He's a little on the small side (not like all those real giants out there), but I like his pose and general shouty expression. Despite this, I did not enjoy painting him as much as I expected. I also noticed a couple of moldlines after I had started painting him, so it's not exactly my finest hour. Regardless, I've got a giant to throw down at Historicon, and I've completed the OWAC without using my mulligan, success!

Gobbo for scale.

Trouble on Eight Legs: Dustin's May Goblins (199 points)

The penultimate month draws to a close, and I've broken the thousand-point mark on my army! Part of this involved painting my army general, one of the classic Marauder MM35 Gigantic Spider Riders.

Night Goblin Warlord with Light Armor and Shield, riding a Gigantic Spider -- 103 points

2 Night Goblin Big Bosses with Light Armor and Shield -- 72 points

2 Standard Bearers and Musicians for Stikka Mobs -- 24 points

The Warlord on his White Spider.

From another angle.

The spider rider is a mini that I picked up just prior to the challenge, having wanted one since I first read "The Battle of Iron Peak" in the 4th edition army book, where he was "Gorblum the Magnificent." I read that battle report countless times as a yoof, and now I've assembled a similar warband years later. The big bosses and command elements are part of my plan to rearrange my stikkas based on my experience fighting Blue's dwarfs at Cold Wars. That weekend, I had been using small units for harassment purposes and delivering the odd fanatic, but the only thing that could keep them going in combat was their hatred for their stunted foes. Since then, I've decided to group my stikkas into two larger, 21-strong units, each containing a standard bearer and musician, and led by a big boss. I figure the additional bonuses to combat resolution and leadership (as well as the fighting ability of the big bosses) will make them a bit more respectable on the battlefield (for a bunch of poxy gobbos, anyway).

See you in June for the thrilling conclusion!!

Dustin's April Shroom Gang (219 Points)

When T.S. Eliot declared that “April is the cruelest month,” I’m fairly certain the poet did not have miniature painting challenges on his mind (although you never know, maybe he had a copy of Little Wars somewhere on his shelf). Where March was a flurry of painting and gaming, my schedule really filled up after Cold Wars, with family travel and work commitments consuming a lot of my mental space for the past month. I definitely felt some burnout, and got frustrated with my efforts on some figures I was initially enthusiastic about (they may crop up later in the challenge). The mulligan crossed my mind, but I’d really like to avoid taking it unless something truly dire cropped up. For me, the whole point of this exercise is to get an army painted, which is not really something I’ve been able to do in the past (at least to my satisfaction). Anyway, I had an ace-in-hole, an “anti-mulligan” strategy; namely, a wizard.

Doom Goblin Shaman by Kev Adams

All true Night Goblins have red weapons.

The nice thing about wizards and heroes is that they can be of varying levels and points costs, which gives some flexibility when you have to paint a target number of points per month. Under the 4thedition rules, this charming fellow is going to be a level 3 wizard, a Master Shaman. He is accompanied by a pair of fungus-addled fanatics that will be distributed among my existing units. Based on my experience at Cold Wars, I’m going to spend the coming months expanding my main unit of melee goblins and combining the archers into two larger units and giving them each a command section with a big boss.

Whirling Death. A bit of Bob Olley and a bit of Kev. All good.

Night Goblin Master Shaman – 159 points

2 Night Goblin Fanatics – 60 points

We’re getting there.

Dustin’s Goblins - Beware the Red Eyes of March! (208 points)

After last month’s trolls, it’s back to the massed infantry. These scum are the start of my main block of Night Goblins, some Kev Adams classics from the early Nineties (plus a newer champion from Knightmare Games/Crooked Claw).

22 Night Goblins with Double-Handed Weapons, Shields, Standard Bearer, Musician — 96 points

2 Night Goblin Fanatics — 60 points

Night Goblin Boss with Double-Handed Weapon and Shield — 18 points

Night Goblin Big Boss with Shield — 34 points

I’ve had some of them since 1997 or so (better painted late than never). As I was attending Cold Wars in mid-March, I had a great motivation for getting these guys painted in time for some gaming with Airbornegrove26 and Blue in VT.

My ultimate plan is to expand this mob up to 40, and add some command figures to the mobs of stikkas I painted at the beginning of the challenge, so I know what I’ll be working on in April!

Dustin's February Submission (A Trollish Trio, 195 points)

February, the shortest month, and a busy one for me even when not participating in army painting challenges. This month's output is pretty basic:

3 Stone Trolls -- 195 points

These guys were fun to paint, and a good diversion from the gobbos. I've been a fan of these sculpts since the Nineties, but for some reason, had never painted any of them (in fact, I had never owned any until this past year). I'm glad I was able to pick them up before GW finally "retired" them a couple of months ago.

This is Glogg. I rather enjoyed painting the femur he wields as a weapon. Perhaps it's a femur with which to bash fimir?

Here's Fletch. He's not dual wielding weapons, the big rock is just a snack.

Finally, Ol' Stinkmouf, ready to empty the contents of his stomach on some unfortunate stunties. Failing that, he can bash them with his stone maul.

That's all for February. More goblins to come in March.

Dustin's January Goblins (198 points)

The first month draws to a close, and I've managed to knock out a solid number of models:

36 Night Goblins with Short Bows -- 108 points
3 Night Goblin Fanatics -- 90 points

 

Pretty quickly after starting the challenge, I decided to deviate from my intended list (likely to be a recurring theme over the coming months). I added more archers, figuring that I could field them as one big mob or a trio of smaller, nuisance units. Hopefully they can inflict the occasional casualty, or at least release their fanatics, before running away.

The figures are some Kev Adams sculpts from Black Hat Miniatures' now-defunct "Shattered Isles" fantasy range. They're nice, simple sculpts, not much ornamentation compared to the 4th edition Citadel Night Goblins or the more recent Greenskin Wars Doom Goblins, but that just made them easier to paint. I felt that painting a big chunk of infantry at the outset was key to maintaining momentum. Plus, I want to play some games at Cold Wars in March, so it was best to start with the rankest of the rank and file.

A trio of old-school Fanatics rounds out the January submission.

See you in February.

Dustin's Goblin Horde - Introduction

“Wherein a Lapsed Fantasy Player Returns to the Fold”

Despite being in the hobby since the mid-1990s (Heroquest/Battlemasters/Red Period were my jam), I’ve mostly gravitated toward the 40k side of the spectrum, with one major exception: Goblins. I loved the little blighters, but adolescent funds being what they were, my hordes were pretty much limited to the 4th edition plastics with a smattering of metal figures. My gaming group also preferred 40k to Fantasy, so once I was working part-time, I was more likely to buy Space Orks than Night Goblins. This trend continued up through college and well into adulthood, until fairly recently with a few bargains on old metal gobbos that I lucked into, plus some slightly reckless spending if we’re being totally honest.

Now, a lot of the “Oldhammer in the New World” crew that I currently play with are big into Fantasy, and I’d like to be able to join in with my own force rather than borrow minis or just lead a small contingent in a bigger battle. I bode my time until the next Old World Army Challenge, as I figured the group painting environment would help motivate me to actually finish a hobby project.

My intended army list at the moment (using 4th edition Warhammer Armies: Orcs and Goblins):

Night Goblin Warlord with Two Handed Weapon, Light Armor – 54 pts

Night Goblin Battle Standard Bearer with Light Armor – 67 pts

Night Goblin Master Shaman (Level 3 Wizard) – 159 pts

Night Goblin Big Boss with Halberd, Light Armor – 37 pts

38 Night Goblins with Shields, Standard, Musician, Boss – 136 pts

37 Night Goblins with Shields, Standard, Musician, Boss – 133 pts

20 Night Goblins with Short Bows – 60 pts

7 Fanatics – 210 pts

4 Squig Hoppers – 100 pts

1 Stone Troll – 65 pts

TOTAL = 1021 pts, 113 models

First big block of infantry, "Magrot's Malcontents."

"The Unreliables"

It just doesn't feel right without a troll, so here's "Ol' Stinkmouf."

I'm still waiting on some more miniatures in the mail, but this lot should be enough to start with. Time to glue some more and start priming!