The Neverness Hobby Chronicle

 Howdy my fellow hobgoblins! As you can see from this first image, the Hobgoblin Khan is now finished.  

Rampaging right out of the Darklands.

But before I show off more glamor shots, I;m going to go over the final steps I took to finish this model. Lets start with his wolf, Flea-Nest the Scratcher. Painting him was simple, I just used three different colors of gray, with a wash of Nuln Oil applied before the final highlight. But I thought it needed something else, so having seen a few images online someone's paint job on a Fenrisian Wolves, I decided to apply some brown on the back and head of this wolf. I used Gore Grunter Fur Contrast Paint for this. I followed that with a light dry brushing of a light gray (I think it was Dawnstone? I can't recall). I painted White Scar on the belly and the whole underside of the wolf really. However the natural shadows in this pic sort of obscure that. Anyway, I'm pleased with the results overall. I guess the model itself is sort of goofy and doesn't stand up to the more recent models GW has produced, Still, I suppose it works well enough as a playing piece. 

Just imagine it's smell.

Onto the big guy himself (I'll come up with a name for him soon enough). The most important things to discuss are his red armor and flesh. HIs armor was finished by using Evil Suns Scarlet and a highlight of Wild Rider Red. I then picked out a few spots to add Stormhost Silver to represent chips and scraps on the armor. This really seemed to pop to me, and made the coat he's wearing truly look like metal armor. 

 Since last time I have made a bit of progress on this chap. I left that last post contemplating how to color this guy. 

Black, the most basic of basecoats

Inspired by the technique I have been using on the armor of my High Elves I had hoped to have that lightening strike twice by repeating that technique here but using Baal Red instead. So I painted the armor using Stormhost Silver then washed it with the Baal Red Contrast Paint. 

 My fledgling army of Hobgoblins needs a leader and it just so happens I have a guy who's up for the task. 

Scream loudly and carry a big stick.

Well, he maybe eager, but he'll need some work first. These first two pics were taken after I stripped the model of it's gloriously bad paint job. The stuff I strip paint with also has a way of dissolving superglue.  In this case particularly the glob of goop that was holding the cloak onto the Khan's body. It was also pinned in place, which I can still use. 

The cloak is temoved.

Axe head attached.

After adding the requisite skulls and basing grit to his base, I decided to prime this model using Wraithbone spray. 

 

Ranked, filed and ready!

Continuing on from the previous post I proceeded to make progress on these guys. 

I never liked the way GW used to paint the old hobgoblins. They were green, oh so green. Greener than the regular grots and gobos by far. I always thought of hobgoblins to be a bit more on the tan side with a hint of green.  A hobgrot painting tutorial in a recent White Dwarf really brought the idea home for me. I have always thought the ideal hobgoblins were the ones depicted on the cover of Warlock magazine #4 (which I bought at the Stars & Stripes bookstore at RAF Greenham Common way back in 1985). Their look forever informed my interpretation of what Hobgoblins should look like. Sadly I don't think any company has ever produced a miniature depicting a pair of them riding a bad-ass griffin but 12 year-old me is holding out hope!

Warlock Magazine #4. Such an awesome magazine this was.

Anyway,  I began by simply basecoating the skin using Hobgrot Flesh.

Hobgrot Flesh.

Next I washed the skin using Reikland Fleshwash.

Red shields (with battle damage).

 Here are some classic Hobgoblin miniatures that I recently acquired. After stripping them of their "pro painted" coating, I set about trying to complete the unit, as three Hobos won't cut it. To get them up to the minimum unit size of 10 was probably going o take a long time and cost me a small fortune. The after-market price for these things are outrageous, assuming you can even find that many.! The old Hobgoblins, and even worse, their parent army, the Chaos Dwarfs, are getting pretty scarse. 

OG Hobgoblin Archers.

Thanks to a guy on ebay with a  3D printier a solution was found.  Enter the Evil Traitor Goblin Archers by Brawniac Models.  And I was able get enough miniatures to complete the unit for a fair, and sane,  price.  And they kind of conform rather well with the original models. The biggest difference being that their bows actually have arrows notched onto them. 

 Somehow I found myself thinking "Gee, I could use some hobgoblins," and searching the internet looking for sanely-priced hobgoblins was an exercise in disappointment. But I kept stumbling upon AoS Hobgrots for fairly cheap. Eventually I took a good look at them and decided that these guys could work out just fine. They're not as comical as their ancestors of 30 years ago, but they fit the pseudo-mongolian vibe well enough. I am particularly found of their helms which strike a sort of samurai gestalt with me that I think works very well. 

I found a few sprues of old Warhammer shields that were made for the intention of being plugged onto the arms of whichever old metal model that could take them.  These shields have a big hole in the middle of them as a result which often makes them difficult to use on different miniatures. When I was working on some plastic skeletons recently I took note of the sbield plugs that came on their old sprues. These worked out great on these old shields.  I like the bigger size of these shields as I feel they put off a more archaic vibe.  

The Boss.

Most of these guys have two weapons and I decided to essentially ignore the smaller weapon and put a shield on that arm where applicable. Some of them have their shield going across their back. I just put them on however I thought looked the most pleasing to my eye. I think the chaotic disposition gives the unit that killer rabble vibe