Dwarf Bear-riders of Khâzad-Zâul

Unlike the "powers that be" at GW who erased Dwarf cavalry from WHFB very early in the game, I always liked the idea of the Dwarves having a small cavalry contingent.

In the games of my youth, my regular opponent Simon, had a Dwarf cannon towed by a train of (plastic farm) pigs. Whilst the idea of Dwarves on pigs tickles me to this day, having purchased a wonderful Dwarf hero on bear from West Wind Productions I decided that Bear Cavalry was the way to go*.

Whilst the likes of Scibor make some excellent models, they didn't fit in with the look of the Dwarves I already had painted and to be frank, I couldn't afford them. The eventual solution was to kit bash using the top half of some old plastic GW Dwarves and the legs and bear from an Ursan Cataphract from the Arcane Legions  Roman Cavalry box.

The Arcane Legions figures are disappointingly crap (given the game had a great concept) but served a useful purpose and the end result is pleasing enough. Unfortunately there is only one bear pose so I'll have to put my thinking cap on before expanding the unit.

* Forces of Fantasy and the Book of Battalions both listed Dwarf cavalry mounted on ponies, which would have looked fun but I've not found suitable miniatures that would be easy enough to convert.

Orc Fanged Skull Tribe...

As you will no doubt be aware, this month is Orctober! I have been celebrating this on my main blog by digging out a pile of Mantic plastic orcs that I bought in a sale a couple of years back and getting them ready for some 2nd edition combat.

I have been running a step-by-step guide to how I paint Orcs, which isn't the most scientific of approaches but the end result is, I think, quite good.

Anyway, here is the first unit finished - the Fanged Skull Tribe!

Svart Död Troll...

As promised last month here is the other Heartbreaker troll from their OOP Magic: The Gathering range, a Sedge Troll (#9125).

As with the other Tim Prow sculpted trolls I went with the back skin colour scheme which works well on a miniature this size. The key to the scheme is to use buff rather than white as the colour to lighten the black otherwise it become too stark. Here are all three Heartbreaker trolls ready to for some "Olde Skool" action...

Svart Död Trolls...

Real life and other hobby distractions have led to me neglecting my WHFB2 project, but a new year and new plans, so...

I dug out these OOP Heartbreaker Hobbies from 1994 sculpted by Tim Prow. Part of their Fantasy Miniatures line, they are Troll with Axe (#HBH3605) and Troll with Clubs (#HBH3606).  Not the world's greatest models but a bit of fun I painted them up with black skin for a bit of variety.

I have subsequently found another Heartbreaker troll from their Magic: The Gathering range, a Sedge Troll (#9125) which shares the same body so will be added to these two soon...

Goblin Chief's Chariot...

This is a bit of a work in progress post, if only due to the fact I can't find the crew for this Chronicle Goblin Chief's Chariot.

Released in 1985 (code BN1), the chariot was sculpted by Rick Priestly, whilst the (AWOL) crew and wolves are Nick Lund sculpts.

This is a repaint and the chariot has previously seen service with two Orc archers (original ex-LOTR). I decided that it should return to the Chronicle fold and hopefully I will soon find its crew. I do have the Grenadier four wolf Orc Chariot Nick sculpted somewhere so the Red Orcs will have some mightly impressive wheels when both are completed...

Norscan Mountain Orcs...

Kev "Goblinmaster" Adams has sculpted miniatures for a huge number of companies in addition to Citadel and these Mountain Orcs he produced in the early nineties for Alternative Armies are a couple of my favourites.

They are considerably larger than even the hulking Black Orcs and this necessitated mounting them on 40mm square bases. I do have some more hiding in a filing cabinet somewhere so will look to hunt them down. I do have a cool concept for a standard bearer if I get the chance...

Background wise I have decided that they are the mongrel offspring of Orcs and Trolls, found in the mountains of Norsca. I haven't thought much about a stat line for them but will probably use Ogre stats with Orc Animosity and Troll Fear, Stupidity and Regenerate special rules.

Goblin Lost Bod Tribe...

And now for something really old... None of your 3rd edition newness here, I bought most of these miniatures back in 1980 b.w. (before Warhammer).

The Fantasy Tribe Goblins released in October 1980 (as Fantasy Tribe Gnolls) are some of my favourite Citadel miniatures, not just for reasons of reminiscing, but also because they are nice sculpts with a number of random variants per code.

For some unknown reason most of this regiment have sat unpainted for the last 34 years, whilst comrades have won countless victories under the banner of Gorbage the Goblin against the evil Dwarves. That situation has now been rectified and the Lost Bods are ready to march!

Whilst these are (of course) pre-slotta, they have been based on slottas to fit in with the rest of the refurbished army.

I have also painted them in my 'modern' black undercoat style and used some wash on them. Ironically the original figures were subject to a Sepia Brown oil wash as part of my teenage technique to grubby them up as well as provide some shading.

I have converted one duplicate polearm sporting Goblin into a standard bearer, I know some readers will be aghast at this "butchery" but it has to be done as I did not have a spare FTG standard bearer to hand.

Next? Possibly some very old pre-GW Chronicle Miniatures Orcs (that are so small they will have to be rebadged as Goblins)