Throg's Hobgoblin Despoilers

Here is the Regiment of Renown - Throg's Hobgoblin Despoilers

While painting the unit I started to think up a backstory for them (does anyone else do that while they paint?). I always found the champion, Grunmunter the Beast, quite unusual. I imagine that he had killed a sorcerer of Tzeentch and looted the armour and mask. This is slowly warping his body and mind, hence the nickname The Beast. Throg is either a scouting force sent out by the great Khan, or an outcast that has fled the lands of the Khan. At some point they turned mercenary, and although they originally rode wolves, their mounts have long since died (and been subsequently eaten). Their wolf skin cloaks are all that remains of their beloved wolf mounts.

You can read more about the original Throgg's Hobgoblin Despoilers here:

http://www.solegends.com/citrr/1rr15throggs/index.htm

I went for an eastern or Mongol theme to their clothes and colours. For the mono-pose cloned troopers, I added some green stuff to their helmets and shields. On some I added fur around the rim of their helmets, or I added a plume of hair, or a spike. And on the shields I added some shield bosses or studs to make them look more like Mongol shields. The shirts are all a light grey linen colour, and the wolf cloaks have a little colour variation in them.

The banner I made the design in photoshop, then printed it on paper, and then I did some weathering afterwards. The Chinese characters 黒龍 say Black Dragon. It's not quite what the Mongol's would have had, its not like I'm not trying to be historically accurate, but the style is eastern and something different to the other banners I have in my collection.

The Mighty Ugezod's Death Commandos

This is the completed unit of The Mighty Ugezod's Death Commandos. Some Orc big 'uns thrown in to make it a proper sized unit. This is a unit of elite Orc characters in a classic fantasy style.

The original box art. I wanted the shield and banner to look like the one in the image above.

The original art by John Blanche. Note that the box art was actually flipped so that Ugezod was carrying his axe in his left hand. In the original he is right handed. Also note that the Orcs are not green skinned but yellow which I quite like. In fact in makes look like hobgoblins.

The back of the Box.

The back of the box has all the characters names. And the lower image from the compendium has their race and class. Gnar is a mutant goblin, although I read somewhere he is probably meant to be a Kobold, GW probably changed it for copyright reasons. 

The Mighty Ugezod

Here's the big man himself. Crook-backed and long arms a bit like a gorilla. I tried to make the shield look like the one from the box art. The photo's bleach out some details

Mormo Jabberbinder
Orc Shaman

Although the back of the box says Mormo is an Orc Shaman I think he looks more like a Hobgoblin. I quite like his ripped robes and the expression on his face as he points his staff at his victims. I had lost the top of his staff and replaced it with this skull thing I found in my bits box.

Guzrog Dogchild
Giant black Orc

The way he was carrying his shield made me think that he was sheltering from arrows. I had to find something suitably large, so he is carrying a coffin lid. He had lost his original axe so I found a replacement. In fact many of them had lost their original weapons, I probably  swapped them for boltguns in the distant past, which wasn't such a bad thing as they tended to be low in detail and bit small or rounded.

Shylob Carcassbreath
Hobgoblin Berzerker

Berzerker with a Z. I opted for yellowish skin tones for my Hobgoblins. Gave him cat like eyes and a small buckler like shield. I like the eastern influence of this model.

Kudra Stuntysmasher
Goblin Hero
Kudra is a bit big and hairy for a goblin so I use him as a Hobgoblin instead. I really like the dynamic posing.

Sileth Frothlip
Hobgoblin Warrior

 I think Sileth should be a berserker and Shylob should be the warrior, I wonder if they got these the wrong way round? Another enigmatic name! You can imagine a berserker to be frothing at the lips! Armed with a two-handed mace and not much more!

Ushtug the Gut
Pot  Belly Orc
There's something about old Ushtug that I really like. Orcs today look like they spend their lives in the gym, or worse, have inflatable cartoon muscles. So I like the idea of an Orc that's fat, clothed in smelly rotten furs, with an old leathery face. A face like a bulldog chewing a wasp.

Ushtug always reminded me of Bolg, an Orc Marauder that appeared in an old White Dwarf under an article for wfrp. Another great illustration by Paul Bonner- just how I imagine my Orcs!

Saggrob Spikesticker
Orc Standard Bearer

This Orc model was originally just an Orc champion. It felt like heresy to cut off his spear, but I wanted a great looking model to be in the front rank carrying the banner. He is wearing a skinned goblin on his head! The banner was inspired by Nico Realms' work. The skull is water colour as I couldn't blend acrylics the way I wanted to and they were coming out too shiny. The photo is bleaching it out.

The Orc commandos or Orc Big Uns. These models are so full of character and details like things they have looted, mismatched armour and weapons, and trophies.

Harboth's Orc Archers

As it's Orctober I thought I would post some pictures of the Orcs I have been working on. First up is one the classic regiments of renown- Harboth's Orc Archers. This is one of the first box sets I bought as a kid a very long time ago, and recently repainted them. 

I wanted to use the box art as inspiration for colours and for the banner or standard bearer.

The back of the box has a story with a lot of character, including information like the Orcish word for moving out can also mean deserting, running away or soling one's underwear.  I also like the information on equipment, Battlecry, Deeds, Uniforms and Shield designs.

They even spelt Harboth's name wrong here- Who is Harbath?! But you can see a close up of the banner. I like the ghostly ethereal look to it, so I set out to make my own version.

And an advert in WD. This also has a print version of the banner, in bright green for some reason, so I used this as starting point to make my own version.

At first I made a version in photoshop, but when I printed it it just didn't look right. It looked fake, a bit faded, and just... printed on a computer. I tried painting over it, but the printer ink would run and react to water based paints.

Which brings me to my final version of Harboth's standard bearer. This was painted in water colours and some acrylic paints, mainly the black. The trophies are mostly dwarf, the story on the back describes how Harboth's Orcs like to kill and eat Dwarfs -"Pulp do Stunties!" Is their warcry after all! So Dwarf trophies seemed appropriate. I'm really happy with the final result.

Here's Yaskin Forit, the units champion. Unit Champions back then didn't have to be armed identically to the rest of the unit, so he wields a two-handed Dwarf tickler. He also manages to wield a two-handed weapon and use a shield at the same time! 

His name is sounds like "You asking for it?!" - the sort of thing some aggressive thug might ask before a fight. 
I didn't like the Roman style crest on the helmet, so I removed it and stuck some horns on, I felt bad defacing the old model, but I much prefer how he looks now. Much more Orky! 
While repainting Yaskin Forit I noticed he has a necklace of ears, some are even pointy! Gruesome! I also hope to paint some design on his shield when I get time. Probably a crude face of one of his victims.

The musician- not a lot else to say, except he's the only Orc archer not wearing any chainmail or armour.

And lastly, the man himself, Harboth. His original weapon was damaged and I replaced it with an axe.