Earlier this year I asked fellow blogger DrGabe if he would be interested in doing some commissioned painting for me. He had been working on what was to be a 3000 point Blood Angels army when, halfway through the job, his client ended up having to quit the hobby entirely. Thus the completed portion of the army went off to eBay and DrGabe, as it seemed only natural to me, was presumably left befuddled with how to use his newly liberated painting time. Sensing an opportunity to exploit a longtime friend, I delicately broached the subject with him.
"If you can paint an army for a stranger, you can paint one for me!"
Or maybe at the time I was more diplomatic about it, there are conflicting accounts about how it all went down. In exchange for a bunch of Eldar minis I'd stashed away for the better part of a decade, DrGabe agreed to paint an Orcs and Goblins army for me. Turns out he was in fact eager to paint a Fantasy army as a change of pace and for the opportunity to develop different approaches to painting. DrG had told me he was particularly keen to practice his speed painting techniques and thus an Orc Waaagh would be quite suitable to that.
Perfecto!
The O&G models that I shipped to Gabe mostly date back to the early days of the Battle for Skull Pass era and had been untouched since then. Although I know I would have enjoyed painting this army, after choosing to go with the Dark Elves for my main Warhammer faction I realized it was unlikely I would ever get around to working on these greenskins. I'm therefore very happy to have entrusted them to DrGabe as I knew he would do a great job with them. We discussed what type of army I wanted to have and kicked around ideas about the potential composition, background, and color scheme options. Ultimately I gave him instructions along the lines of a more or less traditional O&G force, though perhaps a tad livelier with some extra orange and purple added to the selection of colors.
There was one detail however about which I was more specific, and that was the treatment of the bases that I wanted. I had been inspired by a passage of background from the current Orcs and Goblins army book about the greenskin tribes who live in Naggaroth. It tells of their history of originally being enslaved in huge numbers by the upstart Dark Elves and then being forced to wage war on behalf of the Druchii. Eventually the Orcs fought their way out of captivity, established themselves in the wild lands, and hence forth have been a sometimes-enemy, sometimes-ally of their former Dark Elf masters. It was this little nugget of fluff that provided the inspiration for this army in addition to being the reason why we elected to use snowy, icy bases befitting Orcs living in the Land of Chill.
I plan on trying to emulate DrGabe's technique creating snowy bases for my Dark Elf army. I think it will therefore look really nice when I use the armies to fight against each other when providing an army for an opponent to use, but would also appear complementary should I want to ally the two armies together for really big games. I'm sure when we get together it will be a blast to play a game against each other using these two armies. Just the thought of that has really motivated me to get back to work on my Dark Elves. Groovy!
The Night Goblins seen in the above picture are the first unit finished for this Waaagh-in-Progress. I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. If you want to check out any of his previous posts concerning the army project, I encourage you to utilize the following link:
Summer is always a busy time for the good Doctor so it looks like things have become understandably quiet lately at his blog, DrGabe's Miniatures. He's off to Gen Con in a day or two so hopefully he might be able to get some interesting photos of all the neat new things there on display. I've duly complained about his recent lack of posting (haha!) and have encouraged him to share anything really cool that he sees with his lucky Followers.
After his trip to Gen Con however I have threatened to banish him to the salt mines if he doesn't get back to painting my Orcs, so I expect the Waaagh will be growing again very soon...
[Evil hand wringing ensues.]
Goodnight, everyone!
The bases are gorgeous and the concept pure as the driven snow. It's good to see a fresh approach and Naggaroth and Lustria have so much potential still.
ReplyDelete@ Porky - Thanks! The only thing I'm worried about with the bases is trying to achieve that same level of quality and artistry when it comes time for me to decorate my own Dark Elf bases. Then again, that's a pretty good type of problem to have. ;-) And I think you're certainly right about Naggaroth and Lustria. I really appreciate that there are still lots of mysteries left beyond the limits of the Old World for us to explore. Of course those woods in the Empire seem terribly dark as well...
ReplyDeleteAs always it is a pleasure to hear from you, Porky. Thank you!
@ Fnurgn - Cheers!