Da Green Horde

This month it's time for the "Paint What We've All Got" challenge, hosted by Roger . The aim of the challenge is for all participating bloggers to paint the same model - a savage ogre. The model was sculpted by Dave Stone specifically for this challenge and it's a truly amazing miniature. Funnily enough I've always wanted an ogre in prehistoric style to go alongside my Savage Orcs/Bonesplitterz, so I was very happy when the results of the poll came in - and later on when Dave showed what he sculpted. The model was a joy to paint and in the end I added some decals from the Bloodbowl Ogres kit as tattoos (symbol of the Great Maw on the belly and a fist on its back) to tie it in with my Ogor Mawtribes. As regular readers of this blog will know I'm not only a collector of  greenskins, but also ogres from different manufacturers and eras. This savage ogre fits in nicely with my existing collection, especially the more old-school ogres that I own. In the pictur...

My entry for Dave's season of scenery challenge is the goblin encampment from Scotia Grendel. I managed to paint two tents and a cart, the remaining two tents and the campfire will have to be painted some other time. I really like the sculpts, they are nicely textured and lend themselves to Contrast paints so the painting process was rather quick. I experimented a bit on the patchwork of the cart and thought about painting all tents in that style, but in the end it was taking too much time and the single coloured leather looks good as well. For the main colour of the tents I used Snakebite Leather, I think I overdid it a bit on the first one (too many splotches). The second one turned out a lot better in my opinion. The next post will be the ogre for Roger's "Paint what we’ve all got" challenge. I already received the model and I'm very much looking forward to painting it - Dave did a fantastic job sculpting it.

For Keith's Monster May(hem) painting challenge I decided to paint two River Trolls (known as Fellwater Troggoths in AoS). One of them is a classic GW miniature, the other one a converted Reaper Bones Marsh Troll. I didn't really like the original (very small) head of the Reaper troll, so I replaced it with one from the GW Fellwater Troggoth kit. The head fits the model perfectly and I really like the crocodile-like features it has. The classic GW River Troll was sculpted by Michael Perry and is a favourite of mine. The pose is fantastic, reminds me of a frog that's ready to jump at its prey. These troggoths are the newest members of my ever-growing swamp goblin tribe Da Boghoppaz .

My final entry for Swordmaster's Monster March painting challenge is the Orc Stone Golem, sculpted by Ismael Prieto. The model can be seen as an alternative to the ForgeWorld Rogue Idol of Gork (or Mork). I had a lot of fun painting this miniature, it felt more like a piece of scenery than a character and I could do most of the work just by drybrushing and washing. It was also a great opportunity to try out the much hyped Dirty Down effect paints for moss and rust. I also used a bit of the lichen effect paint by Vallejo and really like how the paint matches the yellow of the real lichen on the sticks from my garden. Since the base is quite large it was also a great opportunity to place a few Laser Plants by GamersGrass on it.

It's March again, which means it's time for Swordmaster's annual Monster March painting challenge. As regular readers of this blog may know, I quite enjoy using toy animals to create large warbeasts for my miniatures. I already created a Squiggoth from a toy hippo and a war tortoise for my swamp goblins. Now I present to you the Mega-Rhinox, an enormous beast for my ogors of the Red Maw Tribe. The model is an Elasmotherium, a prehistoric rhino from the fantastic CollectA range. Although the standard paint job was quite good, I decided to repaint it since I wanted a darker look. I wanted the beast to be able to carry a few ogors into battle, so I built a howdah from chopsticks and wooden coffee stirrers. The design of the howdah was inspired by the GW LotR Great Beast of Gorgoroth . I added a lot of ogre bits from various kits including two crow's nest with gnoblars, one of which was scratch-built. The howdah is not glued on, so the model can be used as a wild...

I managed to finish two more ogors/ogres as a last minute entry for Dave's Paint What You Got Challenge . These Ogor Gluttons (Ogre Bulls) are warriors of the Red Maw tribe, and soon they'll have a giant warbeast to ride into battle, so keep your eyes on the blog in March if your interested in what it is.