They Have a Cave Troll (Preparation)

Over the course of a couple of weeks I have assembled my troops and prepared them for painting. Most of the time was spent converting models however one thrilling weekend was spent basing and cleaning up the mould lines (more efficient en-masse but very, very tedious).

Here they are in all their rough glory - 6 warbands of 12 goblins at the back + 24 spares at the front and a cave troll to the right.

And now some detail of the converted models:

Gundabad Blackshields (x5)

These guys are made from regular sword & shield goblins with helmets with a couple of modifications - from the GW description their main identifying features are their "mighty shields... like little walking walls" and "the possession of a White Warg pelt" so:

I made more impressive shields from green stuff using a Milliput mould of a standard shield which I then reversed and imprinted again to make a larger, double-pronged shield. To make the actual shields I simply pressed greenstuff into the mould and left it to set completely before carefully prising it out and cleaning up the edges.

I sculpted warg-skin cloaks from greenstuff by simply creating a very rough and bulky cloak shape on the model and then using a craft knife to create a fur effect and guide the final shape of the cloak. Fur is very forgiving and these were sculpted directly onto the models - I used this tutorial to get an idea of what to do but made a very simplified version for my little models.

By comparison to a standard Moria goblin they appear considerably more bulky - these are effectively the same model but the Gundabad is notably 'heavier' looking.

Goblin Prowlers (x 15)

To differentiate from the Gundabad Blackshields I picked models that were bare-headed for my Prowlers

I tried various cloth additions including:

a simple bandanna around the head and a pouch for loot

a more detailed hooded cloak

or a sash

Goblin Shamans

The theme for the Shamans was skulls and staffs:

 My first attempt may need some extra bits adding as it doesn't look particularly different to a regular spearman

 The second one came out a lot better - he is a bowman who has been given a spear and his bow has been trimmed down and reattached to make a swirly dagger 

And the last one is my favourite - a sword & shield chap who's shield socket was carved out and cleaned up then replaced with a skull staff and new hand with a new right arm (from a bowman) and a dagger made from the other end of the bow used for #2.

Goblin Captain with Sword

This was an idea I saw online (I couldn't trace the original source, but I used this guide) which I basically copied exactly except that instead of placing his bow on his back I removed the quiver all together and sculpted some extra hair to cover the damaged area.

Goblin Captain with Bow

This fellow was made in a similar way to the captain but here I simply switched his arms over and took off the open hand and replaced it with a sculpted hand with a pointing finger so he can direct his troops. This guide gave great directions for sculpting hands.