Salutations Davi Zharrs. The name’s Agandhjin, and this will be my foray into what will eventually be my own little band of Chaos Dwarfs.
Some background to set the mood:
I, like so many others, got into the wargaming hobby early on, when it all amounted to slapping some paint (and at one point, nail polish) one some minis and moving them around on the kitchen table at a friend’s house. I started out with half a starter set of Lizardmen (I believe the other half was… Bretonnia?), and eventually migrated over to 40k. There I picked up a respectable force of Tallarn Imperial Guard as well as my first kitbash project, Imperial Grotz made up of cadian, goblin and green stuff with red berets all inspired by early university Guevara zeal. Since then, I’ve been on and off the hobby every so often. Every time I’m on, it’s because I come up with a new concept for an army, and every time I fall off when I realise I have to paint all the minis I’ve bought on a whim…
This time around, I have a solid core group of gamers my own age to hang with, which means we’re more understanding of each others commitment to life outside the Warhammer universe. As such, we’re all working on our own little projects. Mine is to be the chaos dwarfs.
For now, I’ve picked up the rules for Kings of War, and after a few practice games I find it appealing. This will thus be the system I’m working towards. As for models, I’m currently undecided as to whether to go for the lovely models from Titan Wargames, or to wait for the ones from Lost Kingdom to hit the webstore in May. So until then, I’m exploring different models from different companies, working on improving my painting and green stuff sculpting. So, while there won’t be a finished army in this blog any time soon, you might find some enjoyment in watching a n00blet learning the techniques.
Some pictures:
I got a second-hand Ogre bulls box dirt cheap, and figured they were a good chance to practice greenstuffing on. Inspired by the big hat ogres on this site, they started growing beards, horns (!) and even hats.
The bellower I’m particular happy with. If nothing else, they can make good unit fillers when the time comes.
I then chanced upon a box of dwarf longbeards quite cheap, and figured the scale mail could be repurposed.
The hats are made from upside-down tacks and greenstuff. They could really be smoother, but I consider these I first attempt I’m happy with
Thus, time came break out the paint.
I really rushed these ogres, but if nothing else I learned I’m not happy with the beards, and will rework those.
These I consider my colour scheme test. They’re painted with paints solely from the Khorne Bloodbound set, as well as dipped in Army Painter’s Dark tone. While I’m quite happy with the result, I think the scale mail turned out a bit too bright despite the dipping. Will have to consider using a different combination of colours. The hats can use some work as well, but isn’t this what you have test models for?
Finally, I’m happy that KoW and other systems got me out of the “only use GW models” rut which seems quite common around where I live. While other games have gotten onto the scene since the fall of WHFB, the GW hegemony is still quite prevalent. So I’ve had a look at Reaper miniatures, and ordered these two fellows to see if they can be repurposed:
That’s a Stone golem which might have it’s legs shortened. The brass bull I’m a bit uncertain of, as its size was a bit smaller than I first thought.
It fits well on a 50x75mm base, so I’m thinking it might see some action as part of a bull centaur render-proxy at some point.
If you’ve made it this far, cheers. Any c&c is most welcome
I’ve only used army dip on Saga figures and it does really gloss things up.
I used Testors Dull cote (paint on version not the spray) on them to great effect. You could use it on the bits you don’t wont to be shiny. It works very well.
Good start! The beards look neat in particular and the colour scheme is solid. Using internal bits to strenghten the hat sculpts is a good idea. Also, good choice of models at the end of the post. Keep it up! :hat off
Sadly, the “stable” gaming group I mentioned in my first comment fell off about a week after I posted. Everything kinda went downhill hobby-wise after that, but after a bit of revising I’m giving it another try.
One of the issue I had to figure out last time around was how I wasn’t happy with the hats on the dwarfs. Having practiced on a few more ogres after that, the issue became quite clear: Hats need their bling and ornaments!
While there is still some work (mainly patience) to be done with the painting, I found kitting out the hats made them look a lot better. Second revelation followed quite quickly after that; these are a lot easier to make when they’re ogre sizes rather than dwarven. Who knew…?
In order to keep the work moving at a somewhat steady pace, I’ve changed the plan for the army. The idea is now to go for an ogre force working as slavers and raiders for the chaos dwarves, in exchange for armour, weapons and the like. As the beastclaw raider start collecting box came out, I figured I start with that in order to have a small amount of models to work with. The plan is as follows:
Step one:
1 Stonehorn w/Frostlord
1 Icebrow hunter (using the second rider model from the Stonehorn, can be either put on a base as a hunter or on the stonehorn as a Huskarl)
1 Icebrow hunter converted from an ogre bull
4 Mournfang raiders
Currently they are mostly assembled, with the stonehorn riders/hunters having gotten their proper beards and hats.
Step two:
2 boxes of chaos warhounds to act as “counts as” frost sabres for the hunter.
This will give me at least a 1000p AOS destruction force which I can start playing with.
Step three:
Starting a Gutbusters (regular ogre kingdoms) force to act as the actual slavers. Still working this one out, but one idea:
1 Warmahordes Cage Rager as my “counts as” tyrant or butcher w/cauldron. The idea is to base him together with a chaos dwarf who’s the actual leader of the bunch.
This blog suddenly turned quite ogreish, but the chaos dwarfs haven’t been forgotten. As mentioned I need to find a way of making the hats that I’m happy with, and I’m hoping working on the hats for the ogres will give me some practice. I used the already greenstuffed dwarves to test out some colour schemes
Now to make sure it won’t be another four months until I’m back again…
I have thought about doing the same thing but I doubt mine would be as good
Can’t wait to see the mournfangs and stonehorn
I lole the idea of slavers and they could also be followers of Hashut. Yes he is the god of cds but he is not very dwarfish. Indeed rather than dwarfs making him in their image He makes them in his (bull centaurs, lammasu, horns tusks etc. I could see a sect seeing him as a god for ogres, particularly if they wee constantly exposed to his worship. Firebellies qould fit right in too
That’s some solid beardwork! Hat decorations are indeed crucial to make the headgear pop. tjub is currently carving out his own flora of hat ornaments for his 15mm sculpt if you need inspiration. There are also Russian Alternative hats, those few I’ve sculpted, Blood Bowl hats and various hobbyists own-made hats in various fashions, plus Lost Kingdoms and others.
Wow
I love your ogres
I have thought about doing the same thing but I doubt mine would be as good
Can't wait to see the mournfangs and stonehorn
I lole the idea of slavers and they could also be followers of Hashut. Yes he is the god of cds but he is not very dwarfish. Indeed rather than dwarfs making him in their image He makes them in his (bull centaurs, lammasu, horns tusks etc. I could see a sect seeing him as a god for ogres, particularly if they wee constantly exposed to his worship. Firebellies qould fit right in too
Uther
Uther the unhinged
Thanks Uther. I wholly recommend you try. I did, and I'm more and more happy with them for each one I make. Learning by doing quite simply.
I haven't thought too much about the lore part yet (I will base them for AoS so... I guess they exist still), but the firebelly is surely going to crop up at one point. Great models after all.
Added bonus, some quick WIP-snapshots. From left; Hunter (conversion from bull), second hunter (seated on the rocks behind him) or Huskarl with Blood vulture when on the stonehorn, Frostlord to-be
That's some solid beardwork! Hat decorations are indeed crucial to make the headgear pop. tjub is currently carving out his own flora of hat ornaments for his 15mm sculpt if you need inspiration. There are also Russian Alternative hats, those few I've sculpted, Blood Bowl hats and various hobbyists own-made hats in various fashions, plus Lost Kingdoms and others.
All the colour schemes look good.
Admiral
Good advice that, my folder of inspirational pictures is growing every day now. While I don't have any pictures of the process, I've come up with the following method for the hats which seems to be yielding results:
1. Use a small round shield (mine are old goblin ones) as your top, as they give an instant metal rim and frame to work with.
2. Grab a pushpin, cutting off the metal pin and the smaller ring-end... (the part you hold). Glue the massacred pushpin remains to the back side of the shield (leaving the wooden side facing up for texture)
3. Mould a lump of greenstuff around the pushpin part of the thingy, making sure to get it the shape you like.
4. Mount it on an ogre's head, shaping the greenstuff so the hat fits "naturally"
5. Add ornaments and decorations as you see fit. I've started with one or two as seen in the previous post, but more might be better in this case.
Ive used push pins a lot as well for hats, but lately Ive done more bulked out hats using a base of Super Sculpty. Just make a quick cone and bake it for 15 mins. Then turn it “up side down” chop of the top and base and use the middle part for the hat, then you have a hard volume to use as the base of the hat and can add ornaments and stuff later. I hope I make sense here… EDIT: Made a quick tutorial in the blog.
