Admiral:
Great progress! I like the Greenskins and Ogres both. Any plans for Skaven miniatures?
boyfights:
Looks great so far, almost time to ask for an "army" photo. But in your case a photo of the setting might be more appropriate? :)Thanks a lot! I agree, it's just about time for a group shot. If I can keep on pace I should be done painting the rest of my warbands by the end of the month (only 44 models to go if I'm counting right!) so I will make that a priority! Still have a lot of bases to do too though, I'm afraid to add up how many tbh :P
Good thinking on the 10mm goblins as gnoblars, only thing might be that most 10mm and smaller tend to be sculpted as a group. But might not be that tricky to separate them, however following your progress with interest!
tjub
I had the same thought re: separating the goblins, but I actually found them first on this site where someone else is using them for skirmish purposes too, they look like they should come apart pretty cleanly!
(not mine!)
(cuuute!)
Great progress! I like the Greenskins and Ogres both. Any plans for Skaven miniatures?Thank you too! So far I plan to use Splintered Light's Ratmen, which just barely didn't make the cut for my first order from them. I am liking the look of some of Battle Valor's Vermian as well and will probably keep them in mind as I am loosely considering Skaven as a potential larger force too, as well as Chaos in general. Anything that will lend itself to fun kitbashes really! Somewhere over the Atlantic I can hear the heads on my plague monk sprues whispering to me, we would make great 15mm rat ogre heeaaadsss...
Admiral
I'm thinking they'll probably show up in the next chapter :)
boyfights:
The hobgoblin command arrive!
A few more regular boys plus the standard bearer.
The champion model, and a side view of the shaman.
As above in reverse 
The drummer and a couple of werewolves!
I’m still not exactly sure what I want to do with these guys. I think for my first chapter they will just be used as scenario baddies and potential wandering monsters, gradually bringing them in as a proper warband. I’m tossing the idea around of using a couple of warbands with the Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago rules, which use a combat hero instead of a wizard while retaining a spellcaster “apprentice” (I forget the new title, Warden maybe?). These guys might well end up as a tester for that The werewolves are sold as goblin werewolves, but they’re not especially goblin-y so I’m not sure I’ll stick with that yet. In any case they’ll be monsters as well rather than part of the hobgoblin warband, as I will be needing enough about 25 different types to fill out my random encounter chart!
I’m not unhappy with them at all but I felt a bit like I phoned them in, I think maybe I’m getting a touch burnt out on painting my 15mm guys and need to switch things up for a week or two. By rough count I’ve painted about 100 little guys and 12 bigger guys since May, which is almost certainly more models than I ever completed in the ~10 years I spent playing in my younger days, so I don’t feel too bad about taking a little break!
I raided my bits supply and came up with another 7 dwarf bodies (giving me a total of 50 potential ogres!) and my order from Hoard o’ Bits arrived today (20 chaos marauder legs, bodies and sets of both handweapon and flail arms plus cloaks and 40 goblin heads so I have extras for future concepts) so I think next up I will try and get my second ogre concept to work. I’m eager to finish my warbands but I don’t want to just rush them so time to let the inspiration build up again :hashut
Now that I’m looking at the marauder legs in person they might be a touch more difficult to adapt than I thought but roughly speaking my plan is to remove the lower section of leg and reattach the feet at the knees, sculpting as necessary to clean up the joints and maybe adding new knees if I think they need them. They’ll be a bit bigger than the dwarf-based ones I think, but I like the idea of my different clans having differently-shaped bodies and being tied together with the goblin/night goblin heads. I hope my green stuff skills are up to the challenge!
boyfights:
I couldn’t resist and had to dive in My comparison shot was by far the best of any that I took so I’ve only included that one, with a tjubling to get a better sense of the scale. The legs went much more smoothly than I expected; just pressing the foot into a blob turned into baggy pants quite easily after smoothing it out. I sculpted a bit of a belly onto the much too-defined waistline and added a belt with a belly plate as well. I’m tempted to add some shoulder plates or a cloak to this guy and use him as some kind of a beastmaster, maybe basing his tribe around that sort of theme. I wish he was about half a head shorter, so I think I’ll try another concept aiming for that height and if that works out then I’ll build him up to be more of a hero/character type, I think.
If I use 10 of this style for a beastmaster tribe, my 10 plague monk based ones (assuming they work out) for a nurgle tribe, 10 of the dwarfs for hashut worshippers using tjub’s spare tjubling hats once they’re available, the other 7 to make various mercenaries and maneaters to go with the first 3 and then one more tribe with the last 10 marauders (maybe some cavalry? I’ve got lots of wolf rider legs I can work with…) I can easily fill out the rosters with gnoblars, nurglings, yhetees, beasts or slaves as appropriate to make for 5 Frostgrave warbands, as well as giving me a very good base for some massed battle action. Then on to assembling a chaos dwarf force to match :hashut
tjub:
Well done!
IMO, to have a few different projects are the key. I usually paint/sculpt for a month or so and then change it up. Even with some terrain making which can be really liberating.
Agreen on the 10mm goblins, they’ll fit very well! The Ogres looks good as well, I think it would mix good with different hights etc.
boyfights:
Well done!That seems like a good way to approach things, I'm feeling a little more refreshed even after a day of switching tasks tbh! I should be tackling terrain as well to get playing but I was too excited to try out the new ogre concept :) Converting and scratchbuilding was always my favourite part of the hobby as a kid so it feels great to be doing it again.
IMO, to have a few different projects are the key. I usually paint/sculpt for a month or so and then change it up. Even with some terrain making which can be really liberating. :)
Agreen on the 10mm goblins, they'll fit very well! The Ogres looks good as well, I think it would mix good with different hights etc.
tjub
I was too tired to post a picture by the time I finished but I managed to get through two more last night:
I'm happy with them so far, but they're definitely a lesson in patience. I've modified too many parts to be trying to finish the entire model in one go without constantly having to resculpt or smooth out various parts leaving me with some rough looking areas like where the bellies meet the pectorals. I'll go back tonight and try to fix them up, as well as getting some more sets of legs cut down and fixed to bases to give me at least somewhat of a stable frame to work from for the rest of this clan.
I managed to get the left one looking a bit shorter by trying to give him more of a forward, advancing pose but I think I'm going to have a tough time doing it with all of the sets of legs, the right guy is basically the same size despite my best effort. I think there are enough bits on my old Mordheim accessory sprue to turn my first guy into an appropriately Hunter-ish looking hero though, we'll see how it goes :)
boyfights:
No pictures for this update, but I’ve cut down and resculpted the legs for eight more ogres! After taking a better look at the parts I had I decided to stick with two of the sets of legs for one 10-ogre tribe and use the furrier parts for the other 10, which unfortunately meant that I had to pop the head off of my spear-ogre but it looks like it should transfer nicely to a new, furrier body easily. I attached the torsos as well so next up I will sculpt the bellies and prepare the heads, before finally attaching the heads and arms, or that’s the plan anyway
My mail has begun to arrive as well; I am up to 20 nurglings now, mostly of the last metal version that GW produced, with another 30 or so of the 90’s style on their way. Frostgrave uses three different power levels of daemons and these should cover the first two levels, using the tiny 90’s ones as the “imp” level, giving me wandering monsters, filler for the nurgle ogres, and a good start on a larger chaos/daemon force if I split them further by type/generation. I wish all of the powers had such easy fixes for small-scale daemons! I plan to involve some of the tiny Tzeentch horrors at some point but I’m at a bit of a loss for Khorne or Slaanesh, if anyone has any suggestions?
My 28mm gnoblars are here as well, but I am sad to report that I think they will be too small for my intended purpose 
Perhaps with fur sculpted over the bodies they will make good yhetees (I realized as well that I have some beastmen to loot more appropriate heads from) so I’ll give them a try, but next to the ogres they are much too small for trolls. Some of the heads will be perfect once I find the right body though (I’m thinking maybe chopped-down GW ghouls? I’m not averse to playing with GW’s scale a little bit, my ogres are already quite large), and depending on how big the Splintered Light Ratmen are the bodies might be usable for rat ogres using the plague monk heads.
Worst case scenario I’ve got a good base for some Kill Team Rebel Grots down the road I guess
tjub:
Fur should be a pretty easy sculpt for some green stuff practice. There are loads of tutorials online as well!
Here are some examples of demons from Khurasan Miniatures that might work? Have a look at their page.
tjub:
…also, Demonworld has some cool ice demons etc. These are bigger variants though.
boyfights:
Those are all really cool, I hadn’t seen the Demonworld ones! I’d seen the Khurasan guys but I think at the time I was looking more for models that closely resembled a specific 28mm counterpart and forgot about them. I’m getting to be a lot more open-minded with regards to daemons though, it seems silly for the powers to be limited to a handful each anyway!
Those first two would make great daemon princes and I think those little pink guys could fit into the weirder end of Slaanesh stuff. Not sure where the ice guys would go best, I could see doing them up in rainbow hues with washes and glazes (guess it’s time to add medium to the next paint order) and using them as crystalline Tzeentch daemons. The squiggly guys would probably work for a Beast of Nurgle type, maybe with a slug body or something added on. Cool finds, thanks tjub!
You reminded me I’d been thinking about Khurasan’s Space Demons for Bloodletters as well, they’re clearly meant to be Alien aliens but add a sword and horns and some red paint and these guys are a dead ringer in my opinion:
boyfights:
WIP ogres!
About halfway there, tonight I will add the belts and belly plates as well as sculpting some facial hair on the heads which I have already prepared. Still trying to decide how to arm these guys, I’m a little bummed that I couldn’t get the spear off of my first guy because it seems a very hunter-themed weapon but ohh well, I’ve got lots more kicking around that I can use. I’d like to do a missile guy or two and I’m planning to try to do some leadbelchers using reworked ork shootas, but I think I will save them for my Hashut followers as that seems more thematic and I can use their CD link to explain why the ogres have weird experimental technology For these guys I think I will try to do javelins instead, I rescued that stabby spear arm from my basing test night goblin and I’ll use that as a tester, I know I have a few more of them back in my stash if they’ll work!
After looking at the crypt ghoul bits a little more closely I’m sold on them, I’m not sure they fit for stone trolls but I think they’ll make great river trolls using the gnoblar heads so I’ve ordered a half box to try out I’d like to do some stone trolls too though so still on the hunt for something appropriate, as well as more gnoblar heads which are strangely difficult to find!
tjub:
Like them fatties!
Oh, that sounds like a great idea for the trolls! Might have to try that for myself… 
boyfights:
Thanks! I’m trying to stay pretty basic still; I feel like I’m getting a better handle on it (having a little patience and letting things dry is certainly helping!) but I need something that I can potentially recreate ~50 times so I’m not going to go overboard with most of these guys. I’ll need at least two of them to be more “leader” or character types though if they are to be used in Frostgrave, so I plan to first make 4 more melee guys and 2 javelineers for practice before getting more ambitious with a hunter to give me a third missile guy plus three 3-ogre units that will work in Dragon Rampant and KoW (as I understand?) and finally making a leader character, probably just a bruiser type to be used with the Ghost Archipelago rules.
And feel free! I think the limbs will need a bit of shortening but it seems like the right mix of parts anyway, I’m looking forward to trying them out. I’m kind of thinking saurus bodies for stone trolls now, and trying to resist ordering some until I get some work done! At least my paint order made it here before the weekend, time to get busy :hashut
tjub:
Demonworld has some nice stonetrolls otherwise!
As for rules and basing, in KoW it matters more how big your base are than whats on it. The norm for Ogres are 3 models, but if you want 2-4 its totally up to you. Ex 4 might represent a weaker unit, hence more models.
I think it would be more important to have the correct ratio, say a Regiment is 2x Troops, a Horde 4xTroops and Legion 6xTroops etc. If you should chose to base to far from the norm then you might get some odd scenarios on the table but you’d still have a playable game but maybe not as competitive. Anyway, there are standars both for 28mm and 15/10mm so its pretty easy.
You could get some appropriate base sizes and then put you skirmish models on them for a unit if you prefer that even, like a movement tray. But IMO building the unit is half the fun and to play with a singe based unit is so nice!
You have some great and interesting ideas on converting 28mm to 15mm. Im keen to see the results, especially the River Trolls.
boyfights:
Six bellies all safe and sound! (the heads are done too but too fiddly for pictures at the moment)
(a bit blurry sorry, you get the idea though!)
That basing sounds nice and flexible! I’m kicking myself now because I think my ogre bases are a touch too big; if I remember right you divide everything by half for 15mm and my ogres are on 1" washers :\ It says that some large infantry are on 50mm bases, would that be much of an issue if I kept it consistent? Or if I were to just design trays to deploy them as hordes would that work, or do I need it split in half for casualty removal? (sorry, I still haven’t had time to get to the rulebook!) I’m thinking a mix of trays for my converted “big guys” and then some proper bases for my infantry, I’m excited to make some little dioramas
The Demonworld stone trolls are perfect and I had planned to use them all along, but now I’m worried they might look a little small next to my ogres Conversions mean more poses too I figure!
And thank you very much, the encouragement is very motivating It looks like the ghouls won’t be here until sometime next month but that gives me time to catch up on some painting! My Shadespire opponent will be available in about a month and a half so I’d like to get at least a couple of those warbands done to give us some options, I’m dreading those yellow orks but at least the skeletons should go quickly. Maybe I can talk him into trying some Frostgrave too!
boyfights:
The first eight ogres are ready for paint!
Two more shield boys to join the first one:
Same but with two hand weapons:
Two javelineers:
All in together now!
The prototype guys look a little rough next to the ones I actually took my time with but I think some paint will help and other than that I’m really happy with them for my second sculpting attempt, they fit my mental expectations almost exactly! At first it annoyed me a little bit that all of the furry-hat heads were yelling but it cracks me up seeing them all together
I’m not exactly sure what I want to do for the characters yet; I want one that will double as a third javelineer for mass battle and also as a Warden for Frostgrave, which could really be anything from a ranger to a wizard to a druid to a scout or whatever else I can come up with (a butcher and firebelly at some point, most likely!) so I’m thinking of maybe a small shoulderpad and a cloak, plus some cut up flail bits as bolas that will count as javelins. I’m tentatively planning a bruiser for the leader that will use an ork head with an added nose and probably some big shoulderpads but I’ll have to do a test fit as I think I’d like to do a two-handed weapon for him and I’m not sure everything will all go together!
More stone troll brainstorming; I think kroot bodies will be the way to go. I think I still have a few from my 40k days in the bits box so hopefully I’ll be able to do a tester before I buy them, because I definitely want full sprues for those sweet, sweet kroot bits :hashut Maybe this week if all goes well!
edit: Almost forgot, found these at Khurasan (thank you for reminding me I need to make an order there tjub!):
Should come in handy
Admiral:
Clever Ogre conversions and Troll plans. Great log! Keep it up.
boyfights:
It’s been a while since my last update between the heat and these guys taking forever, but my Shadespire Sepulchral Guard are finished! I originally planned to take the highlights another step but I was getting a bit sick of working on them, 7 32mm dudes was the biggest group I’ve tackled all at once I think and I’m too used to be able to crank out ~15 15mm dudes in three days or so and was getting impatient 
I still want to get at least one more group done before Thanksgiving as well so I have a few options when I get some games in!
My spooky boys:
The Harvester
1st Petitioner
The Prince of Dust
2nd Petitioner (late for the party)
The Champion
3rd Petitioner (dramatic pose!)
and The Warden
Quote for the day: “I’m still bad at painting, but let’s paint the bones grey to change things up. Hmm what colour for clothes… how about… grey.” - A nincompoop named boyfights
Clever Ogre conversions and Troll plans. Great log! Keep it up.Thanks very much!
Admiral
tjub:
Looks good! I like the paler/more natural look than most Shadespire gangs, which can be a bit too much “warcraft” for my taste. Well done, hope you enjoy the game as well. Ive only had one fight with the undead faction, went bad for my part. 
boyfights:
Looks good! I like the paler/more natural look than most Shadespire gangs, which can be a bit too much "warcraft" for my taste. Well done, hope you enjoy the game as well. Ive only had one fight with the undead faction, went bad for my part. :PThanks a lot! I tend to prefer more natural-looking colours too, I guess the brighter colours and flashy stuff stands out and looks better on the tabletop but it just doesn't feel right to me :) My Orruks are next on deck and I'm trying to decide what to switch the yellow to because imo it's very "warcraft" as you say, haha.
tjub
I didn't know you played Shadespire too, were you using the undead or fighting against them? I've heard they're one of the tougher ones to use from the first round of gangs, they seem like fun though! I've only put in 4 or 5 games so far with the base set but I really enjoyed it. I've managed to talk my wife into giving it a shot too once the Orruks are painted (they seem easier to use than the Khorne guys) so hopefully I'll be getting more games in soon if she likes it :)