03 Nov 2009
Hello to the Stronghold!
It's been a long journey here, with your permission I'd like to prop up my feet on a handy Gnoblar, loosen my gut plate a bit and share a tale or two. This is my first post here, and my first attempt at any kind of army blog. Here goes...
Reason for the Army
When Ogres were first released I thought I would never ever buy, paint, or play them. They were too fat, too grey, too bloody & too grim dark. Despite loving the hunter model and some of the Gnoblars I have stayed resolute in my vow until a few weeks ago - around mid-October.
My friend plays Ogre Kingdoms, but is lacking some of the more-expensive metals. In a local trading forum I found an opportunity to buy a used (mostly unpainted) Ogre army consisting of the army box set + a box or two of Bulls/Ironguts, all for $160 Canadian. I guess that's around 85 pounds. I thought it was quite a deal so I followed up on it for my friend. Despite his desire for all the metals he couldn't justify expanding his already 2000 point army out to the 4500 point range. Never one to let a bargain escape, I convinced him to split the lot with me. He ended up with the limited edition bruiser/tyrant, hunter, yhetees, and trappers and I I ended up with a bucket-load of Bulls, Ironguts, Gnoblars and Bits to use as mercs in a new Empire army I also just acquired.
At this point I think I still would have been ok ... then I actually assembled one of the Bulls! What fun! I love plastic kits with lots of options and somehow just the simple act of assembling this big fat bearded fellow and his Gnoblar companion got me hooked. The next week I had already converted 2 butchers and ordered a bunch of spare bodies and leadbelchers. *Sigh* No sense resisting any longer... let the Ogre army march to war!
Army Background
The Lazy Guts rose to power and dominance as a roaming band of mercenaries. They travelled across the Old World wherever there was war (or wherever they thought they could start one) and hired their soldiers to the highest bidder.
Eventually the entire tribe became so wealthy (and fat) they bought a huge tract of land near the Empire and settled permanently. Here they pursue, whenever possible, a life of leisure and a steady gorging process followed by periods of azzal horizontology.
They live in harmony (a greasy, rowdy, smelly, harmony) with their human neighbors long since having lost the taste for human flesh far preferring the steady diet of fat, (pleasingly unarmored) cows, sheep, orcs, chicken and other livestock, not to mention cakes, pies, and other pastries.
Visiting humans are welcome to join in the revelry in Kharzugs huge tavern, sample Ogre mead and join in the never-ending feast while watching the in-house pit fights. Next door, the very brave, stupid, or drunk are always welcome at Dame Ranthas house of negotiable affection. More than one Empire soldier, full of Ogre mead and looking just darling in his little uniform, has become a joke within his regiment when he returns from leave with part of his ear bitten off marking him as a favorite of one of Ranthas gals.
Other areas of interest include; the Skin Museum, Mad Balkins Center for the Advancement of Inter-species Science (ask him to tell you about progress on his Halfling/Gnoblar breeding program), Mawgaugh Muckbutters Pastry shop, and the Gnoblar farms - where each day visitors can watch the Changing of the Guard as regiments of Gnoblar warrior/farmers march out into fields of sugarcane to wage never-ending war against mice, locusts, and ladybugs. Census reports indicate that daily losses in this war keep perfect pace with the Gnoblar birth-rate.
Despite the open and friendly nature of the town, the Lazy Guts are still a tribe of warriors. The older veterans rarely leave their feasting and revelry, but the young bulls are always eager to fight and earn money for their eventual "retirement" to the never-ending feast. Even Kharzug can (usually) be prodded from his huge throne to lead the tribe against a particularly hated foe. When he does, he proves to all present the true might of the Ogres. (The fact that that the last time he did this was almost 3 years ago, and the reason for the war was because some demons burned down one of his sugarcane fields AND he spent most of the battle eating pie should in no way detract from the fact that he DID in fact GO!)
It's been a long journey here, with your permission I'd like to prop up my feet on a handy Gnoblar, loosen my gut plate a bit and share a tale or two. This is my first post here, and my first attempt at any kind of army blog. Here goes...
Reason for the Army
When Ogres were first released I thought I would never ever buy, paint, or play them. They were too fat, too grey, too bloody & too grim dark. Despite loving the hunter model and some of the Gnoblars I have stayed resolute in my vow until a few weeks ago - around mid-October.
My friend plays Ogre Kingdoms, but is lacking some of the more-expensive metals. In a local trading forum I found an opportunity to buy a used (mostly unpainted) Ogre army consisting of the army box set + a box or two of Bulls/Ironguts, all for $160 Canadian. I guess that's around 85 pounds. I thought it was quite a deal so I followed up on it for my friend. Despite his desire for all the metals he couldn't justify expanding his already 2000 point army out to the 4500 point range. Never one to let a bargain escape, I convinced him to split the lot with me. He ended up with the limited edition bruiser/tyrant, hunter, yhetees, and trappers and I I ended up with a bucket-load of Bulls, Ironguts, Gnoblars and Bits to use as mercs in a new Empire army I also just acquired.
At this point I think I still would have been ok ... then I actually assembled one of the Bulls! What fun! I love plastic kits with lots of options and somehow just the simple act of assembling this big fat bearded fellow and his Gnoblar companion got me hooked. The next week I had already converted 2 butchers and ordered a bunch of spare bodies and leadbelchers. *Sigh* No sense resisting any longer... let the Ogre army march to war!
Army Background
The Lazy Guts rose to power and dominance as a roaming band of mercenaries. They travelled across the Old World wherever there was war (or wherever they thought they could start one) and hired their soldiers to the highest bidder.
Eventually the entire tribe became so wealthy (and fat) they bought a huge tract of land near the Empire and settled permanently. Here they pursue, whenever possible, a life of leisure and a steady gorging process followed by periods of azzal horizontology.
They live in harmony (a greasy, rowdy, smelly, harmony) with their human neighbors long since having lost the taste for human flesh far preferring the steady diet of fat, (pleasingly unarmored) cows, sheep, orcs, chicken and other livestock, not to mention cakes, pies, and other pastries.
Visiting humans are welcome to join in the revelry in Kharzugs huge tavern, sample Ogre mead and join in the never-ending feast while watching the in-house pit fights. Next door, the very brave, stupid, or drunk are always welcome at Dame Ranthas house of negotiable affection. More than one Empire soldier, full of Ogre mead and looking just darling in his little uniform, has become a joke within his regiment when he returns from leave with part of his ear bitten off marking him as a favorite of one of Ranthas gals.
Other areas of interest include; the Skin Museum, Mad Balkins Center for the Advancement of Inter-species Science (ask him to tell you about progress on his Halfling/Gnoblar breeding program), Mawgaugh Muckbutters Pastry shop, and the Gnoblar farms - where each day visitors can watch the Changing of the Guard as regiments of Gnoblar warrior/farmers march out into fields of sugarcane to wage never-ending war against mice, locusts, and ladybugs. Census reports indicate that daily losses in this war keep perfect pace with the Gnoblar birth-rate.
Despite the open and friendly nature of the town, the Lazy Guts are still a tribe of warriors. The older veterans rarely leave their feasting and revelry, but the young bulls are always eager to fight and earn money for their eventual "retirement" to the never-ending feast. Even Kharzug can (usually) be prodded from his huge throne to lead the tribe against a particularly hated foe. When he does, he proves to all present the true might of the Ogres. (The fact that that the last time he did this was almost 3 years ago, and the reason for the war was because some demons burned down one of his sugarcane fields AND he spent most of the battle eating pie should in no way detract from the fact that he DID in fact GO!)
It is awesomeness in model form. I also like your introductions to posts. Superb stuff indeed. Rapidly becoming my favourite blog around these here parts...
(I guess that would be Trousers in the UK). Luckily, a huge industry has sprung up in the nearby Empire towns solely dedicated to producing Ogre-sized pants and belts. The largest, oldest, and most successful of these businesses is Randall Fitzgibbons & Sons Salted Meats (and Fine Gentlemen's Fashions). The last part being a rather more recent addition after he noticed Ogres wandering around town wearing pants stitched together from the sacking he used to wrap hams. Randall now makes a tidy profit by dying the cloth first to match local Empire fashions and pre-stitching them into clothes before stuffing them full of meat. To this day it's the only place in the Empire where you can buy 50 pounds of Salami and get free matching socks.
Really good match on test model, keep it up 