The Oathkeepers Tribe (reinforcements)

So. Snowed in, no work, only 14 half painted models and 4 new christmas ogres (a present rather than a rumoured new special troop choice) away from finishing painting my collection of ogres - numbering a mathematical pleasing 44 ogres in total - all plastic, all converted. Admittedly, by "conversion", I just mean changed a bit - I'm a basic greenstuffer at best, and many models just have hands glued at interesting (but plausible!) angles. Nonetheless, some of the more adventurous conversions I'm personally pleased with, though tame by some of the standards around here. But hey, it's about personal development, right?
So, it's nearly a week later, late on Sunday night, with the prospect of returning to work all too real, but I'm done! Some gnoblog then . . . Well, when I say I'm done, I mean I'm done so far. I'm all for adding to it, and thought this might encourage me - have a terrible habit of just stopping a project for several months and then coming back to it thinking "now, how did I do that skintone I wonder?"
For example, I would like to add some gorgers, but not happy with the standard models, would like to stick to plastic, and maybe do something a bit different with them - even giving another rationale. Will think about it - one possibility is taking a knife to the rat ogre models and see what happens (I know this has been mooted before - anyone get anywhere interesting with this?)

Anyway, the army. I have painted a lot of skaven in the past, and am sick of large regiments of small models, so I made a conscious decision not to use gnoblars (I know, I know, I NEED trappers, and what about screens, etc. - well, I prefer to lose with a theme, ok? ;p) Which gave me my first bit of fluff - I wanted a nomadic band of ogres, disposessed of their home territory, who only took as many gnoblars as they could carry (lookout, sword, etc.) Second, I really like the dirt-and-rust feel of some ogre tribes, so I decided to go with very muted colours, dirty banners etc. I found simple drybrushing gold on browns gave me a passable bronze effect, so went with that as the main metal scheme. All this was a while ago - this week has been largely trying to reproduce the colours on existing models!

Next, the pictures. I must confess I have never successfully taken pictures of figures in the past, so my first try was a bit scrappy - see Maneaters in the butcher's cauldron for my first bad attempt at flash photography. Anyway, did a bit of research, and have discovered a way to take photos without flash (and learned plenty about my camera in the process!). So, while latest attempts are not perfect, I think they give a better representation, so I thought I'd post some up. So here goes!

First, a couple of bulls - was really happy with the standard bearer here, might be my favourite standard in the army.

Next up, my slaughtermaster with a couple of Butchers:

My tyrant, and bull gut bruiser:


And finally some of the more converted leadbelchers, which I had a lot of fun with:



That's it for now - I have also finished the BSB and irongut conversions, and will post pictures of those soon. Here's hoping I stay snowed in tomorrow . . .

Nice work. I really like what you have done, expecially with the Gut Bruiser!

The gutplate cannon is awesome!

Very nice work. The Slaughtermaster's skullmantle and hammer are made of awesome, and the tyrant is an excellent example of making characters from the basic components (all your characters are actually).
But for the love of all that is good, watch out for those mold lines (case in point, the first belcher).

Yeah, I noticed that too, but not until I looked at the photo - it's near invisible on the model 
Anyway, thanks for feedback so far

Time for a bit of background - the Oathkeepers are run by Gorlag Oathsayer - the son of Ylarth Oathmaker, who was tyrant of the now destroyed Ragged Maw tribe. Ylarth swore a blood oath with two other tyrants in the early days of Greasus to oppose the rise of the overtyrant, and were horribly slaughtered for their trouble, as part of Greasus' meteoric rise. But Gorlag, through a "gutsy" gamble and not a bit of luck, managed to escape the same fate, and in time, both reiterate the oath, and raise a new tribe. He knows full well that to oppose Greasus directly is death to the tribe, so instead the Oathkeepers run a guerrila war, deliberately raiding the caravans on the lucrative trade routes, especially the ivory road. To avoid destruction, they are constantly on the move, and pillage all they need. It is not an easy life, but one to which they are (for the most part at least) fervently devoted. All ironguts are required to swear a blood oath too, before they are awarded the tribal status.

Am working on a longer account, something approaching a story, but in the meantime, a few more pictures: mainly, my favourite irongut, and in a unit:



and as an after-thought, was very pleased with how the book on this butcher turned out - he's the one with the chicken drumstick and cleaver above . . . most of the backs of my models are fairly boring, but one or two individuals make the army pleasing to look at from my point of view!


- like the back of my hunter. Can't seem to take a nice picture of his front, but here's his back . . .


That's it for today - hopefully some more fluff and/or pics tomorrow.

Wow! Fantastic great way to start an army, I love the standard bearer and the color scheme especially.

that standard looks great. I get so jealous looking at some models on here lol 

Took a photo of the BSB to add - he mostly runs with the maneaters, so he shares their theme a little - I'm now thinking of doing another tyrant, since I have been putting him in with them trying the deathstar, and theming him a little - possibly even breaking my all plastic rule because I love the paymaster maneater and I think he would make a great tyrant conversion too.
Anyway, the standard bearer:

Little blurry, so here's a shot of him in unit:

and from behind, with captive!


Much happier with these pics of my maneaters too (rather than the crappy one I first posted in the cauldron) - happy to have learned to take better piccies through doing this too

Still working on the fluff, though my laptop has died on me (green lines, anyone?) so don't know if I'll get the story back, so might start over. I also might try to post a full army list soon - have a total of about 3.5k, but from a modelling/painting/fluff perspective, most actual games I play are in the 1-2k region. Still, should make a decentish 3k army list - my goal now is to eventually move it up to 4k.
Rat ogres to gorgers is I think the next project Now the snow is going at last, I might just get into town to buy some.

This is a great army. The bsb and his unit look absolutely fantastic. Have a pet gnoblar!

Ok, gorgers are a WIP now, so thought I'd post a couple of pics - still some green-stuffing and additional bits (skulls hanging from the belt, a chain or two maybe, etc.) but the basic idea is there - have reposed the rat ogre models to give them a more feral stance, and stretched the mouths of the bulls head to give them a slightly unnatural effect.





Since the Oathkeepers are always on the move, I had the idea to make these "captive gorgers" - hunted and chained by the tribe's hunter, and released just prior to battle, then recaptured when they have gorged themselves on the flesh of the fallen. I like the idea of a hunter who has captured anything and everything - might even give him a big name like "kinseeker" or "runtcatcher".

Gorgers are still WIP, rooting around in bits boxes for suitable stuff to add. In the meantime, I put together a 3000 pt army list, which uses most of my models (1 hunter, 6 bulls including 3 modelled as standard bearers - here's hoping they're useable in 8th ^^, 1 irongut standard, and 1 leadbelcher left over). I've included the gorgers even though they're not finished yet.
This is mostly theory at the moment, I don't get the chance for many 3k games, but it's fun to think about, and nice to have the choice for lower point value games
So, the Oathkeepers at the moment amount to:

LORDS AND HEROES:

Tyrant: Tenderiser, Heavy armour, Wyrdstone necklace, 2x Thief stones (306)

Bruiser BSB: Battle standard, Lookout gnoblar, Heavy armour, Sword of Striking (194)

Bruiser: Ironfist, Heavy armour, Greedy fist, Fistful of laurels, luck gnoblar, 2x sword gnoblar (189)

Butcher: Skullmantle, Siege breaker (180)

Butcher: Bangstick, Dispel Scroll (180)

Butcher: Bloodcleaver, Dispel Scroll (180)

CORE UNITS

3x Bulls, Bellower (115)

3x Bulls, Bellower (115)

3x Bulls, Bellower (115)

3x Ironguts, Champion (164)

3x Ironguts, Bellower (154) (Skullmantle butcher goes here)

3x Ironguts, Standard (Rune Maw), Lookout gnoblar, Bellower (199) (Bruiser and Bloodcleaver butcher go here)

SPECIAL CHOICES:

2x Leadbelchers, Champion (120)

2x Leadbelchers, Champion (120)

2x Leadbelchers, Champion (120)

2x Leadbelchers, Bellower (120) (Bangstick butcher goes here)

RARE CHOICES:

3x Maneaters, Great weapons, Heavy armour (270) (Tyrant and BSB go here)

Gorger (75)

Gorger (75)

2996 points

I think I posted in your maneater post, but these guys are awesome.  Your 'basic' greenstuffing is making me jealous and worried that I'll just never compare. *wipes tear*

I really like the paint scheme and the conversions.

Have a gutslap.

*Slaps your gut in happiness*

Very nice conversions!  There are some ideas you've used that I like a lot, and I'm in the process of needing to make some maneaters...  I particularly like the Irongut wielding the dwarven cart.  If I end up borrowing that idea, I'll have to name the model Baron Wastelands!  Keep up the good work!

Really like the gorgers too.  Snazy!

Yuut!  Fantastic stuff!  My mind is reeling with things I want to try based on your conversions..  thanks for the inspriation..


~crow~

Hey mate is you leadbelcher cannons just black with a chainmail drybrush then highlight? Looks really good.

Hey mate is you leadbelcher cannons just black with a chainmail drybrush then highlight? Looks really good.

Exactly that, yes - I found that an extremely light drybrush applied a few times will give a sooty, metallic feel on black - and that way it really builds up most of the highlights on it's own - then just fine highlighting to finish.

Thanks for the nice feedback all

I love all your conversions!   They give a hopeless noob some good Ideas. My favorite though  must be the Irongut with the cart, I must have a fetish for Ogres smashing other things with big objects!

Looks great.  I'm converting characters from basic bits so thanks for the inspiration.

So, after messing about with various modelling projects and completely failing to decide what the next army to paint is going to be (options are some of the new plastic skaven - a pestilens themed list, orcs and goblins - all built and undercoated but sooo many models, or 40k orcs - lots converted now but same problem!), so went back to my gorgers. Have been afraid of painting them since I put on the base colours I envisaged, and wasn't at all happy. Anyway, forced myself to finish and then see, and actually quite pleased with the result. So here they are

 


Which gives me proper rare options at last

Ok, have finally finished basing all the bulls etc., (I got distracted by buying some other models - a serious error, I realise - more on that elsewhere ), so I thought it was time for a group photo. Here, just after a big feast, are the oathkeepers!



So, just need to do some individualised objective and gut magic markers, which are a low priority since I have standard ones, but it would be nice to get them done. I'm also toying with the idea of adding some 'tusks for my hunter, I had modelled some white lions, but they're unpainted - and I might wait until people have forgotten about zsouless's ones a bit, mine pale by comparison!

Other than that, I'm going to leave these guys alone for a bit, at least until the next book - I'm happy with the options they give me. Will post anything I do and/or am inspired to do in the meantime.

Which brings me to my next project Time for another gnoblog . . .

Looking good man.  I think the Leadbelchers and the Maneaters are my favorite.

Fantastic looking army mate, looking forward to more of your work in the future.

I'm on vacation once more (hooray) and after several days with my head buried in books (no prizes for guessing which ones) I turned to updating the Oathkeepers for 8th Ed. Actually, not as bad as I thought - scrappies got better, bad for me since I don't use gnoblars, though I am considering painting up a unit, everyone keeps telling me I'm missing out on the little fellas, but I don't like the models or the fluff . . .

Anyway, otherwise, Yhetees got a bit worse - no problem for me, same as with the gnoblars - the fact that they are now mutated ogres still doesn't do it for me. So the main difference, as far as I am concerned, is that bigger units are needed, and hence command options (at least standards and bellowers) become more viable. Well, this could've been worse - I like modelling and painting standards anyway, so I always did them whether or not I intended to field them - with the result that for every three bulls, I had a bellower and a standard already. So, with 3 units of bulls, that meant . . . about 3 more needed so that I could feel 3 6-strong units, or 1 15-strong Horde (with characters). My units of IGs were the same but smaller - I used to use standards with them anyway, so I had 2 units of 5 with stds and musicians. Since these were almost always accompanied by characters, they didn't need much, but I thought I'd model a gutlord in case I ever wanted to hide a butcher behind a full command rank.

After that, with 2 models left over from my new box of bulls (so many bits I went for maximum bodies ^^), I did an extra Leadbelcher, since I had an odd number, and finally modelle another character - which I like, so may do a bit more work on later and use him as my tyrant. I have an idea about the weapon, but more later.

But first, as I promised ages ago, I did in the end model 2 sabre tusks for my hunter from white lions models. I quite like the result, so here they are:



and with the hunter:



Next, the 3 new bulls and the extra leadbelcher - I like the idea that this guy fires through a full barrel of gunpowder every time, for that added kick, so he has 3 "rounds" attached to his belt. The pointing bull, with all the knives, can also serve as a champ if needs be.



And lastly, the gutlord and the possible tyrant:

i like the lion from hunter:-)

Next trollslayer finished:



one more to go, tomorrow with luck!

And the third one finished:



I'll get their bases done tonight, and post a finished picture of them altogether, tonight if I'm still awake, otherwise tomorrow.

*edit* group shot:



fresh (ripe, even) from the north.

Nothing much to add at present, I'm up to date with my ogres now, and until I can decide on Heavens and Firebelly conversions, I've not much to do with them; compared to 4 other modelling/painting projects that I'm mulling over, including the new necrons . . .

I am still tinkering with bits, however, from the new ogre kits, and I've almost finished painting the new Irongut wielding scrap  - I'm thinking of titling it "Spoon of the great maw"; you'll see why when I get the pics up!

WOW!  Glad I clicked into this.  Keep the pic's coming

I have to say your trollslayers look really great! As does the rest of your army. You sir, have made kitbashing an art. It's so great to see all those different heads, weapons and armor parts used this way, good job!

Thanks for the nice feedback, fellas

For my next Irongut, I present:

The spoon of the great maw.



A religious artifact of enormous significance - also good for smashing stuff.

Bigger pic:

That's pretty cool. It seems difficult to use a spoon with two huge holes in it, but then again they're ogres.

That's pretty cool. It seems difficult to use a spoon with two huge holes in it, but then again they're ogres.

I did spend more than a little time wondering whether to fill those holes, but in the end, I went with the idea that the bowl is worn down, and then punctured when it was used to clobber things. It's not clear from the picture, but the bowl is stained red on the inside, and so I painted the holes stained red on the outside at the bottom too.

Up to my knees in necron bits right now, but still puzzling over butcher themes

It can't really have been a year since I last posted any work on my ogres, can it? The necron army is a reality nowadays, but sadly not a painted one yet. And now the new DA models look much better than I had expected ...
 
Well, back to ogres, who have seen some action again recently; I still haven't got that Heavens butcher model figured out, mostly because the couple of times I've proxxied it hasn't worked for me; I'm a big fan of beast lore, still

However, I have built half a Firebelly; so should have that finished in another year or so 

In the meantime, I have started to tire a little of my usual lists, and to play around with the less used options from the book. To that end, I have a hankering to make my hunter work, and although I have remodelled my existing hunter with a blood vulture, mostly because I really like the model and had one spare, I think a hunter really has to have a harpoon launcher, so I decided to model a new one. Now, 2 things -

1) it has always bothered me that a hunter has a 50m base for no reason (other than that it ranks up with sabretusks); indeed my old hunter is on a 40m base. This time, I wanted to do a 50m base, but with a justifiable (but not game-impacting) reason.

2) the description of the harpoon launcher (and indeed harpoons in general) involve being able to retract it once embedded in the quarry, and "fish" the prey home. I wanted to incorporate this on the already large crossbow from the TT set.

The result of both of these thoughts is thus:



I was pleased with the harpoon. Could the mount be a baby thundertusk?

I know that a harpoon hunter is a poor-gnoblar's-ironblaster, but I am determined to find an advantage. I will play around with load-outs of magic items, and let you know if I find anything at all useful.

Seems to be a very long time since I've added anything here, and I'm afraid I'm no closer to figuring out a heavens butcher! However, I have finally put into plastic an idea I've been kicking around for a while, so here he is: my firebelly with phoenix.







(finally got a lightbox and tripod set up too, so might retake some pictures of some of the rest of the army at some point)

Love the vult... Er Phoenix 🎅 it really looks great

Thanks; spotted the model, eh? 

I do like that bird, I have painted up a hunter with a regular blood vulture too, but had a spare, so wanted to do a bit different.

Haven't updated my gnoblog in a while, so thought I'd add my gnoblar hero:


He has inspired me to make a unit of 10 trappers (probably another 40mm base, and 2x20mm, if I can decide what to do with the other 40mm), so I'll post an update when I get round to it.

Also, while rooting through my bits box to build a him for the competition, I came across a spare stonehorn head, and remembered that I have been wanting to do a BSB incorporating it ever since I built my thundertusk. I tried it with various models, but I didn't want to just stick it on a pole which didn't look like it would ever take the weight. In the end, I went back to the 'spoon of the great maw' model above, and I'm quite pleased with the results:





The only problem is that he's a little unbalanced, so I need to find a way of weighting him at the front end.

That model looks amazing! Truly a terrifying BSB What did you do for the open neck bits, gore/bone/ooze?!

If you magnetize, you could simply put two or three additional magnets under the base to set his points of balance back to normal. A dime super-glued to the front end works well, too.

I don't magnetise, but it might be time to start! I have tried a coin, but the base needs adjusting underneath to fit it in  If I'd started from scratch, I would have put a coin under the flock/slates etc., but them's the perils of continually altering finished models! Thanks for the tips though, will keep trying.

As for the back of the head, I decided against dripping gore/bone, as the stonehorn head is at an angle to its neck - so instead I just greenstuffed some more fur over the blank piece, to hopefully look like the head had been sewn up before mounting. Don't think it looks too bad:



And because I'm still trying to take better pictures of units, here he is in situ (with a beasts slaughtermaster of course!):

Great solution on the standard - looks awesome!!!

Badass looking unit