Host of the Endless Feast

All creatures are made of meat.
All meat shall be consumed.
Behold the coming age;
We shall partake of the Endless Feast.

After buying/building/painting/playing Skaven for the last 10 years, I was inspired by a local WHFB league start to try something different. I've always wanted to try OK, and the low model count was appealing to me. So I ordered two battalions, three boxes of Mournfang cav, a scraplauncher, a tyrant and a butcher. I had a giant on sprue, so I dedicated him to the cause too. The league starts at 500 points, so I'm going to be running a paltry 10 model list (compared to the 110+ models that would have comprised my Skaven list.)

Here is the army as it sits now, on my messy gaming table.


I'll post some more pics as I finish conversion/painting. I like the way the firebelly turned out, and the converted butcher is coming along too.

That firebelly looks good. Wouldn't mind a close-up of him. Also I hadn't grasped quite how big mournfang are untill right now. Those are some big models.

Agreed - great new project here. Love people who jump in with both feet! Would love some close-ups!

BB

Can only second what the others have said, looks great so far and some close ups would be lovely. Also Aceytrixx agreed on the size of the Mournfangs, it's only really when you see them next to normal ogres you realise just how big they are.

That firebelly looks good. Wouldn't mind a close-up of him. Also I hadn't grasped quite how big mournfang are untill right now. Those are some big models.

Close up on that Firebelly for sure!!!!

Kind regards Zolas.

Let us not celebrate the strength of our foes as the greenskin does. Instead let us honor the
tastiest among the defeated with trophies of a meal well enjoyed! I could crush a hundred
thinlings and not remember one more than the other, but a fine meal I recall with fondness.
There are some that would say that the thinling cannot receive the Blessing of the Great Maw.
Nothing could be further from truth! By adding to the splendor of the feast, the thinling receives
the Maw's digestive favor and the Endless Feast is foretold until the day of its arrival.

Torjon the Insatiable and Bruisers

I finally got my finecast models, so I started putting them together. I didn't want either of the Tyrants options, so I fused them together to make sword with iron fist. The iron fist is a combo of several other iron fists, some styrene and a few skulls from Dark World Creations Ltd (ordered from the coolminiornot shop.) The trophy horn on his back is from the ironblaster kit, cut and turned so as not to interfere with the sword. The BSB Bruiser has a few conversions on him. The head is from Mournfang cav and has the more relaxed look that I wanted along with the club resting on the shoulder. The great weapon bruiser still needs some details, as he doesn't differentiate from an Irongut too easily. The helmet is from the ironblaster gunner.

Butchers and Firebelly

I should probably finish painting the firebelly so I can have one complete model done! The key to him was to feed him a bunch of Vallejo Model Color fluorescent yellow paint. It's pretty thick coming out of the bottle so it wasn't hard to just fill up the mouth. Once it dried it shrank back a little in spots, so I added more to even it out and painted a tiny bit of white in the middle. The teeth are black to accentuate contrast, silhouetted by the glow of the mouth. The slaughtermaster is straightforward... no conversions there yet. Behind him and the firebelly are what will be unit filler models that emphasize the role of the model in front of it. The slaughtermaster has a stone pillar with various pieces of meat hanging from it, including the cow from the giant kit. The firebelly has the giant's dragon club re-assembled as a full skull and sticking out the top of a stone obelisk.  The homemade butcher is the gunner from the ironblaster, sculpted with a gut (using a little paper towel and thin CA glue to make the pant edge) and holding the ubiquitous cleaver and a hook from a gnoblar. The gnoblar junior chef has a cut down cleaver more his size. The table is just balsa strips.

Here are the unit fillers, gloriously WIP. The pillars are green insulating foam (the best stuff ever) and the band around the middle of the butcher one is Oral-B Satin floss, which makes fantastic leather/cloth straps in 28mm scale.

Some fantastic work there.  Firebelly looks even more amazing up close.  Did you use a yellow glaze for the eyes and surrounding skin by any chance?

The rest of the conversions are looking top notch indeed.  Fantastic progress.

Kind regards Zolas.

Did you use a yellow glaze for the eyes and surrounding skin by any chance?

Thanks! The OSL on the skin is either very thin VMC fluorescent orange or VMC fluorescent yellow. I left the eye sockets dark to emphasize the glow of the eyes too. Your light source should always be the lightest color, with the glow around the source suggesting what color is actually being produced. I can't say I'm always effective at it, but I like the way this guy is turning out. The flaming skull is a little flat though. I need to figure out something to make it look more lit. I'm thinking shadow on the chain and the top of the head...

Long post, for me anyway... 

I have completed conversion work on the unit fillers. Well, okay more like "scenic base continuation models" or some-such.

The firebelly base looks a little more sparse than the butcher bases, but I will be painting the fire mouth on the front of that obelisk so I wanted as much open space as possible.

So let's talk about the pack gnoblar, shall we? It's a neat model and all, but having one of these guys for every two ogres is absolutely bizarre. Do you actually use them for anything? I put one on this butcher base and I may include one here or there as base decoration but I can't really see using more than (maybe!) one of them in a gnoblar unit. It's just too awkward a model to look like a decent fighter. I dunno. A friend made me some conversions by cutting the feet off of the pack gnoblar and putting them on the bottom of a barrel, then gluing a gnoblar head on the flat part of the barrel that normally would be against a model. They look like gnoblars wearing barrels, which is pretty funny. I'll probably put a few of them in a unit.

I am running out of ogres! I was building some regular IF ogres tonight and realized I only have 12 unassembled bodies left. I still have bits for 8 leadbelchers and 6 ironguts, so clearly the custom models I have been making have eaten into my supply. I may just have to bite the bullet and buy a regular box of ogres (are they still called bulls?) just so I can build out my current models.

I scored a copy of the old ogre book from ebay, and it makes me appreciate the current book all the more. Not rules-wise, but just the composition and number of color photographs. I'm glad I got it for the ogre autopsy and the illustrations though. Since I'm going gray-ish skin it's nice to have some more pics of gray ogres too.


...oh! quick addition! Normal super/CA glue will destroy that green foam. If you want to glue on that stuff you need to use a foam-safe CA glue. I use BSI's Super Gold. It's odor free and doesn't melt foam or fog clear canopies. Good stuff. The stuff I normally use for the base gluing is super thin Great Planes CA glue, and that stuff will make your eyes feel like someone just pepper sprayed you.

The Maneater Conundrum
I was considering buying some Maneaters from GW or eBay, and decided to convert a few for myself. As I was creating Mr. Orc-Maneater here, something horrible occurred to me. Maneaters just look like Ogres in Halloween costumes! No, no, no. I am not going to do Ogres in costumes. That just seems ridiculous. So, the Orc Maneater will remain as he is, but all other Maneaters in my army will be styled to look like veterans. Although they may take a thing or two from their travels they will not be dressed to look like a particular other faction. That said, the Orc Maneater was a lot of fun to model, with a strapped-on iron gob and a big choppa that used to belong to a warboss on boar. The shoulder pad is part of the drum that the Black Orc musician carries.

The second Maneater in the pic is much more indicative of what I plan on doing from now on. The smirk on that head (I think it's from Mournfang cav) is perfect. Adding the dragging gnoblar (with a little resin sprue modeled to continue the strap to the front of the hand) and the great weapon from standard pole gives him a bit more character. For my next Maneater I'll be using the pistols from the Mournfang cav box. Those cav models really have a great selection of extra bits to use.

These guys are looking great so far, I can't believe that I have missed them on my travels around the forum. Needless to say I will be keeping an eye on this Gnoblog in the future. Keep up the good work.

G_H

When Gnoblars Attack

Painting the Skaven horde finally broke me. 40 points of Skavenslaves is 20 models. They drove me into the welcoming arms of Ogre Kindgoms. "No gnoblars," I said. "Forget it. No more low point horde models." But then I saw the gnoblar trapper models. Next thing I know I own gnoblars.

There's enough for two minimum units with trappers (Charge me! I dare you!) and a speedbump of 15 models, with 10 still unbuilt. I have another blister of 4 trappers on the way, and I haven't really figured out how I'm going to field them all, especially since they are so slow compared to the rest of the army.

I certainly am developing an affection for the little buggers.

A third Maneater, this time with pistols. Do you think he needs a cowboy hat? (It's a trick question... he doesn't! See Halloween costume post above!) Sorry for the crappy focus this time around.

The head, arms and guns are from the Mournfang Cav box. I had to model the loose gun to be in the right hand (there is only a left hand holding a gun and a loose gun in the cav box) I used the right hand club from the bulls sprue.

The club on his back and the chest are from the Ironblaster kit, unused since I made a scraplauncher.

As an added bonus for reading, here is a snapshot of the beauty living just outside my daughters' window.
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The girls call him "the priest" because when they bang on the window he raises his legs in such a way that it looks like he's saying "Praise Jesus!" Oh, strange children.

I really like doc holiday.  Nice touch with the treasure chest and bear traps shoulder pads.

How is this possible?! I already have a 3k legal army assembled. I'm lovin' these ogres.
Here's the list, 2998.5 points:

Tyrant (3+/4+ saves)
- Heavy armor
- Sword of Striking
- Enchanted Shield (well, enchanted ironfist anyway)
- Talisman of Preservation
- Giantbreaker

Slaughtermaster, Lore of the Great Maw (-/5+)
- Level 4
- Hellheart
- Talisman of Endurance

Bruiser
- great weapon
- heavy armor
- Greedy Fist

Bruiser BSB
- heavy armor
- ogre pistol
- Deathcheater
- Banner of Swiftness

Butcher, Lore of Beasts
- Level 2
- addition hand weapon
- Dispel Scroll

Firebelly
- Level 2
- Ruby Ring of Ruin

Gnoblars
15 w/ trappers
14 w/ trappers
14 w/ trappers

6 Ironguts

6 Ogres
- additional hand weapons

4 Ogres
- Ironfist

4 Leadbelchers
- Bellower

Maneaters
- heavy armor
- Scouts, Vanguard
* Captain w/ great weapon
* Maneater w/ additional hand weapon
* Maneater w/ brace of ogre pistols

2 Mournfang Cavalry
- heavy armor
- great weapon

1 Sabretusk
1 Sabretusk

Giant

Gnoblar Scraplauncher

Any thoughts on usefulness, or where I should place the characters?

The Mournfang Cav are awesome, but the great weapons are... unwieldy. I didn't really know how I would field three of them across without either using a command model (which I wasn't really keen on) or having someone's great weapon in someone else's face. So rude. My compromise was to sacrifice an Irongut arm/weapon for the cause. Other than needing to putty a little, he worked out pretty good.


The DIY butcher received a necklace of skulls tonight. So fashionable.


I made another Maneater with 2x hand weapons. I wanted a little bit of Asian influence but NOT a ninja costume. I think this worked out well. The horns are from the Chaos Marauder standard.


Lastly, I acquired this fellow on eBay for all of $11. He is a limited edition bruiser that normally goes for a lot more than that.

I had to do a little de-converting, since the original owner had given him what was probably a Cathayan Longsword, as seen here in the eBay photo.

The sword was broken when it arrived, but I was planning on replacing it anyway. I don't know if I'll use him as a bruiser or a maneater yet.

Shame he didn't come with the original pistol.  But still great value since he's is quite rare.  I have one myself and and half way through painting him.  Though I am currently set on finishing my Ironblaster currently.

I look forward to seeing paint on this guy.

Kind regards Zolas.

I'm calling the Firebelly done. Like most of my models, that means he's done until I see something I want to change, then he'll go back to getting painted.


I currently have nothing pending on eBay, so I can concentrate on what I already own. The big list is up near 3500 points now, and I'm sure it'll close to 5k when all is said and done. Here is the busy, busy hobby table.


As a side note, I built that table myself for about $40 in supplies (basically wood and nails) and put some self-adhesive floor tiles on it for a surface. It's sturdy and large enough for a couple people to sit and work. More importantly, it gave me some space to call my own for hobbying. With a family of 5 in <1000 sqft of space (not including basement) pretty much every region is communal. Being able to leave half finished projects lying on the table is a wondrous thing.

First real game with the new Ogres is tomorrow! I've been instructed to bring two separate 500 point lists that can be fielded simultaneously. I'm guessing some sort of cool scenario is at hand. Change of plans. Sick family means I'm staying home.

Firebelly looks awesome; can I ask what paint you used to create the glowing effect in his mouth/ eyes? This looks really effective and (black light paint aside) I am not quite sure how you have achieved this. Enquiring minds needs to know!

Army looks great so far, though getting some more paint on these guys, especially if it's to the same high standard of the Firebelly, is almost a must.

Great work there, keep it up.

G_H

DIY Butcher base is coming along. His little gnoblar helper is getting anxious to cut into that rack of ribs.

I'm not typically a blood painter, but it's really hard to get around with ogres in general and butchers specifically. GW's technical "blood for the blood god" is a nice viscous gloss that works well. The dark red was rhinox hide, which served well for old, dried blood.

Regarding the firebelly glow, the secret sauce is two things:
1. Really bright paints.

These things are brighter than any game/model paints I've seen in any light. They are really thick though, so using them can be a little challenging if you are trying to avoid acrylic texture.
2. Fake contrast.
Getting the glow to stand out has a lot to do with where you put the darker colors. The head of the firebelly is quite a bit darker than the rest of him to let the eyes/mouth stand out more. The teeth are practically black to offset the yellow glow of the mouth. Painting them like normal teeth would have made him look like he had a mouth full of lemon meringue pie. The eyes also have a very fine black outline before the glow starts on the brow/cheeks. That little border makes the eyeball very easy to identify, helps differentiate the glow from the source of the glow. Also, the eyes were not painted in one pass. There are 5 or 6 very small passes with the yellow on each eye... just enough to add some color but not enough to start building up texture. The painters' mantra is "multiple thin coats" because it always works best.

Okay, got a lot more skin painted on various ogres, so I should have some units painted soon. Characters are really fun to paint though. It's nice that I have maybe 10 ogres per character, as opposed to like 100 Skaven per character.