Plenty of commentary for you today, but first some pics:
Metadata:
The command group of three are from a blister pack:
- Manufacturer: Grenadier
- Line: Dragon Lords
- Sub-line: Second Series
- Catalog title: Goblin Command Group
- Catalog #: 022
- Release date: 1987 or 88
- Sculptor: William Watt
- Date painted: 2010
The three w/ shields below them are also from a blister:
- Manufacturer: Grenadier
- Line: Dragon Lords
- Sub-line: Second Series
- Catalog title: Goblin Warriors
- Catalog #: 042
- Release date: 1987 or 88
- Sculptor: William Watt
- Date painted: 2010
And the ten following are from a boxed set:
- Manufacturer: Grenadier
- Line: Dragon Lords
- Sub-line: Battle Lords Fantasy Armies
- Set: Goblins, Army of the Blood Forest
- Catalog #: 1604
- Release date: 1988
- Sculptor: William Watt
- Date painted: 2010
And individual shots:
And lastly a shot for scale:
Btw, you can also view these in flickr if you prefer.
When I started my D&D collection, the older the miniatures the better, and I set an arbitrary cap at 1983. But soon I won some lots of random assortments of figs off eBay that had newer figs along with the ones I was after. And some of them were cool figs, and it was a slippery slope to the present situation, where the collection spans some thirty-five years. It was right when I was starting to break down and let a few exceptions in when these goblins I’m showing off today came up on eBay, and, as they date from 1987/88, it was some tough back and forth before I clicked in the bid (and won them for a song).
No regrets for that, because these some mean little dudes, but that wasn’t the only resolution I let slide with this project. I haven’t been sharing too much of the typical kind of work I did before I got the 25mm D&D bug, but you can see some over at coolminiornot or my studio site, Null Horizon. Painting was always a pull-out-all-the-stops-I-can kind of operation for me, and might not the 25mm stuff be a fun way to relax between more serious projects. I was grooving on the old Judges Guild art and the original paint jobs done in gloss enamels of figs I was winning on ebay and I wanted to get some of that garish naivete in my figures.
But when these goblins were finished and I was sizing up I realized I’d totally spaced on the naive style idea done them in my usual style and with usual application of effort. So this idea that I was going to bang out these figs in this new garish style as an act of reclaiming artistic innocence was a bit of a sham. Maybe more of this in the future. It’s an idea I haven’t fully given up on.
That said, I can’t say I’m sad the way these goblins wound up. In fact I'd happily put them alongside my best work. I went pretty much all out and give them the full service, and spent the time to make the faces lear and render the eyes completely. You get a mix of canonical skin tones and the weapons have just the effects I want. I’ve got a subtle“torchlight” effect in play on the metals, with purple in the shadows. Happy with the shields too, especially buddy w/ the mace's.
Now about the sculpts. For many of the monsters in the Monster Manual, you're lucky to have any figures you can use to represent them. You can't even count on officially licensed D&D miniatures matching the descriptions and illustrations. And then there are goblins. No matter how small the range of fantasy figs, goblins are in there somewhere. You are spoiled for choice as to what sculpts to use.
But why settle for one breed of goblin? I collected them seven times over so far and I doubt this is the end:- Custom Cast Der Kriegspielers Fantastiques mountain goblins
- Grenadier Wizards & Warriors/Solid Gold Line
- D&D-style pre-slotta Citadel
- Citadel Red "Orcs" (more like goblins than orcs imo)
- Asgard/Viking Forge "Orcs" (also definitely goblins, not orcs)
- Nick Lund's Chronicle and Fantasy Warriors goblins
- And first and foremost, several hundred by the Goblin Master Kev Adams and several score more by Aly Morrison
But today you get the first ones I've done up for D&D. These are latter-day Grenadier Dragon Lords figs by William Watt. I like some Watt figs not so much but these a whole bunch, their expressions foremost, with malice written all over their grinning faces, and the costumes, a successful mix of believable medieval garb, no nonsense chainmail and 80’s heavy metal leather straps.
They have one really bizarre trait I get hung up on, though, in that several of them are wearing one shoe. This was probably intended as some sort of “you kooky goblins, you” kind of whimsy but it fails more and more the more you try to come up with an explanation for it. At least me. The “One-shoe Tribe” just doesn’t have the same bite to it as, say, the “Babies’ Blood tribe.” As I said these were painted when I was trying to let loose a little and not sweating the small stuff was implicit in the goal. So I left the feet alone. But I might just go back and add the missing shoes one day. BTW if you can come up with an awesome explanation for why one shoe, I will send you a prize made of lead. Anyway, you might not have even noticed had I not pointed it out to you.
So you got a story this time. I tend to read blogs in the twenty minutes I have after eating at lunch time and appreciate “writing for the web” on blogs when I can get it. So let me know if I should cut it shorter next time.
I enjoyed the writing and the pics. The goblins' skin tones look really good!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! These guys look great.
ReplyDeleteFWIW the medieval Welsh often are depicted with one bare foot and the explanation was that they did it for better traction in marches and wet ground. Bog-goblins.
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ReplyDeleteFirst off, more is more. Write as much as you want about miniatures background, manufactures, painting, inspiration, etc. Its like DVD special features, if people don't want to see it, they don't have to read it, but those of us that do are happy to have it.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I remember the conversation we had about beastmen, and how if you only have two varieties, some will look out of place, but if you have three (or more) variations, then it looks like a motley band of misfits. Perhaps most importantly is looks like you combined them on purpose. Were you thinking of doing the same with the goblins? Or were you going to keep them in homogenized groups?
Lastly, I think Mike is onto something. On Mythbusters, they proved that a pirate's eye-patch was not necessarily to cover an injured eye. It could be switched from eye to eye when moving from above deck to below, in order to maintain low light vision. Similarly, perhaps shoes protect from uneven surfaces in caverns, while bare feet offer some benefit in dungeon corridors and the ability to transition quickly gives a keen goblin an advantage whilst fleeing from pesky paladins. Or perhaps is just a way to show the poor goblin's status as lowly dungeon interns.
They look great, possibly better than their goblin hides deserve. It makes me want to create some dead versions for game night.
ReplyDeleteMy take on the individual shoes is they got them all by robbery of a footwear emporium in Greyhawk, where as everybody knows the proprietor only leaves the right shoe on display, to thwart robbers more intelligent than goblins.
Thanks redmenace!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike, and you get the prize for first in with a fantastic explanation. This is now how it is in my game. Where should I send? Hit me up on my handle at gmail. Cheers!
And apologies to Mr. Watt. Perhaps he saw those very same pics.
Cheers Overlord! Also a prize comin' your way cos you took it to the next level and thanks for the thoughts re brevity or lack thereof. Yeah, orcs too were in that discussion and my orcs have figs from, what, six or more figure lines. So definitely like the motley crew idea when I can make it happen. My fire giants might be all over the place too. With these goblins I think 16 of one kind is going to make it hard to mix any different ones in here so I might keep them separate breeds. Also not all my goblins are intended for D&D. Obviously not the gw ones but the Lund and Asgard ones are for my viking/death metal/sword & sorcery realm. The Custom Cast ones are weird enough to be entirely something else (blue or purple maybe) and maybe I'll try the motley idea with the remaining grenadier and citadel and whatever else I can scrape up. Oh, and I've remembered at least one more band of goblins I forgot to add to the list.
Thanks Unknown! Strangely enough a friend of mine is casting dead goblins perhaps even as I type this. When I first met him many years ago what I remember most was he had a home-made dead marine and a dead eldar for every live one on the table, and by the end of the night the whole table was strewn with carnage, especially in this one narrow alley where the war walker had stopped an ill-advised charge cold. Cheers also for the footwear emporium idea. Honorable mention!
I don't deserve a prize, I've swatted many an Owlbear out of your hands in the past. Besides, Unknown's "goblins stealing the display model elven boot," is clearly the best explanation.
ReplyDelete