Greetings vaqueros! Today I'll be showing you some forest goblin archers I've painted up to be scouts for my Dragon Rampant forces.
Forest goblins are among my favourite of the Kev Adams sculpted Citadel ranges for the orcs and goblins armies of 4th edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles. They are mostly naked, covered in feathers and have a strong affinity for spiders - all traits that resonate with me on a very personal level, as there is nothing I like more than getting naked, oiling up, rolling in feathers and then putting spiders on my nude feathery body.
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| Creeping through the woods... creepily |
In Dragon Rampant, scout units are handy for harassing enemy units with short range missile fire, and since this is a fantasy setting, you can give them venomous weapons as an optional upgrade. Arrows covered in spider toxins is perfect to represent this - these scouts are bound to have a spider or two hiding in their crevasses. If you really wanted to splash out on points you could give them a camouflage/invisibility type trait as well, but points are precious and these guys are semi-expendable, so I'll likely keep them cheap.
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| 'Ware if ye be shitting in the woods. They see you... |
As part of the growing narrative of this DR force of samurai goblins, these little fellows will hail from the dark forests that occasionally appear on the steppes - full of unnatural beasts and other weirdness. My concept for how they fit in is linked to the film Princess Mononoke, where a wild, animistic girl lives among the beasts of the forest in a setting steeped in Japanese mythology.
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| Don't try this at home. |
Mononoke and her wolf family benefit each other mutually and fight to defend their territory against the encroaching destruction of civilization and the abandoning of the old ways. Wild goblins of the forest would need to adapt in a similar way to survive, and being small, green, and riding about on spiders, they are doing a pretty good job of it.
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| "Say hello to my liddle fangs!" |
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| 'Worse' would be painting it up super realistically and leaving it on my wife's pillow... |
Hide that painted spider in cupboards and jars
ReplyDeleteI'll hide it in your soup
DeleteGlue it to the underside of the toilet seat.
ReplyDeleteThese wee gobbos are darling. I didn't see the connection with the Japanese theme until you threw in the Mononoke reference. So that's fine now, I'll allow it.
It didn't take me long to find a connection, but I did feel it was necessary, though I reckon Kev's gobboes are welcome wherever they go :D
DeleteAction shots in terrain are a pain in the hoop to set up, but look the business from here.
ReplyDeleteThose forest goblin minis are fab, and you made them vivid, but not lurid, just my cup of tea.
My phone decided I wasn't ready for the jelly at the end of that first link, probably for the best.
That link seems to be broken for everyone, including me, so just imagine it was something really awesome.
DeleteIt was fun setting up that terrain shot, but a tenuous fun, due to how precarious the whole setup was. Worth it in the end!
Looks awesome! Especially the scenic shots!
ReplyDeleteCheers Andy, I was mucking about with some old scenery due to not having taken many pics of the little gobboes... I'll experiment more in the future since it seems a popular feature :D
DeleteCrooks you’ve done it again. These will fit in perfect with the rest of the force. I hope an army shot is near. 😉
ReplyDeleteWhile it seems like I've shown quite a lot of DR stuff, it's actually still a pretty small force - but I'm getting there :D
DeleteI feel like I'm watching a documentary on TV but one where I might actually get an arrow in the bum.
ReplyDeleteOne of these days my scouts will harrass your flanks, just you wait!
DeleteI want those little grey bums and their skittery pets on a plane next summer. On further thinking, can't you just got hunting for some native ozzy spiders and dip em in some super glue?
ReplyDeleteRight you are WP, I'll send them over next Summer and- HEY! You're trying to trick me out of my gobboes! Why I oughtta...!
DeleteHehe, they look tiny and lovely! But now I need to see that spider painted and lots of pics of it bumping out all over your house!
ReplyDeleteIf I did that, the real ones would get jealous.
DeleteThat's a pretty convincing spidery posed mini there Capt. If it wasn't based up and you painted it up realistically then I'm sure you'd be able to scare the pants off of anyone with it.
ReplyDeleteI like the staged photos too mate, they really do bring them to life, standing within a mini world.
Good.
Cheers Papa, I'll have to dig up some more terrain bits by the sounds of it...
DeleteAs I was reading this I felt like spiders were crawling on my feet. These guys look great and your scenic shots are really good. Hope they do well for you on the table top of battle.
ReplyDeleteAh! That must have been the large quantity of spiders I sent you :) Glad they arrived safe!
DeleteLove those minis--great job on them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Warburton, it's not hard to love the little green boogers, and they were fun to paint as well :D
DeleteThese lads are too nice to be all ranked up on 20mm squares. Nice to see 'em broken out to 25mm rounds for Dragon Rampant. ice touch using that classic teeny tiny spider shield – those are super rare!
ReplyDeleteSkirmishy type troops like these just seem more sensible on round bases in any setting. I don't recall them being skirmishers in WHFB 4th/5th ed but it would make more sense if they were. Marching in ranks through the woods is just asking for a tree trunk to the grille...
ReplyDelete