Blotthrower's Halfling Extravaganza (Pic Heavy)

[fatolaf]

Love those trolls, they will be cae when you finish them...

[Blotthrower]

So, project halfling (not to be confused with project runway...obviously) has run into a bit of a problem in the last few days. Having happily ordered 6 rotpatches (Sounds like a bad night out in Nottingham saying it like that) I return from whoops to find out not only does the supplier not have any in stock, there are only 2 I can buy in the UK and being from reaper miniatures, they would not arrive for 4 weeks. So the pumpkin golems trolls have had to die a death, sad times.

Worse was to come, after much frantic searching for an alternative I came up with a number of options, which all ended up using models from those thrice cursed reaper miniatures! My choices being limited, I had a decision to make, my options were down to:

1) giant bears wielding honey pots - a great idea told to me by one of the watford gamers, however all the bears I could find were armoured, fierce, or just plain rubbish.

2) a unit of trees - a relevant shout given the halflings background, but lacked the comedy of the rest of the army, plus treekin are already in warhammer and if i was to directly rep, I'd probably use my painted ogres.

This lead me, in a fit of madness (you'd expect no less I'm sure) to order ....

.... wait for it...

giant chickens.  5 hens lead by a rooster!

Pictures as soon as they arrive. the sculpts are very static, but for less than 3 pound each I can't complain! I'm going to try and get some action on the bases like I did with bessie, so hopefully they will look alright.

[cunningmatt]

Can't wait to see them! Sound amazing!!!

[Dave]

Awesome and when the pumpkin patches come available it's not such a huge investment in the stopgap solution that you couldn't just replace them.

[Veldemere]

Have these chickens arrived yet? This is a great pplog and a really good looking army

[Blotthrower]

Unfortunately not :(, which is a shame as I wanted to work on them this weekend. I will however give out the link to them:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schleich-194296-Rooster/dp/B001O2QW1Y
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schleich-194342-Hen/dp/B001O2QW28/ref=sr_1_1?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1333281233&sr=1-1

My main concern with them is how the base melds into the chicken itself. So my plan is to strip the paintjob back (its the same company that did Bessie so its not too difficult to get rid of the paint off these models) and then for the Rooster I'm going to turn his base (the one attached to him) into a pile of splintered wood, so that it looks like he's tried to sit on a chicken coup and has crushed it. The hen's will be easier as my aim is to turn their bases into Nests using green stuff. Its not the best solution, but given the time I've got to work with it will have to do.

I was shown an alternative, which I do love and would work much better, but note the price they are each and again, only available currently in America!

http://wyrd-games.net/shop/War-Rooster.html

[Blotthrower]

So, minimal work completed this weekend, but I have now completed the big unit of archers!  (Not the best painting in the world but I'm just so happy to finally have the whole thing done!)




And I've also started work on the Boltthrower I need to paint (was going to have 2, but I dropped one so that I could actually give my general some magic items!)




Very WIP I know, but it still counts as progress! Now I'm down to 1 Boltthrower, a Doom Diver and 6 Giant Chickens. I hope to get the doomdiver painted and the Boltthrower built and sprayed ready for the Waagh next weekend.

[Blotthrower]

Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado, may I present to you... the chicken trolls!!!!!!







I've got to admit, until I sprayed them I wasn't sure if they would work, but I think as I get closer to completion they will fit into the army a treat, as you can see from the photo's they are a bit bigger than an ogre, but they fit surprisingly well onto a 40 mm base. My main concern was trying to represent their scale. So I've added a bird, a small dog, a keg, some leaves and the sign to the base to give the models some reference in terms of scale. I will also be making the unit ringed by my trusty supply of picket fencing, which I have painted separately and it will be the last addition to the base to make it complete.

Even to me, and even given the context of the army they sit in, the chickens are a bit mad, but I think I'm coming round to liking the idea, even if it wasn't my first choice.

[Veldemere]

They are great

[Blotthrower]

Cheers Ritchie, glad you like them!

Here's a quick update, with the Chickens at the "mid point" in painting.



Fairly happy with them. The fencing will go around the outside of all the bases to form a sort of "pen", the sign (just out of shot behind the chicken on the far left) will read " 'ware chickens!". I've got to do some more dry brushing on the bases and paint up the leaf fall and the small animals milling round the base and then finally put the fencing in and that will be a unit of 6 trolls done!