Tuesday, January 15, 2013

"Kauzenburg" 2013 - An Unexpected Journey

As every year, I attended this year's "Kauzenburg Convention", last weekend. "Kauzenburg" is a German Wargaming Convention hosted by members of the biggest german LotR-tabletop community. Actually this year's event  had to be relocated, so I shouldn't call it "Kauzenburg" anymore (it originally took place in a local castle) but old habits die hard.
The new title should be: LotR Wargaming Convention at Bonnheimer Hof 2013.

I forgot to take any pictures but luckily Tankred of tabletop-hdr.de wrote this great article:


The article is in German but the many pictures might speak for themselves. Inspiring tables, armies and a lot of fun (which we probably can't reproduce digitally, I'm sorry...). You will notice that although it is a LotR based event it is not restricted to this system! It's one of those homely events were people can bring and play anything they want.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

And down down to Goblin-town...

"Slash them! Beat them! Bite them! Gnash them! Take them away to dark holes full of snakes, and never let them see the light again!"
J.R.R.Tolkien, The Hobbit


I finished some more of the "Escape from Goblin Town"-goblins. I really enjoyed painting each of them in an "individual" colour scheme. What I wouldn't have believed from the official GW paint jobs: These models have a lot of character!!!

Since most of the miniature is skin they can be finished pretty quickly. Perhaps I should avoid the brighter skintone in the future, but I really liked the ragtag look of these guys. You should always have in mind that these goblins are more like bandits and not a regular army. They shouldn't be uniformed.

One thing I missed in the movie was that Jackson's goblins never seemed to pose a real threat to Thorin's company. I tried to change that by adding some blood to their weapons... They should at least seem like they could deal any damage. Again, I used Tamiya Clear Red for the blood. I really like that stuff although it smells deadly.

The bases were kept simple... Just rocks with some sparse grass. Some of them got some plankwork as a reference to Goblin-town but I didn't went to fancy here. Since the goblin horde will end up rather colourful, I will need the bases as a contrast.


I really hope you like the pictures and maybe I could change your opinion about the new goblin models. They may be some of the best plastic miniatures I had for LotR up to now...


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Over Hill and Under Hill

Clap! Snap! the black crack!
Grip, grab! Pinch, nab!
And down down to Goblin-town
You go, my lad!

New year, new project? Yeah, kind of... I was pretty sure I wouldn't withstand the new Hobbit merchandise for too long although I did not like the new Goblin design in "The Hobbit". Nevertheless, HvM's great A Dwarf A Day project talked me into buying the new starter box as well... 

Now I'm distracting myself from doing something useful in search of a nice new colour scheme for those nasty goblins. Actually most of the miniatures are really great (if you can live with those un-orcish mutations...). The quality of the cast really surprised me and I'm pretty confident that they could be a great addition for any Middle-earth based LotR, SAGA or Impetus army.

Well, here is what I tried so far. Please excuse the bad quality of the pic. Had to take it with a smartphone...