Monday, November 21, 2016

Moonclan goblin squig hoppers attack! (AKA how to fix hobby fatigue)

I spend the last month working on a variety of chaos models, especially my Silver Tower set when suddenly the dreaded hobby fatigue set in. For me it is that point where the time needed to finish a painting project seems like real work instead of a hobby and I just don't feel like it anymore. I still completed the Grot Scuttlings but the results where poor enough to put the project on a temporary hold. So how do you fix hobby fatigue?

Add DJ Silverado's Boing song here....

My remedy is to box up the project I no longer feel like and either a) buy a new project, b) build some terrain or c) grab an old project box and restart that one. In this case I went for c) and grabbed my box with of Orc & Goblin remnants I had left when hobby fatigue set in.

A shot of my Orcs and Goblins project box.
After spending some time indexing and adding models I (impulse) purchased over the year to the box I decided to try and finish four projects from this box in the next go. These are: painting my Squiq Hoppers, finishing my horde of Grot Spider Riders, restoring and painting my Grot Wolf Riders and painting the humongous lot of plastic Moonclan grots (formerly knows as Night Goblins) from the Black Fire Pass set I have left from second hand purchases. If I have any love for greenskins left (or if I brazenly alter my own priorities) I might get started on my battery of Grot Spear Chukka's instead.

Work in progress...
I started out putting some red on my Squig Hoppers, ignore the shaman and squig herders in the same picture, I am not secretly working them as a side project ;)

Ready for mass painting.

As the next step I readied my goblin horde for mass painting. These will be done with a quantity over quality mindset. I used double sided carpet tape to paste them on cardboard, ready for a rattle can base coat and airbrushing.

The Good, the Bad and the Snotling, featuring:

Sentenza also known as 'Squig Eyes'

Tuco, ugly but effective

Blondie, stole a heart of gold once (lost it later)

Over the course of the day I painted up my Squig Hoppers. In my view these models are amazing as they manage to combine the silliness and ultra-violence all orcs & goblins collectors know and love (from a safe distance). I especially like the goblin with the wooden sword and as the lip of the squig broke of its foot I had a good excuse to mount him mid-jump. 

Supporting cast member #17
Supporting cast member #53
These Grot Squig Hoppers were all bought second had through different lots so I had to settle for two duplicate members on the team. Or as I secretly call it, a reason to one day buy a new box of Grot Squig Hoppers (and a Grot Warboss on Great Cave Squig while I'm at it....).

Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle, squueeeeee!
In between coats of paint on the Squig Hoppers I painted three Grot Spider Riders. I have 20 of these models and got no further then painting the spiders pink before boxing the project. The center Grot was very hard to paint as a previous owner gunked it up completely (and I was too lazy to remove the old paint). They still turned out OK I guess (still need to think up a better/less lazy way to do the feathers). For anyone wondering the spiders are pink because a) painting pink is awesome and needs to be done as often as possible (here's to you lord Fulgrim), b) my wife is deeply afraid of spiders, and realistic looking ones can not be displayed in the house.

This is going to be a lot of work....

I finished this day with some (zenithal) airbrushing of my Moonclan Grot horde.

Are you ready to get green faces?
As the big picture completely fails to convey that the basic blue/black layering of the Moonclan robes I took a closeup. I'm still on the fence about applying a wash of Nuln Oil or leaving them as is (or maybe going for an oil wash. I guess I'll decide on that later, right before applying green to the face (with a regular brush I'm afraid).

No these guys are not the victims of Grand Theft Spider, with cavalry I prefer to paint first and assemble later.
The green guys in the background are the 17 Grot Spider Riders that I have left. They have had a base coat of (Vallejo) Goblin Green followed by a zenithal highlight of Goblin Green mixed with Vallejo Dead Flesh. After these coats where dried I applied Coelia Green Shade. Next step a few highlights and a lot of browns for the loinclothes, spears and (most) other details. And those damn feathers...

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