The Goblins of GoblinTown - The Hobbit

I recently managed to get my 3rd submission in Curts, 3rd Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge...

As always click on pics for a larger view.

I burned a bit of the midnight oil and finished off the 36 goblins I have been working on, off and on, since the beginning of the challenge. The quality of the plastic sculpts was very good, and the amount of mould line to scrape away was minimal.

As for painting them up I was in a slight dilemma as to what colour to paint them. They were not going to be classic 'green' as the majority of the Moria goblins are.

In the movie they come across as having a yellowish hue, yet a lot of stock pictures show them with a pale grey skin colour. I can only assume the lighting effect in the movie from the flaming torch-lit caverns of GoblinTown would have cast a yellow colour to their actual pale grey skin.

So I went with the pale grey base tone. After this they had shading washes and heavy drybrushing to set the flesh tones. The loin cloths and equipment were painted up, and finally the disgusting spotty lumps and bumps were given red and purple washes and the yellow spot heads added, just ripe for popping! An adolescent kid would have a field day on these buggers! ;-)

Finally facial features were added, including eyes and teeth/mouths.

I have to confess to the eyes not being the best - normally I do the eyes at the mid point of the models, but with so many washes and dry brushing going on they would probably have got messed up, so I left them to the end.

Typically by which point my fine detail brush had given up the ghost! So with nothing good to hand to dot the pupils I resorted to trimming a cocktail stick to a sharp point and used that!

Not the most accurate way of doing things and some of the eyes went a little off centre, but in the end I think it actually added to the character of the mis-shaped limbs and general ungainly poses. Bases were PVA sand textured and painted and drybrushed.

So I am rather happy with the way they turned out. Suitably loathsome!

So whilst they and their setting are clearly suitably for playing the Hobbit games in Goblin Town... I did have a bit of a lateral thought, with all this Empire of the Dead stuff taking off...

Wouldn't they do wonderfully as evil minions of the Vampire faction? I can just see the underground catacombs below the vampire castle teaming with these little villains... perhaps there to protect the Vampire when he rests in his coffin, and aid the master in his evil plots and plans...

I could run them as a 'thrall' with a hand weapon or improvised weapon, or perhaps make them a little weaker, in stats for a suitable cost reduction?

Above you can see the Vampire Hunters searching out their prey in the catacombs below 'Castle Dracula'  !