4th Edition WHFB Night Goblin Cave Squigs and Hunters/Herders (Kev Adams) (1993, 2003?) (Neglected Model June ’19)

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Kev Adams Squigs, Squig Herders.

What? Who’s 5 editions behind? No, you’re 5 editions behind! What 26 years late? Speak up, sonny, I can’t hear you!

Kev Adams Squig Herders.

Remember all that discussion on how many models/figures the DAK multibased models count(ed) as? Take a look at these, then! At this point we’ve clearly got 6 complete figures, produced as three models. How many will I count them as? I might do a 3(6) for them. Seems fair enough, I guess. Just look at them, though. Look at the pair in the middle! What’s worse is I’ve still got a set of three to paint. Three bloody gobboes all as one (assembled, but multi-part) model.

Kev Adams Squig Herders.

I based them on rolled-edge 50mm bases because I didn’t want to go with square “horse” bases, 40mm rounds looked too small and 60mm ones looked way too big. I didn’t have any 50mm bases at the time, but regardless, the rolled-edge ones seemed to give the figures a large enough base for the gobbos and their hunting spears while also not too much empty ground.

Aside from that, I’ve had these Herders for quiiiite a long time as alluded to above, and they’ve been slowly worked on and mostly-neglected for so much more than a decade. That gets worse, in it’s own way as well. See those 16 Squigs? Yeah, two of them are from a later release wave, with a different sculpting style – I bought 1 blister of those. The others are elsewhere in the case of the third squig, and not painted in the case of the gobboes, but aside from that…

Kev Adams Squigs

…hese squigs have been properly finished to the point where you see them here since sometime in 2013, and they’ve never been seen on the blog until right now. You see, back in those days, I really didn’t show a model off until the unit it belonged to was completely finished. I’d basically never ever show single models if I thought they should be part of a unit. Just finish the unit, and show them off then! Yes, they’ve been done for 5 years but I haven’t shown them at all. At this point, I think you can see the flaw in that little system…

Kev Adams Squigs

If it were a “complete some units” month, they’d all count as part of the completed units (I’ve just shoved them all together up top), though not as models completed this year. Because they weren’t. So having said that, the Squigs don’t count towards the month’s total, nor do they get to be in the wrap-up posts nor the year’s-end post. But they do get to see the light of day here, and in this case, it’s enough!

Kev Adams Squigs

Now I just need to figure out where to store them all now that they’re unified and ready to roll! Maybe they can even meet the table as part of an AoS Warcry Gloomspite Gitz force, made up of old-school Night Gobboes?

50 thoughts on “4th Edition WHFB Night Goblin Cave Squigs and Hunters/Herders (Kev Adams) (1993, 2003?) (Neglected Model June ’19)”

    • Cheers, Alex – you can see them in three stages of ripening (yes, really – that’s how I ended up doing them). I ran out of the old metal ones or I’d have started to do them transitioning from green to yellow to red – though maybe on the new plastics…

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  9. Lovely stuff as per usual, I’m fond of the ones that look particularly like big Ork heads on legs!

    Just a general question Azazel; you paint a lot of boardgame-type figures which sometimes are made of more rubbery plastics. Do you varnish them, or ever struggle with tackiness after finishing them?

    I’ve painted over some Dreamblade stuff in recent months and whilst some are fine, others are still quite sticky now. I don’t get a lot painted at the moment, so it’s quite disheartening when the stuff I do finish feels like it’s going to peel off!

    Thanks, Matt

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    • Thanks Matt,
      I do varnish all of my figures. It’s not ideal from a visual perspective, because you do get a figure “just right” and then the varnish changes it slightly, but it’s preferable to chipping. I’ve more recently taken to overpainting certain figures with Lahmian Medium to get back that same effect that the acrylic paint has.

      Most of the ones I’ve done have been fine. Zombicide figures, D&D Boardgame figures (Brimstone are HIPS) – the worst figures are Reaper’s Bones line, that can be tacky even after you feel like you did everything right, very carefully. Sometimes though – they can be fine. It’s a little hit or miss.

      For those tacky boardgames figures, I’d try going over them with a paint-on (not spray) sealer. Preferably Reaper’s own sealer

      https://www.reapermini.com/search/9107
      The reason I suggest this product is because while exact formuations of plastic differ, Reaper’s Bones line are made from a PVC that tends to get tacky when painted with normal paints. The boardgame figures you’re having issues with are no doubt made from an overall similar PVC formuation.
      Reaper’s paint products seem to be the least terrible with their Bones models (hence, all the “everything’s fine” responses from them). So going with that, and based on my experience –

      Good primers for those model lines games that have given you tacky trouble would be:
      Reaper’s “Brown Liner”
      Citadel’s Liquid Greenstuff
      Shellac Spray (from the hardware store – large models/terrain only)

      Best paints – especially for those initial layers:
      Paints from the Reaper HD range.

      Best varnishes – Reaper’s Brush-On sealer. If you want to go high gloss or matte after, then go over the top of the Reaper stuff with another brush-on (I’ve used Vallejo).

      This is all from my experience, YMMV, no guarantees, etc.

      I know how annoying it can be. I noticed that Cheeseburger the Bear that I painted while back was tacky when I was moving some models around last weekend, so I’m going to need to bring him in and try to “fix” him with the reaper brush-on. Unfortunately, I painted him quite awhile ago so I can’t recall what I used as primer or basecoats…

      Anyway, I hope some of this helps you out!

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      • Thank you so much for such a detailed reply mate. Fortunately Reaper’s main stockist in the UK is not far from me so I’ll pop and grab some sealer and a HD black at least this weekend, and maybe a blister or five of Bones 😅

        I’ve always primed my Bones and other rubbery stuff with Vallejo’s grey brush-on primer and found it works well, until this little incident.

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      • No worries mate! I’ve heard that the Bones Black (new, grey PVC) is a lot better, though I honestly haven’t even opeend the shipper box for the Bones 3 campaign to see what’s in there. I know their shitty PVC stopped me ordering all but very selected models over the past campaigns, and certainly made those “big box o minis” into mostly-junk.
        Liquid Greeenstuff is also worth the recommendation to pick up. Just use water to thin it down to a paint-like consistency, and it works well as a primer for Bones. I just went and checked my pair of ghosts and they’re both still fine.

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  10. Its really nice to see old school gobbos again. I was excited for GW’s update of this army and it isn’t that they didn’t make some nice figures, it is just that they lack a bit of the charm of the older gobbos and grots to me. Even these old squiqs just have something about them that makes you smile but the newer ones don’t have the same result. Of course, that has be at least in part do to the excellent painting of these minis! They might have been a long time coming but are well worth the wait!

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    • Thanks – I appreciate the kind words. 🙂 In fairness, I do like the new stuff as well, and bought a bunch of them. (and also a couple of Looncurse boxes). I think the newer and older models will integrate together pretty well, actually. Just need to see how they look together. So for that, I just need to get around to painting them one day!

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      • Both characters in that Looncurse box are sensational looking and the best minis for each army in my opinion so I will be incredibly excited to see you paint them in the future 😀

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      • Neither will probably be too fast, but they’ll hopefully be up eventually. Trying to finish the many, many neglected models I have clogging up my space for the most part this year..

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  12. Looking great, the 50mm bases look really good, paintwork as always is excellent. An ork and goblin army was my favourite one. I had a unit of 40 night Goblins that used to attract fire from everyone as the column advanced across the table. Leaving the wolf and boar riders to sweep across the flanks. Oh and the DAK look fabbo too!

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    • Thanks mate. The bulk of my original O&G army was made of Orcs. I liked them better, and they were *much* more cost-effective when buying metal blisters back in those days. I’m looking forward to getting them back onto the table in some capacity. Most likely a mix of KoW and AoS – but first, I need MOAR painted!

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  13. With squig models this characterful, you can never really be late. Fantastic work! I still remember spending a huge chunk of my pocket money shelling out for the army book that featured these, then promptly abandoning my plan of starting a WFB Orc army when it became obvious that I would have to buy dozens of (expensive) metal models. Ah, the memories… 😉

    Excellent painting, though — as per 😉

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    • Thank you, KS – and one day, I’ll have a functional army built and painted, made up of those same 3rd and 4th edition metal Orcs.
      And also a decent contingent made up of more recent plastics. “More recent” meaning from the first plastics to the current line of Bonejaws or whatever they’re called…. 😉

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    • Thanks mate – as you know, I’m often a fan of newer sculpts but newer/younger hobbyists often really need a good counterpoint to the “old metal models are all shit sculpts” I see too often. Sure, they’re often flatter because of casting limitations, but the sculpting is (often) still top-tier and still as good or better than some of the replacements – even decades on.

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      • With the exception of pace Marines. They’ve really taken the designs o f the plastics to 11 with those, to the point where I consider them better than the metal/plastic-armed grunts and on a par with Jes’ and Juan’s characters. Though I understand that Jes is still heavily involved with the design of the iconic, best-selling SM line, even sculpting some of the prototypes I believe I saw somewhere.
        New Skaven and such – I *do* like ’em, but still like the old models more in the skill and details of scupting

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  15. I’ll be the first to admit how pleased I was when these finally retired in favour of the new plastic squigs, but still – these just have so much character and so many happy, nostalgic memories wrapped up in them, and you’ve done such a lovely, vibrant job on them too. The herders are amongst my all time favourite Night Goblins – just reading this post is giving me a serious itch to paint more gobbos, although I’ll try to divert that onto the more pressing matter of painting Orks instead. As for Warcry, awesome though it looks – and overexcited about it though I am – I’m already stuck by how cool a spin off starring orcs and gobbos would be. No need to travel all the way to the Varanspire, they’d just be roughing each other up down their local cave!

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    • Huh! My reply to this got eaten somehow!
      I do like the new squigs, but I think they and the old ones will fit in quite nicely together once they’re painted. The new range really isn’t that far from the previous plastics, and they in turn from this range of metals.
      You do need to get some of those 25 Orks done, though – which is a good point. I’ve got a start on 20 of them. Now I just need to finish …any of them! 😉
      Plenty of opportunity to shoehorn Da Boyz into Warcry, too! 3 Factions of Greenskins and the Ogres don’t even get a look in!

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    • Thanks Curis – the round bases do look so much better than the rectangles. I think ovals would work well for these guys as well, but I didn’t have any when I started them (and have relatively few of them still!)

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  18. Love the colors on these, just a lot of fun! As for being behind, between FoW tanks, Old Glory tanks, and Archive stuff I’m still old metal and resin (and some plastics) most of my stuff is oooold. I’ll probably catch up to stuff like Bones in 2030…

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    • Thanks Mark. I really feel like I need to get more of the newer sculpts painted. Not exclusively or anything like that, just I seem to mostly get these late 80’s and early 90’s models done, and the only newer things are boardgame models – hardly the best thing that’s out there currently!

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