Classic Citadel Ogres for Kings of War – Unit 3 – Golfag’s Ogres

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Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

These are the second series of Golfag’s Ogres aka Golfag’s Regiment of Ogre Mercenaries. I picked these up when they were reissued sometime in the late 1990s with many of the other Regiments of Renown in the clear hard plastic sliding-back containers. (And I’m still spewing that I didn’t get the cultists!) At the time I was collecting Ogres, and so this set was a natural, despite the higher than usual price. The set I got had 8 Ogres in it, but since the grunts were pretty weedy compared to even the current figures of that time (about the size of an Orc) and I wanted each of my ogres to be an individual model (which I still like the idea of today) I modified the mace of one (cut off the spikes and bindings) painted them with different skin tones and traded away the extras.

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

It took me awhile to get around to actually painting them, since I decided that I didn’t like the sculpting style of these nearly as much as Jes Goodwin’s Ogres – epitomised to my eye by figures like Hrothyogg, Ogre Captain,  “Ogre Thug” and of course, Skrag the Slaughterer.

It actually wasn’t until I was cropping the pictures of these models a few days ago when something clicked – their facial features are so very similar to another of my classic Jes Ogres – one that I really like, in fact. 5 minutes on the web and I confirmed that this round of Golfags’ Ogres were indeed sculpted by Jes. DERP!

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

These guys, as my least-favourite ogre models had actually sat around in the bottom shelf of my glass cabinet, with no real priority to update them. The standard bearer had been pried off his base to be blu-tacked to a chariot for KoW games and otherwise they were pretty much semi-forgotten models. When we had the large game with my friends a couple of weeks ago, they got grabbed out since they had all the right bits for a unit I needed (6 ogres, standard, musician) and so seeing they had some use, I decided to rebase them. I had originally half-considered/planned to split them out and spread them across other units and repaint them, while binning the grunts. I think the minor repaint and keeping them together is a much better aesthetic choice, and as odd as it sounds, one that respects the models a lot more.

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

I don’t have any photos – I considered taking some, but decided they looked too blecch to preserve for posterity- one of the things that caused me to dislike them so much was their overly-garish scheme that featured bright blue, yellow, red and green. I clearly originally painted these during GW’s “red period”. I decided that if I were going to rebase them, I may as well put in a bit of repainting work to tone them down and make them less embarassing. I went over the bright yellow with a mustard colour (old-school bubonic brown – and I accidently left the lid off, causing the very real casualty of the 20-year-old half-full pot of discontinued paint that was still going strong drying out – Ouch!)

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

The mustard and blue and red pants got toned down further with some Army Painter soft tone wash. Purple bags and pouches got repainted brown. Green pouches and straps (all of their straps were green!) got repainted brown, with the exception of a couple of characters’ bags. Those with red furry pants had them drybrushed with browns, though I was happy to leave the deep, brown-washed red in at the darkest part of the base. The bright red fur that lined the cap of the standard got turned to a dirty white. And finally the bright red bars on the standard got repainted black. Then white. Then washed down. They just weren’t visible enough as black.

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

Some things that I was happy with got left alone entirely. The ginger hair on the champion was inspired back in the day by Dwarven Troll Slayers and their bright mohawks. With such a ridiculous haircut, I figured the best thing to do would be to double-down on it and make it a big fuck-you to any Dwarves they might face down the line.

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

I also left the freehand tattoos on the musician and grunt and the unit (army) iconography – which was originally my Orc Army’s icon as the ogre figures started life as Allies for the Orcs. Bonus Kudos for the first one who identifies it. 😉

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

I couldn’t find my little baggie of broken up GW Skeleton parts, so I ended up donating one of my new WGF skeletons to the cause, and the parts of one Skeleton (sans skull – too many skulls on GW kits) ended up scattered across the units’ bases, since I’m using bones as a basing motif across the ogre army in the same way that I’m using flowers on the Dark Elves. And besides, bones on the bases fit these figures especially well. I might add a couple more at some stage.

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

The funny thing is that after I finished rebasing them and updating them – which was pretty much so they wouldn’t look like crap anymore, found that I quite like their new look. It keeps the uniform look, the contrast between the blue and mustard still works, but the toning down of the colours and removal of green and purple (what was I thinking?) – and the new earthy bases make them look a much better looking unit.

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

Figuring out where to put that standard bearer was always a bit of an issue. With 2 hero models in the unit (“Officer” and “Champion” according to SoL) as well as a standard and musician, I always had the issue of working out which was the actual unit leader. After I took the photos, put the light box away, and was putting the ogres on a shelf (and trying to figure out how to place them) I had a minor epiphany, and set them up for one last photo. Because, you know, in KoW it doesn’t actually matter if the standard is in the front rank – and this way all of the figures get to be seen. And my favourite three get to go in the front.

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

So after all that, and thanks to that one game, I’ve ended up with a unit of painted figures that I really didn’t care much about being reborn as a unit of models that I actually quite like. Even before I realised that they’re Jes’ sculpts. All that’s left now is to make a unit base for them out of plasticard.

Golfag's Mercenary Ogres

Looks like a win-win situation for all! Except perhaps those who have to fight them. 😀

Ogre Index:

Jes Goodwin Classic Citadel Ogres #1

Bob Olley’s Classic Citadel Ogres

Golfag’s Ogre Mercenaries

Mantic’s Ogre Shooters: Units 1 and 2.  And Based.

Mantic Ogre WIP 1 (and army concepts/some of the other ogres pre-touchup and rebasing)

Mantic Ogre WIP 2

Warhammer Fantasy Siege Accessories & Fantasy Scenery

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So I finally got my light box set up. It’s not quite as good as I’d hoped, but it’s still a lot better than my previous set up. I took a ton of pics this evening, and so here’s the first batch – some generic fantasy scenery. While in many ways it’s not especially exciting, I’ve decided that I want to photograph everything that I finish this year, and on a wider scale, photograph everything that I’ve painted that is still in my collection.

Here’s the Warhammer Fantasy Siege Attackers models. The Siege Attackers and Siege Defenders boxed sets were released years ago alongside the Warhammer Fortress, as well as a few other kits such as Siege Mantlets and Siege Towers. I picked up both of these, as well as a Fortress and a few extra wall and Tower sections back in the day. Never got any of the others, but ended up with some miscast mantlets which I added to a Nurgle Rhino which I never finished.

Warhammer Siege Attackers set.

The two pieces in the lighter shade of wood (the wheeled ram and the metal-capped carried ram) were painted years ago. The other pieces were painted recently as part of sorting through my models and seeing them in a box unpainted, and then deciding to knock them out quickly. I’ve got a bunch of Uruk-Hai siege gear somewhere from the LotR sets which I should do the same with.

(Most of) the Warhammer Siege Defenders Set

My Defenders set is missing a few bits and pieces. The cauldron is missing the cauldron piece (I have the side supports), the rock dumping flat platform thing (I think I saw it recently), and the big rock.

Warhammer Siege Attackers Box

Warhammer Siege Defenders Box

Here’s a couple of box pics for posterity. I’m planning to paint that Warhammer Fortress finally, as well as the extra bits, and I also picked up another Fortress from GW Mail order recently, as to my great surprise they were still stocking it. Well, it turned up as a shipping box filled with the components in individual baggies rather then in the original box. But now I’ll have a decent sized castle when I assemble the new pieces, do some putty work on the old ones and then paint the lot of them. Then I can repaint and detail my original Mighty Fortress. Does this middle-era count as Oldhammer? Probably not, it’s got to be from around 4th-5th Edition WFB. But then again, close enough! I’m hoping to get some specific use out of these siege toys via Kings of War and the Lord of the Rings SBG, but they can certainly make for a cool background and scenario in almost any game we can play on the table…

Scotia Grendel Resin Hero's Grave

I didn’t recall who made this model, so I looked it up and again found it on Scotia Grendel’s website – but I got it 10-15 odd years ago, got it mostly-painted, and then never quite finished it. It may have also come with a casket. I’m not sure. I’ve got one or two resin caskets sitting around unpainted, but not sure if any came from/with this kit. Anyway I finished it up about a month or two ago, and now it’s done and chalked up to 2014’s credit!

Scotia Grendel Resin Hero's Grave

Here’s the rear view. The Warhammer-cross gravestone was a separate piece that had to be glued on. The rear of it had no detail at all, and so I added a thin layer of putty and did the best I could at the time to try and add something that would fit. If I did it today I’d use grey stuff and press-moulding and so forth, but I’m not going to change it. It looks a little rough, but it’s one of those things you’d never really notice unless you were told about it. I suspect now that a lot of the area I added static grass to back then was originally supposed to be simply-sculpted dirt. Ah well.

Another piece of resin scenery from the same era, and again finished a month or so ago. Once again, not sure who created this model initially. Again, Grendel would be the front runner, but I couldn’t find it on their modern website so who knows? I’ve based this one on a drink coaster and added a vampire model from …early Reaper? Ral Partha? Grenadier? Dunno. I’m sure it says under the base, but I’m not about to pry her up. It’s the same figure I also used on one of the pillars I showed a few posts ago. No verdigris this time. Need to keep them a little distinct.

I painted the little fungus things in a deep red mostly because I wanted to avoid whites, greys and bone shades. When I eventually get hold of a couple of the Citadel Graveyard sets, I’ll use some deep red flora to tie it in.

Another piece of scenery I got back in the day. I really bought quite a lot in the several-year period around 1994-2005 or so, and then very little for a long time after – until recently. No idea who made this one, of course, but it’s a nice little piece. Hollow resin. I think it was about $20. It’s a little small for Warhammer models, so I suspect it’s a “proper” historical scenery model.

Just the sort of thing I’d buy more of, if I saw for the same price now. This was actually painted back when I got it, so no 2014 credit here. Obviously this can work well in Fantasy or Historical games. The blue struts are perhaps a little garish for a lot of historical games, and if I were to paint this today, they’d probably be brown, but hey!

Remember those barrels that were in that other post? Well, I found the last one of their set, finished it, and have now photographed it. These will make good scenery for large-scale fantasy battles, smaller-scale fantasy skirmishes, roleplaying/dungeon bashing or even Historical games, such as use in Bolt Action.