In this blog I'll talk about various miniature games. Custom miniatures and minor conversions are my favorite pastime. I'll cover scenery making and painting too. The WIP you'll see here is all about Necromunda, Epic 40,000, Warhammer Fantasy 5th Edition, Warmaster, Warhammer 40K 3rd Edition and Lord ot Rings.

Archive for ogre kingdoms

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Converting because of Budget Reasons

Posted by Toco

25 Aug 2017

Toco

(tocoking)

Belgium
Oost-Vlaanderen
Vlaanderen

www.tocoking.be/hotspot

Most miniatures games players start collecting when they are young students. One thing that the average student does not have is an unlimited budget. That was my setting of how I got into the Warhammer hobby at least. Anyway, sometimes a player must be creative in the formation of an army because of budget limitations, whatever the cause.

To achieve this it's best to buy a regiment box of basic troops. Quantity is the key here. The more miniatures you have, the more you can use to start converting. (For rookies in the hobby, converting means chopping up an existing miniature and rebuilding it to match its new purpose. It's the advanced version of kitbashing where you combine components of various sprues to build a unique miniature.)

In the past I have dedicated some of my blogposts to "building on a budget". In this blogpost I'll add some examples from my recent Ogre Kingdoms army.
I used the three out of four methods of converting miniatures: kitbash, mix 'n match and convert. The fourth option sculpting is too challenging for me. I'll skip that.

Assets: I have one Ogre Battalion box and one Stonehorn box.
Goal: I also want a Tyrant and Bruiser to lead my army, and I really like the background story of Hunters.
Extra: Some of my Rackham Confrontation miniatures are collecting dust for years. I'd like to give them a purpose in life.

Method 1 - Kitbash:
The Tyrant is the general of the army. So he has to stand out and look special. I took a menacing looking armoured head from the Ironguts sprue and combined it with the large belly armour from the command sprue. The eye-catching bit comes from the Stonehorn sprue in the form of a giant vulture on an arm covered with a pelt. The Tyrant looks more important by placing the miniaiture on an elevated base (made with treebark). Now his left arm was a problem. I wanted to place a giant blade in his hand but I could not find one on the sprues. So I took an armoured left fist from the Bulls sprue and combined it with a blade from one of the right hands.

Tyrant Sword

Ogre Tyrant

Army Standard Bearer

I also used the kitbash method to make all Bulls as unique as possible by using heads from all sprues available. For the Bruiser I'll be using the biggest and baddest looking Irongut with an elevated base to indicate importance.

Ogre Bull

Method 2 - Mix 'n Match:
Butchers are miniatures with a specific look and feel: they're fat, covered in cleavered meat and clad in a butcher's outfit. It would be very hard, almosr impossible to kitbash one. Since I don't dare myself to sculpt a miniature, I find refuge in mixing and matching miniatures from different publishers. I bought several cheap boxes of WOW Burning Crusade at the SPIEL convention in Essen Germany. And there's the perfect miniature to use as a Butcher by simply placing a GW Ogre's head on top.

Ogre Butcher

Method 3 - Converting:
A personal favorite of mine is the Ogre Hunter. The Stonehorn sprue provides various bits that are perfect for a hunting Ogre. I wanted to use the chain as a leash for a Sabretooth or other trained animal. Unfortunatelly I already used my metal Sabretooth miniatures in my High Elf Lions of Thrace regiment. Some spare Fenris Wolves were the next best choice. I had to use two different right arms to achieve the right angle for the chain to fit. The chain had to end at the neck of the Fenris Wolf in order to make it look like a hunfting pet. A simple saw did the trick.

Ogre Hunter WIP

Ogre Hunter

Bonus - all three methods combined:
The Ogre cavalry usually uses Rhinoxes to ride into battle. I'll be using Brontopses as "counts as" miniatures. The Stonehorn box provided Ogre rider legs able to fix my metal beasts. Bits and pieces from various sprues were cut up and glued together to form three badass riders. While two of the metal beasts are exactly the same miniatures, by positioning them at a different angle on their base I was able to hide the fact that they're identical.

Ogre Cavalry

The amount of money I actually saved here (diregarding the cavalry) is equivalent to three character models: a Tyrant, a Butcher and a Hunter with two Sabretooths. Actually quite a sum when buying them from GW.

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Fri Aug 25, 2017 6:00 am

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My Big Fat Warhammer Army

Posted by Toco

18 Aug 2017

Toco

(tocoking)

Belgium
Oost-Vlaanderen
Vlaanderen

www.tocoking.be/hotspot

Now this is a great kitbashing project! The Ogre Kingdoms sprues are a bliss to combine. I bought an Ogre Battalion box which contains Bulls, Leadbelchers and Ironguts. From a previous Norse project I already have spare Ogre components. This combination allows me to mix 'n match sprues and come up with a Tyrant and Hunter too.

I've been looking for a purpose for my Rackham Brontops beasts for a while. And it shows they are a perfect fit in my Ogre Kingdoms army. I had two riders from my Stonehorn box and bought one extra from eBay. The legs only needed a little chipping and filing to fit the metal Brontopses.

To create a wizard for the Ogre Kingdoms army I needed a filthy looking fat canibal. I happened to have some spare Warcraft miniatures. And the GW Ogre head from GW's sprues fit perfectly over the tiny Warcraft head. Ready to (stomach-)rumble!

I'll show my Tyrant and Hunter (with chained wolves) later.... Meanwhile be sure to check tocosnest@twitter for my miniatures workbench.

World of Warcraft: The Boardgame – The Burning Crusade

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Fri Aug 18, 2017 6:00 am

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Elite Huscarls with Pet Mammoth

Posted by Toco

07 Apr 2016

Toco

(tocoking)

Belgium
Oost-Vlaanderen
Vlaanderen

www.tocoking.be/hotspot

It took me severals evenings to complete my Norse Huscarls regiment. The Chaos Marauders is quite a cool GW set. It holds just enough items to create unique looking miniatures.

The unit of elite Norse is led by a famous hero. Every warrior has a shield and as many armour as possible for a Marauder. A nice fur cape here and there also gives the illusion of rich elites going to the battlefield.