Imperial Progress X

First up, if you are waiting for the next installment of the Skill in Warhammer series, I apologise. You'll have it as soon as I write it, but I've been doing other things for the last few days.

Anyway, what have I been up to? From a hobby perspective, I have started work on my Imperial Ogre unit filler plans. Now that Book of Grudges is out of the way, I can work on this instead of ensuring I have my army painted for the tournament. In truth, I need to get an army ready for Axemaster, which is on September 24-25. But I have about a month, and this time I am planning to include infantry in my army. As such, any Ogres I manage to get ready will probably get a run in the army. So any Ogre work I do is working towards Axemaster anyway, right?

Well whether you believe that or not, I am pretty keen to combine my mad Ogre plans with the potential of the Instant Mould I purchased over a month ago. I am realistic enough to acknowledge that my planning to include 3 Ogre unit fillers in every infantry regiment in my army was a nearly impossible task, if I was going to convert them all as massively as I had planned (a rough mental tally the other night suggested we were talking 30-40 Ogres). However, with a bit of planning and the cunning use of Instant Mould, I now believe I can do it.

My current moulding press. I love Lego...

So, first up I needed to create a couple of simple sets of legs. I decided to base them on the uniforms of Leopold's Leopard Company. I made two different stances. One firm stance with feet planted a bit apart, and the other walking. The walking legs include greaves (as do some of the Leopard Company), whereas the other legs are just wearing pants.

Ogre legs to go with Leopold's Leopard Company

The plan then is to clone these legs a couple of times using Instant Mould, and then modify them. I add puffiness to the pants and I get something suitable to work with State Troops. I add armour and I have something I can use for Greatswords. I am not yet sure whether I can use these legs as a base for legs in full plate (Teutogen Guard, Ricco's Republican Guard). I might have to make a couple more masters for that.

My first attempt to clone the legs with the wide stance resulted in my using too much putty, and as such they're wider than the master version. I think they're still usable, however I need to have another go at them with files to get rid of the 1-2mm mould line...

The master and the copy. Blogger, why is this sideways?

And the reverse view

Side-on, you may be able to see the extra thickness of the copy, as well as the remains of the epic mould line

All in all, I am pretty keen on these plans. I need to start working on a breastplate soon, and keep building from there. Never thought I'd be mad enough to try to build my own multi-part Ogres. Will wonders never cease?

If you look closely, you might see more copies on their way...

And in case you thought I had forgotten my original Ogres, I have in fact kept working on one of them. This guy will be the slowest build in history, since he is just being built up gradually, using the leftover putty I mix up for other projects. Poor guy. Oh well, slow progress is better than no progress...

Slow and steady...