Monday 28 July 2014

Beefing up the Ogres

I'm all paid up for Rumble in the Bronx at the end of August, and I have started work on getting an army together. Lacking any other specific inspiration and given that the tournament uses relatively small forces at 2000 points, I have decided that this is the right time to upgrade my Empire Ogres from unit fillers to an entire army in their own right.

Having firmed up my rough plan, I then started alternating between not coming up with a real army list, and making only marginal progress with all the modelling work that needs to happen. And believe me, there is a lot of work that needs to happen. I plan to be slightly sensible about this, and I will try to make maximum use out of the Empire Ogres I have already finished. Realistically that means 7 Ironguts, 3 regular Ogres, 1 Leadbelcher, 3 Mournfangs and a Sabretusk. It's not an army, but it's 15 models that don't need to be built from scratch and painted. That is good, because the only list I have properly made by now has 30 models in total, which means I still need to build and paint 15 more guys (4 Ogres, 5 Leadbelchers, 2 Sabretusks, 3 characters and an Ironblaster).

At this point I am going with the assumption that I am going to use something at least similar to this list, and am trying to pump out a lot of constructed models in preparation for painting. Even if I then decide to tweak the list a bit, I'll still be closer to ready when the time for list submission (and locking my plan in properly) comes around. I've been getting my press moulds into some semblance of order, producing the odd new master component, and squeezing lots and lots of putty into Empirey Ogrey shapes. Here is what I have thus far...
The workbench at the moment. 4 built Ogres, hiding a small pile of partially constructed body parts.
2 Ogre Swordsmen, pretty much ready for undercoat.
I think this guy will be the champion for the Ogre Swordsmen, although I may yet make a similar character using the armoured legs etc. The sword, armoured head and left arm are some of the recent additions to my components, ready for duplication.
An Ogre Leadbelcher on the march.
Another Leadbelcher - not quite as completed as his friends. This guy will be the unit musician. Can't you tell?
Yeah, somehow this will end up being an Empire-themed Ironblaster. Bear with me. I'm sure I'll get there...
As you can see, I am somewhat lacking in focus at this point. I'm working on regular Ogres, Leadbelchers and an Ironblaster all at the same time. This is probably not efficient, but at least I'm not getting bored.

Hopefully next time I update, I will have more constructed guys and will have started painting some of them.

5 comments:

  1. Press moulds, white Resin? body bits??? What is this modelling madness I see before me? Could you elaborate how you have gone about building your bits please or point to the link within your blog Sensei Hoodling.

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    1. It's a process that has evolved over time, so there are a number of posts that you could look at. If you use the label filter over on the left to look at "Empire Ogres", you'll soon find plenty of places where I talk about what I do.

      The white is not resin - it's a putty called Magic Sculpt. It's softer than green stuff, sets harder, and can go all paste/clay-like when you add water. I've also found buying it in bulk to be more affordable than green stuff, hence my having a stockpile of it.

      The moulds are made using Instant Mould/Oyumaru, which allows you to melt down your moulds into new shapes when you're done with them. So I make my master components using green stuff or Magic Sculpt, make moulds, and then use those to pump out copies using more putty.

      Over time I have accumulated half a dozen different sets of legs, a similar number of breastplated torsos, and numerous arms and heads that I can modify, re-pose and generally play with to make unique models. Most of them do not even resemble GW components. Many of them were never even based upon GW originals...

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    2. Thanks for the quick reply, I will pursue it with much interest. Regards Chris

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  2. Your champion swordsogre certainly looks the business. Although he needs an outrageously large plume.

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    1. I may give him a feather. I was considering a cape, but I think I need to save that sort of treatment for characters.

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