A Base Full of Gobbos

I declared in my previous post that I thought I could get my Night Goblin Archer unit filler finished by the end of the week. Turns out that was true, although I didn't quite manage to get photos taken and posted in that same time-frame. Anyway, here they are:

A 5x4 unit filler of Night Goblin Archers, all based and ready to go.

How they look from the front. I included a standard bearer up the back, largely because it added some height to the filler to help break up the monotony a bit. I figure sitting back there, it's not really likely to raise questions about whether it's the unit's real standard bearer. Honestly in today's environment of Kings of War (where unit standards don't exist) and only the occasional casual Warhammer game, this sort of question is really not a problem anyway.

The view from the top, so you can see how they're laid out. In the end I included 17 models rather than the theoretical 20 that should be there to take up that space. That was what worked for me as I was placing things around and filling them up. Part of the goal is to break the regimented rank-and-file feel for the overall unit, and having some spaces as well as bodies squeezed together in places works for that.

The guy with the nocked arrow is an example of where I included a few actual multi-part models to help break up the Skull Pass guys. I think there are 4 multi-part poses in there. The rest are from Skull Pass.

I think the rocks (made from cork) also help breaking things up in terms of layout and height, however doing this highlighted to me that I'd probably need some rocks elsewhere in the unit, too. Otherwise it would look a bit weird.

I intentionally went for a classic sort of colour scheme with the black robes and red detailing. I have more than half an eye on the GW "red period" in the planning of this stuff, despite the models being more recent than that.

Right, so with the unit filler done I could start thinking about how it could be worked into a full regiment without looking out of place. If it's going to really work in changing the vibe of the unit, it kind of needs to fit in. It didn't take long to establish that just sitting the filler in among 20 individual Skull Pass models all using the normal slots on their bases was not going to work. This was unfortunate, because I had already prepped and based all the other guys before I realised I was going to do this... Queue the destruction of some textured and painted bases.

This is a bit of a mock-up of how the unit might look:

40 Night Goblins, with half the unit taken up by the unit filler. It's never going to look quite right when half the models are finished and the others are undercoated (or not even that). But this was to see whether the plan would work at all.

Again, the top-down gives more of a feel for where the models are positioned on their bases. I'm not sure I've done quite enough in the individual side to move things out of the rank-and file. I'm not even convinced that it's possible to move them around enough on their separate bases to properly break that look. It might just be a question of arrangement. Maybe.

As I said, once I realised I would need to add some more rocks scattered in the overall unit, I started incorporating some as I shifted things on their bases. The group of 4 was because I decided I really needed something else that could clearly break up the ranks. I think this will help, but I'm hesitant to do more than this. I don't want everything on multi-bases.

I might work on painting all those remaining models the way they are, and see if the painting and varied arrangement are enough to get the look I'm after. Otherwise I still have several spare archers who can be pressed into service to further re-shape things.

Anyway, it's all progress! I'm looking forward to getting this unit done so I can move on to bigger and better things. Or you know, more Night Goblins. If I can face that immediately.