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 Azazelx wrote:
If you want to add some extra brightness or interest to the base, I'd go with a leader model or standard (or both - maybe one for each block of 20?) Since they're just decorative in KoW now, they're a good way to add a bit of visual interest to the throngs that they lead.

But yeah, as R&F, they look perfect. Done!

I agree about the command models, but I don't own any. They are metal components, and only come in the hybrid regiments (sharpsticks and rabble). I'm not going to spend more money on these guys...






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The only aspect of the Ogre Mega armies that is unpainted are the six Chariots, which are also still unprimed. Since it's a snowpocolypse outside, I won't be spray priming, and the models are two large, fiddly, and unnecessary for me to try to prime them with a brush. Rather than jump to another project, I decided to build some models today.

When I started collecting Cygnar, I jumped in hard, collecting both wide and deep. While my interest in the game has waned, I am startling close to one of everything for the Cygnar. When asked what I wanted for Christmas, I figured the list of missing models would be an easy shopping trip to Miniature Market for my mother-in-law. She came through in a big way, buying me Haley3, Ace, Reliant, a Trencher Cannon, and a Stormtower. Couple that with a FLGS going-out-of-business sale where I picked up Darius and a Triumph upgrade kit, and I have a murderers row of the very new and very obscure. I also forget how much PP hates gamers, as they consistently build models that have a stance wider than the base. Still, I got the metal/resin models built:



I also put together a Medium Mortar for my Bolt Action Germans:

While I haven't gotten any more painting done on my Ogres, I did one better: played with them! I went to a 12 man tournament, and despite losing my first two games, I dominated the loser's bracket to finish at .500. Alas, I used my iPad for a chess clock, and didn't get any action shots. Still, I got some nice posed shots during army judging:

2000 points of Ogre:


My three hordes of Ogre Warriors (painted last year):







Grokagamok and Standard Bearer:

Great stuff, glad to hear you had fun

Progress on my Ogres is stalled until the weather breaks enough for me to do some spraying. I have a few hordes that need dullcote followed by flock, and a chariot horde that need primer. In the interim, I reached for smaller project: my Bolt Action Germans. I've been playing BA for a little over a year, mostly with a buddy in Cleveland before I moved. Right before I applied for my current job, which lead to the move, I bought a box of goodies from Warlord to bulk up my Heer: A Stug, a Puma, a box of the new late war grenadiers, a character pack, and an observer pack. I also grabbed a medium mortar at a black Friday sale. It was all built and primed late last fall, but in the last week or so I've finally started base painting them.

I only have a few more colors before the black wash and highlights:


I love the options and possibilities of this kit!



The character pack was the set "Guarding the Chateau," meant for scenarios and objectives. It's two guards, a scientist, and a Gestapo agent. All for $8! These guys have a ton of character, and are exactly why I got into mini painting in the first place:

Very nice. I'm not a huge ww2 fan but I admire bolt action from afar, so looking forward to your progress!

Great work on the Ogres, really nice to see such a large group of them painted together, I really like your scheme as well.

I know nothing of BA bar the setting and Warlord's involvement, but your Germans are coming together nicely already.

The rain has stopped and the temperature is peaking above 40, so I'm finally priming my Ogre Chariots. If I have time, I'll also prime the last of my Cygnar stuff so I can get that ball rolling after I finish "ze Germans."

Speaking of which, here is a blurry picture of my attempt at zeltbahn camo. I used the same camo triad that I do on my tanks: Delta Ceramcote Trail Tan, Autumn Brown, and Forest Green. I simply blotch the paint on. My goal is to give the feeling of Camo, not to slavishly follow any particular pattern.



One thing I found kind of surprising when I first starting painting historicals was how little consensus there is on the colors for the Wermacht. Napoleonic uniforms are specified down to the tiniest detail, but basics like "what color is dunklegelb" elude us. On the one hand, it allows an army painter to be a bit creative, and show how he feels a German platoon would look. On the other, there's something comforting about buying a pot of Vallejo paint that exactly matches what you're trying to do.

Yeah, that's interesting that they aren't specified to death like most other historical stuff.

 GrimDork wrote:
Yeah, that's interesting that they aren't specified to death like most other historical stuff.

Some things are, of course. You can get the exact camo patterns for Luftwaffe troops across multiple time frames. But basic things, like the color of fatigues or the base color of the tanks, varied dramatically, and the reason why is actually tied to a big part of why Germany struggled in the mid to late war: highly decentralized war industry.

Compared to the Allies, or even the Japanese, the Germans did little to coordinate or centralize war production. So while it would not be uncommon for an American company to build, say, airplanes using the design of another companies, and engines built from a third companies that were actually designed by a fourth English company, Germany more or less only contracted out for supplies, and then bought them. Each company was left to do as they saw fit, which while occasionally resulted in brilliance, often resulted in wasted effort. For example, Porche tried to get the Tiger tank contract, and had actually built over a hundred chassis before losing the contract. They became tank destroyers, which while great, could not be resupplied or repaired as the chassis was not being built.

So, all of this means that for things like armor paint or fatigues, very general guidelines were issued, and each firm had their own recipe. Keep in mind that you have nearly a ten year period of production (counting prewar build up), huge amounts of goods "acquired" after the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia and the conquest of France, dramatically different theaters (saharan desert, French Bocage, subarctic), and good old fashioned wear and tear, and you end up with even Osprey books showing German fatigues ranging from bluish grey in the early war, to brownish grey in Africa, to greenish grey in late war.




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Here are some more pictures taken after a black wash, which I think tones down the camo, and looks pretty decent:

Some Ogre updates:

I was able to dullcote, which means I could flock my boys:





I think I found the point on the army building curve where the practice in painting the same colors outpaces the fatigue from seeing the same models. I think they ended up looking pretty tight.

The goblins, while arguably not being worth it, actually look great ranked up:





A bit of a close up so you can see what passes for detail in my paint job:

Nice work on everything, the mass-paint techniques work well!

The goblins get the job done and the ogres look as good as ever.

This is a really great blog - I really like your painting approach. Nice work the Kings of War stuff, and good job on actually getting a game in. I am delighted to see the result of the Vallejo Sepia wash. I picked some up, and was considering using it for some quick 'n' dirty 'nids. (Didn't want to open a container just for a test model.) Keep up the awesome work!

I took some time to work on my Bolt Action Germans. Last time I posted they'd been hit with their black wash. since then, I've added some highlights to the uniform, dunklegelb (yellow ochre), and skin tones, and painted the webbing black using the lazy man's method: paint very dark gray, then paint over it with slightly watered down black ink. It provides some very subtle highlights while keeping the surface very, very black.

I approve of lazy black I've got some soldiers with black armor that started out dark grey and got 2-3 black ink/washes.

I've even taken to lazy metal prep--- I do white undercoats so no easy metals for me...but I've been using black ink/wash on the parts that I would traditionally paint black, it's quicker and *much* easier to tidy up/disperse when you paint outside the lines than regular old black acrylic. Seems to be working with the boltgun just fine so far.

I like your Germans, very sharp and dark. Imposing that way.

Here are some close ups of the figures, including some good views of the lazy black and my camo scheme:

I managed to get the last details done on my Germans, stuff like the lighter gray collars, eyes, fiddly details on radios, hair, etc. Rather than a group shot, I'm going to put up some representative close ups.

The Forward Observer with assitant:



Forward Observer/Spotter:



Assault Rifle Officer & Aide



Medium Mortar:



Light Machine Gunner:


Loaders:



Guards:



Gestapo Agent and Scientist:

A bit of a quick update today, as I realized I never showed the final Shamans:



Also, look what finally got primed!








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So, I know everybody has been waiting with bated breath to see how I paint late war German Armored vehicles! To satisfy that desire, just keep reading!

First, you establish your dunkelgelb. By midwar, all German vehicles were painted this color, which helpfully, has been lost to history. No, really Google Dunkelgelb: all the results are modelers and hobbyists trying to figure out how to paint their tanks. My take? Pick an ochre you like, and rock it out. For me, I use the Reaper Master Series Khaki Brown triad. First, you lay a nice base of Uniform Brown, than you wash it with a reasonably heavy wash. I've used Les's Awesome Flesh wash, doctored with a bit of brown ink and Green Black ink, to give a really dirty, slightly greenish brown (that brings out the ochre).



Next, you dry brush the next two paints in the Triads over it: Green Ochre and Faded Khaki. To start the camo stripes, I mix some forest green about 1:2 with the Faded Khaki, and stiple some stripes:



I then stipple a thicker mix of the green/khaki in a narrower line



Repeat the process with a rich earth brown mixed with Khaki:



And again to darken the middle of the stripes:



then you take the pure green, water it to milk like consistency, and run it down the very middle of the stripes. Repeat with the brown:



It's a pretty quick and dirty technique to get that iconic German paint scheme.

Great looking Ogres - pretty sure I've been to this plog before but never bothered to compliment nor subscribe Would love to hear more about your experience gaming with the big lads, if you're interested in writing something up.

The Mantic Goblins look solid as well, kind of like that little bit bulkier look over GeeDub's weedy gits. Will have to check out the Mantic line.

- Savage

Sweet tanks, timelost color notwithstanding. The fire in the ogre casters is nice too.

That chariot unit is impressively massive.

 Boss Salvage wrote:
Great looking Ogres - pretty sure I've been to this plog before but never bothered to compliment nor subscribe Would love to hear more about your experience gaming with the big lads, if you're interested in writing something up.

I like their play style a lot, but they're actually pretty simple. The list has a decent amount of variety, but the meat and potatos of the list are the basic warriors.

A horde of warriors (six models) is 200 points, has 18 attacks, hits on a 3+, has CS1, and has a 5+ save. That's elite stats across the board, all while being slight more compact than a cavalry regiment (120x80 compared to 125x100) and only slightly larger than an infantry regiment (100x80 for most models). Compared to infantry hordes, they're far smaller, but also have substantially lower Nerve - most infantry hordes are 20/22 compared to Ogres at 15/17. This means it only takes eight wounds to make it more likely that you'll waver/rout than be steady. Even at a 5+ save, CS/TC2 or more are pretty common. Still, Ogres are more likely to be steady after taking a charge from Knights than not, especially if Inspired.

Ogres hit hard, but even CS1 struggles against 6+ saves, and they lack the sheer attacks to one shot infantry hordes. Still, having crushing strength instead of thunderous charge means that Ogres hit harder on the countercharge than nearly all units, especially at that price point. And that's what make Ogres so dangerous: while the Warriors are a very well rounded unit, good but not great in most aspects, they're surprisingly cheap. The quesiton isn't what a single Horde can do, it's what two Hordes can do! Which, I'm sure you can imagine, is lay out most enemy units in a turn.

At speed 6, Ogres can outcharge most infantry (and large infantry ), but obviously struggle against heavy cavalry. KOW is all about premeasuring, so against a line of knights... your hordes are not going to outcharge them. That's where the chaff comes in. KOW is all about chaff, and Ogres have three great options. Red Goblins (goblin archers) are the cheapest option, running 85 poitns for a regiment of really lousy bowmen. With only 12/14 nerve, the gobbos should break without too much, just keep inspiring from them. In the mean time, they can pepper some pot shots, and against gunlines they do yeomans work providing cover (and do not have yellow bellied, so they can charge enemies to hopefully disrupt them). My favorite chaff are the Red Goblin Scouts. The wolfboys are 100pts for a troop, and have laughably low 9/11 nerve. However, they are size two, so actually block LOS to the Ogres, and at speed 10 with TC1, they can reliably disrupt enemy shooting or heavy cavalry, and they can knock out warmachines. They also do great work on the flanks, being nimble. Finally, an interesting option for "chaff" are Boomer Troops. While pricier at 150 points, they have a ridiculous threat range with Speed 6 and Breath Weapon. That's 18" they can reach out, which is longer than most charge distances, and can help break a stalemate. Boomers also melee on a 4+ with 9 attacks and CS1, so they aren't bad to throw into the mix.

In the end, playing Ogres is simply Clausewitz: if you can get local numerical advantage, you'll outpunch the enemy most of the time. If you get divided or flanked, you don't have the numbers to lose an Ogre Horde lightly. Shambling armies can really be frustrating, as they can outmanuever Ogre armies with hard hitting units.

If you have any specific questions, let me know. I'm still learning, but the army is a great mix of compact, elite infantry, some interesting monsters, and cheap as chips light cavalry.

The Mantic Goblins look solid as well, kind of like that little bit bulkier look over GeeDub's weedy gits. Will have to check out the Mantic line.
- Savage

They look all right, and I like the slightly more fierce look compared to the goofier GW models, but they're not great models. The detail is soft, and they come in a lot of pieces for models that all end up in pretty similar poses. Still, if you can get them cheap, they paint up easy.

Cheers for the rundown I'm running my old Skaven as Ratkin currently but have a plan to make Ogres my first proper Kings army - somewhat fittingly, as Ogres were the army I returned to WHFB with back when 7E started. Loving Kings, by the by, fitfuls of dice for great justice.

 Polonius wrote:
They look all right, and I like the slightly more fierce look compared to the goofier GW models, but they're not great models. The detail is soft, and they come in a lot of pieces for models that all end up in pretty similar poses. Still, if you can get them cheap, they paint up easy.

So I did check out the rest of the range, and wasn't overly impressed. Bit weedier than I expected, so I guess credit to your speed paint here? I think it must be your restricted pallet pulling things together, as opposed to the Mantic job with a mishmash of dark details and greenskin. Anyhoo, happy to not be unexpectedly building a Gobbo army

- Salvage

 GrimDork wrote:
Sweet tanks, timelost color notwithstanding. The fire in the ogre casters is nice too.

That chariot unit is impressively massive.

Yeah, I'm not sure what, if anything, I'm going to do for a movement tray. They don't rank up, so I guess I'll be going pizza box lid or something goofy like that. I'm not sure how much I'll be using them, but part of me is tempted to throw the brew of sharpness on them, screen them with Scouts. That's a 310point unit, but it'd hit on 2+ with 24 attacks at TC2&CS1. That's ~16 wounds on anything without ensare/phalanx/6+ defense, which combined with Brutal is a healthy rout test.

The problem is that the unit is exactly as durable as the 200pts Warrior Horde, and hits only slightly harder against Phalanxes. The unit is also huge, making it extremely unweildy. For the same 300 points, I could ally in Soul Reaver Cavalry, Mounted Sons of Khorgan (chaos knights), or even just two regiments of warriors...

Hmm yeah, they look scary though

I should really look into more theory/gameplay for KoW, I'm largely uninformed as I slowly building my Orcs lol.

The Germans look great. The Ogre Chariots look to be coming alone (I can see paint on them in the background of the German armour!) I'll be using a Warlord and Standard on chariots as IC, but I think I'll limit my actual cavalry to however many OK cavalry models I've got (can't recall if I got 1 or 2 boxes of them).

Which will simply be a matter of using what I've got because I like the models. I'm still butthurt that they went with units of 3/6 on chariots instead of allowing 2 and 4, which are a much more managable size.

 Azazelx wrote:
The Germans look great. The Ogre Chariots look to be coming alone (I can see paint on them in the background of the German armour!) I'll be using a Warlord and Standard on chariots as IC, but I think I'll limit my actual cavalry to however many OK cavalry models I've got (can't recall if I got 1 or 2 boxes of them).

Which will simply be a matter of using what I've got because I like the models. I'm still butthurt that they went with units of 3/6 on chariots instead of allowing 2 and 4, which are a much more managable size.

I'd guess it was an attempt to maintain the symmetry between infantry and cavalry in terms of the number of files, or they just didn't think of it overly much. The sheer footprint makes the chariots units pretty rough though at 50x100. A horde of chariots is twice as deep as say, Drakons.

I'm not too worried, as the footprint is only one reason I don't see myself using them overly much.

 GrimDork wrote:
Hmm yeah, they look scary though

I should really look into more theory/gameplay for KoW, I'm largely uninformed as I slowly building my Orcs lol.

There are a couple of good articles here: http://kingsofwarresource.com/ It seems to be the officially unofficial page for KOW.



To finish the German armor, I moved to the tracks of the Stug. I laid down Army Painter Fur Brown for a rusty base. This was a new technique, so I was eager to try it:



I then inked the treads with pure black ink and drybrushed them boltgun. I also picked out all the details. The finished tanks:





Overall, I'm very happy with them. They look a bit too factory fresh for my tastes, but I'll wait until after they're dullcoted, if at all, to try to weather them up.

I finally got a chance to put some paint on the Ogre Chariots.



I took my time with these, and laid a better base coat than normally. The boars were surprisingly decent models, and once I figured out where the details were, the painting was that bad. The biggest problem was the sheer complexity of the models, and the times when it was tough to fit a brush into tighter spots. Still, with a good base coat and wash, I'll need to focus mostly on the highlights.

Despite my negative attitude towards the models while building them, I think they're going to look pretty cool once fully painted. The trick is going to be to keep enough distinct browns to allow the details to show through, and find some areas for brighter colors to pop through.

Nice. I liked my boar rider boars.

I'm a little late to the party, but I want to say that you're ogres are really quite inspiring. I really like the brown skin/blue hair combo.

I haven't made too much progress on the Chariots in the last few weeks, but I'll share some close up shots:








I did make some progress on accessories though. While I'm still waiting on my official Kickstarter trays, I bought the trays I'll need for Adepticon from Ironheart Artisans:



they had decent prices, very fast shipping, and they burn the size of each tray into the bottom, so you can tell them apart. All in all, I'm pretty happy.

I've begun the process of painting them dark brown to match my bases:



I also went to the Target and found a nice bulletin board to use as a very simple display board. Last year I lost out best painted all-mantic army due to my lack of display board. The event is much bigger now, so I doubt I'll win, but it's a shame to have a nicely painted army and cart it around in a blue plastic serving tray. I cut PVA glue 50/50 with water, and brushed it on with a big nylon brush. I dumped my standard rock base (Woodland Scenis Medium Ballast) over the whole thing, and let it dry over night.



When the weather warms back up, I'll spray paint it, and throw a quick and dirty coat or two of paint.