Warhammer Fantasy - Release The Dogs of War! - Chapter 2 The Giants of Albion
Warhammer Fantasy
Release The Dogs of War
Chapter 2
The Giants of Albion
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| This was during the period GW was using the minis for the box art |
These models are now over 20 years old. To my knowledge they first appeared in the 2002 Warhammer Annual as a Regiment of Renown for the Dogs of War army.
The regiment or "unit" consisted of two giants (Cachtorr & Bologs) and a level 1 Wizard of the Lore of Beasts (Hengus) that cost 450 points and they counted as two Rare Units. Giants where not very common at the time so they where really quite different.
The Giants also appear later in the same annual in an article called 'The Big Bash' although they are used as stand alone giants in a four way WWE style royal rumble with two more Giants..
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Crystal Codes for Element Games RIC134 or ROB8508 |
Assembly
All three models are "white metal" which is a pewter blend with no lead as I understand, and was all the rage twenty years ago (ask yer old man - FD). I would always check all components for mould lines and remove them with the correct tools, in this case, clippers and a craft knife. Then file down any blemishes and take additional care where two parts will be joined together. The cleaner/tighter the fit, the better..
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| can we have our ball back sir? |
Hengus requires no assembly apart from securing him in his base. I use my trusty "+1 Clippers" to slightly bend the metal bar for a snug fit into the base. I then put a little superglue in the slot to secure the model.
Cachtorr and Bologs need to be assembled. Arms and legs need to be secured to the torsos as well as the menhir stone, the club and various bits and bobs around the belt areas.
Both the Giant models are heavy and their limbs are pretty long making the joints vulnerable to breaking if not secured properly.
Hobby Tip: Gluing metal to metal is tricky and I wouldn't recommend doing it on models this big. I sometimes use the pinning method but for these models I decided to use a combination of techniques, I did this by drilling a hole in both components with a pin vice, and then fixing a length of paperclip into the holes for extra rigidity. I backed this up with greenstuff and superglue as a couple of the joints seemed to not fit very well. I roll up a small amount of greenstuff and superglue a small ball of it into the joint then superglue the limb in place, pushing it into the joint so that the greenstuff slightly pushes out of the join. Wait until it is set then trim off any excess, this should leave join between the limb and torso that is pretty much seamless and will not be seen once painted.
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| The Albion trio move across the battlefield, obstacles are little issue |
I used the greenstuff method to secure all the limbs and all the additional parts. Wait for all the grenstuff to harden then cut away any excess. Once the models are assembled they can be attached to their bases. Punch out a hole in each base where you want to position the models then superglue into place.
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| There is no doubting the age of these classics. Here in on Gildoren's Master-crafted hobby table. |
Basing
Nice and simple here.. Cover the bases with some a few small cork chips and fine sand using PVA glue and let dry. I would usually add some watered down PVA on top to help provide a safety net to keep your basing texture in place.
Undercoat
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| Hengus before hes painted |
I sprayed Hengus with Army Painter Matt Black and the Giant models with Army Painter Fur Brown.
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| basecoats on boyos! |
"I say! It was most unsporting. My fellows and I harried Ranoldo and his band of ruffians all the way to the Trantine Hills. Then Ranoldo unleashed those horrid Albion Giants upon us, led by a rather hairy looking fellow. They smashed our line, squashed poor old Hoskins Hotshot, whilst shouting the loudest uncouth word I have ever heard. If those Giants are typical of that island, I for one am glad it remains unexplored."
High Elf Lord Daverion, Gentleman Mercenary General
Games Workshop White Dwarf 233
Painting
Hengus:
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| Hengus loves to potter round in his garden |
I base coated all his skin and all leather, rope and wood areas as well as the base with Rhinox Hide.
I decided to go with a lighter skin tone than I would normally go with. I was thinking that Hengus would be quite sun deprived in old Albion, perhaps a bit reclusive even. (Do they get sunshine in Albion? - FD) He would live apart from others (apart from his Giant buddies) and probably stays in his little hut brewing tea and nibbling on biscuits, complaining about how its better for Albion to be apart from the Old World...
I lightened up the skin areas with a thin layer of Bronzed Flesh (he means the really old paint beardlings - FD) as a base for the lighter tone of Bronzed Flesh (yeah the really really, really old paint - probably much older than the model! - FD).
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| The paints from the 80s and 90s.. still work, even without dropper bottles.. |
Avoid painting either flesh tone into the recesses, leave these as the Rhinox Hide tone as it brings out the definition of details like the eye sockets and gaps between fingers and toes.
The robes were given a thin basecoat of Caliban Green then all but the recessed areas received a layer of Woodland Green (yes.. you guessed it - old paint - FD). I then added a touch of Skarsnick Green to the Woodland Green to pick out the robes raised areas. I also used these colours on the laurel leaf head band.
The staff, pouches and sickle handle were all painted with various browns. Washing the wooden areas with Agrax Earthshade brings out the detail. It also works on the leather pouches.
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| "Now, where did I leave that flail?" Hengus thought to himself |
Drybrushing a lighter brown tone onto the rope areas will make them pop out. Same goes for his hair and beard which were drybrushed with grey over a black basecoat.
There are a few metal details which can be picked out with different colours but are pretty straightforward.
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| Tufts are a great way to add to up your basing game |
Finally the base was lightly drybrushed with Mournfang Brown and then a heavier drybrush with Karak Stone which is alot used to pick out the small stones. The edge of the base was painted Steel Legion Drab and I added a couple of Army Painter Deadland Tufts for texture, then lightly spray varnished the model.
Cachtorr and Bologs:
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| arguing is the giants favourite past time |
Like Hengus, I base coated all their skin and all fur, leather, rope and wood areas as well as the bases with Rhinox Hide.
I imagined that the Giants would be a bit more weathered than Hengus so I decided to give them a warmer skin tone but still be fairly close to their Druid pal. I base coated all skin areas with Mournfang Brown then I applied a layer of Ungor Flesh to all areas but avoided the recesses. I then applied a fairly heavy drybrush of the older Bronzed Flesh to the raised areas then highlighted prominent areas like noses, ears lips with the same Bronzed Flesh.
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| HOWWZAAT! many say the origins of the game "crikey it!" can be traced back to Albion, where great oak trees where used as "bats" and giant stone monoliths as "balls". |
Lots of brown tones used for the hair, furs and leathers. I go with a darker tone first then build up to lighter tones. I then pick out the most raised areas and edges with the lightest tones. There are many combinations of different browns but you'll likely get great results following the dark to light method.
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| Stone Close Up |
The stone areas and the bark on the club were base coated Mechanicus Standard Grey. Raised areas and edges then received a thin layer of Dawnstone.
The wood, leather and rope areas were painted in the same way as those areas on Hengus.
Cachtorr has some bone weapons and some skulls around his neck. These were base coated with Mournfang Brown (as was the Ogre head and the skull attached to Bologs' belt) then painted with Ushabti Bone (avoiding the recesses).
LINK UK GAMERS - THE OUTPOST Is probably the cheapest place to buy your Warhammer in the UK LINKDwarf Flesh was used on the severed Ogre head again avoiding the recesses.
The Orc head was basecoated Caliban Grean and the highlighted with Waaagh Flesh. The same colours were used on the moss on the stone and club but these areas also received a final highlight of Skarsnik Green.
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| time to clean those nails Cachtorr.. |
There are a few little details like hand/toe nails, mouths and eyes which are all pretty easy to pick up. I used Dark Reaper as a base for all the nails then highlighted them with Stormvermin Fur. Eyes just painted white with a black dot (steady hand required!). Khorne Red for Bologs' mouth then the teeth were picked out with Ushabti Bone.
The bases were done exactly the same way as Hengus' base.
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| The Albion trio fight off some Druchii Shades. |
I seem to recall that the Druchii did rather well in the Albion Campaign. I think these chaps are looking for a rematch..
To War!!
The Fat Dwarf and Gildoren
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Referenced Articles:Release The Dogs of War!
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