Goblin Blood Bowl team

For those that know me, or have even taken a look at my FUMBBL posts or even this blog, you will know that I am a sucker for a crowd funded blood bowl team. The following Goblin team from Willy Miniatures was the team that started it all off for me. This was back in January 2015 - well before Games Workshop launched the new Blood Bowl game in 2016 - and since then, I've back a number of campaigns on the Indiegogo and Kickstarter crowdfunding sites.

After taking dwarves to a number of tournaments across 2016/17 I pledged to address the balance and take a stunty team to the next few tournaments.

I started tinkering with them back in March 2017, but had to speed up a little bearing in mind I needed to take them to STABB at the end of September 2017. Yes, I am unbelievably slow and get much distracted by lots of other things in my life... However, the picture below is a shot I managed to take in daylight hours before next weekend. I feel I must point out that I've still got loads to do like wash/highlight the bases, numbering, touching up the chipped paint, and addressing some of the detailing I've missed, and I reserve the right to update the photos in this blog at some point! :)

Anyway, this is the squad as it looks currently (24/9/17);

If you can pick them all out you will see 20 goblins and 3 trolls. Some of the more observant of you will soon point out that any blood bowl team can have a maximum of 16 players, and a goblin team can only field 2 trolls (not counting star players!). The crowdfunding campaign gave a number of options and 'stretch goals', all of which I obtained. Actually, along with that lot above, I also got a star player troll, Ripper, a team coach and two staff - a goblin in a bear suit and another in a bird suit. As it happens, in Blood Bowl 2016, there are two new additions to the goblin roster - an 'Ooligan and a Doom Diver - and these models are perfect for them. However, as I'm not taking any of these players to STABB I decided to paint them later!

Here are the extra players... I might try and paint the coach a little more for STABB if I get time...

Going back to when I first received the team they pretty much looked like this;

...and the Trolls & support staff;

I started by preparing the miniatures, removing mold lines and flash. The real problem was trying to get the models into their respective bases... they don't come pre-cut like Games Workshop bases, and the metal tabs beneath the miniature's feet vary in thickness and length... which mean a fair amount of filing and cutting... and not forgetting the 'green stuff' gap filler. I didn't do much pinning as I always seem to mess it up, so I'm holding faith in super glue and greenstuff keeping everything in place.

I had some 'issues' with the standard Ball & Chain player... I didn't think this looked right!, but I got there in the end!;

I then applied the undercoat and washed the miniatures lightly in nuln oil to pop out the detail to make painting easier, especially as most of my painting is done in the evenings.

Being a Watford FC fan digital follower, I decided to go with a classic yellow, red and black theme, with yellow shirts and red helmets. I used Yriel Yellow with Flash Gitz highlight, Wazdakka Red with Evil Sunz Scarlet, and a combination of Waaagh Flesh, Warboss Green and Skarsnik Green for the goblin flesh. It was only when I had got pretty much all the way through painting the flesh, shirts and metal shoulder pads/helmets that I realised how much other detail there was to cover, including the black shorts, brown leather belts and gloves, chainmail, furs and all sorts of other stuff. My particular favourite was painting a pink teddy bear on the star player ball & chain! More of that later...

You can see the team gradually building up in colour in the three pictures below. I wisely decided not to stick a number of the multi-part models together, like the Trolls and star players, just to make it easier to paint.

Soooo... here come the photos of how they look today. As I say, I still have a fair bit of itty-bitty work to do. I chose a sandy looking colour for the base. My thinking was that it offsets the miniatures colour nicely. I will include grass tufts at some point too... especially if I'm thinking on a beach volleyball team name... Watford Volley-Bowlers.

The STABB team... although an extra goblin sneaked in there... will only be 8 ordinary goblins taken to St Albans;

And a better picture of the secret weapons I'm taking to STABB (and the pogo!);

The squig-bomb is a nod to Ghotsbusters' very own Slimer;

And the Hungry Troll "Saturno", Exclusive Indiegogo Miniature;

I decided to paint the trolls and Stone Trolls... with rock-like skin. Hopefully that will prove to be the case in various upcoming tournaments! Not great lighting in the photos, sorry!

And as I mentioned earlier, I loved the detail added by the sculptor on the ball of the B&C... :)

I think the pink bear is a good place to end! Hope you enjoyed my visual log of this team coming together. Whatever they look like I am positive they will bring a massive dollop of frustration with a sprinkling of joy in games to come!