goblin

All posts tagged goblin

Frenzi Da Gobbo – Miniatures as Souvenirs

Posted by johnnya10 on 23/04/2023
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Hello hobby people. I want to introduce you to the latest miniature to come off my personal painting production line. This is Frenzi Da Gobbo and I’m very happy with him, and we have a tale to tell you…

old metal goblin painted in a florentine fashion

Now, for Frenzi’s part of the tale, I can only speak to the last few months. I purchased him In Florence, Italy, from a delightful little hobby store called Stratagemma which you can find very close to the Duomo in what is possibly my favourite Italian city. It’s a treasure trove for “Oldhammer” minis, board games, Magic cards, dice, etc, and if I had a limitless baggage allowance and a couple of extra thousand euros, I’d have snaffled up the entire shop. But without said luggage space, and with a baby on the way for me (arriving almost imminently) I restrained myself and picked up a single, metal goblin. And boy has he been a treat to paint.

Stratagemma florence
oldhammer cabinet

I wanted to pay homage to Stratagemma, Florence and Italy when I painted this miniature, and that’s what I’ve done here. His robes are the purple and red that I associate with Fiorentina, Florence’s football team. The yellows represent Stratagemma’s logo, as seen above, and you’ll notice the wings and skulls on his staff are distinctly “Il Tricolore” inspired. Even the potion on his belt is blue (squint and you might see it) – the royal colour of Italy, still used by the Italian national sports teams to this day. Oh, and the name of course – Frenzi – a play on Florence’s Italian name “Firenze”. I think I got enough Italian seasoning in there, right?

back of the goblin with snail on base

But as to the tale I was talking about earlier, like I said, Frenzi has been with me for only a few months, so where he was before, I have no idea. But at some point, presumably decades ago, he made the trip from Nottingham out to Italy, and I have since brought him home with me. Who first purchased him from GW? Who painted him (he’d been stripped when I bought him but there was still a hint of old paint here and there)? How long had he been waiting there for me to buy him? What a life this little metal goblin may have lived.

My story is easier to tell, though probably not as interesting (so I’ll skip it here – you can read the “About” section of the blog if you’re that interested), however it did all lead me to walk into that delightful hobby shop in Florence and pick up this goblin that I have now completed. And while I did buy myself a fridge magnet and a football scarf, Frenzi Da Gobbo will always be my favourite memento of this particular trip to Florence.

italian themed goblin

So I suppose that it got me wondering; have you ever bought a miniature while on holiday to paint up as a souvenir of your trip? I think it’s a rather nice idea and certainly beats a lot of other souvenir alternatives that are usually just tat that falls apart or gathers dust. And the funny thing about our niche and supposedly unpopular hobby is that every city you visit around the world will likely have one shop that sells some sort of miniature. If you’ve ever decided to paint up a mini as a memento of a trip, do let me know in the comments below.

I also want to say thank you to Alberto Font – the legendary painter of goblins whose exceptional work was very useful for helping me to work out what each tiny detail was. I wish I could paint as well as him, but thankfully images are on the internet and they certainly do help to clear things up! Go check out his stuff if you can find it.

And I hope you like the little snail on the base – that’s a real Scottish sea-snail shell on there 🙂

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Frenzi. I certainly had a blast painting him up, and whenever I gaze upon him, I shall be transported back to sunny Florence. And the next time I find myself in foreign climbs, I shall do my best to pick up another miniature to paint up in tribute to my trip. Onwards 🙂

Blood Bowl Orcs Reinforcements – Troll & Goblin

Posted by johnnya10 on 27/10/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

blood bowl troll and goblin

You can never stop at just the boxed squad, right? Well, I’ve added to my Orc Blood Bowl Team, Da Mighty Redz, in the form of my new Troll and Goblin. The little and large duo move me a little closer to completing the project with plenty of time to spare before Necromunda hits in November, and I’m quite happy with how they both turned out.

The keen-eyed amongst you will notice that this is not the official Blood Bowl troll, but a Stone Troll (Sorry, ‘Rockgut Troggoth’ for those of you who speak Sigmarese) that’s been slightly converted and that’s because I’m not the greatest fan of the new Blood Bowl troll. While it’s of course a quality sculpt (what isn’t from GW these days, right?), I like my trolls to look like big, grumpy and fairly immobile brick walls, and not someone throwing out the first pitch at a Yankee’s game. Less dynamic, more static – which pretty much goes against my entire miniature design philosophy but I guess this is the exception that proves the rule.

So, I chopped off his bone-club (poor chap – sounds painful), and made a knuckleduster from some plasticard, green stuff and the spikes are actually from a Storm Raven’s missile launcher. I made some knee pads from green stuff, plasticard and green stuff made me the arm guards, and the shoulder pad is from the Chaos Terminator kit. There are a few green stuff leather straps and I had to hack off and rebuild half an ear to make room for the aforementioned shoulder pad. Oh, and he has a backplate that has been nailed into him because he’s a troll and he doesn’t mind that.

troll and goblin

The goblin was a tricky little bugger to paint. He didn’t take too long (I actually painted him in about 5 hours!) but it can be tricky to switch gears when you’ve been working on something as big as a troll. But that’s a super fun kit and I’m almost certainly going to be adding another gobbo in the near future. Not only because it was enjoyable to paint, but also because it’s pretty risky bringing a single goblin to a Blood Bowl game. They either get squished or the troll eats them so better safe than sorry.

And as you can see from the above snap, these guys are called Murvy and Owni which is my tribute to two Liverpool stars of my younger years – Danny Murphy and Michael Owen. Not exactly dead ringers, but Murphy does have a slightly troll like demeanour (and attitude) and Owen was (and still is) a bit short, so it kind of fits.

michael owen and danny murphy

In terms of tactics, the goblin is there to pick up the ball (because having played with Orcs, they’re practically incapable of this when you need them to) and the troll can throw him up the field to score me a touch down. Not particularly intricate tactics, but they’re a well used staple of the game. Looking forward to trying it out.

goblin troll height comparison

I just like this picture because it’s like they’re standing back to back with the Goblin saying something like “See, I’m definitely gettin’ taller!”. 😀 But it also shows off a bit more of the troll armour, and I love the look of the Goblin in profile – those helmets are awesome.

That’s your lot for this post. Well, except to say that the desk project has been delayed by just a couple of days while the last couple of stragglers get back to me. Early next week. I promise. Have a great Friday, a cracking weekend, and the very best of luck with all of your painting projects. Onwards!