The army of mini-me general

Chaos dwarf number 1 done! I'm more than happy to break my personal curse: the general-less armies. 

Now the pressure is mounting... Will my general command more than one regiment and a trio of trolls?

 

PS.  I have actually another general in mind to lead this army. But first... rank and files!

The Black Anvil

Something I've already struggled with in previous armies is the painting of the general model. I usually postpone painting the characters until the end of the project, thinking that my colours and techniques will be well established before tackling the 'masterpiece'. The problem is that, by the end of a project, my motivation tends to fade, and the general remains unpainted (and the army useless, but I'm used to that 😝). 

Well... Lesson learnt for my Chaos Dwarfs! 

The choice of the model was pretty obvious, as there is only one miniature in the whole MM90 range that looks like a leader: the wizard mini-me. To make him look more imposing, I will perch him atop a desecrated Anvil of Doom. And as I have never understood this strange model with wheels but without harness, I decided to add one, using a Marauder Miniatures cart, and two boars from the same Greenskins range. The Anvil itself is adorned with shields and the remains of former sacrifices.

In my painting, I tried to depict an anvil in dark metal placed on a statue carved from black stone. I added some touches of color by painting a glowing Chaos rune, a stretched skin in weird tones, and a few golden ornaments. 

I can't say I was very inspired by the carriage and the boars, though. 

Let's move on to the wizard now!

 

Another troll

And that makes tree! I tried to change the skin tones on the extremities (hands and feet) while keeping the backs of the limbs and the torso black. Can't say I'm totally convinced by the result, I really need to work on painting skin tones... Maybe with some chaotic slayers?  

In the meantime:

 

And the unit completed:

 

Second troll

 Second inhabitant of the Troll Country. Can't say I fully enjoy the painting process, the sculpting job can be difficult to understand.

 

 

 

One more guy, and the unit is complete. 

 

 

First troll

Sometimes hunted, sometimes domesticated, the trolls serve as reinforcements or as decorations on the standard-bearers’ banners. My first Marauder MM40 troll painted for this army. Not an easy miniature...

 

First regiment of mini-mes

To be honest, painting these miniatures is less pleasant than I expected. Blame their age, and possibly a recast on some of them, leading to blurred details and rounded edges. Another point of insatisfaction is these damn bases, which I have reworked once again, ending up with my usual 'moss and stone' recipe. And finally, I am not comfortable with my choice of colors. In retrospect, I should have paid more attention to the muted tones used for the AOS Slaves to Darkness 'official' miniatures to paint my models. Well... too late 😑

On the plus side, I really enjoyed converting basic warriors into the hornblower and the standard bearer. Speaking of the banner, the rune circled by the Chaos symbol means 'Wanaz' in Khazalid - or in Old Worlder, a 'disreputable Dwarf with an unkempt beard'. In short: the signature of a band of very bad boys. 😁

Extract from 'Dwarfs: Stone and Steel', an Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supplement by Alfred Nuñez, Jr (2002)

 

MM90 3d and 1c

Finally. Two Chaos Dwarfs on their tundra square bases...

 

Not entirely convinced (again!)

New bases

I'm still searching for the recipe for my Troll Country bases. Below some tests, combining snow, grass or lichens, and rocks.

 I haven't glued any model yet.

Any advice?