Talk Fantasy Football

Welcome to the WIP of my first Blood Bowl team. Gouged Eye Orcs from the classic 3rd ed Box set.
Something hopefully worth following along with as I paint my first miniatures in over ten years .

Below is the team in its familiar initial stage. Made from two teams salvaged from eBay and stripped with Dettol. There is actually a fourth lineman too, just didn't think I needed him when I took the pic!






I didn’t want to do too many alterations to these models (not that that's really possible), but I did want to make them a bit more player-like with some actual football helmets. Not 100% sure if I've pulled that off as they look a bit 'Geordi La Forge', but I'm hoping that's mostly to do with the stark contrast of the white styrene!






The other change I wanted to make was to remove the original team logos to replace them with a proper Gouged Eye logo.






Also removed the plated chin strap from the Blitzers, as I just don’t like the look of it!






Initially I was just going to add transfers of the classic Gouged Eye logo to the gut plates. Then I noticed the newer Gouged Eye symbol (found on the coins and turn marker) is exactly the same as the Ork glyphs below, but with a cut through the large eye. I figured this would make a nice little tie-in to the current range. Especially as I’m going to be using the modern turn marker and counters.

Regular skulls for linemen/thrower. Skulls with gnashers for Blitzers. Big skulls for Black Orcs. (Cuts in the eyes will be added later). largest skull was intended for a troll, which I may still add at a later date.






Here's an example of how each positional looks for now. Currently finishing up playing through my first league at the moment, and once that’s wrapped up I’ll begin further work on the models themselves.






A BIG thing I’ve been wracking my brain over with this game is the best way of clearly displaying what new skills each player has. Multiple skill rings hanging off players like hula hoops, or constantly scratching off painted words/symbols all seems a bit messy/incoherent to me! I played about with a LOT of different ideas with magnets/pins etc, then stumbled across these on Shapeways.

A bit pricey, but I think well worth the aggro of trying to figure out as good a system of my own!
My initial plan with these is to remove the edges from each player’s GW base. Then add an extra layer of styrene, to allow me to sink in a 6x1mm magnet. Then all members of the team can simply be magnetised on top of these new bases (which themselves have a sunken magnet), at near enough the height of the original GW bases. Hopefully I’ve explained that clearly enough! That's all stuff to be figured out once this league's finished though.

The next step I want to make for now is to try weigh down the Orc turn marker so the damn thing stops toppling over . I know I could just add it to a 25mm base or something but I want to try keep its footprint the same size so it fits to a custom dugout that I've made. Assuming that's successful that should be the next update to this.

Anyway, thanks for reading .

Love what you're doing with those orcs!
Adding or changing those little details makes all the difference and will certainly make them look unique!
Are you considering a Troll and or Goblins, and if so have you settled on what minis?

I'm not sure I understood your idea for the base so I'm looking forward to see the wip pics of the process.
Please do keep us posted!

Cheers!
A.

Very interesting!

There are skill markers from Iron Golems that you clip to the bottom of the base.

Axtklinge wrote:Love what you're doing with those orcs!
Adding or changing those little details makes all the difference and will certainly make them look unique!
Are you considering a Troll and or Goblins, and if so have you settled on what minis?

Thanks very much!
I have a 2nd ed Troll that I initially planned on running, then decided against it. Once the main team above is done though I think I'll probably still do him up anyway. Then find a little 3rd ed Goblin or two to throw into the mix. I do like the idea of having every option available, even if I don't really end up using them.

Saebelsultan wrote:There are skill markers from Iron Golems that you clip to the bottom of the base.

Oh they're nice! Already have those Shapeways bases sitting at home though

Looks like you've thought your project quite a bit, which is cool. I'm interested to see how it turns out.

I think that plastic Orc team is actually the "Orcland Raiders".


Forgeworld will be releasing conversion bits later, so that you can turn the existing Gouged Eye team into the Orcland Raiders. It will have new symbols, and the spiked helmets, etc.

Really the Orcs can be whatever you want, but just thought I'd let you know. I think it's cool that you're making them into something of your own.

I think the reason the helm guard looks a little weird, is because it probably needs to be a bit lower to protect their mouths, like actual football helmets. Though with those big chins, I think the Orcs probably only need to protect their small noses.

I didn't understand your explanation of the bases, but it did make me think of another solution. Not sure if I'll use it, but I'm always looking for an elegant, nice looking solution to mark skills. Anyways, I was thinking a small flexible strip of dry erase material might work really well to denote skills. Especially if it could be colored to match the base.

I think I found the solution you mentioned. Is this the one?

Really looks good! Great start!

And welcome to the BEST BB site on the 'net!

faust_33 wrote: I think that plastic Orc team is actually the "Orcland Raiders".

They're very similar. My ones are from the 3rd ed boxed set itself, and as far as I'm aware aren't actually team specific. Though as you say, they could still be painted as any team regardless. The Orcland Raiders you posted are from 3rd ed too, and are essentially better looking metal versions of mine! With lots of unique details and poses.

faust_33 wrote: I think the reason the helm guard looks a little weird, is because it probably needs to be a bit lower to protect their mouths, like actual football helmets. Though with those big chins, I think the Orcs probably only need to protect their small noses.

They definitely have some solid chins alright . I was actually basing them on the older 2nd ed helmets like below. Which are themselves based on an older version of American football helmet.


picture source

faust_33 wrote: I think I found the solution you mentioned. Is this the one?

That's the one. I have a link to its Shapeways page on the main post. I'll underline it so it's easier to see.

bound for glory wrote: Really looks good! Great start!

And welcome to the BEST BB site on the 'net!

Thanks very much. Glad to be here .

Ah okay, I overlooked the Shapeways link!

I had both the metal and plastic Orcs. Other than the blitzers, I thought they were pretty much the same (from memory). Looking at the pictures I can see there are more differences.

The picture of the 2nd edition Orc with the helmet makes it a lot clearer. Once it's painted up, it should look much better.

So... any progress on the team WIP?

Axtklinge wrote:So... any progress on the team WIP?

Hey!

Apologies for the wait, been busy job hunting since graduating college. Should have another update in a week or two.

Nice.
Looking forward to it!

Good luck on your hunt!

Turn marker

As I mentioned previously, I wanted to fix how horribly unbalanced this thing is, whilst still trying to keep its footprint as similar as possible. This was an easy enough fix by just adding a lip to the side where there isn’t one. Used one from a spare marker to save the hassle of trying to shape a similar piece.







Then strengthened the join with some Plasticard. It probably didn't need to be, but I'd rather have something be too strong than not strong enough. Seems to look a bit nicer with a thicker base too.







Model's bases

First step was to remove the edges from the model’s initial bases. Hole on side is for a 2mm ball-holding magnet. Hole in the center of the base (if you can see it!) is for centering the hole for the 6mm magnet.







This is my solution to not owning an electric drill! Turns out most hole punches make 6mm holes. The hole itself is in a little square as I couldn’t find a punch that cut far enough from an edge to reach the center of a 32mm base. Bit proud of my problem-solving here .







As shown below, first the square with the magnet’s hole is glued to the center of the base. Then the remainder of the Plasticard is glued around it, and then shaped to the size of the base. A fair bit of extra work, but I think worth it for secure, flush magnets.













Waiting on some Araldite to arrive to glue in the magnets, then will be adding player numbers using one of those styrene letter sets. Since the logos on the front plates are embossed, I think it’d be nice if the player numbers on the back plates were the same.

The final thing I’m thinking about adding before painting is some classic Gouged Eye symbols to the right shoulder pads. The newer logo I added is nice and all, but an original kind of has to be there too I think. They're still in use by the 2016 team, so it’d be a crime for these classics to not also bear them!
As with the other details, I’d like them to also be in relief, but the curvature of the shoulders then becomes an issue. One option would be sculpting them on, but I’d like to try and experiment a little with thin enough Plasticard. I'm imagining that if it was scored with enough small lines in enough directions, it might be possible to curve it around a shoulder and then file it smooth.

We shall see...

Nice looking fix for the token. I was thinking about mounting it on a spare round 25 mm base or something. Maybe throw some turf or stones around it. I still have minis I want to paint though, and it's slow going, so turn markers will be a long time coming.

Not sure I'm totally following the "model's bases" part. It seems you are starting with a starting with a 25mm non-slotted base. Then you remove the sides/underneath to make it a flat 25 mm base? What did you use to remove it? It looks like a pretty clean cut, if that's what you did.

Drilled a hole for small magnet to hold the ball, makes sense.

Then add a 6mm magnet below, plus plasticard. I'm guessing for carrying/storing the minis in a case?

faust_33 wrote:Nice looking fix for the token. I was thinking about mounting it on a spare round 25 mm base or something.

Hey bud . Yeah, a lot of people seem to do that and it certainly works fine. I wanted to keep the footprint of mine as small as possible though, so it fits to a custom dugout that I've made. Bit annoying that they don't just simply come with a lip on both sides. For something presumably designed to be able to balance sufficiently, it sure doesn't

faust_33 wrote: Not sure I'm totally following the "model's bases" part. It seems you are starting with a starting with a 25mm non-slotted base. Then you remove the sides/underneath to make it a flat 25 mm base? What did you use to remove it? It looks like a pretty clean cut, if that's what you did.

They're actually 32mm bases. These models horribly overhang on 25mm!
The rims were removed with just progressively finer cuts. First with clippers to remove all but a thin step of remaining rim. Then carving into that with a sharp blade, to leave an even finer piece. Which was then filed flat to meet the surface of the base.

faust_33 wrote:Then add a 6mm magnet below, plus plasticard. I'm guessing for carrying/storing the minis in a case?

The magnets are for those 3D printed bases I'm using to display skills. If you look at that pic you found of them, they come with a pre-made hole for a 6mm magnet. I just obviously then needed to add magnets to the models themselves for attaching them. This way I can then also use them on any number of future teams I may have. Well worth the extra effort I think!

I completely forgot that some of the old models feet hang over the smaller bases. Since I've gone heroic/32mm scale, I think of the older minis as 'tiny'. (though there isn't that much difference)

Ok, now I see what you're doing with the bases. I had forgotten about the skill tabs part. Nice job on trimming the bases. I don't know that I would trust myself to do that. Too many horror stories of stabbing myself with the Exacto knife. I try to use that thing as little as possible.