Bog Trog Ambushers 2a: What color scheme?

While the Bog Trogs certainly have a reptilian look to them, I promise that they're rather ichthian. They've got these sloped skulls and big eyes and little mouth feelers that all scream catfish. I didn't get many shots that emphasize those features, but they're there. I promise.

Bog Trogs are ambush units (hence the name "Ambushers"), so I wanted them to look like they'd blend right into a swamp. That meant dark colors and lots of browns, greens and blacks. There's another reason for this: I want there to be an obvious hierarchy to the army. Crocodiles obviously trump catfish; it's true in real life and, dammit, it's true in a board game. These guys shouldn't upstage the voodoo-lovin' crocs, and a quiet color scheme will help with that.

For ideas, I turned to the best guide to these sorts of things -- nature. A quick google of "swamp fish" was fruitless, but "catfish" gave me a few cool ideas. (Maybe the swamp fish search wasn't fruitless, per se -- I discovered that the smallest invertabrate in the world is a fish that lives in acid. Try it yourself, it's a very small fish.)


(stolen from aquapage.eu)

I really like this one. Not only does he look like a Bog Trog, but it's a simple and approachable color scheme. The flecks along his back would probably be lost, but the Bog Trogs have scales there anyway -- sooo seems like a wash.


(swiped from indiangameandfish.com)

I like how dramatic the difference is in this big guy's colors! Unfortunately, there's not much of a scheme to work with here. However, the color difference is something I may steal.

(burgled from aquariumlife.net)

This is something that's probably too delicate to do on all of the Bog Trogs, but I think this little guy's precious. Maybe I'll put something like it on the leader.

Now, I'm not married to any one scheme yet, but for now, I think I'll do something like this:

There's really not enough brown in any of those colors, and they're all really too bright, but it gives you an idea of what I'm aiming for. (I mix paints gooder than I PhotoShop.)

Bog Trog Ambushers 1: The Assessment

I had originally intended to use the Bog Trog Ambushers as sahuagin in my Vian campaign. However, I never did more than put them together (the major reason being that 4th Edition and Pathfinder essentially nullified all the work I'd done with 3rd Edition OGL).

That's them -- the bases are about an inch and a quarter wide. That's a package of Hi-Chew in the background to give you some scale (and because I didn't bother clearing off the workspace before snapping these pics).

The first photo is of an average grunt; the second is of the leader, who wears an alligator-skin cap. (That's the swamp equivalent of a coonskin cap. He's like the Davy Crockett of the marshes.) Already, though, you can see some of the problems with the figures -- there's an awful lot of flash. On the sample grunt, it's very prominent along the top of his left arm; on the leader, there's a good deal of it along the bottom edge of his weapon. It's especially obvious along the blade and on the bit at the bottom. That's fix No. 1 -- remove all that nasty flash. It looks bad now, but it really, really comes out when it's painted.

More problems:

The leader's got a terrible gash where his head piece was glued to his body. It's really, really noticeable, and will have to get filled and molded with putty.

Ditto here behind an arm joint on a grunt. This is by far the most common problem; many of Privateer Press's molds have large gaps in them, so it's somthing that you just get used to fixing. (There's also the fact that I tend to force things to go where I want them, then green stuff the difference. It's not always the model's fault.)

This weapon is pretty warped, another common problem. Just a few small tweaks should fix it, but if not, the haft can be clipped out and replaced with a brass pin and some green stuff will replace the detail.

Once those fixes are made, I'll prime these guys (in white, unfortunately, since I'm not aware of an acrylic spray in a medium tan) and get started painting them.

Blindwater Congregation

Privateer Press is unleashing a new Hordes semi-faction on us -- the Blindwater Congregation.




ogodyes.
The congregation is a collection of swamp dwellers -- alligator men, frog men, fish men. It's like they did market research on a certain Joe Simmons. The only thing missing is the squid men ohgodwait. My life is now complete.

Here's what we know so far.

1. There's only five "core" models that we have stats for yet: warlock Bloody Barnabas (pictured above), heavy warbeast Blackhide Wrastler, solo Croak Hunter, unit Bog Trog Ambushers and unit Gatormen Posse. The last two are already out, having been released in Hordes: Evolution a few years ago.
2. There's several also-ran (re: off-theme) models that will be legal: Feralgeist, Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew, Thrullg, Totem Hunter and Victor Pendrake.
3. There's at least three models whose stats haven't been spoiled: warlock Calaban the Grave Walker, heavy warbeast Ironhide Spitter and light warbeast Bull Snapper. I strongly suspect we'll see an additional light warbeast and a new gatorman unit, but there's already a lot of new models -- those additions may have to wait until the next Hordes book.

It's still too early to actually mock up a list yet, but there's certain models I will run because I love them with what all my heart (you know, the bits not already apportioned to more rational loves). So, here's my skeleton list for a 35-point group:

• Bloody Barnabas (+6)
• Blackhide Wrastler (8)
• minimum Bog Trog Ambushers (5/8)
• minimum Gatorman Posse (6/9)
• 2x Croak Hunter (2)

Of our 41 points, that's a total of 23 points. That leaves 8-10 points for warbeasts -- either two Bull Snappers or the Ironhide Snapper, depending on what they do. That leaves us with 8-10 points for additional units and solos; I'm hesitant to go all in yet, since I don't have the new rules for any of the also-ran units. However, a 2nd unit of Bog Trog Ambushers or Gatorman Posse is very attractive; they're both very solid units at a decent cost. That would leave enough points to invest in the utility of a Swamp Gobber Bellows or Thrullg, or to flesh out one of the Gatorman Posses. I have a feeling that, as cool as the Totem Hunter is, I won't have room. Everything's already so killy, spending points on an off-theme killy unit seems silly!