Those Elemental Troll Nights

"The three trolls came back home, but they did not know how to find the best opportunity for showing their skill, so they sat down and consulted together."
 
When presented with the first three light beasts of the elemental persuasion, I was afforded several opportunities to break with the usual muted color scheme I'd been going for. This meant using some different painting strategies than normal, and my first foray into literal model fire.

Bold in the Cold

I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice

While the Ravening Kriels project is, nominally, a horde composed primarily of orcs - an Orc Horde, if you will - it was always the intention to include other monstrous allies commonly seen alongside orcs in fantasy fiction.  This includes the ever-popular trolls, obviously, but also such things as minotaurs, goblins and all sorts of other belligerent brutes.

We Three Brothers.. Always Fight Together!

A raging inferno isn't something you put inside you. It's already there! Sometimes you just need someone to help you ignite it!

The pyre troll conversion is another one from the archives.  Along with the Mauler, Axer and Impaler, it was one of the first builds I did since, at the time (in the second half of Warmachine mk2) it was a completely indispensable piece for trollbloods.  Shortly thereafter I added the Swamp Troll and the brand-new Night Troll to the battlegroup selections as well.

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Sword (and Hammer)

Sword-play is an odd thing; you don't really use your mind, it is much too fast for that. Your wrist thinks and tells your feet and body what to do, bypassing your brain...
Hammer-play, on the other hand, is reasonably straightforward.

The Fennblade Kithkar was a late addition to 'blades, and while the model itself was a bit of a hack (and slash) job, my compatriot channeled everything he learned painting the unit here and produced a really fine result.

Never Cry Troll

"They call me Mad Jack, and if there is anybody in these mountains that knows the real story about the Trollkin Skinner, that'd be me. So I'm putting it down in writing just how it happened in hopes of setting the record straight."

The trollkin skinner is a model for which I knew I HAD to do a conversion as part of this project.  With his Crockettlike coonskin cap and a knife large enough to impress an Australian action hero, it's a goofy model by any measure - but also an endearing one.

Propitious Prognosticationism

"Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw but me. Can you guess? 
"Luck."
"Was I wrong?" 

Calandra is another one of the warlocks I completed a conversion for relatively early on.  It's only a head and an arm swap, but it did present us with a new challenge as the first of the female trollkin models we'd added to the lineup.  As it turns out, the GW style orc heads we'd been using are not, as a rule, especially feminine. 

Blades in the Bog

"And when all the most renowned in the ancient sagas are named, the Fennblades must be counted the foremost in strength and accomplishments, in zeal and valor.

In keeping with the theme of coming back to start up activity in this blog once more, I thought it might be worthwhile to discuss some of the first models that I ever painted (and my namesake on this blog):  The Fennblades.

Swords in the Swamp

Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!

That one's for you, Jack.  Alright, so, Fennblades.  This was the first dedicated unit I converted as part of the trollkin project.  After the kriel warriors (which were originally just Orc Boys) this was the most straightforward of the infantry units, with conversion work limited to headswaps and a few reposed arms.