The Mighty Throgg and his Hobgoblin Despoilers of the Darklands

My Hobgoblin army has been receiving some attention in preparation for BOYL 2015 and it's all about monopose loveliness this morning with Throgg's Despoiling Hobgoblins - not sure how you can despoil the Darklands as they're already in a pretty parlous state but there you go...

Not sure I've been that successful in echoing Chris Achilleos' brilliant painting, Orc Charge, in my photography, but the basing is supposed to suggest the Steppe flowers and long grasses featured in it.

As with other Regiments of renown, there is a nice bit of background provided -

Driven from the Old World at the end of the Goblin Wars many of the Goblins, Orcs, Hobgoblins and other allied creatures fled into the Dark Lands. The Dark Lands were then, as now, truly dark: ceaseless volcanic activity, steaming tar pits and terrible, natural pollution shielded the land from the sun. Little could grow in such a place, and very few creatures could tolerate the barren landscape, the gloom and the choking air. Throg, however, quite liked it.

From his armed camp on the eastern side of the World's Edge Mountains, Throg gathered his seasoned warriors and began to carve himself out a little empire. Soon a goodly chunk of the western part of the Dark Lands were under his control, and he began to extend his power deep into the mountains themselves. Here he and his Champion, Grunmunter the Beast, fought numerous battles in the valleys and passes of the mountains, and eventually within the Dwarf fortresses. His enemies were mostly Dwarfs, and the Hobgoblins soon acquired a taste for the flesh of these creatures. What became of this renowned fighter is a mystery, some say that he disappeared whilst leading a mixed force of goblinoids into the Dwarf Fortress of Raven's Hold. Others link his disappearance to treachery on behalf of the ferocious Grunmunter, a callous individual.

Of all the many bloody and violent deeds of Throg the most often remembered is the so called Feast of the Dwarven King. On this occasion the Hobgoblins infiltrated the underground fortress of Boran Fireheart a powerful Dwarf lord. The Hobgoblins secreted themselves in the kitchens until the night of a feast, subdued the servants and disguised themselves in the aprons and other clothing of the waiters. That Boran Fireheart failed to notice until far too late that his kitche n staff were all over 6' tall and incredibly ugly, can only be put down to the general level of intoxication. The feast went ahead as usual, but instead of the planned proceedings the Hobgoblins ate Boran and his guests, while Throg entertained by torturing a troop of Halfling Juggler s unlucky enough to be passing through.

I'll be figuring this back story into the scenario I'm preparing for the Journey to the East game that I am now running for this year's BOYL - ironically Lenihan, who had been organising it, now finds himself journeying to Mongolia with work and sadly can't attend!

The action will take place some time after the events recorded in their background - Grunmunter's attempted coup has failed and he now owes his life to Throgg, who has decided to torment his would-be betrayer by sparing his life and forcing him into virtual slavery - they're a nice bunch these Hobgoblins! Having tired of the Darklands, Throgg has marched East and sold his services to a former regional Khan of the Hobgobla Empire, who has set himself up as a petty Warlord, raiding the Spice Road for easy pickings.

Throgg and his Command - including the sinister Grunmunter...

When it came to painting the troopers, the shield designs took some consideration. The background information helpfully tells us that the shields carry the emblem shown, drawn in the blood of their enemies. Colours will therefore vary from bright red to darkish brown or black. Somewhat unhelpfully, however, the emblem didn't make it on to the Solegends page!

So I figured I'd come up with my own idea. Now there are many things I love about this hobby but one thing often gets overlooked - its educational value! The mention of symbols got me thinking along the lines of Mongolian letters and after a quick search of the internet I found a handy English/Mongolian dictionary.

The next problem came in that I wanted their shields to be black and for the Mongolian script to be painted in blood. After a few experiments with Tamiya Clear Red, it soon became apparent that black was not a good choice of background colour for the blood to stand out from. In the end I opted to paint the Mongolian script in white and spatter blood over it - think it came out all right in the end.

I also had a lot of fun choosing what to put on each shield. I don't profess to being an expert in Ancient Mongolian - the grammar is probably all to hell but here is what I think each shield actually says -

From left to right - Beautiful Anger, Cold Hate, Bitter Grief, Blood Lust.

Cruel Joy, Beautiful War, Blood God, Mad Wolf.

Flesh Eater, Corpse Taker, Throat Biter, Skin Taker.

Conquer All, Poison Tongue, Man Killer, Hunger.

Heart of Darkness, Man Eater, Bad Wolf, Man Flesh.

Next up - my enlarged Hobhound pack and handlers and a big bunch of big bad Bugbears!