The Trolltooth Wars: Rhinomen

Greetings readers and apologies once more for another bout of radio silence - insert usual excuses here... Well with just over a month and a half to go till BOYL 2019 things have been rather busy here with the usual hurried preparations that should have been done ages ago - so I figured some procrastination in the form of writing this blog post was in order!

As usual I have filled my BOYL schedule with as many games as I could cram in to the weekend but the one I am looking forward to the most (and having the most fun preparing for) is the grand finale of Warlord Paul's and my Trolltooth Wars campaign. 

For the uninitiated, the Trolltooth Wars is a Fighting Fantasy novel in which the evil armies of two warring sorcerers, Zharradan Marr and Balthus Dire, go to war after a botched raid on a caravan carrying a coveted magic herb called Cunnelwort. Warlord Paul did a sterling job of mapping out the campaign all the way back in 2013 and we have been steadily working our way through the scenarios each year at BOYL since 2015 - see reports of those games here - Cunnelwort Caravan, Marr's Revenge and Raid on Coven.

Paul had his work cut out last year getting some of the more outlandish chaotics that formed Balthus Dire's raiding party on to the table and did an admirable job - especially with the two headed, scythe wielding, armoured giants...

... as you can see when compared with Russ Nicholson's superb illustration!

Now not to take anything away from Paul's mammoth task of painting up 37 tribes of Hill Goblins for the Battle of the Pass (albeit at a reduced ratio of 1:10 of the troop numbers mentioned in the book!), but I seem to have the tricky task of replicating some very idiosyncratic Alansian creatures on the battlefield this time...

The Fighting Fantasy world is a rich and varied one - much more rich and varied than the Warhammer World in many ways and for that I love it. However, creating a phalanx of Rhinomen in 28mm form has certainly tested that love!

There are various companies out there who produce Rhinomen miniatures but none of them fit the bill for Alansian Rhinomen. They are either too big, too hairy, too barbarian, not armoured, not armed with pikes - basically nothing like the illustrations I have poured over since an early age.

Nope - my OCD demanded Rhinomen who were slightly bulkier than your average human, clothed and armoured to a certain extent and looked like they were trained legionaries serving under the command of a Half Ogre who's boss is a Demonic Sorcerer who lives in a mirror!

That way of course lay madness and I resigned myself to finding a suitable base miniature and converting them to form my 20 strong Rhinomen phalanx. I settled on the Gargantua Orcs from Ral Partha because of their bulky physique and the large spears a number of them were armed with. Their armour had a slight similarity to that depicted in the illustrations too - pics courtesy of Ral Partha.

Luckily Hasslefree sell rhino heads - who'd have thought it!

Next job - cut off the faces of 20 lovely Ral Partha Orcs (heartbreaking and nerve-wracking!) and attach rhino heads...

... and hope that I wasn't making a big and fairly costly mistake!

Not looking too bad...

Getting the hang of this now...

And hey presto!

A little green stuff to hide joins and gaps and in come cases to model open mouths to give the unit a little more variation and character...

... and by jove...

I think I've only gone and done it!

A mighty phalanx of pike (well - long spear) wielding Rhinomen!

Now to paint the buggers...

I have several other units painted and based ready for this project - namely Black Elves and my mixed regiment of Goblins, Craggeracks, Kobolds, Dwarves and Gorians - and will be adding them to the blog when I get a minute to photograph them with a scenic background. I've also been having a lot of fun with Darramouss' (an Undead Half Elf and one of Marr's Commaders) horde of mutant creatures so watch this space for Clawbeasts, Blood Orcs, Devourers and Manic Beasts!