28mm... kind of! - Bloodbowl - Imperial Nobility

 This is something new for me!  Were you expecting this? I'm not sure I was either! 

So having been impressed by reading blogs and articles about the Games Workshop 'Bloodbowl' game, in 2022 I decided to buy it for Christmas.  I like games with great mechanics and are fun, and as this is the one game that has been in continuous production by Games Workshop, it sounded like it could be rather good!

Well, I have had several games now and actually it really is great fun. For those who don't know, it seems to combine the simpler elements of American football with Rollerball/gladiatorial combat/Ancient Mayan ball games, in that playing the man (or creature) is possibly more effective than playing the ball!

The star player Griff Oberwald with pet bird, who I shall call 'Dave' (and yes, it was a real sod getting that bird to sit there - had to use a blob of Miliput to assist in the end!)

There are two teams in the latest edition box, an Orc team and these Imperial Nobility (who are mostly human).  I understand that they are very wealthy thrill-seekers who play the game for the glory and fame rather than any particular need to make more money.  I painted these as the 'Bogenhafen Barons' team.

Ogre - Big scary fellow!

Now other than some Star Wars figures, I have never painted anything non-historical.   Painting these was way out of my comfort zone!   This team come moulded in bright red plastic and the Orcs in green which give two simple straight out of the box playable teams with no painting required - a really good thing for GW to have done.  The sports gear on these fine fellows is rather reminiscent of the Renaissance period, so I felt that starting the painting project with these would be slightly easier for me!

However, I really didn't know how to start!  This may sound odd as I do paint a wide variety of different figure types, but these, well...these are fantasy figures. I couldn't really see the figures for the spikes and quirkiness! 

To make a start I decided to watch a few simple 'How to' videos on You Tube.  I decided to follow their methods originally, as they seemed to fly through the painting. I did just 4 figures to start with, and I have to say that the videos were really useful.  By the end of a fairly short period of time, I had 4 quite nicely painted figures done.  My confidence was raised and I now had an idea of what I should be doing.

I did more familiar historical projects for a few weeks and then I thought I would paint 4 more of these Bloodbowl figures.  I deviated from the You Tube technique a bit and went back to my own methods, the use of more washes and also black lining in, which I didn't do on the first four models.    I was even happier with these 4 so I went back and black lined in the first 4 that I had done.   I do find that black lining in figures makes such a difference to giving definition and depth to my eyes anyway. It's a technique that I really like.

Number decals are already included in the box, which was a helpful nice touch.  Some of the players have areas on their cuirasses where their Germanic names can be written (if they are short enough).  As there were no decals for this I decided not to attempt to paint Gothic Script.  If I should find decals at a later date then I shall use those, though I rather like to use very long comedy names for these players on the play sheet for some reason!  

I love the ale tankard on the hip of the female figure above!  

There are 14 players on each side in the starter box plus 2 referees. This is in addition to the fold out 2-sided pitch and very attractive hard back rule sets and a host of other bits and pieces.  This makes the starter set very good value indeed! You literally can buy the set and just get playing...perfect!

All of the figures except for the star player with his eagle, and the ogre, are duplicated. So there are two of each.  I decided to make subtle differences between duplicates, hence some with black feathers and others with purple feathers. There are other minor differences painted in too. Combined with the numbered decals this should all help with identifying players during the game.

I have gone for piercing blue eyes and shades of blonde hair to assist the Germanic Nobility aura of this team.

I love the pipe being smoked by the figure below.  It gives an air of nonchalance about these players, who are not playing for money but for the glory of being there - they have bravado and showmanship oozing out of them!

I used mostly Vallejo, Miniature Paints and Foundry paints on these. I use surprisingly few GW paints anymore (mainly because I got confused when they kept changing colours a few years back) and I just prefer the other paints more. The washes are the very effective Army Painter washes.

Below we have them on the pitch!  I really am looking forward to playing these now. Painted figures are so much more fun (but will probably get a thrashing every time).  Does this mean that I have to paint the opposing Orcs now? 

As much as I really enjoyed painting these and succeeding in the real challenge of moving out of my comfort zone, I am looking forward to getting back to some 'proper history' again. I have a few options on my desk so we will see what takes my interest next...

...or shall I buy a team of Goblins....hmmmmm....!