State of the Hunt, Week 50/2018: Blood Bowl markers
Hey everyone,
my original plan was to have a closer look at Blackstone Fortress as my next post, but seeing how I have decided to give myself the box as a Christmas present, I think this will have to wait until I actually have the models in front of me and can mess around with them a bit. For today, allow me to share something I painted earlier this week: When another joint painting session with my good friend Annie came up earlier this week, I knew I really wanted to bring along something for my Blood Bowl team, the Orkheim Ultraz:
As I have mentioned before, Annie is a huge Blood Bowl fiend, so getting her input on something related to the game was really helpful. Plus there’s an inherent goofiness and irreverence to the BB setting that can serve as a rather nice palate cleanser, every now and then. Fortunately enough, I had just the thing for our hobby session: a set of counters, re-roll markers and tokens I had converted earlier this year:
When the new Blood Bowl was released, I really liked how the team sprues include those nifty little counters and tokens. Now my original impulse was to just grab the Orc tokens via ebay, but in the end, I decided it was much cooler to create a couple of custom markers for my own team — I certainly did have enough Orc bitz knocking about, after all (granted, I caved in regarding the balls and just painted the new ones. But I did get them as a present, plus that squig ball is just too good…).
Anyway, the markers were already sitting in a drawer, all prepared and undercoated for an eventual painting session, so I was ready to go:
I was even able to add yet another marker to the collection, finding a bit that I had thought lost for good. Anyway, here’s what I had after our painting session:
A nice little collection, wouldn’t you agree? Let’s take a closer look:
First up, a couple of tokens based on fantasy orc shields. These are fairly close to the coin-like tokens that appear on the new team sprues as well. Nothing too complicated, really, but it was nice to find a use for those old orc shields at long last:
I also made two tokens based on a nifty troll-skull bit that originally came with the “Battle for Skull Pass” WFB starter set, and it looks like it was actually made to be used like this:
These are also a good match for my team because the Troll serving as a Big Guy in my team actually has the same design (as he’s from that same starter box):
You better give it your all, buddy, or your skull could end up right next to the others π
Now on the last counter, I probably got a bit carried away, but I wanted to build something a bit bigger and more ostentatious, basically somethings the Ultraz use as a totem (to invoke the spirit of Nuffle, perchance?) as well as a trophy collection:
Again, this is really just a small collection of leftover bitz, with a WFB Black Orc standard at its centre — this also provided me with the chance to finally paint the iconic Evil Sun as part of one of my models π
I also had a bit of fun adding the head of an unlucky human player to the base:
Seems like this guy has had his last Blood Bowl game…
Of course I had to make sure the markers fit the rest of my team, so muddy brown and static grass it was for the basing. I also replicated the colours and markings of the players’ armour on the bigger totem π
When all was said and done, this was a really refreshing little hobby project, and a lot of fun to work on: Custom markers, objectives and similar objects often fall by the wayside in favour of “actual” models, but it can be supremely rewarding to give a bit more attention to creating them, making something that really rounds out your collection of models.
So that’s it for this week: I’ll be heading back to the painting desk to finish a few models for this year. And, of course, we’ll be starting with this year’s Eternal Hunt Awards next week, so keep watching this space!
Until then, I would love to hear your feedback, so leave me a comment! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more! π
December 15, 2018 at 19:30
They are excellent! Like them all, but the totem has to be a clear winner! It really does sound like you enjoyed this project and the results certainly show!
December 17, 2018 at 18:09
Cheers, mate! Glad to hear the fun I had with the project is evident in the models! The totem’s my personal favourite, too! π
December 15, 2018 at 20:27
Very nice mate, lovely to see the extra effort going in to the Ultras!
December 17, 2018 at 18:09
Cheers, Alex!
December 15, 2018 at 21:29
These are amazing. One of the great thing about GW kits is the ability to kitbash across game releases.
December 17, 2018 at 18:10
Thanks trippcrouse! Fully agreed! π
December 16, 2018 at 02:39
Wow, great job!
The totem looks much better than the gauntlet market in the game box. Are the Orc shields exactly the same size as the reroll tokens? I bought multiple tokens off of ebay, so I could just use them as counters. But that doesnβt really work for the FW tokens, Underworld and Chaos Renegades. So Iβve been trying to think of something else. I might just be hunting for some Orc shields now! Are there any other shields of similar size, like maybe Humans?
Anyways, really nice job. I love all the details on the totem, and how it all turned out.
December 16, 2018 at 03:02
There are plenty of chaos shields out there. The Marauder ones are round, and the Beastmen ones (also round) come in two sizes. Skaven ones aplenty, as well.
December 16, 2018 at 08:24
Iβve got a bunch of the Goblin ones, but too tiny. Hmm, will have to check out the Skaven ones too, might work well for an Underworld team.
December 17, 2018 at 18:13
Hm, I’ve never seen those tokens firsthand, but I’d say the shields are a bit smaller — putting them on bases should even things out, however. As for different shield options, off the top of my head (and as Azazel suggested below), the bigger Beastman shields are a great match, as they are even a bit bigger than those orc shields. Chaos Marauder shields work as well, although they are slightly smaller. Goblin and Skaven shields are all quite a bit smaller than the orc shields (and thus far smaller as the “official” tokens). If all else fails, you can always create small kitbashes: heaps of skulls, trophies, throwaway models from different starter sets — stuff like that. For instance, I still have a bound Dwarf Slayer that I think I’ll turn into yet another marker π
December 18, 2018 at 17:25
Thanks! I’ll have to check out both of those shield options too. Thinking about it, I could also flip over some of the hard plastic Reroll tokens to the “BB” side, paint them in the team colors and mount them on bases. Then it wouldn’t matter that they aren’t the ‘official’ (And stupidly expensive!) ForgeWorld Reroll team tokens. Nice to know there are some good options out there. π
December 16, 2018 at 03:00
That’s a very cool set of markers and tokens you’ve put together there!
December 17, 2018 at 18:13
Cheers, mate! π
December 17, 2018 at 09:25
Not much into BloodBowl honestly, but it is impossible not to appreciate all the attention you put into the details of all your projects!
December 17, 2018 at 18:14
Thanks a lot, raff! That’s high praise, indeed!
December 18, 2018 at 09:37
Well deserved, one can find evidence by just scrolling down the blog π keep up the great work!
January 5, 2019 at 18:30
[…] all of these are players, however: As you can see in the photo, there’s a nice collection of Blood Bowl markers and tokens, a Goblin Nurse plus some of Maxime Pastourel’s brilliant Orc balls and a pair of Goblin […]