Having finalised the colour scheme for the team using a blocker, the next stage was to apply it on other positionals. Some teams are made up of players of the same race, all wearing pretty similar kit, whilst others have a wide variety of player types. Chaos dwarfs are one of these with heavily armoured dwarfs, lightly armoured hobgoblins and barely clothed minotaurs. In cases like this there is a need to factor in what the visible biological parts of the model look like and decide how the team colours will work with to help bring the team together.

Purplechest wanted something different from the commonly used green as skin colour for the hobgoblins and favoured orange. I had to be a bit careful with this as orange, purple and bright green could clash really badly, or make the hobgoblins appear to be the stars of the team as opposed to the fodder they actually are. To avoid this I mixed quite a lot of brown in with the orange for a realistic shade and also ensured that their uniforms were plainer. Only the few bits of armour were painted purple and even less of the edging was painted green, the rest of the uniform was black and brown.



Once that was sorted I got stuck into the remaining blockers and was able to get through them all in just over a week. Half of them had facemasks and these were painted silver rather than a brighter colour.




I’ve since finished the other 5 hobgoblins and now started on the bull centaurs.




I’m also starting to think of which team I should paint up for the 2019 NAF GT.

The last 2 years I have used the new plastics, several more teams have come out in 2018 which gives quite a few choices. The advantage of this is the teams are cheap and easy to get, most are really nice models and easily recognisable on the pitch. Them being plastic means I can easily convert them to make something more unique or just paint the standard models if time is short.

I’ve already done skaven which rules them out, along with underworld. Last year I converted wood elves and would want to do another elf team which rules out pro or dark elves. I’ve already painted up a goblin team using the new plastics for PeteW and don’t want to do them again either. I’ve done 3 orc teams in the past and wouldn’t want to do a forth yet.
That leaves Chaos Chosen, Chaos Pact, Dwarfs, Humans, Nurgle or the new Undead.

I’ve painted up 2 Nurgle teams in the past and not sure if I have enough good ideas to do a 3rd unique team, but it would let me paint Tolly and Guffle that I converted recently and have ideas for Bulla as well. Some unique rotters could be added by mixing parts with the other plastics. I do have lots of nurgle parts from the Putrid Blightkings and other models, which would help me personalise the team and convert the extra 2 pestigors.

I’ve not painted up a generic chaos team yet, only ever having done a slaanesh themed one using classic models. I like the new beastmen, but am not a fan of the warriors. However I have liked some of the head swapped conversions I have seen of them. Other options would be to make them khorne themed with Scylla or tzeentch themed adding parts from the acolytes and Tzzangors, they have an awesome ogre to use as a mino too.

The chaos pact team I painted up a few years ago is one of my favourites, especially the marauders. It would not be too hard to convert the plastic humans into chaotic version though with some head and kit swaps. It would be nice to add the new orc renegade as well whilst Gobbler and Withergrasp both suit Pact. As with the chosen I could also make them khorne of tzeentch themed.
I’ve yet to do a proper dwarf team, there was the really early plastic conversion I made from fantasy dwarfs 16 years ago and the norse dwarfs for the 2013 GT. The new plastics are fine, if a bit dull and they only have 1 star on my outstanding list. I do have a huge dwarfs bits box and the kharadron raiders have a lot of cool potential if I wanted to make a secret weapon heavy dwarf engineers team.

The only human team I did was using the metal GW 5th edition humans. I’m not a huge fan of the new plastics as the blitzers really don’t stand out enough. It wouldn’t be too hard to mix in some other parts and give them a bit more character. They also have 4 stars on my list (Zug, Griff, Karla and Helmut), 2 of which only play for humans.
I’ve completed undead teams twice before, in both cases they had converted zombies from other races. I could do this again as I have bought every one of the new plastic teams so far and both the plastic undead and nurgle sprue’s have lots of conversion potential. Undead are also a very popular tournament team, in keeping with skaven and wood elves. My decision on them may depend on what the stars are like in Spike magazine 4 and if they have any interesting ones I can convert.

I don’t have to just stick to teams that have official new GW plastics, and do have other ideas. I’ve still yet to do a vampire or ogre team and have long been collecting bits that would be suitable for them. There are other teams I have ideas for based on non-BB models too which are on the back burner.

The ogre team would be made from the torsos of dragon ogres with legs from ogryns, I already have everything I need for these. As an added bonus the plastic ogre BB player is a great source of conversion parts and I could buy a couple of these and mix bits in. Snotlings were proving to be trickier, I wanted to use the classic 2nd edition BB range, but these are rather pricey. Instead I could use the BB snotlings I do have and convert fantasy versions by adding BB bits to them. Star are easy and I already have Brick, Grotty and Bertha ready to go.


The Lahmia vampire team was always a bit trickier, there have been some awesome female models released that I can use for converting the vampires and I've already converted the count from Isabella Von Carstein. My main sticking point was what to make the thralls look like; young handmaid vampires in training, dashing courtiers or mistreated walking bloodbags. I would really like to do a display base with marble ballroom dancefloor tiles on it. They have a couple of possible stars and some of the new undead ones might play for vampires also.


Norse are one of the more developed ideas I have, they were one of my first converted teams and have a lot of potential, though I did do the aforementioned norse dwarfs. The Bloodreavers don’t need a lot of work, removing the khorne symbols and swapping in some BB arms and kit here and there from the new humans. I already have most of the positonals sorted and 3 stars ready to go.

My ideas for amazons are less well defined, the plastic Escher necromunda gangers have some potential for conversions, though their arms are really thin and it is hard to find suitable hands. I’ve also got the sisters of silence and some of the witch elf range to add to the mix as well. They cross over a fair bit with the vampire team ideas I have. Zons can take Helmut, Bertha and Karla from my stars list.


The teams that I am furthest forward with in terms of ideas and parts are the Norse, Ogres plus the Undead as I’d just need the new models for them. All the others need more thought or for me to buy parts.