Bodurian Levies begin to be 'Raised'

...
My Bodurian project is a mash-up of Napoleonics, with a heavy Russian slant, and Werewolf/Supernatural themed fantasy, for Dragon Rampant.  What started as a small diversion, is now growing apace, and has seen enough command figures for a second elite infantry group to be formed:

New Elites

The intention is to mix these across both command groups to produce two suitably diverse parties.  Three of these miniatures are from my Reaper Bones supply, with the sorceress being modified with Green-stuff to wear a less revealing outfit.  The Officer is from a second Perry Russian command Sprue I picked up for this purpose, modified with an arm from the unending supply of Perry spares I have.

The Werewolves are from the Wizards of the Coast D&D range.  A clear attempt to provide D&D specific equivalents to the Reaper Bones range.  At £5 for two the price was good, but the quality of the mouldings was not great, and a lot of filling and trimming was needed before painting; which kinda made their being pre-undercoated in the factory, pointless.

Anyhoo.  This lot will be commanding a second battalion of Bodurian troops.  But whilst the first Battalion are already formed of elite, loyal, human soldiery, this group will be the dregs of the state.

___________________________________

The Obchenyi is a levied militia, formed of a sub-human race.  Foreign states have referred to these as goblins, but in truth, their distorted, mutated forms have more to do with twisted attempts some centuries ago to create a super race of golems; malleable living clay created by cultic priests, mated with vastly enlarged homunculus grown by alchemists.  The net result was a race of beings with no wholly consistent form, and only a limited intellect, but who could reproduce from little more than the grubby soil and organic matter found in swamps across the realm.

Obchenyi proved useful as slave labour, but were far from supermen.  Physically durable though they may be, they proved slow witted, and little able to conduct more than routine tasks.  More often than not they served on farms, as willing labour, fed from the scraps pigs would reject.  Their use in battle being limited to use for simple headlong assaults, as human shields, garrison troops, or as rearguards; they permit the more flexible and powerful elements of the Bodurian military to be released for more tactical demands.

___________________________________

To make the models I had a simple idea in mind, to use the GW Hobbit Goblin set.

Nicked from their website

 These are, by GW standards, a pretty good value set, being 36 models in 18 one-piece poses for a reasonable £30.  They have a suitably rabble-like appearance, and are not overly encumbered so will make for a speedy paint job.  It's a set I've seen used inventively before, and they certainly have something of a grotesque look to them.  Ideal as a base.

However I did want to fit them better to my theme, so some Napoleonic accoutrement was called for.  This meant adding a selection of muskets and shakos to a portion of the models.

Mid-process on my hi-tech setup

 It turns out most of the models could have a simple trim to fit a hat, and with them they look suitably thematic, and slightly comedic.  Fitting muskets meant cutting away old weapons, and some careful trimming, which is time consuming.  About a third of the goblins received each modification, randomly distributed so that just over half the models were in some way augmented.  I also did a few weapon swaps to vary up the other poses.

Three companies

Lastly, they had their slottabases replaced with 20mm squares, to fit the rest of the army.  I'm no fan of the GW bases, simply too thick for my eye.

I think these will be one big painting session, but there's a couple of other projects to get out the way first.

...