The Gob-Lun Empire

Regular readers of my blog will know I like to play around with plastics, and the occasional metal conversion too. So I was messing around with the spare parts from an Oathmark Goblin infantry set, playing around with the spare heads, when an idea hit me. Could I repurpose those heads for something else or with something else?

I'd seen the efforts of my friend James Morris on Facebook - he'd converted old Games Workshop Lord of the Rings Orc models and combined them with spare parts from Perry medieval kits (and much more). I started to think maybe I could do the same. Then an idea hit me, could I combine them with the old Warlord plastic Romans? So was born the Gob-Lun Empire!

To my joy, the heads mostly fitted well. I soon learnt to add a little piece of round plastic to the Roman bodies to make the goblin heads a little higher. Otherwise, the Gob-Luns tend to stare at the ceiling! I decided to arm them with spare weapons from the Goblin sprue and only throw in the occasional Roman shield, to keep that rough 'goblin' look to the unit.

The finished models look cool, with the right level of 'gobliness' - they don't look overtly Roman. Even the Gob-Lun standards will be a part parody of Roman ones. I painted the Gob-Lun armour bronze, to make them look different again on first inspection.

What's next for the Gob-Lun Empire? Perhaps a Gob-pion bolt thrower? Archers - auxiliary Shootiarii? Allied spearmen - Stickiarii? Or a unit of Wolf Riders with Roman shields - Lupites? As the great Gob-Lun leader, Gaius Orcus Maximus, said to the Gob-Lun Senate on his successful raid into Elven lands - "Venni, Stabby, Vicki!"

Apologies to Jasper for my Gob-Lun Latin. I will return to more normal wargaming topics in my next blog, promise!