A follow-up to the article on scratch-building a Night Goblin shaman.

The day after making my NG shaman, I thought about how I would make a plain Goblin shaman. There are no models available for the character, and haven’t been since 3rd edition (and I’m assuming that models existed then). So, a free hand with regard to how they should look. I decided that mine would resemble a brightly coloured jester, like the model from a Warhammer Quest expansion, which I have heard of being used as a Goblin shaman. Why a jester? Well, the outfit looks different, and suits the Goblin mentality, which is similar to that of a magpie – bright and colourful is GOOD! Plus, shamans are dangerous things for greenskins – get too close at the wrong time and your head will pop. So naturally they will be marked out with distinctive clothing. Thus the bright red and yellow jesterish outfit.

But what to use? There’s nothing much in the current range which lends itself to conversion into a shaman – almost everything to do with goblins has some bit of armour somewhere, and shamans can’t have armour. And I’m certainly not going to sculpt the entire bloody thing.

So, go back through the ranges.

The bits I used are as follows – a scythe from the old skeleton sprue, the bat-wings from a Bretonnian knight’s head, a skull from the old skeleton sprue, some two-part epoxy putty (vital this time – Blu-Tac and / or plasticene is not enough), some more mushrooms from the Night Goblin sprue, and, most importantly, an old Citadel Goblin from Heroquest.

Why the goblin from Heroquest? All plastic, no armour, a nice pose, and the bits which aren’t in the right place (the arms) are easily repositioned.

First up, chop off the weapon in the right hand. Chop off the left arm where it leaves the sleeve, and reposition it so that it curves down towards the hip.

In the right hand I placed a staff. It was constructed thus: take the scythe, cut off the blade, trim off the handles but leave bits which can resemble knots in the wood. Cut the shaft on either side of the hand. Stick the skull onto the end of the longest bit of shaft, glue the bat-wings on either side of the staff just below the skull. The two bits of shaft were then glued into place.

For shamany robes, I simply extended the loincloth with putty, the folds being carved with the end of a paintbrush.

Now for the hard bit, the jester’s cap. Using the putty, I made a thin hood over the top of the Goblin’s head, and down the sides of the face in the manner of sideburns. Getting it to look right is a bugger, as is making the end of it down the back of the neck look tattered rather than just badly done.

Once you’ve got the hood done, make three trumpets to go on top – this is easy enough, just small tubes which taper at one end. Press into place, smooth the joins, and voila! One Goblin shaman ready for painting.

The paint job was relatively simple – Blood Red and Bad Moon Yellow particolour, with brown for boots, belt, and staff. The wings were done black, the skull white, and the skin green. Note: to have the yellow come out properly, undercoat it with Bleached Bone.

Base, flock, add the mushrooms – one on the base, the other (a large one) in the left hand – and it is done.

Reproduced with permission from:
Jason Job © 2003