Gor Blimey!

Is it me, or have we been overwhelmed with Gor recently? Well, they are core, so here's some more. Some more core Gor.

My first 'horde-level' post, painting like a Kraken!

Full disclosure: these were not originally painted by me. I found a whole batch of 40 Gor at Fire-Sale-of-Sigmar prices, and I snaffled up the lot.

In the distant past, these creatures once fought on *square* bases.

Now, I know I pledged that 2016 would be the Year of No New Miniatures, but there are extenuating circumstances:

• They were already painted, so it wasn't like I was adding to the leadpile
• They were sooo cheap, I was like I was making money! (somehow)
• I was never going to stick to it anyway. Let the leadpile grow as high as The Silver Tower!

Even if I'd resprayed them, they would have been a bargain, but they actually had some pretty solid basecoats, with a first wash of brown over them, so the heavy lifting had already been done.

They're a lighter skin tone that my own painted Gor - so I guess those other guys just got promoted to Bestigor.

I added some Agrax Earthshade to the hooves, fur and horns, Nuln Oil to the weapons, with Tinny Tin drybrushing over all the metal and XV-88 to the weapon hafts (with more Agrax Earthshade on top).

The biggest difference came with the eyes and teeth - clearly the last owner had baulked at that level of detail, but for such a quick addition, it has an overwhelming effect of making them look finished (and draws the eye away from the odd details - buckles and amulets - that haven't been touched).

The banner was another thing that had been skipped to save time, so there was no avoiding freehanding it. I went with an idea I'd previously suggested to Kraken: a chaos star with bestial horns.

My artistic eye wasn't quite up to it, and I appear to have drawn a big love heart on the banner. Remember kids: when you need freehand painting, don't risk it yourself. Call in the professionals.

It was during the rebasing that I noticed something interesting about the models: half of them were on plastic slottabases, so they were clearly a different type to the 7th Ed Box Set I'd worked on previously.

I did some digging, and it turns out, there was another plastic Beastmen Regiment box to accompany the inaugural 'Beasts of Chaos' army book in 6th Ed.

Snarly Sixth Ed.

Looking at the sprues, it was a bit of a funny kit: you got 12 Gor and 8 Ungor on the sprue (so it looks like Kraken's theory about their shared origins was correct) - which is a bit odd in itself. I can't imagine getting a mixed bag of Orcs and Goblins.

Living together in harmony.

The other strange thing is that these 6th Ed. models look very, very similar to their 7th Ed. successors (so much so that you can't tell by looking at the regiment). The heads seem the same; as do the bodies (although the later ones have different leg poses and no slotta tabs); the weapons are broadly the same (the only absentee is a morning star); the biggest change is in the shields and banner - they are much more detailed in the later kit.

It just screams 'fine detail brush!'

The 7th Ed models also have some more fussy details on the torsos: sidearms and tokens etc. I remember thinking them unnecessary when I painted the last batch, and wishing for a simpler Gor that could be painted quickly (and it turns out - there was!).

I think that encapsulates the different between the two kits: if I had to paint 10 of them, I'd want the 7th Ed pack every time. If I had to do 40 in a batch, I'd get the 6th Ed. But now I have both, so plenty of variety for me - huzzah!

Photorealistic Seventh Ed.

It's strange to see such a rapid upgrade on a core kit, for so little discernible change. But I guess removing the slotta and separating the Gor and Ungor was unavoidable - so the designers just stuck with a classic sculpt (or, less charitably, they just phoned it in).

25mm is smaller that the unofficial base size for Gor, but apart from saving space in my overstuffed cabinet, it means I now have quite a respectable 8th Ed Beatsmen army (over 2,000pts in fact), so I should get myself some movement trays for that.

The bases got the usual sand + ink + snow effect.

Then everything got splattered with Blood for the Blood God. Naturally.

And that's not everything - there's still more! Not more Gor, but more nonetheless. Tune in tomorrow for the final addition for WoffBoot X!