HoTT - The next project

As the first 24AP worth of my HoTT Dwarfs near completion I’ve started thinking about possible opponents for them. My son thinks Lizardmen are cool, but I haven’t managed to pick up too many of those (at the right price) on eBay yet, so they’ll have to remain a future, future project for the time being.
Beyond that there was no army jumping out and screaming “paint me” – All I knew was that I wanted some “baddies” to oppose my Dwarfs, and preferably something which would work thematically with lots of Hordes - purely on the basis that, traditionally, Dwarfs like nothing more than gruffly hacking their way through overwhelming numbers of enemy..
Anyway, during another trip into the loft (putting away some clutter) I unearthed a few older, but still available, GW Orc & Night Goblin character models – enough to give me at least 12AP worth of Hero & Magician elements. I thought about if for all of 5 seconds before deciding – Goblins it would be..!
Thinking about it a bit more, Goblins seemed the ideal choice, “ticking all the boxes” as it were -archetypal bad guys, and sworn enemies of the Dwarfs. On top of that, the innumerable ranks of puny Goblins just screamed out “Hordes”. As if that wasn’t enough, I knew that GW did a large range of easily available, quirky Goblin models which could be used to represent most other HoTT element types.
After some patient searching on eBay I managed to pick up 10x Goblin Spider Riders, some Night goblin Netters & Clubbers, a Squig Herder Team, and a box of 20x Night Goblins all for under £20.00.
That little lot alone gives me more than enough models to put together a 24AP force; something I can get on the table quickly, and add to at my leisure.
Based on the figures I have I’m looking at a starting force of something along the lines of this:

Orc Shaman General – Magician 4AP – the Big Boss, using fear and magic to keep his diminutive troops in line..
Night Goblin Chieftain – Hero 4 AP – Hopefully adding a bit of “oomph” to the Goblin battle line..
Night Goblin Shaman – Magician 4AP – Supporting the “boss” by assisting with those vital spells…
Squig Herders – Beasts – 2AP – Giant Fungi – 80% big teeth and attitude, goaded in the right direction by Goblins wielding a giant trident.
Goblin Netters & Clubbers – Lurkers – 1AP – Opportunists hoping to ensnare, then pummel, the unwary..
Goblin Spider Riders x 3 @2AP – 6 AP – Riders – helping out the hordes with those all important overlaps.
Puny Goblins Armed with various weapons x 3 @ 1AP – 3AP – Hordes – expendable, replaceable and, hopefully, entertaining…!

As I say, this is an initial list based on what I have or have managed to pick up so far. Eventually, I’d like to increase the number of Hordes to about 5, drop 1 of the Spider Riders and add in a Troll (behemoth), possibly at the expense of the Goblin Shaman - I can easily imagine the Orc dispensing with his minion as his head is “turned” by the lure of the raw power of a troll..

Anyway, I still have 1 or 2 Dwarf bits to finish before starting this project so I'm still a few days away from assembling or painting these Goblins - I just thought you might be interested to know what's coming next!! I'll chart this army's progress here..

Take care
Bob Mcleish