GazbagWarhammer Online Goblin Shaman, completed June 2009

Normally Gazbag and his huge orc warboss buddy Grumlok are packaged with the collector's edition of Warhammer Online, but I received this little guy as a prize at Games Day 2008. I was thinking he'd be a fun little mini to paint and hopefully too small to take very long, even with my tendency to…"personalize" things. As much as I like the little goblin shaman, I had no great interest in painting the mammoth orc under his feet, so out came the jeweler's saw and I cut the little guy free.

His right hand used to grip a huge spiky bit on Grumlok's armor, sort of a handle for his shoulder perch; but once he was off said shoulder, the pose looked odd. I tried repositioning the arm for awhile but ended up just making an entirely new limb from scratch. The dagger is fabricated from ABS plastic and putty, except for the bone pommel which was transplanted from the branches of a plastic GW dryad. His really tiny right hand was only the third handI've ever sculpted. It's by no means perfect, but I'm getting better.

The "serjury" required to separate Gazbag from his thuggish sidekick cost him most of a foot as well as the aforementioned arm, and the replacement limb got a long striped sock, which is a little homage to fellow painter Dave Pauwels and his Gnoblar.

The head of Gazbag's staff received the same carved-ABS treatment as the dagger, with a bit of putty to make it a bit more three-dimensional. I replaced his tufted metal cap with a proper night goblin hood and added a little orc-y skull icon to the forehead. I'll also mention that his protruding tusk used be significantly more prominent. If you're in danger of poking out one of your eyes with one of your own teeth, it's time for to see a dentist.

With such a small miniature I was able to turn a simple 25mm base into a mini-diorama for him, including an icon from a dwarf runesmith, a plastic night goblin cauldron, and, of course, a few old-school mushrooms (though I drew the line at painting them in polka dots).

The photo with the penny is to illustrate just how small this guy really is. More than once I felt like I was working on a snotling shaman…

I deviated a bit from the "official" Warhammer Online version and colors for this character, but that's just personal preference. If you'd like to see the intact, original model, you can check out "How to Paint Your Grumlok Mini" on the Warhammer Online site.