Stronghold project

[Dani]

Hi all,
this is my first message on this forum, and I'd like to have your opinion on a project I have on my mind.
First of all, a little presentation: I was into miniatures some years ago, mostly 25mm/28mm, both fantasy and hystorical gaming. Then my interest shifted on boardgaming and I almost totally dropped miniature gaming, even if, now and then, I still indulge in buying and painting miniatures that I like.
This premise just to tell you that some months ago I bought this boardgame called "Stronghold" that, in few words, depicts a human fortress under siege by a goblins/orcs/trolls army (here's the detail: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/45986/stronghold)
Now, all the soldiers involved in the fight are represented by little wooden cubes in different colours (white, green and red, depending on the fighter rank) and, even if effective, it's not very satisfying by an aesthetic point of view. 
So, I began thinking about replacing wooden cubes with 10mm miniatures, and, after looking around, I found out Pendraken has the best models.
Some times ago I was also sent some dwarves/orcs sample and I liked them a lot (I mean to make it a "dwarfs vs. goblins" fight instead of "humans vs. goblins" fight).
So now I want to begin the conversion, beginning with the dwarven side, and I'd appreciate some suggestion. Also, if it would be possible, I'd appreciate very much to see some pictures of the pieces you suggest.
Here's what I'd need:
17 dwarven shooter (not with a bow, I'd prefer them with a crossbow or - even better - with a blunderbuss, I saw they're on catalog, do you have any pics of them?)
20 dwarven soldiers (middle rank - I like the samples with swords a lot, but I wonder if some axe-wielder would be more effective)
4 dwarven veterans (maybe some heavy armoured dwarf?)
2 dwarven heroes (one should be some sort of berserker, and the other one should be some kind of high officer, or a king, or a priest/mage... someone able to give a good pep talk  )

Also: being the "humans/dwarfs" cubes a little bigger than the evil army ones, I was wondering if 15mm would be better for them...? But I'm not sure, because I wouldn't like to see a marked size difference between the two factions.  :

I thank you in advance for any hint you will give to me and I apologise for my bad English.

Danilo

[Leon]

Here's some pics of stuff that could be used.

Blunderbus and crossbow for the Shooters (FD22, 5):


Axes for the regular Soldiers (FD6):


Some veterans and hero's options (FD23, 24, 7):


Also, there are some figures in the Hill Dwarves (FHD1, 9):

[Captain Verbeek]

as far as cube size, does the cube size represent more troops in one area or just that the humans are larger than the goblins?  You could use a larger base footprint for the dwarf side and a smaller base footprint for the goblins would probably work.  I would definitaly not mix scales though, great big dwarfs fighting little orcs would look strange.

[Dani]

Cap. Verbeek, Every cube represents one single unit, and I agree with you on keeping the same scale for both armies. I'll probably adopt your idea on different size bases.

Leon, thank you for the pictures. I love both FD22 for shooters and FD23-24 for veterans, I think they'll be my choice.
For the regular soldiers, I also like a lot the dwarf with the hammer and the blue shirt in your site banner. He looks very martial. Does he come in different poses?

Another question: amongst the samples, I have this dwarf here, that looks like a priest:


Could you tell me what set does it belong?
(Sorry for the bad pic, it's difficult to take good shots of these guys with a normal camera...)

[Leon]

For the regular soldiers, I also like a lot the dwarf with the hammer and the blue shirt in your site banner. He looks very martial. Does he come in different poses?

Another question: amongst the samples, I have this dwarf here, that looks like a priest:

Could you tell me what set does it belong?

The dwarf with the hammer on the website banner is from the Hill Dwarves, FHD3, and only comes in the one pose.

The dwarf in your picture is one of the Druids in the regular Dwarves, FD16.

[Dani]

Very well, now I have all the infos I needed and I placed my order.

As soon as I'll base and paint my dwarves, we'll have to face the goblin army (much more difficult  ).

By the way, what colour brand do you use to paint your minis?

[Leon]

Dave doesn't get much chance to paint anymore these days!  The Vallejo paints are recommended by a lot of our customers, but I think some of the other members would be better answering that one.

[nikharwood]

One of the main reasons to use Vallejo paints [as opposed, for example, to GW / Citadel] is that:

- they're cheaper
- the colours are matched
- they come in eye-dropper bottles: so they don't dry out & you can control amount of paint put onto your palette better
- they are slightly thinner - and thinner = good 

[Dani]

I'm glad to see we agree on Vallejo paints.
I mostly use them and I'm very satisfied.

[Dani]

Just a little update on the project...
Here's an experiment on the colours for the dwarven army.
They may look odd, but I had to choose those colours because their ranks (veteran-red, soldier-green, shooter-white) have to be immediatly recognizable on the game board.
Any comment is very welcome.

(Again, sorry for the bad picture. They look a little uglier than they are in reality  )

[Leon]

Nice work Dani, although that Dwarf looks a little ghostly!   

[nikharwood]

They look quite cute: and then you see the weaponry 

[jchaos79]

Love the red dwarf in armour !!

[Dani]

Yep, the white one looks ghostly... it's not a coincidence they're the first to die 

[Dani]

Ok, the good guys are almost finished, so it's time to start phase 2: the bad guys.
As for the good guys, there are 3 kind of troops: goblins (white, weak, but could shoot), green (regular orc soldiers), and red (strong trolls).
For the goblins, I think that goblin archers would be good (photo?  : )
For the orcs, is it possible to see some night orc picture? I also liked hobgoblin to be used as orcs (I saw their photos on flickr), but I noticed they're more expensive: are they bigger than usual?
For the trolls, I have a couple of samples and they're really great, but I could use something like AC37 "Siege tower with troll slaves": could you please show me that?

Last but not least: what would you advice as saboteur minis? Skavens maybe?

P.S.: Dwarves I received are awesome, but finally I've found out that I prefer (for gaming purpose) having all pieces in one pose only, instead of mixed ones. When I order, can I someway choose one pose and receive all pieces in the pack in that pose only?