Starting Goblins

Ahem. "Some players begin green, some become green, and others have greeness thrust upon them"

Well, what this butchering of Shakespeare is intended to say, is that I have had greenness thrust upon me (in a sense). I've always been interested in playing an all-goblin army ever since that Ravening Hordes booklet showed up on my doorstep, but I've always shied away from the potential cost (and frustration, as I had seen how easy I could defeat my brothers skinks, but neither of us were the greatest tacticians at the time to say the least). So, after building up a sizable Dwarf force and getting in the middle of a sizable Bretonnian force, I discovered some goblins online for crazy good deals. I made some minimum bids and got some spearmen, reasoning that I could "proxy them as men at arms for my bretonnians!"

Then I proceeded to win several of the auctions I saw on minimum/low bids.

So, I have 150 goblins coming my way! Most are from the Battle for Skull Pass set, but I'll have 10 Wolf Riders, 9 Spider Riders, 75 Night Gobbos with Spears, 55 Night Gobbos with bows, and 1 fanatic for about 50 cents each. Add the troll I have from my blood bowl team, and I have a decent little force right there.

I guess my question is - what's next? I'm already planning on converting some wolf chariots from the wolf riders, and maybe a spider chariot as a counts-as gigantic spider boss. I think when I finish my Bretonnians I will celebrate by getting one of those really big spiders, maybe put the shaman that comes with it on foot and convert the flinger into a rock lobber. Is this a worthwhile investment? It seems like it as then I'd have a shaman, a war machine, and a big monster.

Also, I've checked the site a bit but I can't find much on Squig Hoppers. Are they worth it as flankers with 360 degree charge arcs? I could see them potentially doing well, but random movement 3d6 isn't that much faster than my foot gobbos most of the time.

welcome to da warpath!!

if you want squigs take herds insted of hoppers - and mangler ofc
that being said i do enjoy hoppers from time to time with the giant squig in the unit.


you have a lot of goblins there tho, the main thing that is missing is some warachines,
rock lobber doom diver pump wagon


are you plannign to stick to any theme of goblins or just mixed goblins?


*EDIT*
as for the arachnok id personally leave the flinger - i never have much luck with it, but like you said have the shaman on foot, just take the arach as it comes.

This post has been edited by Morkmillian on Jun 6 2012, 10:07 PM

Squig hopper are a little expensive for what they are. They can be good in small units but they die very easily and because they are cavalry you only get supporting attacks from the goblins.

Squigs are a better investment, but the physical cost of them can be expensive.

The spider/flinger/shamen idea is a good one, a few people have done similar things.

I'd advice you to get a couple more fanatics. Even if you don't use them, having them where your opponent can see them, makes them think twice.

For the theme... well, I'm saying that my army is two massive night goblin tribes that were warring with each other, and due to a lucky (or, depending on who you ask, unlucky) squig stampede their battle was abruptly ended. A single goblin from neither tribe was at the middle (he was running for his life from the squig stampede for quite some time) and the two tribes thought he had ridden in on the stampede from and is an avatar of Mork (or was it Gork) himself!

As such, I'm going mostly Night Goblins, but I won't be afraid to mix and match other goblin types. After all, this goblin is getting to be quite the little megalomaniac what with him being told he's a god all the time, and would be perfectly willing to absorb more tribes into "Da Fold."

I think fanatics and doom divers are going to be my next priority. Fanatics are psychological warfare in my mind more than actual damage. If I have 6 or so set up on the sideline, it might intimidate my foes into making bad decisions, which is perfect. After that its squig time. However, as stated, squigs are expensive (from a financial standpoint, not points). Are there any alternate squig models out there that would work or any cheaper options people have seen? Though my best bet might be to bite the bullet and then build fun unit fillers as I go.

I am considering the Squig Herd Horde I've seen mentioned here a few times, as that could be the stampede from my fluff. Also, it sounds like a surprisingly killy unit.

It's funny how many players I know that have come to the green-side have started out with BOTH dwarves and Bretonnians! I myself did it, and I know at least 6 or 7 others who have done it too.

Hmm... Maybe it's because the Dwarf and Bretonnian books keep telling us what a huge threat greenskins are. If we play two armies that have histories totally shaped by orcs and goblins, it's somewhat fitting for us to go over.

Hmm I started off with an undead obsession...

Getting my youngest sone a BFSP set with some extras thrown in gave me the momentum to put the cost aside and go for ebay goodness however

I think that the spider giving a shaman and a rocklobber with some converting is a good idea, depends on if you want the flinger of not really . Working on getting war machines just now for my own army to start fielding them, it was unanimous on the forums thats what I needed. Squigs also have good write ups, and on paper look like a nice hard hitter unit for goblin armies. There is a thread somewhere about cheap alternative squig models, and ofcourse ebay and cheap horror conversions are open if you have to use GW stuff for playing in the stores.
Also I'm currently trying to ebay the giant bows from Stegadons as a base for a spear chucker or 6, make a stand and some shielding on the bow part I should be good to go, and bundles of weapons from I think it's leadbelchers for characterful ammo. With the amount of goblins you have, you will probably have a few spare to use as crew too.
Oh and chariots, though on ebay they went pricey you can still get them for a good price and chariots always hurt things!

Hope this has helped, especially if you'll be continuing to use ebay!

Welcome

Nice buying! So right now I am seeing;
2 blocks of night gobbos of about 35-40 each (convert some to handweapons, easy and cheap to do, especially if you have other armies). Netters would be a perfect upgrade to at least one, sometimes the lovely old metal ones are available.
2 blocks of bows with 21-25 bow gobbos - fanatic delivery system and mage/BSB bunker. You probably want 4-6 fanatics with 4 blocks of gobbos, some with 2/3 some with none. Keep 'em guessing, don't do 1 each.
5 spider riders and 5 wolf riders (or 2xwolf) as diverters and warmachine hunters.
Your troll really needs company, try to get more of the BfSP trolls, they are easily converted to be different (I have several in my blog in my signature). Can't go wrong with 4-6 trolls kept within the bubble of both general and BSB.
Wolf chariots are great, and if you are a dab hand at converting, some pump wagons are the bomb!

Yeah, great idea. I have one and am planing the same with the flinger, it's pretty useless on the spider.

7th ed they were hands-down my favourite unit, love the bouncy buggers, but in 8th they don't leave the shelf. Squig herds are great, or so I am told, I still haven't gotten around to getting one together. My squig hoppers will go in there as counts-as squigs. If you want flankers with 360 charge, go with the pump wagon!

Good luck with it mate!

Thank you for the help figuring out what to do with what I have!

I posted a list up here using what I have with a few conversions to make it a bit more interesting. I also picked up a Goblin on Great Cave Squig because I love squigs too much to not!

I think step 1 in expanding the army is to get some war machines made and an A-rok Spider. Though I am mentally wrestling with how I might go about making an A-Rok sized squig instead, and make my army have a strong theme. Maybe I could use its body and the many spikes it has as a base for a squig of colossal proportions? Heck, its legs could even be used as giant tusks.

Here's the list: http://z3.invisionfree.com/Orc__Goblin_War...1479&st=0&#last

Just a minor update. I appear to have caught the green bug! My goblins have increased to 290 in number! Some of the goblins are still on the way, but I'm going to have a whole lot of night goblins!

So I'm going to go a night goblin theme for the army. Minor conversions to make my wolf/spider riders night gobbos.

Sounds fantastic! Welcome to Da Warpath! I'm also an all goblin player. The Arachnarok purchase does indeed net you 3 different things plus a whole lot of good bitz to use with whatever you'd like.

One of the strengths of Goblins is the access to cheap and cost efficient heroes, preferably mounted ones. I really recommend a Big Boss (hero) on a Gigantic Spider (the monstrous kind). It's cheap, gives him 3W and is very flexible! Perhaps two, even!