Sproket does Troggoths at Element Games.

The last month has seen me the busiest I’ve been in a long time with Golden Demon at Warhammer Fest and my Troggoth workshop in Stockport. Having said that I’ve just had a quiet week to take stock and make some plans for my Nurgle demon tank, which is finally seeing some activity (at long last!). That will be the topic of my next post.

For the moment it’s time to look back at my Troggoth workshop. Rather than rolling out something already prepared like my Plaguebearers ‘contrast’ workshop I’d decided to focus on a newer model. This certainly made for more preparation but I think it’s important to keep things fresh and not fall back on old favourites too easily.

In truth I had a few misgivings about using Troggoths for a workshop! From the painting perspective I was confident that they would be a successful subject, but the new Troggoths require quite a bit of construction before you can get down to the painting. While I hoped that participants would be able to arrive with a Troggoth pre-assembled and ready to paint, I assumed that not everyone would have the time or opportunity to do so.

Such proved to be the case but I’d factored some flexibility into my schedule and by lunchtime on Saturday everyone was painting. By the end of the day all the Troggoths were at roughly the same stage. This is a credit to all the participants who put some serious effort into their painting and kept the pace up over both days!

Painting was at the core of my workshop and the Troggoths proved to be an even better subject than I hoped they would be. With widely differing front and back sides they provide the opportunity to explore a range of forms, volumes and textures. They also pose a challenge with regards to the transitions between these contrasting areas. Best of all the Troggoths are large enough that there is a good amount of surface area for a painter to get to grips with all the challenges posed.

I prefer participants to be comfortable working at their own pace but I think it was a testament to their dedication that, by the end of play on Sunday, we had a remarkably consistent line up of Troggoths. Everyone focused on slightly different aspects of the miniature but I had the pleasure of seeing real progress in all cases. I might have had my doubts beforehand but the Troggoths are a definite winner when it comes to workshop miniatures!

More Troggoths!

I’m very happy to say that my Troggoth Workshop looks likely to be making a swift comeback. Final details are awaiting confirmation but I can give a heads up that, all going well, I will be running the workshop plus an evening presentation ‘Top Ten Tips, Tricks and Techniques’ in Nottingham on the 28 and 29 September. I will be posting more details ASAP!