Army of the Month: Abyssal Dwarves by Doug Blake

Hi everyone! Welcome to a resurrected feature from the site’s early days, the Army of the Month feature! Long times readers might remember that we tried to feature interviews and pictures from different community members who had forces that caught our eyes. Well, I decided it was time to get back to it. A big shout out to Doug Blake for being our first featured with his fun Abyssal Dwarf army.

Doug is a part of the Warkings of the Northeast game club and a central person who helps run the always amazing Orc Town GT (check out their amazingly zany video introducing 2023’s event). Doug is a great painter, a great player, and even more importantly a genuinely amazing person to play games against. I’m excited to give his Abyssal Dwarf army a little attention!

It has been a while since we did these, so I will also be featuring links to older Army of the Month, just in case you want to visit that army too! If you like Doug’s stuff, definitely check out two of his fellow clubmates’ armies, K2’s Orc Town and Da Great Khan’s Mungdroolian Empire.

Without further delay, let’s get into my interview with Doug!

The Army’s Origins

The rest of the article are Doug’s words, except for captions on the images, and specifically noted moments.

When I first started this project my goal was to use as much of my backlog of miniatures as I could. This army has been a constant project though and ever-evolving. Later, as I got better at painting and basing I came back to the army with the intent to upgrade it. I entirely rebased the army and repainted many parts of the army. I still have not even dipped into certain parts of the army yet which is exciting. I’m currently working on the dwarf and orc units in the army. 

One of my favorite parts of the hobby is converting and making things. When I first started playing Kings of War during 2nd edition I was trying out different armies that best fit the Warhammer armies I had and what wasn’t being played by someone else in our club. It wasn’t long until I wanted to make a fully multi-based army designed for Kings of War. The fact the game is model agnostic and doesn’t require exact model count meant I could let my imagination run wild. I eventually decided on Abyssal Dwarves, based on models I already had either unbuilt or unpainted, and list options. I especially enjoy how the army has very distinct but connected unit types with the Dwarves, Hellforged, and Abominations all in the same list.

In the very beginning, I made sure I had a 2000pt list that I liked and worked towards getting it painted and based. After that, it tended to vary. I have had units I painted because I really liked the models or I think they will be fun to paint, and I have had things I wanted to use in the game or a new list I want to try. Playing in tournaments also strongly encouraged me to paint no matter the reason. As a terrible procrastinator who gets easily distracted, I find having a goal and deadline helped me make decisions I might otherwise have had difficulty making.

Models

Most of the units in the army have models that are different sizes and ranges. It started out as a way to save money and or stretch out models that are harder to obtain. However, I really enjoy the visual variety this gives the units and it is something I have carried on into other army projects. I view each unit and the army as a whole. It’s a similar experience to converting a mini; taking all the parts from various sources and making them work together to make a unified whole. 

Kings of War being model agnostic and muti-based really allows for full creativity in model selection Thus I could use a bunch of models I already had that were not being used. It also let me use older models that would be difficult to fill out an entire army with. I have a bunch of old Confrontation models from Rackham that I never painted that were sitting around unused and awesome. I combined that with a Mantic abyssal dwarves starter and went from there. 

I have learned all manner of skills while working on this army. This project has been ongoing since I’ve been playing Kings of War so as I have grown as a gamer and hobbyist,  I have brought this army along. I learned new painting techniques and got better at the ones I already knew. In addition, as someone who often has a tough time making decisions, working on the army has served as a good reminder that you can always go back and add, remove, or change something in your army. This army has been rebased and repainted numerous times.

Favorite Pieces

I especially enjoy my 3 Gargoyle units and Basusu. I love the models and many of them are converted to have wings. Plus they have little bats on their bases!

My model for Basusu was one of the first if not the first, models I finished in the army. I can remember looking at it and thinking “This is gonna work.”. I also think both units are useful in the game and include them in my lists more often than not.  

Most Challenging Piece

My Obsidian Golems were initially painted differently. They were originally painted to look like a winter whitewash on a WW2 tank. I knew the look I wanted but never executed it quite right. They ultimately ended up looking sloppy, but not in the way I wanted. This combined with my original darker basing scheme just didn’t work. When I rebased the army to give it a deep tundra look, I took the opportunity to repaint the golems the purple and orange they are now. I liked the look so much that I went back and made purple one of the main colors in the army, adding it to all of the units in some way.

Learning Points

I think it’s good to have a reason to be excited when starting a new project. For some, they might be building new models, and for others painting them. It could be trying a new list or choosing an awesome theme. Whatever it is that made you excited to start the project, use that to carry you through the parts you find less exciting. Above all, it should be fun more often than not. If it isn’t and you are feeling burnt out, take a break. You can always come back to a project later on. (Just don’t take too many breaks, otherwise you will just play the same army for 10 years like me – Editor)

Final Thoughts

I have always loved creating things, especially found items on a budget… It’s why I happily spent hours turning a random plastic bucket into a full-sized mutated throwing mastiff or converting a doll into a goblin.  (Doug is referring to some of the amazing prizes they make for Orc Town, examples pictured below – Editor)

For Kings of War and other miniature games, this pertains especially well to converting miniatures and kitbashing. One of my favorite parts of a project is the beginning. I enjoy the challenge of how I can make different list choices from what I have on hand or can acquire. It adds another layer of collecting and fun for me and lets me express my creative side. This is also why I don’t imagine this army will ever be “finished.” I may take breaks and work on other projects, but the variety of the Abyssal Dwarves list and the abundance of the various models I’ve used means I will always be able to find something to add or tweak in the army. As they say, you never forget your first love.