I have a long history of incomplete hobby projects.  My usual method of operation is getting excited to start a project, buy all the models to make it happen, start the hobby part of the project, add to the project to make it larger than the original scope, get burned out on the project, and then move on to the next project with the original unfinished. With Blood Bowl being my main hobby project, it’s no surprise that almost half of my teams are incomplete to one level or another.  With the prospects of a retro Blood Bowl event in 2024, I figured now was the time to wrap up my longest unfinished project. 

How it looked when it started

The event in question is to be a Gutter Bowl tournament using old school models.  My oldest and longest incomplete team is my 3rd Edition Chaos Dwarves.  This team was my first 3rd Edition team I ever purchased back in the day when you had to call Games Workshop over the phone to place an order.  By my reconning the team was probably purchased around the turn of the century.  Although the team hasn’t seen much use in the last 20 years, its probably seen more use than any other team I’ve owned.  Its seen three seasons of league play and has represented at three tournaments to include the 2003 Blood Bowl at Games Workshop HQ in Nottingham.  This team is also unique in that it is already on it’s second paint job.  I didn’t feel the original was good enough to hit the field in Nottingham and slowly repainted them over part of 2003.  

I distinctly recall marveling how much better then second paint job was at the time so I can only assume it was rough.  Originally the team only had access to Bull Centaurs through the Star Player, but around 2002 or so the roster was expanded to allow rookie centaurs to be added.  That was great news for Chaos Dwarf teams but at no time in the last two decades has any official GW Blood Bowl Bull Centaurs been released.  This meant that the only official model available to the team was the Star Player H’Thark the Unstoppable.  I remedied this years ago by turning to a Warhammer Fantasy Bull Centaur and snipping off his axe and shield nub.  As I usually do, I added some hobgoblin musicians and bannerman to use as cheerleaders.  For an apothecary I did have the loaders from the earth shaker cannon but years ago I gave the (unpainted) models to a friend and was left with a really crappy hobgoblin I had slapped some paint on.  At some point while I was having fun as a young man deployed to the Middle East the roster was again expanded to include a minotaur.  

To keep on track and to ensure this project was (finally) completed, I came up with some ground rules to stop the project from following my usual routine.  

1. This is not a repaint, just a refresh to get it on the table
2. Fill in missing models with appropriate metal models of the era
3. Upgrade to current base size
4. Resist the urge to add to the work load

Working under these guidelines step one was to find an appropriate minotaur.  

This excellent painted model was found on Reddit to a now deleted user.

The most appropriate model in age and style would be one of the most infamous models of Blood Bowl history, Grishnak Blackhoof. I did own this model at one point, but I committed the cardinal sin of throwing him away several years ago.  Never throw out models!!!  Still, even if I had him on hand, he wasn’t a good choice as he is frankly one of the ugliest models in the range.  This meant I needed to find something still metal and appropriate for the team.  After searching eBay, I came across the 5th Edition metal GW minotaur.  This model was a weird one as it was put out shortly before GW stopped supporting Blood Bowl.  This has made the model rare to find and can go expensive.  I found a Candian seller who was offering up quite a few of them which makes me feel that it’s a copy of the original. 

Probably a copy of the original, but he turned out great!

To keep the painting of the new models to match with the originals I decided to emulate the lack of skills I had when I painted them back in 2003.  I primed all the models using a paintbrush instead of the airbrush and I tried to match the colors as much as possible.  There appeared to be some shifts in the red and blue colors used in my original paint job, but I did my best to shade them as close as possible.  It was tough to not go into full re-paint mode, but I was able to get through the majority of the players with little work.  For some reason I really liked painting with Tin Bitz (now Warplock Bronze) from GW in 2003, so I left it alone on places where I went crazy with it.  

I freshened up the skulls and horns on these guys and that was it.

Crazy beard colors was a hallmark of this team so I left them alone and did my best to add some crazy colors on the Bull Centaurs.  

Bases used base toppers from Rival Crafts and resin numbers from Fanath Art

Only two hobgoblin players needed finishing.  The skin colors used on my original paint jobs were lost to me so the ones I painted fresh don’t have quite the same hue.  It worked out alright though as I think it just adds some variety.  

Of course, no project would be complete from me without adding to it when it was almost done.  I felt I needed some kind of apothecary, so I turned to my deep storage and found some staff miniatures I ordered from GoblinGuild Miniatures years ago.  Being metal and roughly cast I felt they would fit in despite being cast two decades after the original players. 

I even left the roughly cut shield nub on his hand, just how I left it 20 years ago!

My converted Bull Centaur had the least amount of paint from my last league season so he gave me the most freedom to work with.  I probably spent more time on this model than even the minotaur who was bare metal.  For the body I went with a classic Red Bull look.  Compared to the rest of the team he was loaded down with nice little details and his absurdly large hat was covered in skulls and arrows.  For my second Bull Centaur (H’Thark) I changed his turd brown body to a classic black and freshened up his skin, beard, and tusks.  

And that was it!  After sitting unfinished since 2004, I finally have my old Chaos Dwarf team back in action.  It can accommodate a full roster of player options and it has plenty of sideline figures for staff and re-roll markers.  The project even survived me adding in more models at the last minute!  I’m not going to lie, finishing this project has been immensely rewarding.  I purged a lot of Blood Bowl when I joined the military in late 2004, and this team was one of only 3 that I kept.  They have traveled with me around the world and despite my Blood Bowl playing going through long breaks, it’s also been there waiting to see some use in the future.  By my count, I am six models away from completing three more long overdue projects, so I am going to make them a priority this year. Let’s hope we can all slay some unfinished projects in 2024!