Goblin Warmaster Paper Armies

Goblins preferred method of fighting is to shoot their enemy in the back from a good distance. They are half-way decent shots but in other respects are poor and often unwilling fighters. However, they are dangerous in large numbers and quite capable of overwhelming far better troops by sheer weight of numbers. --Warmaster Revolution

The Goblins Army, not one of the original or expansion armies, started as fan-created army designed by Tom Merrigan with input from Rick Priestley. It was published in Warmaster Magazine #12 (2002). The issue also featured photos of Rick's 10mm conversions of Goblin Spear Chukkas, Pump Wagon, Squig Hoppers, Squig Herders, and a Giant. Tom also wrote a page explaining the concept behind the Goblins Army list, how to play the army, and advice on not taking this army too seriously. It was meant to be fun. If you would like to read that page from the article, I have scanned it into a PDF you can download by clicking Goblin Army Tips.

Eventually, the Goblins Army list found its way into the Warmaster Trials Army pdf, minus Tom's tips. Later, Warmaster Revolution picked up the Goblins Army list, where it remains as one of the WMR official army lists.

Goblins v Orcs & Goblins
My paper army for Goblins is an extension of my Orcs & Goblin set I recently updated. The counters in both sets will work together. If you already have printed the Orcs & Goblins set, you only need to print the first two pages of the Goblins set because page 3 simply reprints counters like the Wolf Riders and Wolf Chariots from the previous set.

One Can Never Have Enough Gobbos!
Even if you don't want to play a pure Goblins army, focusing on the Orcs & Goblins army list instead, page 1 of this set still might be useful if you are looking for even more variety in your Goblins. The two units of Night Goblins are new, as are the eight units of Forest Goblins. By the way, Games Workshop did release Forest Goblins as alternate miniatures for the Orcs & Goblins army, but I would assume they are hard to find and expensive. (I've always liked the old school 28mm Forest Goblins.)

To Squig or Not to Squig?
I debated how players would depict their Squig Herds in 10mm. Would they include Goblin Squig Hoppers among the Squigs? Would they depict the units as the old Squid Herders from Warhammer? Or maybe players would just want all Squigs? Having space on the page and images on hand, I decided to a bit of both. The Squig Herd units can be all squigs. They could also have two squigs stands and a stand of Night Goblin Squig Herders, either as an un-tagged stand or a tagged stand replacing the tagged squig stand in the unit. And so on. I just didn't include any Squig Hoppers in the unit, since these are meant to be herds of squigs and not the old Warhammer Squig Hopper units. At least that is the story I'm going with!

A Note on Miniature Images and Making Units
The images for the Spear Chukkas and Pump Wagon units are of the 10mm miniatures, but as I'm typing this I'm not sure if they were released by GW. I also found a 10mm Doom Diver online, but I felt that my modded image of the 28mm version worked better as a paper counter. Notice that the Doom Diver is a one-stand unit. I've included two un-tagged stands in case someone didn't want them tagged. Same with the Spear Chukkas, which are two-stand units. Those counters can be mixed and matched as desired, which is true of nearly everything I create beyond character stands.

Well, I hope some folks find this Goblins Army set useful. I enjoyed creating it and finally releasing it. As always, please leave any comments, suggestions, or questions below. (I'm sorry that I've had to take anti-spam measures.)

Printing the Counters
I hope you find these paper army sets useful. You can print them at places like Staples or Kinkos, using 110lb card stock paper printed at actual size. You can also print on regular paper and then glue the counters to wooden bases. (Check the older posts on how I did this with my Empire army.) Do not print the pdf to "fit margins." Always print at 100%.  I like printing the counter sets on good copy paper, spray gluing the dull side of a 'Silver Age' comic backing board with Super 77, attaching a sheet to the board, and then cutting out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with a steel ruler. Using the backing boards makes for cheap, sturdy counters. I like keeping the shiny side down to make moving them easier on a table. Note: This set is designed to fit Silver Age and larger comic backing boards.

Click on the counter set image above to download the complete army counter set in PDF format. The set has enough counters to create many armies of 2,000 points or less. Of course, if you need more counters simply print more copies!

Sample Goblins Army Lists for Warmaster
Since Goblins are not exactly a main stream army, I only have one basic sample army. If you have other examples of a Goblins army or tips on playing them, please leave them in the comments below.

Total Points: 1,000
Break Point: 7
6x Goblins
2x Squig Herd
4x Trolls
2x Wolf Riders
1x Goblin Warboss
2x Goblin Hero
1x Goblin Shaman
(It's a basic army without any spells or fancy units, but it works as a starter set.)