Mounted Orc Boys

More Warhammer Fantasy Battles, this time with PappaJJ's boar riders that I did for him. These models were again most excellent in many ways. First of, these are some of the only orc models that actually rank up and assemble without causing mind-numbing headaches. Secondly, the models were a snap to put together while remaining highly flexible in poses no matter the weapons that were chosen. Lastly, the large smooth areas on the armor allowed me to use the snow on metal effect extensively which I thing came off very smoothly.

Savage Orc Boys

Unlike the standard Orc trooper, the Savage Orc Boys are actually green on most of the model!  It was strange spending so much time on other orcs not painting green. But not with these chaps. I spent time trying to make sure the feral nature of these naturally feral creatures popped out. More contrast in the face and teeth was where I focused. The faces got a treatment of the new yellow glaze which really helped to add some pop.  The teeth got several doses of Secret Weapon Miniature washes (technically glazes as well).

I tried to avoid metal as much as possible on the mostly jungle themed fighters. Again, SWM washes made a huge impact on top of the old GW gray base that was aggressively highlighted. 

Here Be Goblins (More Orcs and Goblins)

While the new edition of 40K is looming closer, I wanted share some more of the Orcs and Goblins that spent most of the last year working on.
First off, goblins are pretty awesome in the lore of Warhammer Fantasy. They are mean, vile, aggressive, and completely nutty!  These spider riders were awesome to prepare and easy to paint up. I could see myself making a full goblin army (one day... in the far future perhaps!)
The purple and orange colors carried over nicely to these units. The purple on the spiders shows nicely and the orange tops gives some contrast.

I've always loved Goblin Fantatics. Its like giving your ADD youngster a kilo of coke and a machine gun. These dudes are wild and crazy and love playing against them. To be honest, these were some of my favorite models to paint up. 

Night Goblins are standard, effective, and the back bone to a goblin army. While I'd like a bit more variation in the models, they assembled easily and painted up nicely. The banner is just completely full of awesomeness. What more can I say about the goblins without getting cheesy?!?

How To Deal With an Orc Horde (As a Painter)

The Orc Horde is upon us!

Ranking models for Warhammer Fantasy is a much different task than arranging individual models for Warhammer 40K. You have to keep models, in rows of five or ten around four rows deep, lined up in a (near) perfect square. This is great when dealing with models like goblins, elfs, and humans. When it comes to orcs, the process sucks. Big Time. These Goblins have it easy.

40K orks are allowed to be more free-form but in WFB the bulky arms and legs are nearly impossible to keep square without making the models all face the same direction. When Jason and I first started talking about the army, it was clear we both liked the 'chaos' of having spears, swords, and shields sticking out in all directions. Its a far cry from the old days of WFB where metal models all faced the same diagonal direction. Those were dark days of modeling!


The easiest way to make these models form up, is to cheat. By making use of the long bases and and the square bases from Citadel you can break up the boring squares and add some depth to some of the filler models. You can take advantage of being able to squeeze four models closer together than on four individual bases leaving room to rank up all the models around the larger bases. Here I used the 50mm Monster Bases to squeeze these orcs together to protect them from the incoming arrow fire.

"Watch 'ur 'eads mates!"

"Oi, not in me eye!"

With the Savage Orc Boys I need to pull a different trick out the box. Jason wanted to have the ability to run one forty orcs unit or two twenty orc strong units, each with banners and musicians. The problem was that I was only given forty models.  So naturally two, models were taken out as extra musician and banner which allowed me to put one model in a spot for two in the main rank.(Here I used two 25mm x 50mm bases). Because of the chaos from the unit, you don't even miss those two orcs. That is the true nature of orcs I guess. 

Its only kinda cheating. 

So the full squad contains 38 models with two extra stand-ins!

And they get to play king of the hill.

The last thing I wanted to do but just wasn't able to make it work with the orcs is to make a formidable shield wall, like the Greek Hoplites. It was outside of my ability and didn't fit the aggressive nature of the orcs. I compromised.  So the front rank here was pushed far forward to make room for the second rank of models. I also positioned orcs taking the ranged shooting while getting ready for the initial hand to hand combat.

Perhaps another army can hide behind large shields. I'm looking at you Men-At-Arms!

Lastly, I used a number and letter system with stick on labels pasted to the bottom of each model. That way units can be assembled quickly and easily. 

It Is Finished

Long time followers of this blog know that I have been working on an Orcs and Goblin Army for PappaJJ for greater than one year at this point. I am proudly announcing today, that it is finished! It features over 2K points worth of core units, two 40-orc strong units, and plenty of characters. I'll be posting the army over the next several posts and going into detail about each unit and the heroes. Don't worry, I'll be back to painting 40K armies soon enough. I have lots of Inquisitor models to share.

PappaJJ has been very gracious in making sure I had plenty of time to work on other projects while working on his army. However, I'll make it said that since Adepticon finished this year, I've work hard-core on finishing this army. Now its time for some hard earned time off, mainly to clean up my hobby and painting area!

One of the cool things about this army is that PappaJJ wanted an unusual paint scheme- no red, no yellow, no black. In fact he wanted winter colors and something that worked well with his Dark Elves. So purple and orange finally emerged as the key colors to balance out the green skin of the orcs.  It was a fun army to pain, but using this colors proved to be a fun challenge. It was great fun working with snow effects to try to create some freshly fallen snow. 

Big Units in Fantasy

That sounds like some odd porn title. but its not what I wanted to talk about today!
One of the issues I battled with this Orc army is how to keep track of all of the boys in the unit. Enter the simple and effective solution.
I picked up some customizable printer labels that you can peel off (here) for another project. For this, you simply cut down the label and put them on the underside of the base. Now you know where the guy goes and change the order over time (like for instance if GW changes the rules on you!).
Initially I used a Sharpie but it was hard to see (unless you have the super cool Silver Sharpie) and its hard to change.

There you go. Your simple tip of the day. 

Orc Boy Champion

A couple of days ago, I showed the completed unit. But today I wanted to share the unit champion in detail. While the standard troopers can get a bit repetitive over a short time, the unit leaders and the characters are nothing short of awesome.

The base is cork board with snow effects. Simple, effective. The rust effect is from Secret Weapon Miniatures. The 'dust' was added to water and applied like a regular thinned paint. 

Orc Boys, Complete!

It seems like eons ago that I started this unit, but they are done! Painting 40 Boys is no laughing matter, let me tell you. But it was great fun painting up all of these orcs. While I generally still hate a few things about the kit, it is an improvement over the prior versions of the main orc foot troops. The biggest issue is that the models are generally too big for their bases and when you trying to squeeze 40 of them into a unit, you have to get a bit creative in how you place them on the bases, and even what arms you use.
Anyway, I am happy how these guys have turned out.  I know that Pappa JJ will be happy as well, or I'll stab him in the eye with all of these spears!

Here is the unit, assembled, and ready for paint.

And here they are, all covered with paint (minus that banner thing). 

Don't worry. I'm not done yet... there is a rather large stack of boys still in my basement!

Miniature Monday- Orcs in 4x4

One of the biggest aids in painting large regiments in Warhammer Fantasy Battles (like this huge Orc Boy mob) is to put some of your models on the long regiment bases (like last weeks post), or square monster bases. It helps break up with 'stand in a straight line' phenomenon you can otherwise get. These boys are going to be in the middle of the large unit, shields to be placed up in the air to protect them for the inevitable hail of fire.

For those keeping track of the army, the weapons need the rust effect finalized and the shields with emblems will be placed. Twenty-four down, only sixteen left to go!