Savage Orc tests

My collection of Greenskins is short on Savage Orcs or at least not enough to make large 30+ man units.

So I ran a couple tests using on older plastics to see about cheaply expanding units.

One is an old plastic Orc from the Warhammer Fantasy Regiments set, the other is a 5th edition Lizardman.

I shaved off the right side of the Orcs chainmail and used Apoxie Sculpt to cover up the rest of the chainmail giving him what I hope looks like a caveman fur tunic and replaced his sword with a sculpted club.
The 'lizardman' had his head replaced and his scales shaved off.  Also sculpted a fur cape on his back to cover up the scales.

The lizardmen came out quite well I think.

Dedicating Orctober to the ladies…

 I just finished painting up a few of the old female Orcs from the villagers range and it got me thinking about how neglected Orc women folk have become in the past 15-20 years. There even seems to be the silly notion that Orc females don’t exist which is a bunch of malarkey. But for all the modern fluff's attempt to forget about Orc woman, once their caste in lead you can't erase them.

So here’s a few of my Orc ladies I’ve managed to assemble.

“Now Sista, you aint gonna make no husband outta dat Bo’ by batting him on the bean with that rolleen-peen…  that comes later.”

  -Old Orc matron to the young perspective Orc matron.

I suspect only very old Orcs ever find the urge to settle down and find a wife and the venture is usual short lived.  Gork and Mork only know the nuances of Orc courtship but I’m sure a fair few of the Boys don’t survive the endeavor.  

Although most Orcs are generally idlers and loafers, the cantankerous old gals incessant berating and a dozen or so dirty screaming whelps around the hut is usually enough for the old Bo’ to find the nearest waaagh (or start one) to escape the humdrum of domestic life.

Ol’ Bo Porgo Bucktooth dusted off his old crossbow and slipped out the front door mumbling something about hearing stunties in the garden.  He was never seen around this little village again.

 Here we have Olgra-go-Bash bringing home the bacon so to speak.  Probably going to whip up some Hair-foot-hoagies or Samwise Sammies’.

Can Orc women join in the fighting with the rest of the Boys?  I don’t see why not so long as she has a good right hook and can hold her own. 

(left)Everybody knew Dorra Skullcrusher had already maimed at least half a dozen luckless Bo’s back in her village. So nobody really complained when she attached herself to Boss Gorgat’s raiding party.  (right) Bertta Crotchity had reared dozens of whelps in her day. “fightin’ the waaagh was easier then fixin’ breakfast.”.

The assembled ladies

I saw six Bo’s kicking and punching me mudder-in-law the udder day.  Me gobo sez to me ‘Ain’t ya gonna help?’ I sez’ ‘Nah, six should be enough’

 -Warboss Arrkee Bunkhead

Goblinoids!

I was digging around my Photobucket account (boy did that place go to pot) and found this nice old photo of what I believe would have been referred to as "Goblinoids" back in the 3rd edition and what the kids now call Greenskins.  If I was to re-take this picture today I'd replace the 90's black Orc with an older Iron Claw Black Orc.

Snotlings, Lesser Goblin, Goblin, Half-Orc, Hobgoblin (three toed variety), Orc and Black Orc.

I'm only half dead!

Not much going on in hobby wise.  Everything has been put on hold for the next several months while I update my IT certs and work has been miserably busy.  So the poor old Orcs have been sitting in the same spot on the work bench for a few months now.

I did manage to setup a new display cabinet and grabbed a couple quick photos I felt the need to share.

M.U.S.C.L.E. (Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere)

Well it finally arrived earlier this week.  My Reaper Kickstarter! and as I opened the box and dumped the contents out on the living room floor I had one of those nostalgic deja vu moments going back to my 11 year old self circa 1986 dumping my box of M.U.S.C.L.E.s out on the patio and marveling over the zany uniqueness of each little guy.  Even the hard rubbery plastic they are made from feels similar.  All and all these Bones miniatures are pretty amazing a few noses and fingers seem to lack detail but still far superior in price and quality compared to GW's Finecrap (certainly no bubbles, holes or missing limbs to fill).

Anyways, lots of fun sorting through the little guys and the first thing I did was set aside all the Black Orcs and boxed them up with my growing unit of non-GW Black Orcs. I'm up to about 30 or so now of various manufactures and relegated to the back burner for now.  These Reaper Orcs are kind of pin-headed though, I'll have to make a few head swaps when I get around to them.
Hopefully some day soon work and real life will let up a bit so I can really start cranking on these guys.

Oh yeah and the Cthulhu figure is awesome! Especially as he was only 10 bucks.  If this was one of those resin kits, he'd easily go for a hundred bucks.

 

Bargain Boxes and the Citadel Troll

I was rummaging around my parents attic and found this little jem.  Yes its just an empty box.  But what caught my attention was prophetic yet ironic allegory on the back.

I picked up three or four of these boxes probably no later then 1990' so at the time the miniatures contained therein would not have been more then a few years old.  But I believe the little back story can be appreciated more so by today's collector.

In case you had trouble reading the fine yellow on read text:

As far as the eye could see, stretched dune-like landscape of 25mm figures. Something shifted. An arm appeared above the sea of metal, green and scabrous. Then a foot. Finally a head. At last, a severely bruised Citadel Troll pulled itself free.

‘Cor’,’ it mused, scratching one of its heads, ‘what `it me?’ It looked around cautiously.

Figures,’ said one head to the other. ‘ `Undreds and undreds of `em.’ It scooped up a handful and let them run through its fingers like sand.’

`Old, too’, said the other. ‘Rare. Be worth a fortune these days. Don’t make ‘em like this no more.’ Both heads nodded sagely….

`’Ere,’ said the first head. ‘Worth a fortune, eh? If nobody knows they’re `ere…’

`Only, them what’s under `em,’ put in the second head.

`Then maybe we could….’

‘You mean just us?’

‘Well, they do need shiftin’, an’ no mistake.’  Suddenly, the dark dungeon was flooded with a harsh multicoloured light.

The troll cowered in terror against one wall. ‘Cripse!’ said both heads, almost simultaneously. ‘It’s `im!’

 `So this is where the timewarp hit,’ said a harsh, echoing voice. ‘You!’ –the troll cringed- ‘Break out some Bargain Boxes and get this lot shifted!’

‘Well,’ said the one head as the troll began to shovel the ancient figures into boxes. ‘Just goes to show what a good idea it was if  `e `ad it at the same time.’ The other head glowered.

‘Shaddap an’ keep shovellin’,’ it snapped.

Oh what I would give to be a two headed troll buried in lead!

 

Ol’Lund Dartfinger and the Knuckledragger gang

I finally managed to get the Nick Lund Orcs updated and took some quick photos.  I'm also making an attempt tie them in with the ongoing fluff I have rolling around in my head, which is what I originally envisioned this blog for though its taken a few odd turns.  Maybe in a year or two I'll be able to re-organize this thing into different categories like I see in some of the fancier blogs out there.


Using the old Regiments of Renown format I present Ol'Lund Dartfinger and the Knuckledragger gang.

Cave Orcs-
The mountains surrounding Mordro Valley are filled with a particularly hardy breed of Orc often referred to as cave Orcs for their habit of residing in the shallow caves and abandoned Dwarf mines in the higher reaches of the mountains.

Years of cramped confinement through the harsh winter months of the high peaks, these cave Orcs have developed a more pronounced stooped stature with hands nearly reaching the ground. Its said they can bound down their low ceiling-ed corridors on all fours as fast as a man can sprint.

Ol’Lund Dartfinger and the Knuckledragger gang-

Having perfected the art of chopping Dwarf limbs with their great choppa’s, Ol’Lund and his Knuckledragger gang have made their way down to the greater valley to try their hand in the raiding and pillaging alongside rest of the boyz of the valley.  Though rumor has it they are actually fleeing the wrath of a young dwarf captain Baelrik Tillurideson and his avenging troop of warrior miners.

    Armament: In emulation of their leader most of the Knuckledraggers carry great two handed choppas and mix of crude bludgeoning weapons, axes and swords.

    Dress: A mix of dirty rags and furs to protect them from the cold mountain air.

   Battlecry: The usually cacophony of swearing, though when confronting stunties its usually a string of insults regarding the length of their mothers beards.

    

   Leader: Ol’Lund Dartfinger.  Ol’Lund is a master with the two handed Choppa and suffers no penalties for using a double-handed weopon.

    Deeds:   After several weeks of deadlocked siege during the battle of Leadrock Mine, Through the use of some colorful verbal abuse, Ol’Lund managed to persuade the Dwarf commander foremen Tilluride Forkbeard from his barricades to a challenge in single combat.  Ol’Lund duly split Tilluride in twain with his great two handed choppa.  The Knuckledragger gang made short work of flushing the now demoralized Dwarfs from their mine.

 A  few examples of minor conversion, mostly head gear, to help break up the monotony.

ol' Nick Lund Orcs WIP

The ol' Lunds are coming along nicely. Hopefully another week and they'll be done.

If you haven't noticed about half the unit is old grenadier models while the other half is Citadel (Eeza Ugezods Mother Crusher RoR troopers).  The old Ugezod troopers have pretty shoddy paint jobs so I'm doing a lot more work on them.  While I'm at it I also decided to try and break up the monotony of having so many with the same pose by adding different head gear to some, I'll do a few weapon swaps as well.

In my opinion no two Orcs should look the same so I always do my best mix as many models as possible and try and paint the duplicates differently to help break them up a little.

The original musician I had in the unit, although a grenadier model, was not a Nick Lund sculpt.  A lucky find on ebay has remedied that.