From Russia with a choppa'.

  I picked up a set of Zvezda's Orcs a while back and thought I'd post a few quick thoughts on the models.

  This set is by no means new, I'd guess they've been on the market since early 2000's. Around these parts they aren't normally seen on the shelves of gaming stores. Zvezda is more of a model company, producing some excellent WWII kits etc and as far as I can tell has inherited a lot of the Italeri lines and maintains some sort of distribution partnership between the two companies. So I normally see/saw them in model shops and frequently in discount bins. Of course by the time I decided I needed a box they had pretty much disappeared.

  I was really hoping the set would come with lots of extra bits, heads and arms and that sort of stuff.  Sadly I was a little disappointed.  There's just enough heads and arms to make 21 orcs, one of which is a lady orc which is a nice touch. It does have plenty of weapons and shields and a few pouches and trophy heads which is also nice.
  The models are made from hard plastic which is to be expected from a model company. That doesn't bother me any but I read some complaints about that. The models have plenty of detail but the detail is soft and fades out which makes painting a bare.
 

  I've had these four knocked out for a while and although I like the models they were not very fun to paint.  The lack of defined details is a drag and had me painting in imaginary details to make up for the lack of it, if that makes sense.  The results are nice but I'm not particularly looking forward to finishing the rest any time soon.

 I'd read these guys are large and some even claim they are ogre sized.  There is certainly truth to that. They tower over the old 80's orcs and are a bit taller then Olley's black orcs. Aesthetically they are different then most of Citadels stuff but that's what attracted me to them as I'm hoping to use them as Big Uns in a non-Citadel orc army I'm working on.

  They are definitely as tall as the old ogres but are no substitute in my opinion. They just wouldn't fill out a 40mm base very well.  Which reminds me, these guys come with 20mm bases which is a bit absurd. Mine are on proper 25mm bases and should rank up fine, 20mm would be impossible.

So that's it.  I think they are nice models but not as exciting as I was hoping they would be. If you can pick them up at a discount price say 20 dollars or so I think they're worth it but I wouldn't pay much more then that.


Time to get back to my Orcs of the ash wastes project.
Orcyboy (Tartar Sauce)-





 

Why I think AoS is a win win for me!

I have no interest in playing Age of Sigmar, there's nothing there for me and I really haven't played much Warhammer in the past 10 years either, when I do its hashes of 3rd edition or 6/7th edition.

Nowadays I go about collecting all the miniatures I could not afford when I was a kid. The problem is I'm definitely not alone in collecting old lead and since the "Oldhammer" movement has taken off over the past few years it seems the ebay market for good deals has diminished considerably.

Now here is the great part about AoS. 

If it takes off like GW would like it to, a lot of people buying into it will start updating their collections to match this new video game ott aesthetics GW is going with. Which means these guys will start dumping all their plastic cack onto the market and I'm sure mixed in their will be some lead gems.

Now if the whole thing is a flop and a the bulk of gamers move out of Wharhammer/AoS on to other things, again we should see a great dumping of collections onto the market and no doubt some good stuff mixed in there.

See, its a win-win for me!

Happy Halloween (Or Happy Zombtober)

Trick-or-Treat!!!

Leviathan Orcs size comparisons

For any interested here are some size comparisons of the Heartbreaker/Grendel Leviathan Orcs mixed with various Citadel Orcs.

Left to right:

Citadel 80's, HHG, Citadel 80's, IronClaw/Citadel Black Orc 80's, HHG, Citadel 80's, HHG, 

Citadel 90's

Citadel 2000, HHG, Citadel 80's, HHG, Citadel 80's

Citadel Ogre 80's, HHG, Citadel Ogres 80's, HHG, Chronicle/Grenadier Ogre 80's, HHG, Iron Claw/Citadel Black Orc 80's

Size wise they match up pretty well Citadel Black Orcs (which is probably why I painted them in darker tones), are larger then most standard Orcs from the 80's and are smaller then most Ogres though my only Chronicle Ogre I think is a larger one.

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Orc Mercenaries

Its Orctober again! So I guess I'll use this Orctober as an excuse to discuss and show off some of my old Orc Mercenaries of the Eastern Steppes.

I'm feeling a bit verbiogely challenged at the moment so let me just pilfer from the old Warhammer Armies book (pg 157).

Orc Mercenary Contingent

Certain Orcs have realized that there is money to be made selling something that they do for fun anyway. The first Orc mercenaries were probably tribes that lent their aid to others for suitable reward. Orc mercenaries are not particular who they work for, as the famous utterance of the Orc Warlord Spittlebone Vorsprunk illustrates: "Look mate, if a sprogging Stuntie offered me 'arf their prisoners to eat an' some tasty loot an' all, I'd 'elp 'im raid me own village.

Orc Mercenary Commander 

The most successful Orc mercenary leaders tend to be those with an unusual glimmer of intelligence, able to intimidate the most booty out of their employers. 

Orc Renegades

Many Orc mercenaries are outcasts or renegades who managed to escape the wrath of their tribal chiefs.

Orc Renegade Arrer Boyz

The cleverest Orc mercenaries acquire bows and fight as Arrer Boyz since they can slay the enemy from a safe distance with a good chance of surviving the battle to collect their pay.

So here are my Orc mercenaries of the Split Skull band, led by Bundykhan the One-eye. Tired of being bossed about by the despotic Hobgoblin Khans, they have left their homelands in the Eastern steppe lands and have since been traveling the world plying their trade as mercenaries.

These guys were used pretty extensively throughout my 6th edition days and served as filler in several armies but most notably with my Ogres of Nippon which I only had about 2k points worth and so served to fill the gap in games over 2k points. But they also frequently served along side (and against) my Orcs and Goblin, Undead and even a friends Lizardmen. The Arrer Boyz in particular acquired a fearsome reputation, on several occasions destroying large Dark Elf regiments, the Elves scoffing at the Boyz inability to shoot straight but in their hubris forgetting those same Boyz carried large sharp choppas tucked in their fur coats.

Here they are deployed with their old friends from Nippon

I'd imagine most of you recognize these as the old Leviathan Orcs from about 1990, which are still available from Scotia Grendel miniatures for a reasonable price.  I bought the bulk of these guys way back in January of 2000, my first ebay transaction ever! I quickly painted them to a tabletop standard and set them to work.

In my opinion they fit in nicely with contemporary Citadel Orcs of the same time. They are a bit chunky or maybe hefty is a better word, they'd also make good stand-ins for Black Orcs. But this is the same period Citadel/Kevin Adams changed their style of Orcs from the beloved 80's golden age Orcs to the chunkier more cartoony 90's Orcs (A style Kevin seems to have stuck with over the years).

There are drawbacks to these guys. There are only two posses of each troop type, so two different bowman, two different swordsman etc, so there's a lot of duplication resulting in a fairly monotonous looking unit. Worse still, the swordsmen come one with shield and one with two swords, but hopefully soon I'll have enough to break them into two separate units. Also, maybe because they were made for a skirmish type game, they have some issues with ranking up neatly.

I quite like the Boss in the command set, though it sadly lacks a musician.  The fella with the halberd also has a bow and quiver strapped to his back, assumably ment to be the Boss for either the Arrer Boyz or the Spear Boyz.

They may have been my first ebay purchase but certainly not the last, maybe they are to blame for this addiction. But I have acquired over the years enough to complete a unit of spears, now waiting patiently to be painted.  That will make three units, four actually once I split out the shielded Orcs from the two hand weapons. Then they'll nearly be an army in their own right.

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New Blog: The Hobby Stash

So I started a new blog The Hobby Stash.  No plans to close 'Old Orcs Never Die'.  The problem is I want to keep this blog dedicated to Greenskins so I haven't really been able to post, discuss or brag about any of my other hobbies or even my other non-greenskin fantasy miniatures.  Seeing all these amazing blogs showing off their Rogue Trader era gangs and stuff really got me motivated to get this new blog kicked off and a good excuse to start painting up some of my old stuff.

So here we go-

The Hobby Stash!

Half-Orcs Done!

I can't believe I started these guys way back in February, long gone are the days of kicking out a unit a week.

I might be alone in this but I don't particularly care for my greenskins to be clones of one another, not only is it a bore to paint but it just doesn't feel natural on greenskins. So feeling the need to explain away their peculiar lack of individuality here goes....
Murdork's Murderin' Mercenaries have recently entered Mordro Valley, flush with victory over the notorious necromancer Edwardo Scheerfingin scourge of of Border Princess.  Hailed as heroes throughout the Border Princess they have left that land intent on bringing justice and freedom to those in need... for a price.

The local Orcs of the Mordro valley are naturally skeptical of these 'damn stinkin halfgrots' story and a bit confused on how they got past the Toll Boof in the first place.  So long as they keep their hands to themselves I suppose they can be tolerated.

Murdork's Murderin' Mercenaries appear to represent a more stable community of half-orcs with less exaggerated and varied features, probably having kept amongst themselves for several generations. Of course that doesn't make them any better or worse as half-orcs.
Naturally the 'story' as they tell it has been embellished quite a bit.  Having backstabbed, bushwhacked and extorted every community in the Border Princess they finally threw their lot in as mercenaries with the local necromancer Edwardo Scheerfingin. Freshly armed and armored to a somewhat consistent standard and puffed with pride they remained true to their nature and deserted. The noose was getting a bit to tight in the Border Princess so they've moved on and eventually manageing to take refuge in Mordro Valley.

 Murdork's Murderin' Mercenaries

 

Murdork on the left, musician and standard.

A selection of a few of the boys showing off their varied skin tones.

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Happy 4th of July!

May the 4th by with you!