Orctober 26, The Second Batch: Skulks, Ax and Gore Riders and Heroes

Here's the next batch of updated orcs.  Three units this time, plus a couple of heroes

The Second Batch

Skulk Troop

I've finally based up the remaining Skulks that I painted back in 2020. One of the quivers needed the paint refreshing, otherwise it was just basing, so a definite easy win.

Skulks

Orc archers, whatever next?

This gives me two troops, which is probably enough, but I have enough bits in the Grey Horde to add at least two more troops. I think troops give more tactical flexibility than one regiment. Mind you, they didn't last long last battle, even with the Raiders upgrade. 

They are a fun unit, and can sometimes surprise. 

Skulk Stalker 

The Skulk Stalker was one of the Dungeon Saga Green Rage expansion orcs, painted up for Vanguard. I rebased him on a tactical rock and did a bit of tidying up on the painting. 

It's not a hero I've ever thought about using before; indeed, I'd kind of skipped over him in the army lists, but I might give him a go now I've got him.

The Skulks' Boss

He caught that coat himself

Gore Rider Troop

Next up is a troop of Gore Riders. These were painted up many years ago and were intended to be a troop rather than half a regiment, hence a carnyx (horn) blower but no standard and a less impressive leader made up from one of the ordinary riders with a weapon swap. 

One of them was later based individually for Vanguard; I can't see that ever getting played again around here, so I'm happy to press gang him into the army.

Gore Riders in the Sky

Eat Our Dust

Ax Regiment 

I also got a regiment of ax based.  There were a few broken and missing axes, but I've got plenty of spares. The Marauder sprue has a left hand holding a club covered with metal plates, ideal for repairing damaged left hands. I did a little bit of highlighting as well, particularly on the cloth areas. Nothing too obvious I hope, but I think it makes a difference. 

Before additional highlights

And after. Hopefully it makes a difference

I kept the broken pillars from the original base and added some XPS block walls. I think I've still got the look of them marauding through ruins.

Orc Ax

Orcs in column, or just walking past one

Finally, some Inspiration

Those Gore Riders need some mounted Inspiration; the Flagger on Gore uses a normal Gore Rider with a flag pole replacing the spear. The left arm is a restic piece from the Fight Wagon crew.

He was already painted, but I made a few changes to the flag to make the torn trophy bit stand out more, and picked out some highlights on the skin. 

Then it's simply a coat of matt varnish and a bit of work to make the base fit the current aesthetic.

Flagger

Flag plus trophies

Now I need to paint a blue flag with a yellow sun

What's Next? 

I'll be swapping back to ogres next, but I must get some more of the old orc infantry rebased.

I've still got to finish repainting the Flagger, and there are a few more heroes I'd like to paint up, simply to give me more flexibility in army choices. 

I suspect we'll be increasing the points next game, so I'd better get busy. I've plenty still choose from in the old army: a giant, three chariots, a regiment of gore riders, a regiment each of morax and greatax and three regiments of ax.

And there's the Grey Horde too, with plenty of options there. 

Ogtober 26: Mantic Ogre Warriors

Time to get some more Ogres done, so I painted up the Warriors that I teased at the end of the previous Ogtober post.

I chose to build them all with swords and will probably do another regiment with all axes and clubs. It makes no difference within the game, but does give me some way to identify them in write ups. 

The leader is another female ogre, in case we ever use the Clash of Kings 24 updates (yup, still using third edition - it works for us), where a unit could be upgraded with a Matriarch.

Ogre Warriors

Rear view 

Painting 

They were pretty straightforward to paint (though I realised that I missed a few mould lines - darn) using the same skin tones as the Sergeant and trying to match the base. As it was my first time painting these particular bodies there were places where I wasn't sure if something was armour or strap, or where the boots ended etc. Still, I worked it out in the end. 

No one gets a tactical rock; those are reserved for Heroes. I did try using a bit of filler to add some relief to the base, otherwise the technique was the same as on the sergeant. I don't think the Martian Ironearth has worked as well (I didn't use a thick enough layer, apparently), and painting around the ogres was fiddly, but doable. It does make me wonder how I'm going to manage with 15 to 20 goblins on a base. 

I think I could do with some more varied tufts for this army, or maybe even some small succulent type plants. But for now they're fine.

Painting a unit of ogres is a bit like painting a unit of heroes; they are large enough that each demands individual attention.

That said, I did do the same stage across all the minis. They take longer than painting smaller troops of course, but there are only three to a unit, so I suppose it balances out. 

It does encourage me to look at ways of justifying two ogres to a regiment.

What's Next?

Apart from more orc sorting for Orctober 26, I've built a couple of Boomers who are awaiting paint. Hopefully I'll squeeze them in to October.

Two Boomers 

Orctober 26 The First Batch: Basing and Rebasing Morax and Trolls

Since I needed to increase the Lockdown force for the recent game against Boðvoc, the first units to be tackled for Orctober were the already painted Morax who finally got based, and the Trolls from the old army who were rebased to match their more recently done chums.

The first batch  Morax Troop The Morax needed a little bit of repair work, merely replacing broken axes (I have lots of spares in the bits box). One of the reasons the orcs in the old army have so many broken axes (though not in the case of these unbased Morax) is that I originally based them with weapons sticking out over the bases. I avoided that issue this time around, hopefully they'll keep those axes a bit longer. I've kept up the theme of them marching through ruins, using some XPS 'bricks' alongside an old fishtank ornament pillar.

Morax troop

Rear view

Troll Regiment

There's not a lot to say about them. I did take the opportunity to add some highlights to the trolls, partly to give them more variety of skin tones, but I don't think it's worked particularly well. I also used some of the Vallejo Effects Rust paints on their armour.

Trolls

Rear view

And Something New

My orcs needed something to boost their Nerve, so I painted up a War Drum. 

I replaced the guard's sword with an axe (I told you that I had a lot of spares), partly because I do like my orcs to have axes, and partly because it looked like it would soon break anyway. 

Painting was following my usual orc method, and the drum was straightforward. I'm not sure those bones would stand up to the tension, but they do make for a great looking design.

This was fun to do, though I did rush a bit. Making the base was fun too; the skull on the wall has a wire which pins the stones together. 

The War drum and crew

Rear view (with skull)

What's Next?

In terms of orcs, I have plenty more of my old army to tackle, and another troop of Skulks that just need basing.  I've also found four painted Gore Riders, which would make a troop.

First, though, I think I should sort out the chipped paintwork on the Flagger, and maybe rebase one of the old Ax Regiments. That way the 1200 point army I used will be finished.

Of course, I'll probably change things around, but it did seem to be a reasonably effective force.

Kings of War: Elves vs Orcs

Warning, this is another one of my long waffling type battle reports, not the more reader friendly format of mostly pictures and a bit of text. The latter are quicker to do, but revisiting my old orc army got me feeling nostalgic.

If you particularly prefer one style over another, please leave a comment.

Boðvoc and I met up for another game of Kings of War recently. He used his recently triumphant elves, and I used my orcs; a combination of my lockdown force and a few bits I've added to it as part of my Orctober 26 challenge. 

As Boðvoc has been working through the scenarios in order (nice logical mind) we played Dominate with 1200pts a side. 

The Orc Horde of Hurglik the Vile

My choices were partly dictated by my lockdown force, (750 points). I based and rebased a couple of extra units and painted up a new unit to give the orcs a bit more sticking power. 

Hurglik theVile, Orc Krudger 95

Vespa, Orc Flagger 50

Bagragh, God Speaker with Drain Life spell and artifact 95

War Drum with Sacred Horn 95

Troll Horde 190

Gore Rider regiment with Healing Potion 190

Two Ax regiments 130 points each (The Blackshields and the New Ax)

Morax troop with artifact125

Skulk Raider troop 100

The Elven Host of Lord Cadvan Dunmail 

Lord Cadavan Dunmail, Elf Prince 

Eritas the Scribe, Archmage 

Army Standard Bearer

Kindred Tallspears regiment 

Kindred Gladestalkers troop 

Kindred Archers troop

Forest Shamblers horde

Silverbreeze Cavalry troop

Drakon Riders regiment with Diadem of Dragonkind 

Bolt Thrower 

Set up

Boðvoc had set the table beforehand, apparently based on a battlefield from a magazine. As guest, I had choice of table side. 

I was trying to be vaguely tactical, in that I positioned the Krudger and Flagger for best Inspiring effect, the Godspeaker to benefit from Tribal Magic, and the War Drum to boost as much of the Horde as possible.

Boðvoc seemed to have a better grasp of his army's capabilities, and certainly made better use of the woods.

The field of battle

The Elven Host

The Orc Horde

Another view of the elves

Opening Moves 

The Skulks crept into the far woods and the Glade stalkers occupied the near wood.

The scouts do their thing

The Elven far flank advanced, their arrows targeting the Morax, though the Elven wizard proved singularly ineffective. The Morax quailed under the onslaught, but the stern gaze of Hurglik kept them in place.

The Gladestalkers similarly shot the Trolls while the Elven centre stood, giving the greenskins the chance to close the distance; the Drakon Riders hopped over the woods to face the Trolls.

In response, the Skulks edged through the woods, hoping to surprise the Elven far flank and loosing a few shots at the Kindred Archers. The rest of the orc horde steadily advanced, the Gore Riders threatening the elven far flank.

End of turn one

The Archers entered the far woods and shot the Skulks, causing them to mill around in confusion.

The Silverbreeze backed off, shooting the approaching Gore Riders, the Archmage added a Lightning Bolt, and the Bolt Thrower also shot them. Despite the damage, the Gore Riders were unfazed. Hurglik was watching!

The Gladestalkers damaged the Trolls further, but the bigger threat was the Dragon Riders who flapped over to the orc line, then turned to threaten the Troll flank. Unfortunately for them, they'd moved too hastily to use their fancy Diadem of Dragonkind*.

The encounter in the wood

End of elf turn two

The Trolls turned to face the new threat, while Bagragh flung a Fireball at the winged menace. Alas, so far from the rest of the Horde, his magic was underpowered, and only a few flames scorched the scaly beasts.

While the Skulks dithered around, hoping they could withstand the inevitable Elven attack, the rest of the horde moved up, the Morax peeling off towards the wood. Could they get to help the Skulks in time?

The Gore Riders smashed into Eritas, the Elven Archmage, pulping him into the earth. They'd aimed for the Silverbreeze, or failing that, the Bolt Thrower, but they stumbled to an embarrassed halt, just short of the Elven line.

End of orc turn two

The Main Battle 

The Archers took aim at the Skulks, loosing a deadly volley and wiping them out. The Silverbreeze just sneak in against the flank of the Gore Riders, doing little damage. The Forest Shamblers crash into the New Ax regiment, causing enough casualties to waver them, but failing to wipe them out. 

The Tallspears charge the Blackshields' front, while the Gladestalkers take them in the flank. To make sure of victory, the Drakons ignore the Trolls and fly over them to catch the chance doomed Ax Regiment in the rear.

Unsurprisingly, the orcs are quickly demolished.

End of elf turn three

Things are looking grim for the orcs. Half their infantry are gone. What remains is damaged, and the trolls are stuck out on a flank, facing the wrong way.

Still, orcs don't give in (unlike myself, who was just about ready to concede), so time to fight back.

The Morax charged into the wood. Despite the undergrowth hindering them they made short work of the Archers, then turned to face the main action. The Gore Riders quaff their Healing Potion then turn to face the Silverbreeze and are similarly successful, then completing the manoeuvre to face the main battle.

The New Ax are unable to do anything to the Forest Shamblers, but Hurglik charges into their flank, though does little damage.

On the near flank, Bagragh once more Fireballs the Drakons, but again causes very little damage. The, by now quite dizzy trolls spin round to face the action.

End of orc turn three

The centre of the action

The Drakons once more fly over the ground sloggers and smash into the Morax, crushing them completely. The Forest Shamblers turn to face the Orc leader, sure that the Tallspears could deal with the Ax. They damaged Hurglik, but he just laughed it off.

The Tallspears caught the Ax in the flank, but a combination of tough orc flesh and armour, and simply not hitting enough, meant that the orcs survived.

The Bolt Thrower crew grinned, those Gore Riders didn't stand a chance. Unfortunately, they missed! The Gladestalkers shot Vesp, but he shrugged of the minor damage.

Drakon Vs Morax

End of elf turn four

The big fight again

Bagragh uses his magic to hurt the Tallspears, then redirects their vital energy to heal the Ax who have turned to face the elves. Vesp runs in too, but despite his dubious assistance, the elves remain, bloody but unbowed.

The Gore Riders are more successful, charging in alongside Hurglik, between them they smash the Shamblers into kindling.

The Trolls, furious at being kept out of the action for so long, charge the Gladestalkers and make short work of them.

The orc fight back begins

End Phase (apologies, only one photo from the very end)

The Elven so called heroes back off. They are wise enough to know when their cause is doomed.

The Bolt Thrower crew haven't got the message, and plug away, cheering when their bolts hit, but groaning when the huge arrows bounce off the rubbery Troll hide.

The Drakons again bring Death from Above, wiping out the Gore Riders, while the Tallspears continue to fight the Ax, finally finishing them off.

Bagragh lobs a Fireball at ASB, but misses. Vesp and Hurglik smash into the Drakon Riders, as does the War drum (I'd assumed it was a War Machine and thus unable to fight, but it classes as a monster, so time to get in on the action). This unlikely combination finishes off the wannabe dragons. 

Not to be outdone, the Trolls charge the Tallspears. They take out their frustrations on the poor elves, leaving nothing standing.

Seeing what little remains of the proud Elven host, Lord Dunmail slinks away, accompanied by his trusty banner bearer and the crew of the Bolt Thrower.

All that remains

After Action 

Well, a well fought battle that we both really enjoyed. The game certainly had it's ups and downs for both sides. The Elven elite rule was very effective, I think it gained at least one hit every time.

My Inspiring was also effective, especially given the Nerve boost granted by the War Drum (which managed to avoid the curse of the newly painted unit). I think it was this combination that gave me victory; several units were saved by it and went on to cause considerable damage to the elves.

You can read the elven report over on The War Crow

I took more care over deployment than I usually do; I had grand plans involving combinations of troops, heroes and artifacts. But no plan survives contact with the enemy, and mine started falling apart long before contact. Two of the artifacts never got used (but then, neither did the Drakon Riders Diadem). The Sacred Horn definitely proved it's worth though.

Boðvoc was very canny in his use of flying troops, to which I need to find a counter. Orcs have little opportunity to take to the air: likewise ogres. Something to think about in my new army.

* I thought this was a great choice of item to give them. The poor Drakons can't breathe fire, so their riders carry an item so it looks like they do. They might even tell the Drakons that it's them doing it. 

Ogtober 26: Mantic Kings of War Ogre Sergeant Kitbash

An Army Starts with a Single Mini

Not in every case, of course, but I do like to try out an army's 'look' before plunging in and building lots of stuff.

This gives me the opportunity to experiment with uniforms, skin tones and even basing. 

Once I'm happy, I'll make a start on getting a playable force ready.

This is yet another issue I found with my Trident Realm; I never really got the right look.

I mentioned recently my plans for a small ogre army and showed the kitbashed Ogre Sergeant I built. She was the test mini for the ogres. I was trialing the red skin, the fancy armour and the basing. 

And here she is, fully painted and ready for action.

Ogre Sergeant 'come and get it'

Rear view

'and my axe'

The kitbash was simply a matter of selecting specific components from the two ogre sprues. I wanted her to look like she's issuing orders rather than wading into melee, hence the large axe resting on the shoulder and the empty right hand.  Initially I tried having her holding the top of a shield with that hand, resting it on the ground, but the bits didn't quite work. The shield, with modelled on hand removed, looks ok slung on her back, but in the end I decided to leave her shieldless.

I might at some point add a skull to the open hand, giving an "Alas, poor Yorrik" vibe, but maybe that's a bit too philosophical?

For reference the components are: head ALT1, body A1, right arm E2 and left arm E3. I suspect I'll be using those arms again to make more leader type ogres.

Painting the Sergeant 

Clothing, armour and equipment were painted to try and indicate that she's wealthy and successful. She has good gear and looks after it; none of that rust covered filth that certain other ogre-analogues might have. 

The skin has a base coat of Vallejo Game Color Terracotta, highlighted by adding in VGC Hot Orange, ending up with just the Hot Orange.

The armour starts off with a basecoat of Chainmail Silver rather than the darker Gunmetal that I usually use. I washed it with Army Painter Dark Tone rather than the Vallejo Game Wash Black that gave me issues on the Unholy Knights. To emphasise the shiny armour look I highlighted with Vallejo Model Air Silver, which gives a much brighter effect than the standard Game Color paints. This could be neater, and I'll work on edge highlighting on future minis. 

A Bit About the Basing 

I put her on a tactical rock, partly so she stands out from the rank and file. I've done this before, usually using bits of slate, but I found some nice thick chunks of bark and decided to give them a try*.

The rest of the base was done to look like arid land. I suspect they'll see most action against Bodvoc's new Empire of Dust which have desert bases to match his desert mat, but I'd like them to look not too out of place on greener tables.

I found a good arid base tutorial on YouTube from GamersGrass and adapted it.  I used a mix of Chinchilla Dust and grout spread around the rock. In future I might add a little filler (spackle) so I can shape it a bit more. I used the recommended Citadel Technical Martian Ironearth for the cracked earth texture, then sealed everything in place with thinned Mod Podge. 

The rock was painted with VGC Beasty Brown  along base with (thinned) VMC Iraqi Sand, then everything got a wash of Army Painter Brown Wash. 

Then I drybrushed with the Iraqi Sand and finished with VMC Pale Sand.  

I chose what I thought were suitable tufts, to suggest that this is just the edge of the desert; I'll leave the dry sands to Bodvoc's undead.

I really like the finished result, but I think I've missed the target of making it fit on standard tables. Ah well; I'm certainly sticking with it, though I might look at adding a few more tufts.

What's Next?

I've a good number of Ogres to build and paint, in fact I've just built a regiment of ogre warriors with sword.

Basic Warriors

There's also a regiment of Red Goblins, but I haven't decided if they'll be Spitters, Sharpsticks or Rabble, so I'm leaving (most of) them for a while.

I've also got another addition; a pack of three Crocodogs. 

Certain Ogre units can have these as an upgrade, so they'll make nice little tokens to show this. 

I certainly don't have any other plans for them. No. Absolutely not.

And of course there's Orctober to work on as well.

So that's the first mini in a new army done. Ogres certainly take longer to paint than humans or orcs, but I'll need a lot less of them. I'll probably use five Ogres to a base for some Hordes. I might even try two Ogres to a Regiment if I can find something suitable to bulk out the bases. 

I've got some thoughts for that. 

* Natural materials need sterilising before use; the normal method is to bake them for half an hour or so.  But I tried something a bit faster (and using less energy). I put several bark chunks in a microwaveable tub on top of wet paper towelling. This was microwaved for 2 to 3 minutes; the steam sterilises the bark (hopefully). I dried them off in the oven as it was cooling down after use, then left them to cool. 

Hopefully they'll be fine, especially after being sealed.

The resultant material is quite brittle, so I dripped superglue on it to bind any loose bits, then gave it a coat of Mod-podge. 

Orctober 26: My Original Orc Army

I mentioned recently that I'm revisiting my old Orc army; repairing and rebasing it and generally bringing it up to close to the standard of my more recent orcs.

Although much of the army can be seen on various battle reports on the blog, I've never actually specifically shown them as painted minis.

So, before I muck about with them, here they are.

Orc Axes

This was my first Kings of War unit and date back to the very early days of Kings of War. They are the mainstay of the orc army, and over the years I've added three more. They can be fielded as Troops, Regiments or Hordes* (two regiments have black shields with red axes and two have red shields with black axes so they nicely divide into two Hordes).

Ax Regiment, one of four (or half of one of two Hordes, or two of eight Troops, or...)

Greatax and Morax

The elite of the orc infantry. These were early additions to the force. The Greatax are made up from the sprues and I have just the one regiment of them.

Greatax Regiment 

Mantic did extra metal arms with axes to add to the plastic infantry to make Morax; I do have some somewhere but I managed with the bits on the infantry sprues for this troop and another troop as well.

Morax Troop

Gore Riders 

Excellent cavalry that have trampled many an elf or undead in their time.  

These are a slightly later addition. They look good once assembled, but they are 'restic' minis and require a bit more preparation than normal plastics. The regiment can be split and fielded as two troops.

Gore Riders 

Sniffs

Now called Skulks, these are Lord of the Rings orcs from GW. Mantic eventually released add on bits, rather like the Morax to build them from the standard plastic infantry.

I'll be retiring these as I now have my own way of building them using Mantic components. 

Lord of the Rings orcs

Trolls 

My first regiment of Trolls were Ghost Miniatures models, these were recently stripped and repainted for my Old School/Warlords of Erehwon collection. I painted these Mantic trolls (restic again) to replace them. 

I like the hulking brutishness of them, though some folk are less keen. I spoke to the designer, a French sculptor (sadly I can't remember his name, if you know, please put it in the comments so I can update this) who explained that it's a bit of a tradition in French graphic novels to portray monsters with disproportionately small head and legs.

Well it works for me. 

Three Trolls

Giant 

Every army should have a Giant. This was converted from a toy long before Mantic released their Giant with it's various conversion bits.

It's a bit crude, but I like it, mostly for nostalgic reasons. I'll see if I can improve the painting somewhat, and rebase him of course. 

Giant (on too small a base)

Heroes 

A mixed bag of Krudgers and Flaggers. Mantic released a metal Krudger and Flagger on foot and a metal Krudger on a Gore. The two infantry Heroes are in very similar poses. The set also included a goblin sneak, at that time an upgrade for the Krudger. The Flagger in particular has suffered and needs repairing. 

Krudger on tactical rock

Flagger in need of repairs 

There's also a mounted Flagger just made from one of the Gore Riders.

But the centrepiece has to be the Krudger on Slasher. Back in the day, Krudgers could ride Slashers or Winged Slashers. I can't remember what model I used for the Slasher, the Krudger is the mounted version of the metal hero. Sadly there's no place for it in the newer army lists, I suppose could investigate adding wings, or just keep the rider and put him on a Gore.

Krudger on Slasher 

Chariots 

The last addition back when I was regularly using the army. As you can see, they currently have no crew.  When I built them I wasn't sure how to fit the crew on. I'll get that sorted soon.

Two uncrewed chariots, I have another somewhere 

The Grey Horde 

I've also amassed a lot of unpainted orcs and bits of orcs. Plenty and more to at least double the size of the above army. 

It would be fun to paint up some of this, and there are a few troop types I'd like to add. But that's not the focus of this Orctober.

New Orcs 

I painted up a 750 point force during lockdown (and based most of them up considerably later). The intention was that it would be a demo army, so it has it's own basing style, but I think that with a bit of work my old stuff will fit in just fine.

The Forgotten 

I've also got a selection of painted orcs that aren't in units. Some of these are my old Vanguard warband and will gradually find themselves conscripted into new units. There's also a complete troop of Morax and Skulks, both of which were painted in 2020, so match the rest of that small lockdown force. Basing them up will be an easy win.

A Note on the Painting 

You'll notice that the bulk of the army isn't painted like my more modern orcs, especially the Oldhammer orcs I've been doing for Orc's Drift (such as the Severed Hand).

I'd like to think that I've improved over the years, but there are other reasons too. 

This was the first time that I ever seriously set out to paint a full army (in 28mm at least) so I was looking for shortcuts. This was about the time that Army Painter's dips were becoming popular so just about everything got a basecoat and a Strongtone dip. There aren't really any extra highlights and the whole army looks rather grungy (appropriate for orcs?).

This also affected the colour choices. At the time, the received wisdom was that the dip didn't really work well on certain colours, so I avoided those.

Is it worth repainting them?

Well, no, unless there's some obvious damage to the painting, but I might add a few extra highlights, especially on command and heroes. It just depends on how I'm feeling when I get to a particular unit.

*A Note on the Basing 

You might notice that the basing of some of the regiments is eccentric. The idea was to make it possible to field Troops, Regiments and Hordes and keep the command minis in the centre of the front rank.

While this sounds clever, I so rarely did this, and it was fiddly to field Regiments or larger, even with movement trays. I'll rebase them as mostly Regiments; I can always put two together to make a Horde.

I'm happier with the base decoration. The idea was that the orcs have sacked a city and are marching through the ruins. I used bits of broken fish tank ornaments for the pillars and fancy carving.  I also put the heroes on tactical rocks, though in second edition this gave them an advantage if I stuck rigorously to the mini's height.

When I finally got around to basing up the orcs I painted in lockdown I echoed this theme, adding bits of masonry (XPS foam bricks).

What's Next?

The first step will be to base up those Morax, despite being recently painted, they already have several broken axes (Lessax?), so a bit of repair work too.

Then I'll look at the rest of the army a unit at a time and rebase them, after carrying out relevant repairs.

And then there's Ogtober to do as well.

It's going to be a busy month.