Brian Nelson Big'un Command

I may have given the impression that I really like Brian Nelson's Big'uns when I painted them here. 

Ages ago I was given an orc standard bearer by Bodvoc, when painting the Big'uns I realised that he was from the Big'un command set.  In fact it was the skull on the top of the standard that inspired me to add skulls to all the shields.

I'd stripped him a while ago (sorry Bodvoc) and felt he'd be ideal with my just painted troops. I was thinking of him as sort of joint standard and leader, after all, the rest of the command were difficult to find, and expensive.

Discovery

Then Snapfit (check out his blog Da Green Horde) commented that Games Workshop have re-released them for The Old World, so I quickly ordered them through my FLGS (these re-releases are only available for a limited time), and here they are.

The three command figures. The standard is the original one, but the musician and leader are the new castings.

The musician.  I like the huge skull for a drum.  I was tempted to paint it red, but in the end stuck with a red skull for the beater

Standard Bearer.  I'll do the actual banners separately.  I have something in mind for them for the whole force

The Leader.  He uses an old elven shield.  He has even managed to get a red skull icon crafted for it (taken from a goblin shield sprue)

The bronze scale armour was fun to do, and makes him stand out against his followers

I also found another trooper mini on one of the Facebook trade groups (thanks Ben for directing me to it).  I chose a different skin tone to his twin.

Just like the troops they are lovely minis, a joy to paint. As befits their status there is a bit more detail on them, but still not so much that I got swamped with it or struggled to know what things are.

Painting, of course, was using my standard orc method, with just a bit of extra detailing.  

I've gone for 'trophy shields' again, both are based on some of Bodvoc's elves as visible on his blog here.  I used a plastic skull icon on the leader's shield to make him seem more important.

Once again I really enjoyed them, and now I have a suitable command for my small but growing orc force.

All the Brian Nelson Big'uns together, an impressive looking unit.

More Brian Nelson

I think I have enough of these now, though if any more turn up for a reasonable price I might add another trooper with axe and sword.  But Snapfit has challenged me to paint the accompanying shaman, Nazgob, so now he's in the painting queue. There are a few other bits and pieces before him, but I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with him.