Oldhammer Orc Villagers

Accidental Collecting

As I've gradually built up my old school orcs, I've ended up with a few of the Orc Villagers range, mostly in job lots.  These are Trish Carden's work rather than Kev Adams, who did the bulk of the warriors at the time.

I thought some of them would make entertaining unit fillers while I build up the clans; they don't carry shields, so aren't tied to any particular clan icons, and some of them are less than martial in their pose.  However, they were rather obscured by their previous paint job, so I wasn't completely sure what some of them were.

Revealed, three Oldhammer Orc villagers

Cleaning a handful up from the Dettol, I realised that one of them wasn't just an ordinary orc waving a bone around, he was a shaman, and will do nicely until I get round to painting my replacement Bagrash.

C15 (OV-05) Orc Shaman

Lovely pink bow in those plaits

Waving 'Da Bone ov Powa' *

To go with the shaman I chose a couple of the drinking orcs. All were straightforward to paint. The shaman has a nice selection of magical bits (or so he tells the rest of the tribe). I particularly like the pink bow in one of his plaits. Looking back, I wish I'd given him bright yellow hair/squig. I had planned on some tattoos, and blue seems to be the best colour on green skin, but would have been too much next to the hair. I did paint magic runes on the bone. Vallejo Extra Opaque Green with Vallejo Game Color Livery Green to give an indication of orcy power.

C15 (OV-01) Emotional Orc.  His brown beer bottle could do with being a bit brighter.  I need to trim the tuft in front of him so it isn't hidden

 A slightly later mini, 0508/16 chugging down a stoneware jar of something.  He needs another blast of matt varnish

Lovely minis, and again, a joy to paint (one day I'll get fed up of saying that).  I have a few more villagers, and I'll paint them up in and amongst the warriors.  They do make fun unit fillers, and some of them even make a nice little diorama, I've a couple more drinking orcs to go with these.

*I'm not a huge fan of GWs 'orcy speak', but it's recognisable to most readers.

Farewell Bad Moon Orcs

Fail to Plan...

If you've been following my recent posts you'll know that I started out painting up my remaining Old School orcs. This then expanded to collecting and painting sufficient for a Dragon Rampant unit or two as part of Team Evil.

Three Tribes go to War 

More recently, I decided to go big and collect the orcs for the classic Warhammer Fantasy Battle scenario pack, Bloodbath at Orc's Drift. This calls for three different tribes.

I painted up some nice old Fantasy Regiments orcs (you can see them here) before I decided on the Orc's Drift project. I used the 'Bad Moon' shields, partly as a tribute to my long ago orc collection. However, the Bad Moons don't really fit for Orc's Drift. Each tribe has an established symbol, though I'm giving them my own interpretation of them, painting their symbols on top of enemy shields taken in battle. 

So, no Bad Moons. A good bit of painting with no current purpose. Ah well, at least I haven't just converted a nice standard bearer for them, complete with Bad Moon topper (this statement is incorrect).

Sigh, I guess that's what happens when I dive headlong into projects without planning ahead.

The original Bad Moon symbol was used by orcs and goblins alike.  In WFB it became a goblin, mostly Night Goblin symbol, whereas in WH40K it became the name and symbol of an Ork clan.

Unless...

I was looking through the Orc's Drift pack at the campaign map of Ramalia. This lovely bit of Gary Chalk artwork is a nice addition to the set, but you don't need it to play the scenarios, so it's ages since I did more than glance at it.

The header has portraits of Brommedir and King F'yar, and between them several orc warriors.

Lovely Gary Chalk artwork

Look closely at the shields. It's the Bad Moon symbol, but reversed, with a black device on a yellow field. Given that they are pictured next to King F'yar, I'll assume that they are from his original tribe, the Kwae Karr Orcs (one of several awful puns in the pack).

Kwae Karr orc with shield from the map

Result!

All I need to do is keep this colour scheme going forward, and I may repaint the devices on the ones I've already done (with maybe a bit of repainting of some of the background where relevant).

But 

I have to admit that the Command Sheets give a different device, but I'm never going to be able to copy that, and this justifies my Bad Moon choice.

Kwae Karr Orcs from the Command sheet

The official official Kwae Karr orc symbol, repeated in full on their banner, also pictured on the Command Sheet. The head is of some strange bird-like monster (standing over a dead human on the banner).

The Perils of Research

Iconographic research is filled with many pitfalls.  I see it in Early Music research frequently.  

We have two different symbols, I suspect the Command Sheet orcs are closer to 'accurate', they are spear armed, matching their stats.  The orcs on the map could be just any orcs there for decoration, and they don't have spears.

Of course, it doesn't really matter, I know I can paint what I want, but its's nice to be able to justify keeping the Bad Moons and finding a place for them in the Orc's Drift project.

What Shall We Do With A Headless Orc - part two

A little while ago I asked your suggestions for the headless orc here.

Thanks everyone who commented or contacted me directly, the consensus was that he should be a standard bearer. I've finished the modelling work, he just needs some paint next.

No longer headless, the Bad Moon Standard Bearer

Making the Standard Pole

I've tried two different ways of making standards in the past. Brass tubing slotted onto a wire peg, and a wire core built up to give it extra thickness. The former gives a nice smooth finish, suitable for dwarves etc, but for orcs I wanted something rougher, so wire core and some sort of putty it is.

I drilled a hole in his left hand for a wire core for the staff, glued a cross-piece close to the top, allowing for some wire to pin the Bad Moon icon to the top.

Wire core for the pole

Bulking Out the Pole

Over the years I've used a smelly (and probably toxic) toluene based putty, milliput, and green stuff for such jobs, none of which really did what I wanted. To be fair, it was probably my poor technique as much as teh materials, although they all have recognised weaknesses.

This time I used a roughly fifty fifty mix of Milliput and greenstuff. I've seen this recommended by several sculptors and decided to give it a go. It seems to combine the good points of the two constituents, and I'm very happy with the results.

I also gave him a strap to sling his shield, most of this will be covered by the shield, so I didn't smooth or shape it much. I'll see if I still have any of the nicely impressive Marauder orc shields for him, it will be added after painting.

The final bits were adding the Bad Moon icon, the weapon blade and the head, both taken from an orc, (or possibly ork) kit.

Once painted I think he'll make a suitable standard bearer for the Bad Moon section of my orcs. I certainly think I've achieved the objective of rescuing a mini that would otherwise have been thrown out.

It's also massively boosted my confidence for doing more conversions and repairs on minis.  I've already got another orc with a missing weapon that I think will make a great standard for the Severed Hands.

Oldhammer Orc Spears

I've finished another unit for my orcs, this time six spear armed orcs. 

Spear Carriers

They are a mixed bunch, two Marauder orcs (ORC 03 and ORC 22), two C15 orcs (Shield Bearer and Nazram) and two ORC 1 Polearms (PA-01 Gubbut the Armpit and PA-12 Lampost Nagblade).

Painting is my standard orc method, and once again I gave them looted shields and tunics. The black and yellow tunic, seen on an archer here, makes a reappearance, as does the Severed Hand on all the shields. They will fit in my Orc's Drift project as part of the Severed Hand tribe, but it makes a great shield design anyway.  My aim is to return to specific shield designs and equipment across my orcs, you should be able to spot some of them already.  I'll then use these when I paint various elves, dwarves etc, or borrow other painter's designs, as I have already done with a few from Bodvoc.

ORC 22 in Plate w. Spear

ORC 03 w. Spear & Shield, Barefoot

ORC1 (PA-01) Gubbut the Armpit

ORC1 (PA-12) Lampost Nagblade

C15 (85-01) Shield Bearer / Spear Man

C15 (85-12) Nazram, Javelin

These were great fun to paint, and nicely divide into three types. The early C15 orcs sculpted by the Perry twins, Kev Adams' later ORC1 chaps and the Marauder Miniatures, all with slightly different styling, which fits my image of them as a ragtag bunch of raiders, but all obviously orcs. This is my main issue with the Fantasy Regiments orcs, seen here. Great minis simply oozing nostalgia, but too regimented when compared to these.

Unit Sizing and Future Planning

If you're wondering why the orc units are various sizes, it's either all I have of any particular type, as with these spear armed orcs, or a sensible subdivision of this, as with the five archers. As I'm slowly increasing my collection, I will revisit them and bulk them out. Indeed I already have a few more to add to the spears and more archers too.

More Plastic Orcs

As part of the Grand Clear Out I found a bag of plastic orcs, many of them already painted. These are a mix of the monopose orcs which came with an archer on the sprue plus shield (fifth edition?), and the orcs from Battle Masters*. You can just about see them in action at Kachas Pass here.

Rebased orcs

I'm pleased with the shields. I think I used a pen for the thin black lines. I might try this to neaten up the red skulls on the Big'uns shields.

I'm surprised to see different skin tones, I don't remember doing this so long ago, it might just be the result of painting in batches and grabbing a different green?

And as I found them

Planning to paint 

Well, perhaps not, or at least, not yet. The troops are good enough for now, and being individually based, I can go back and touch up the painting later. 

So all I've done is rebase them on 25mm rounds and painted the bases VMC Burnt Umber.  I'll hold off on the texture until I've done any paint touch up work.

For relatively little effort I've got another unit.

These orcs are quite a bit more modern looking that the Fantasy Regiments orcs here.  I do like them, but not as much as the earlier orcs. I find they look too cartoony for my taste - Citadel Orcs were often grimly comical, but these lean too much into the comical and not enough grim.  Still, another unit for the Orc force. I'm not sure where they'll fit in the Orc's Drift project, the shields don't really match any of the three tribes. I could repaint the shields, but I rather like them.  Perhaps just an allied tribe?

I also found one of the metal command minis, the standard bearer (5235/3), but he was unpainted.  I'll get him done and added to the unit soon.  The other command (musician and leader) do crop up from time to time on evilbay, but I'm loath to spend money on a unit that I'm not that fond of.

* Battle Masters was an MB Games attempt to get into wargaming, rather as Heroquest was their entry level dungeon exploring game.  GW designed the minis, and they have very much the look of the various armies of the time.  I have a substantial number of the Empire troops in my Empire army, and at one time had painted up a lot of the beastmen.  I used the Ogre as the giant at Kachas Pass many years ago. 

I can't remember how well the game played, it was a long time ago, I suspect many people saw it as a cheap source of minis.

Did you catch my Drift?

Recently I teased about a target for my Oldhammer orc collection. 

I was, of course, referring to Bloodbath at Orc's Drift.

The Best Scenario Pack Ever?

I've waffled on about the second edition scenario packs at length before, Orc's Drift especially. I suspect that a lot of this is simply nostalgia kicking in, but they have become a standard I measure a set of rules by - if I could play Orc's Drift with the same sense of enjoyment I had back then, then the rules must be good.

Now I should say that I'm unlikely to ever play Orc's Drift using second edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. A while ago I looked at adapting it for Dragon Rampant in 15mm, and I could still do that in 28mm. I might also look around at other systems to see if they give the same enjoyment that I remember from my early games. Mostly it's a goal to aim for; collecting and painting some, or all of the orc clans and maybe also the Good alliance.

Collecting the Forces

When Orc's Drift was released GW did a miniatures deal. All the minis you'd need to play the scenarios for what now seems a ridiculous £90. Of course I never bought them back then, oh for a time machine! There were a few new sculpts for the campaign, but the bulk were taken from Citadel's existing ranges and I wonder if they used this as an opportunity to clear out some less popular stock?

Making Compromises

I'm going to have to make some substitutions. The miniature of Hagar Sheol was sculpted specially for the pack. He's the only scenario specific miniature on the orc's side ( the good guys get rather more). He's understandably rare, much sought after, and expensive. I can't currently find him on eBay, and I am informed that he last sold for 'silly money'. When just the ordinary minis used as the villagers at Linden Way are fetching around £20, one can only guess what this might be*.

There are also instances of characters where I already have something that I consider at least as good. 

As for the rank and file orcs, the campaign features three tribes; forty with spears, twenty with spears and ten with bows (and ten hobhounds) and thirty with spears and ten with bows.  I'm certainly not intending on finding 90 spear armed orcs, I'll continue collecting small units, some of which may well have spears, but there'll also be orcs with two handed weapons, and just ordinary sword, axe or club armed troops.

I'm also planning on collecting a few extras that don't feature in the original scenarios. I already have a war machine or two (they would certainly have made a difference at Kachas Pass) and I've a few goblins to add too. I believe the campaign background mentions a goblin army providing a feint elsewhere, so I'm fine with that.

I'm not even sticking to GW minis. There are some very nice alternatives out there, often much cheaper. At some point I may well send off to Eorbis, or whoever does the Black Tree Design minis now. Some of their orcs are exactly right to stand alongside the old GW stuff.

I will also use the scenario pack as a source for painting, though not everything is detailed, and realistically I'm not going to be able to match Gary Chalk's lovely banner designs. I'll be sticking with my idea of the orcs using wargear taken from their foes and putting their tribal icons on the shields. The command sheets give some ideas for these icons, and I've already started with the Severed Hand with the orc archers here.

So here are the orc heroes. I showed most of them previously, but here I've included my version of Guthrum Mane, Hagar Sheol and Bagrash.

C15 (85-03 Cyclops) also the official mini for Fangor Gripe

I was never that convinced by the recommended Giant War Troll for Guthrum. With his fancy armour he looks too well equipped. I did recently see one for sale on a Facebook group, but I already have this C Giant. He's missing most of his weapon, but I'm sure that I can find something suitable.

C28 (87-02, Witherwattle, or Ninefingers body with 87-07 Gumsnapper head), my version of Guthrum Mane

Hagar was harder to replace. He's the only orc to have a complete full colour illustration, which also gives us a great shield design.  I've already used this design on one of the orc archers here.

But (see above) I'm never going to own him. I did remember a great mini called Dwarfsmiter; appropriate considering his tribe attack the dwarves at Ashak Rise. Sadly he doesn't have a shield, although I will investigate how he looks with one slung on his back. I found one as an 'or best offer' and since he doesn't have the Orc's Drift association I was able to snap him up for a reasonable price.

C15 (85-08 Dwarfsmiter) my version of Hagar Sheol

C15 (85-04 Warlord, or officer according to his tab) also the official mini for Grashak Kra

C15 (85-10, Maniac) also the official mini for Magyar Ironfist

The official mini for Bagrash is an armoured orc.  A nice mini for a leader, but not my idea of a shaman.  I got this chap very cheaply on eBay, so he's my choice.

ORC4 (OC10-Zigblogg Witchstaff), my version of Bagrash

I've never been impressed with the recommended King F'yar. He does crop up occasionally, but commands a high price. I do already own, a mini I bought in a job lot at least twenty years ago and never did anything with. This is a great opportunity to get him painted. That said, if I do find my old Hinchcliffe Models wyvern, as used when I played through the campaign over twenty years ago, I'll use that, purely for the memories.

Azhag the Slaughterer, my version of King F'yar

So there they are.  The orc heroes of Orc's Drift.  Now all I've got to do is paint them.  Regardless of whether I get to play the campaign, they'll make great characters for my Oldhammer orc collection.

*I've just seen Bromedir, leader of the elves at Orc's Drift for a starting price just under £50!  Whether he'll sell at that price is s different matter of course.