ORCTOBER - Challenge Compete (Just)

At the beginning of October I set myself the challenge of painting up 500 points of orcs for Fantastic Battles using my old 6mm Irregular Miniatures collection.  Bodvoc agreed to join in with elves, as he has quite a few.

To make it easy on myself I chose to use my already painted minis and see if they were worth salvaging.  With a bit of a wash and some extra highlighting they turned out fine.  

I did have a bit of a setback with the samples I tried first.  When I last showed them they had had an initial wash to deal with the rather bright and flat painting.  

But then I gave them my standard 'orc wash' of 50:50 Army Painter Soft tone and Strong tone washes.  This gave a far darker effect than I was looking for, but a bit more highlighting helped rescue them.

As I was working through my already painted stuff, I knew that I wasn't going to produce a particularly effective army.  I was able to look at most of the painted stuff and see how I could use it, giving me something I can add to in the future.

The Finished Army 

So here it is, my 6mm orc force.  Using the traits I'm experimenting with, it works out at 673 points.  This is, of course, subject to change as I try them in battle.

Characters, the larger 20mm diameter base is the Warlord, the middle sized base (actually a button) are is a captain on wolf, and the single minis are two rogues, one orc and one warg.

Warriors, these five companies are made up of strips and part strips from the orc command, archers, warriors and spearmen.

Wolves, these two companies are wolves I painted ages ago.  Their strips are wider than most of the infantry, so have been cut up to allow repositioning and to provide the lone warg 'rogue'. I now paint my wolves/wargs much darker using a palette of greys, as seen in my 10mm LotR Mordor army.  I may repaint these at a later date (this is also why I didn't get the wolf riders ready, I wasn't sure if I should repaint the wolves.

Artillery, these companies were previously painted, I simply gave them a wash and added a few highlights. I do want to revisit these to add some ammunition (boulders and giant bolts) to the bases.

Chariots, one of these four companies was already painted.  I retouched the paintwork and painted up the other three from scratch, can you tell which one was the original?

Trolls, these were painted up from scratch, and are done more in the style of my larger scale minis.  They have a lot of character, and I can't decide what the little orc riding the trolls' shoulders is doing.  Is that helmet some sort of control device?  I have to admit that the reason I did these was to garner some easy points in the challenge.

Terrain Too

The challenge included producing a piece of themed terrain.  I struggled with this, partly because 6mm themed terrain doesn't always work well when the minis are based in companies.  Forts with battlements look odd with a 25mm wide wall walk.  I'm also short of any 6mm terrain, so it seemed a bit indulgent to work on something that only one army would get to use.

But then another root through my box of 6mm stuff turned up 4 huts.  I'd painted these years ago, but I've completely repainted them and they'll do nicely as an orc village.  I haven't based them yet as I want some slightly bigger bases to add a bit of extra decoration, like looted standards and other trophies. 

Future Additions?

Initially I planned to rescue some orc archers for a company of bows, but I decided to include them in small numbers among the warriors to represent the irregular nature of the orcs and explain the minor short range shooting attack they have.  I will rescue more of the archers and base up some dedicated companies of bows.  I also have a couple of companies of wolf riders which I never finished, they will have to wait for now.

I've also got some of the Man-Orc range, which make suitably impressive 'elite'.  None of these are painted yet, but they'll make great Formed Companies of slightly better quality troops, and I can take advantage of the different weapons options rather than just lumping lots of different types in an irregular company.

I've got a lot of 6mm goblins which are already painted. When I did my dwarves I also based these up as an opposing force. While they are well enough painted, the strips are difficult to cut up to give an irregular look. I'm not sure if they should be a separate army or a part of the orc army.

So that's another Orctober challenge done, and it's got me well on my way to having another Fantastic Battles army. It also makes inroads into the Lead Mountain and helps me decide what to keep and what to move on. Like the dwarves, I'll probably aim for 1000 points, perhaps with a few options. I've certainly got sufficient 6mm fantasy stuff for this, and I've several more armies to start too.

If you want to see how Bodvoc did, his elves are on his blog.

ORCTOBER - Restore or Start Again?

One of the main reasons for choosing 6mm orcs for an Orctober project was that I have a lot already painted (loads unpainted as well, of course) and I wanted them to have a purpose. Now these were done many many years ago. I can't remember when, exactly, but Bodvoc and I collected the 6mm Irregular Fantasy range way back in the late eighties or early nineties.  We adapted a set of 6mm SF rules from a wargaming magazine.  I still have a copy of our rules, but as I recall, they never quite worked.  We spent so much time play-testing them and altering them, that we never got round to actually just playing and enjoying them.

Our rules worked around using the 5 minis wide strips that Irregular Miniatures were making at the time.  So my orcs were painted up as the strips.  At some point later I must have experimented with using them for Hordes of the Things, because quite a few of them are stuck randomly on card bases that match that system.

Later still, Bodvoc and myself used 6mm for some battles using Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargaming.  I started afresh with these, painting up a goblin army that will, one day, be rebased for Fantastic Battle (probably).

Rescuing The Old Orcs

The orcs are painted very much in the style of the time, check out the photo on my initial Orctober post to get some idea.  I undercoated everything in Goblin Green, then just added a few details for weapons, shields etc. I'd like them to look a bit more like my current style.  I think I've done a better job in 6mm with my dwarves, but do I want to start again with the orcs? 

Not if I can save something from the paint jobs the orcs already have.  

Time for some experimenting.  I've stuck fifteen orcs of various kinds on to a lolly stick to see what I can do.

A Wash and (Dry) Brush Up?

The first experiment was giving the orcs a wash of equal parts Army Painter Strong Tone and Dark Tone.  This shades the minis and tones down that garish eighties orc skin. 

 

The test orcs after a wash

They already look better, but can I do anything more?  Despite the wash they still look a bit 'flat'.

When I painted my dwarves I realised that just a small amount of extreme highlighting made a big difference at this scale.  This is the essence of my method for mass painting most minis these days, just taken to the max.

I tried drybrushing to pick out details, but it didn't work very well in 6mm, its too easy to obscure the detail I want to accentuate.

But very careful application of a few highlights works much better.  There's more control, and it allows me to change some of the colour choices I made all those years ago.  I don't need to add much to really make them 'pop'.

The test orcs after highlighting

I'm happy with how they look now.  Perhaps not quite how I'd paint them if I were starting from scratch, but certainly good enough, and, importantly, I've shown that they are worth saving.

they'll get a wash (the usual Army Painter Soft Tone/Strong Tone mix) before being based.  I'll add a few bow armed orcs in the mix as irregular troops in Fantastic Battles have some short range missile attacks.

Now on with the rest of them.

Unit Identity

Previously I'd tried to give the orcs shields with unit symbols on them.  You may notice crossed bones and a blue moon among other shields in the photo earlier (and if you look carefully above after the wash).  Now I'm not going to copy the shields I've used on the Orc's Drift tribes, but a variety of different shield colours across a unit does give a pleasingly random look to the horde, which is what I'm after now.

#ORCTOBER

ORCTOBER - Planning the 500

Before I start painting 500 points of orcs, I want some idea what that will consist of.  The Fantastic Battles rulebook includes a goblin list, and I've previously worked out a list for Mordor (and Gondor) troops for our 10mm Lord of the Rings games, but I want a distinctive feel to the army, and neither of these quite fit what I'm looking for.

Nic Wright's excellent Fantastic Battles (my battered first edition copy)

What a Piece of Work is Orc
I want my orcs to be a bit more like the typical fantasy wargame orc.  Big, hitting hard, but with discipline problems.  The rule book goblins (and my Mordor orcs) have Unreliable as their species' trait. If your not familiar with Fantastic Battles, this means that they are slightly more likely to suffer pre-battle mishaps, and if there are no commanders near are more likely to do their own thing in battle.

To more closely model the old WFB Animosity rules I'm using the Belligerent trait from the additional rules (available on the Fantastic Battles Facebook page).  This gives them a bonus in melee, but with a chance that they will attack their own side.  

But the point of the exercise is to enjoy painting tiny orcs, and I'm in danger of getting too nit picky over points and balance.

Wish List

Instead of looking at details of the stat lines and traits, I'm better off deciding what minis I want to paint.  

I'll need a Warlord, and at least one hero.  As with the dwarves, I can make these up from various cut up infantry and cavalry strips.  There are some individual characters in the range, but I'm not sure if I have any of them.  

Although I doubt I'll need a shaman yet, I can use odd individual minis for that too.  Perhaps even a human wizard, either the evil genius behind the orcs, a la Saruman, or someone co-opted for their magical knowledge, and who is ambitious enough to overlook the orcs' less pleasant side (and their lack of hygiene).

I want some infantry, probably a mix of the spear and sword armed orcs. I don't see them as organised or disciplined enough for spear phalanxes, and they will be irregular. 

I might include a unit of tougher (or at least better equipped and organised) troops. I have some of the Man-orcs, and they'll do nicely. They'll make up an elite (or at leas regular) core of the horde eventually.

I don't expect much from orc archery, especially compared to the arrow-fest that Bodvoc's elves will have, but a company or two will give at least a bit of a threat.

Cavalry are more important, and I can have both orcs on wolves and wild wolves. There's also a nice orc chariot model that I'd like to include.

The last thing on my wish list is some form of monster. I've a few options here; trolls, ogres, a giant, not to mention more exotic creatures.

So out of that lot I'm going to cobble together some sort of list, but, as Bodvoc suggested in a recent comment, I'll aim to paint nice units and then choose the army. I've plenty to work with after all, and lots to expand with once I've got this lot finished.

Fantastic Battles is available from Irregular Wars, no relation to Irregular Miniatures, whose minis I am using for this project.

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Orctober 2024

I last did something special for 'Orctober' in 2021 when I managed to paint a couple of Ripper Suits for Deadzone,  some 15mm orcs and I started a 10mm Mordor army for Fantastic Battles.
This year I think I'll do some more orcs, it's not like I haven't had practice recently.

But what? Simply painting more Old School orcs is a bit too much like the rest of the year (though I do have some nice pre slotta orcs to do sometime). 

Orctober Suggestions
I had a couple of ideas; more Rogue Trader Orks, or some 6mm orcs to oppose the 6mm dwarves that I painted for Fantastic Battles.

The Rogue Trader Orks would be ten more to bulk out the ones I did back in 2022. It would give me some special and heavy weapon support, and if they go well I'll add in a character mini or two. It would give me enough old school orks for a skirmish game, and if I got those done, I've a Dreadnought and even a buggy to paint.

The 6mm orcs are from Irregular Miniatures and have already been painted and are currently based up for Hordes of the Things. As I said regarding the dwarves, this puzzles me, as I've no recollection of ever playing HotT in that scale). But I'd like to get them painted in my current style. I might even simply try a wash and a highlight. If this works, I can get a second 6mm FB army done. I've got lots of them, including cavalry, artillery and monsters. I've also got loads of goblins, but I think I'll keep those as a separate force.

Further Suggestions
Chatting with Bodvoc he added a couple of other suggestions. Post a picture a day from my orc collection (this seems a bit like self promotion - says the chap publishing a blog) or build some orc terrain. I do like making terrain, but I tend to need some impetus to get round to doing it. A challenge perhaps?

And a Decision
In the spirit of compromise, we are combining my 6mm orc idea (you'd already guessed that from the photo below, hadn't you) and Bodvoc's terrain idea. What's more, he's joining in with elves to give me the extra impetus to finish this (an early Nelfember project?)

So by the end of October we both aim to have 500 points of Fantastic Battles 6mm finished, along with a piece of terrain.

This should be fun, but first I have to work out a list and see if I can repair and update the painted orcs or will it be 'Strip and Start Again'?

Some of the painted 6mm orcs

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