Challenge Submission #20 - The Final Stop of the Challenge Quadrant

 

My last submission for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XII was a gathering of Lord of the Rings figures, both Good and Evil. Some of these had been in the painting queue for several years, while others were recent purchases to add to the collection. All were painted in my usual style, starting with a coat of black primer, followed by Vallejo acrylics, and then a mix of ink washes and/or highlights until I got the look I wanted. May they be deemed worthy of the Final Challenge.

The first group is a trio of Orc Trackers that have been in the 'PENDING' box for a number of years. These appear in the Barad-dûr section of the latest version of the Armies of Middle Earth manual, but now seem to be out of production. In addition to their role as trackers, they will also be useful to depict dismounted Warg riders.

 

 

Next up are the three Orc Captains, Gorbag, Grishnákh, and Shagrat (holding Frodo's mithril shirt). Like the Orc Trackers, they have also been in the 'PENDING' box for a while. These appear in the army lists in the Mordor section.

 

Gorbag, Grishnákh, and Shagrat

Shagrat, Grishnákh, and Gorbag

The last of the Evil characters is an Orc Shaman, who also appears in the Barad-dûr section of the latest version of the Middle Earth army lists. He looks pretty badass with his collection of skulls. This is another metal figure that I have had for a while. A plastic version of the figure is available from Games Workshop as a boxed set which includes one mounted on a Warg.

 

The first group for the Good side are three leaders of the Ithilien Rangers - Faramir, Captain of Gondor, Madril, Captain of Ithilien, and Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien. These are a very recent purchase and came as a blister containing all three figures. They will be ready to command the company of Rangers that I painted last April.

 

Faramir, Madril, and Damrod

Damrod, Madril, and Faramir

 The last offering is Éowyn (as Dernhelm) and Meriadoc, Squire of Rohan. While I had already painted metal miniatures of Éowyn, I was so impressed by the newer plastic set of figures that another participant had submitted for the Challenge, I just had to buy a box for myself. I especially liked the way Merry can be placed in front of Éowyn, or removed as the scenario requires. Not having any contrast paints in my arsenal, I used my usual technique of starting with a black primer, followed by Vallejo acrylics, with highlights and washes as needed to get the final result. Since the metal miniatures I had depicted Éowyn without a helmet, I went with the 'helmet on' version with the plastic set.

 

Éowyn with Merry

Éowyn with Merry

Éowyn without Merry

Éowyn without Merry

Éowyn and Merry on foot

Merry and Éowyn on foot

New plastic and old metal mounted Éowyn

Old metal and new plastic Éowyn on foot

 

This concluded my first year of participation in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Congratulations to all my fellow Conscripts who took part. I am looking for next year's challenge, but more importantly, gaming with all our collective newly painted minis. Thanks for reading.

Painting Challenge Submission 17 - Orc Characters and Support for Warmaster

Some supporting bits for my 10mm Warmaster Orcs - metal figures from GW.

This is yet another of my concluding submissions to AHPC XII. As the end of the Challenge approached, I thought I would round out my Warmaster Orcs a bit more. That project was a major focus for me during this edition of the Challenge, and it seemed right to make the initial force more complete. Here we have an assortment of Orc characters and commanders, as well as a good old rock lobber - fun awaits! These are all metal castings from GW's long-lost "Warmaster" figure range.

Here's a serious Orc Lord!

One of the (many) things the "Warmaster" rules get so perfectly right is the use of characters. I know one common detraction for the "Warhammer Fantasy Battle" game was the way overpowered characters can take over the game. "Warmaster" is much better - the characters are essential, of course, but indirect. They cannot succeed on their own, they have to work through the units they command. They can enhance them, yes, and have a notable impact, but in doing so they are also creating risk. 

The Wyvern is tricky to assemble (and needed a pin for the base), but what an awesome figure, I just loved it.

Tried to get a leathery look for the wings on this monster.

Even the characters riding terrifying creatures, like this Orc Warlord on a Wyvern, are therefore very influential, and powerful, but also at much more risk than the equivalent in a standard Fantasy Battle game. This figure is a favourite, something I have wanted to paint ever since I saw it in a GW catalogue so long ago. It has been sitting in a blister pack in my horde for something like ten years? How fun to get some paint on this beast at last!

Let's go ladz!

Suitably angry and armed boyz for the chariot.

Nasty war boars ready to charge home!

We also have an Orc hero riding a war chariot of some sort - will be a useful commander to use when the big guy on the Wyvern is not around. That chariot looks like a totally safe ride, I'm sure everyone on board will be fine, right? 

A weedy little gobbo shaman...

Orc Shaman with handy skull supply!

"Warmaster" also totally gets the magic aspect of fantasy wargaming correct - the magic is important, but won't win anything on its own. Still, the Orcs can now get in on the spell-casting with two of the heroes here - one is an Orc Shaman (with a handy skull-shaped altar, just for Barks!) and the other is a Goblin Shaman, with a couple of squigs on hand because obviously...squigs, right?

"Put yer back inno it!"

Finally, we have a rock lobber and crew. The Orcs don't really have much in the way of missile-armed troops in their army. Given their preference for brute force, that makes sense, but going up against all of those cannons and crossbows in the Empire, they could use a little bit of artillery, and this rock lobber fits the bill. 

Troll-powered trebuchet. I'm sure things will be OK with this, right?

You get more crew figures than can actually fit on the game-sized base, so I put the "commander" for the lobber on a seperate base, leaving the poor troll and two gobbos on the same base as the lobber. Looking at the contraption, I can see the orc wanting to keep a bit of distance, in case things go wrong...

Thanks for reading - there was one more submission before things concluded in AHPC XII, and I will post that shortly, but in the interim, happy brushing everyone!

Painting Challenge Submission 14 - Warmaster Orcs!

Ready for war! 10mm Orcs for "Warmaster" - GW metal castings.

This submission to Curt's "Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge" carries, for me, a huge dose of nostalgia - here is a force of Orcs for GW's "Warmaster". These figures are all metal castings from GW - in my opinion, some of the best metal fantasy castings ever done by GW, or done by anyone. I don't want to bore you with the long story of gradually acquiring these OOP figures over many years, keeping them as part of my Smaug-like hobby horde...but The Painting Challenge smiles upon long-unpainted figures, and for the 12th edition of the Painting Challenge, I felt it was finally time to open these packs and get paint on these Orcs!

I find I can't quite throw these away...that is probably a bad sign...

There are three units of Orc boyz, two units of Goblins, a unit of Orc boar riders, a unit of Goblin wolf chariots, along with a couple of character bases - and to cap things off, a Giant! Enough to cause plenty of trouble on a raid out of the mountains and into The Empire! 

Three Regiments of Orc boyz! The core of the army.

Beautiful castings.

So many small details...really tried to capture it...

"Warmaster" is, flat out, one of the best rule sets GW has ever produced - indeed, one of the best sets of rules, period, its core mechanics having served as an underpinning for so many other rules that followed. The accompanying line of miniatures that GW released to go along the game were amazing, just wonderful castings. Painting these was definitely a "labour of love", and I tried my best to capture the many, many small features cast on to these stunning figures - a squiq here, a bone there...all sorts of wonderful little details - many perhaps beyond my brush skill, but I gave it my best shot. 

The goblin regiments...I wish I could secure more of these units...note the Orc in the front rank to keep an eye on the other gitz...

I love the poor smashed cart on the Giant's base...

Ready to crush some more stuff!

 

The Giant in particular is such fun to work on - many, many, many little details, like the smashed cart on the base, the poor patrons of the cart either hiding, or already stuck into the giant's belt for consumption later...what a cool figure. He should be fun to unleash in the game.

The boar riders, ready to charge home!

Gobbo charioteers - ready to rampage!

Curt and Byron, among others, have been posting some amazing 10mm fantasy work of their own during this Challenge. They have been basing their awesome figures for other games, but for me, I wanted to do plain old fun "Warmaster", so I based the figures up for the classic game - ready, one day, I hope, to take on my Empire troops on a game with my friends! 

Here are the characters that came with the Orc starter army. The Warlord is on the right, and an Orc boss is on the left.

As I said at the open of this post, the nostalgia factor on these figures is tremendous. For me, they are a connection to GW's Fantasy "Old World", still one of my favourite fantasy settings. I have a few more packs of Warmaster Orcs that I hope to paint up before this edition of the Challenge ends...after all, even with all of the Orcs you see here, this is actually a pretty compact Orc force for the game. Still, even if my brushes don't find more Orcs before Spring arrives, at least there is a force that is ready to go! 

Here is the full bunch - ready for war!

Thanks for reading, and have a great week! We are in the final stretch for the Painting Challenge, so watch for more in this space as the battle against the unpainted lead, plastic and resin continues!

Orc Companies of Mordor

This is the last of my Lord of the Rings mega-projects, and the one that took the longest. I started this just after I had completed my Elven Heroes of Rivendell and Lothlórien back in April. The first company of orcs took approximately a week to paint, the second company took two, and the third nearly a month and an half. It was a combination of burnout after cranking out nearly 300 minis over the winter, plus the lure of longer days and nicer weather that pulled me away from my workbench. However they are now complete - three companies of Mordor Orcs each consisting of a captain, a banner, four bow, four two-handed weapon, eight spear, and eight hand weapon and shield, 78 minis in total. 34 are the newer plastic figures, while the rest are all metal, including 38 'old school' releases that I picked up secondhand about the same time as I bought my metal Dwarves. 

 

All the figures were mounted on their bases, and sand and pebbles were glued on before priming everything black using a rattle can. The paints were primarily Vallejo water-based acrylics using lots of different shades of gray and brown with the occasional muted red, blue, or olive green. Once the base colours were applied the figures were treated with Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. I then painted the bases and applied some pale green flocking to give them a unique look, different from my other Lord of the Rings armies. Once all the ground work was complete, they all got sprayed with a few light coats of Rust-Oleum Matte Clear spray to take down the shine left by the Quick Shade. I still have an armoured troll waiting in the wings to supplement all these orcs to provide a serious threat on the battlefield for the forces of Mordor.

Numerous, cruel and utterly incapable of redemption or compassion, the race of Orcs is nonetheless sprung from the same stock as the immortal and graceful Elves. Indeed, the first Orcs were once Elves, yet their fate was to be a very different one to that of their brothers after Morgoth's taint fell upon them. These ruined beings swiftly multiplied, as all unwholesome things are wont to do, and their numbers fed the armies of darkness, first of Morgoth and then of Sauron.

 

In the late years of the Third Age, Orcs are to be found in all the dark places in the world, from which they pose a constant threat to the Free Peoples. Fortunately, the fractious and quarrelsome nature of Orcs ensures that without an exceptional leader, or overwhelming numbers, they are a poor match for the well-trained and organized armies of the western kingdoms. It is only when under the command of one of the Nazgûl or another of Sauron's dread lieutenants that the mailed first of the Orc becomes a thing of power, for Orcs fight with unceasing fury when they fear that which is behind more than that which stands before them.

 

Radbug's Ruffians - for the captain I used a 'Grishnákh' figure to which I added a shield from my bits box. (On a completely random note, Grishnákh is left-handed.)

 

Lagduf's Lads

 

Shargo's Snagas - for the captain I used a 'Gorbag' figure to which I added a shield made from a small thumbtack.

 

I am happy that these are finally off my workbench, and not mocking me on a daily basis. Now that things are starting to open up a bit more locally, I am going to take a break from Lord of the Rings painting for a while, although I hope to be motivated enough to do some Bolt Action figures. I have a few boxes of plastic Russians that need attention.

Thanks for reading.