The Brains and the Brawn

There’s a lot of rank and file painting going on for my Orcs & Goblins and Dwarfs for Warhammer 3rd Edition lately. In-between I also managed to complete the command for my greenskins finally, consisting of an Orc Shaman and an Orc Warlord.

Zogdrek and Durgork muster the army

The wizard is the very same I bought in the early 90s (?) as part of the Poly the Wyvern box set. It had base colours on for a couple of decades but only now can be considered finished.

The shamanic staff crackles with malevolent energy

The hero is a new addition but also a vintage model, courtesy of Kev Adams of course. He’s a real brute, with possibly some Black Orc blood in his family tree.

The general holds a rousing speech that is unfortunately too vulgar to be related here

Servants of Mordor

Not least inspired by Azazel’s forces of Mordor, I had a rummage through my stash of dormant projects to find the Mordor Orcs which I painted when The Fellowship of the Ring was released. Some work on the bases later, and they are now an active faction in my roster of armies. The party is lead by the Great Goblin from Mithril Miniatures which stems from my even more remote days of playing MERP.

Foul orcs are desecrating the ruins of Gondor

Plundering ancient barrows

Toppling the empires of men

There’s been a lot of talk in wargaming circles about using the Oathmark goblins as orcs for Lord of the Rings, so I thought I’d take a comparison picture between the three ranges I own.

From left to right: Mithril, Oathmark, Citadel

Bringing Up the Artillery

The horde of Orcs & Goblins I am gathering for Warhammer 3rd Edition has got paint on in its entirety (I’m aiming for a modest 1,500 points under the Warhammer Armies list), but about half still needs to be shaded, highlighted and detailed. Buoyed by the thrill of finally seeing the boar riders finished, I took aim at my second artillery piece.

Orc Spear Chukka

The Orc Spear Chukka had been in painting limbo the longest by far. The bolt thrower itself has been in my possession for decades and it has seen service with a variety of armies. Eventually I acquired some of the Orc crew to go with it, so it is now a fixed part of their artillery. The commander originally belongs to the Rock Chukka of the same series.

Loader

Commander

Operator

Sighting the enemy

The Orc Tribes are Gathering

Back in Orctober I continued work on a mob of war boar riders for my Warhammer 3rd Edition Orcs & Goblins. I converted these three years ago already, using the Marauder MB2 infantry models as riders on Citadel war boars.

Now the second rank of five is finished, also completing the continent of the Greedy Maw tribe for my Oldhammer army. Heavily armoured and well equipped with a regiment on foot and the only cavalry in the horde, these are the elite core of the force who have subjugated other tribes and lead them into battle.

Orcs driving their ill-tempered mounts towards the enemy

The proud owner of a pimped up war boar

With the village sacked, the horde marches on

The Long Riders

It’s been three years since I converted and painted the first Orcs Snorta for my Oldhammer Orcs & Goblins. Now that Orctober has come around once again, it was high time to turn this lone rider into a unit.

The steppe trembles under the hooves of the war boars

The war boars are all Citadel and designed by Goblinmaster Kev Adams. As the hero of the mob I chose a rider by Kev with a suitably impressive helmet.

The leader’s snarl rivals that of his beast

The champion and troopers are from th MB2 Marauder range on Citadel boars. It was an easy conversion job, snipping off the legs under the scale mail and reattaching them against the flanks of the mounts.

Swinging two axes, the champion urges his mount forward

The Snortas are the elite warriors of the clan

I have five more riders sitting ready for painting as a second rank to complete the elite contingent of the army. After that, more of the boyz and scores of gobbos!

First into the fight