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Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Belgian on 16 May 2020, 02:59:47 PM
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Have been painting some more orcs for my growing Legions of The Dark Tower project with the end goal of fielding a large 500-1000 miniature strong Lord of The Rings orc army (as in Silmarillion, Fall of Gondolin, Lord of The Rings movies) so quite a generic evil army with loads of orcs, trolls and other evil creatures. Currently building up the numbers using the GW miniatures.
I have decided to field the orcs in battalions of 24 miniatures each and have 13 battalions painted and finished of those 4 are shown below. Will try to get some more pictures of the other ones later on as some of those are already in their homemade movement trays with included trolls. I intend to use these in a large Battle of The Last Alliance game so the next project will be the good forces involved in that battle (will take some time though). For the paintjob I went for a quick and dirty basecoat and wash approach which looks suitable for the forces of evil. Will also keep a count here to follow up the progress
April 2020 - 9 Orc Battalions
May 2020 - 4 Orc Battalions
Total 2020 - 13 Orc Battalions
April 2021 - 9 Orc Battalions
Total 2021 - 9 Orc Battalions
May 2022 - 8 Orc Battalions
July 2022 - 7 Orc Battalions
September 2022 - 1 Orc Battalions
October 2022 - 3 Orc Battalions
Total 2022 - 19 Orc Battalions
Repainting thousand bases later ...
June 2023 - 1 Orc Battalions
July 2023 - 1 Orc Battalions
Total 2023 - 2 Orc Battalions
September 2024 - 6 Orc Battalions
Total 2024 - 6 Orc Battalions
Grand Total - 49 Orc Battalions (= 1176 Individual Orc Warriors)
Special thanks to the following people for donating their miniatures!
- Peat from Canada (Mordor, Elves, Gondor, Uruk-Hai)
- Peter from the UK (Moria)
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That’s a big beautiful project!
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Lovely consistent paint jobs
I admire the scale and ambition of your project
8)
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That is quite the project! I look forward to seeing more. Will you be using movement trays for this lot?
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Ambitious.... I love it! Great start so far. Looking forward to seeing it continue.
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Thanks for reminding me of that pile of unpainted plastic (and some metal) LotR Orcs I own... >:( ;)
Because of Oathmark I have recently been rummaging through my stash of LotR minis, and I found that i am shamefully short on painted Orcs (whereas I have quite a few painted Uruk-Hai), somthing I shall have to mend somewhen soonish... I think (I have to bolster my Rohan army, first, really need to get a score or so horsemen mustered).
It is projects like this that gives me hope, I shall some day also see a sizeable army of Mordor under my command, so keep 'em coming! 8)
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Thanks everybody, this has been a project I have been working on for quite a while and always wanted to field a large army of these miniatures. Looking forward in seeing your progress Argonor! Also just joined the Middle Earth Gaming facebook group to lurk and the work there is just inspiring.
Some pictures of the homemade movement trays and two finished orc battalions as mentionned in my earlier post. Think the trolls are 1/72 Dark Alliance ones with some modifications such as Ral Partha weapons (from their minotaur) and other minor conversions. These are very cheap and scaled quite well to fit in as lesser trolls, also have a dozen of the GW trolls but those will be single based as they are larger. Always looking for cool ideas for further expansion so if you know some great alternative miniatures and especially cheap ones, let me know!
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Wow! You continue to impress. I like the Dark Alliance trolls and the Wargames Factory/Warlord Games Orcs you have done. My wife and I have a similar project to yours. A good alternative for Trolls, especially the big Olog-Hai chieftain at the Black Gate is the Special Edition Eaglemoss Version. Bi but not too big. Very heavy though, drop it on your table and something will get crushed! All of the various Eaglemoss trolls can usually be found at decent prices on eBay.
I quite like the Oathmark Goblins for Tolkien Orcs, if you have not tried them yet and want any more Orc diversity. And I picked up some Dark Alliance Orcs to see if they will make decent Snaga/Goblins but have not gotten around to painting them yet. For less expense and more diversity, we use the Army of the Dead, Last Alliance Numenoreans and GW Fantasy Dark Elves for Black Numenoreans.
In fact there are all kinds of conversion and alternative model ideas for Middle Earth on our blog. Some Orcs for example...
https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2020/04/22/more-orcs/
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Those look great. Just paint 300 more and you'll have enough!
Just kidding. There's no such thing as "enough" gaming miniatures.
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Thanks for the kind comments!
@Tauntaun Scout - Not sure where I will end lol
@Rick W. - Thanks for the link, I already visited your blog a couple of times when searching online, love the conversions!
Without further delay some more pictures of the already finished battalions in movement trays ;)
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Has been a while but have been busy painting and preparing some more battalions (think around 10 units)
Some of these are near completion while others are still being prepared and converted.
Although I'm going for quantity, I spend far to much time on conversions as those are great fun in plastic.
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loving the horde feel of this project - big beautiful battalions are always appreciatd in the Brandlin household.
I would look to get some battalion movement trays cut with 24 randomly spaced locations for the figures. the only thing letting your overall look down at the moment is that they look too regimented in rank and file for orcs...
:-)
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a great force
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This really is pretty awesome. I've been getting my own LotR minis out and giving some a lick of paint - you're certainly giving the rest of us something to aim at!
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Your mix of the GW LotR and Wargame Factory orc parts is excellent.
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Thanks everybody for the nice comments.
Regarding the regular basing, I have though about that too but decided to field them in even ranks for the moment
Might experiment with a more irregular basing, as I make the trays myself it shouldn't be too difficult to try.
That style would also be more useful for the masses of the army with maybe the more elite units being in regular ranks.
But for the time being, nice regular battalions as they look great when all on the table :)
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Some more Orcs, block painted another 72 warriors but they will need some more work, then a wash and basing.
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What a fantastic project and something that will look truly impressive once they are finished.
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Really impressive productivity 8)
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Love the Dark Alliance trolls and conversions. Lovely to see your horde growing.
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Has been a while but have been busy painting 9 new battalions. Mostly done but still need to finish the bases on 4 battalions! Slowly getting there
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Epic work!
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That should be just about enough orcs to give Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas and Gimili a challenge!
Seriously though, that is quite the horde, Sauron will be proud!
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Great work on those orcs. All the different manufacturers and conversions have made the force a very diverse one. The paint job is suitably muted as befits orcs. I have just completed 30 GW orcs and found that even with a basic paint job quite a chunk of time was taken to complete them. I can't imagine how long these have taken you. Keep it up though as it is very inspiring.
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Epic work!
Thanks much appreciated!
That should be just about enough orcs to give Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas and Gimili a challenge!
Seriously though, that is quite the horde, Sauron will be proud!
Would certainly keep them busy, more coming as more orcs have already been sourced. ;D
Great work on those orcs. All the different manufacturers and conversions have made the force a very diverse one. The paint job is suitably muted as befits orcs. I have just completed 30 GW orcs and found that even with a basic paint job quite a chunk of time was taken to complete them. I can't imagine how long these have taken you. Keep it up though as it is very inspiring.
Thanks, they take some time although the wash makes them quicker to finish. Also going for bulk so the paintjob may be a bit sloppy here and there. Think I have managed to paint around 24 of them per month so not too bad and already planning another 4 battalions. 1000 miniatures might be possible to achieve sometime.
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And so it continues! lol
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This is amazing stuff, Belgian, and puts some of us to shame! :-*
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Great kitbashing!
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Thanks, and more orcs already acquired but always looking for more cheap models, retail is too expensive for this project size lol
Already planning the upcoming phase after the bulk orc battalions by acquiring more specialist units and creatures already have
- Games Workshop Plastic and Metal Mordor Trolls (think at least 10 for the moment)
- Games Workshop Metal Mordor Orc Catapults and Loader Trolls (3 acquired should suffice for a siege battery)
- Games Workshop Metal Siege Bows and Crews (for the moment 2 but looking for at least another one)
- Games Workshop Metal WitchKing and Nazgul on Fell Beasts
So plenty cool stuff already collected for further use and did I mention hundreds of Elves and Men for The Last Alliance ...
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Finished some conversions mostly using the official GW figures and some other parts. The heavily armoured miniatures are Uruk-Hai miniatures while the others are Mordor Orc miniatures. To blend the pieces and cover some gaps I have used greenstuff to represent cloth and fur.
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Great conversion ideas.
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Great additions to the legions of Mordor and Isengard
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Very nice conversions, Mordor needs some more variety.
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Thanks everybody for the kind words, army slowly growing in numbers.
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So busy with painting another nine battalions, slowly getting there ...
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Impressive!
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Impressive!
Thanks!
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Managed to finally finish another 4 Orc Battalions!
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Great work!
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Great work!
Thanks and by this finished another 2 units.
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And another 2 battalions finished.
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Overview of the army in the current state so 30 full battalions.
After finishing more miniatures I will be making the moving trays.
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Wow! You weren’t exaggerating when you said legions…
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Good to see a proper army!
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That without a doubt has to be one of the biggest fully painted armies it has been my pleasure to see. Thanks for sharing.
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Truly epic! The Dark One will be pleased.
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Thanks chaps, much appreciated slowly getting there! Already planning some catapult batteries and troll battalions.
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Another three battalions in progress, of which two nearly finished. :D
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Busy sculpting some banners, was going for paper banners but instead went for greenstuff sculpted ones (not the easiest route) but looks alright I think. Need a couple of dozens though.
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They look great. Can't wait to see them painted.
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They look great. Can't wait to see them painted.
Thanks, they will need some more sculpting first (the backs still need to be sculpted) :D
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Experimenting with some 3d printed bodies, finding ways to create even cheaper battalions and getting rid of plenty of plastic spare pieces. Think they look quite good especially like the goblin hunters. Also testing some draft animals to pull wagons and siege equipment. Let me know what you think and if you have better sources of especially affordable draft animals like great beasts, etc
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Looking fantastic! May I ask where you got those 3d printed orc bodies?
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Looking fantastic! May I ask where you got those 3d printed orc bodies?
Thanks, they all come from this designer I think he also has a Patreon - https://www.minihoarder.com/creators/kzkminis/
The bodies shown are the Iron Fang and Terror Orcs, I don't own a resin printer but buy these from licensed printers.
Saves me the hassle too ;)
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Perfect, thank you!
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Looking great! 👍
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Thanks everybody, more coming soon ;)
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Legions indeed - look forward to seeing the hauled catapult completed.
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Legions indeed - look forward to seeing the hauled catapult completed.
Thanks, painting up some more Mordor Orc battalions for the Legions of The Dark Tower project. Several stages of progress shown, think around 7 new battalions or roughly 150 miniatures, almost reaching the 40 battalions end goal.
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Wow, that is some horde! 40 units of orcs will definitely leave a mark on whoever they face in battle…
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Wow, that is some horde! 40 units of orcs will definitely leave a mark on whoever they face in battle…
Well, Legolas and Gimli between them can take down at least 83, right? So you just need someone for the other 870 or so. :D
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Well, Legolas and Gimli between them can take down at least 83, right? So you just need someone for the other 870 or so. :D
I will certainly need some suitable opponents ;D
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So another 7 battalions joining the ranks and an army overview this time. Almost reaching the 40 battalions end goal.
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That’s starting to look like a 1-1 representation of Sauron’s army at the Battle of Pellenor Fields…
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That’s starting to look like a 1-1 representation of Sauron’s army at the Battle of Pellenor Fields…
According to the excellent Atlas of Middle Earth, there were around 20.000 orcs at Pelennor so almost 1-20 representation so still some way to go but won't go that route would need to play on a huge table ;D
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Forgot to share these finished orcs made of plastic and 3d printed parts with some greenstuff to hide the gaps.
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Clever and looking good! 👍
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Thanks & cheap too :D Spare plastic parts and 3d printed bodies
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And another one :D
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That battle will be one impressive table! Great inspiring work!!!
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Thanks & 69 more warriors join the ranks, mostly Morannon Orcs
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Marvelous!
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You might just have an obsession when you can measure your LotR orcs by the square foot! That’s quite the collection displayed in this thread.
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Thanks, well might come to an end only 12 foot soldiers needed to round off the battalions and reach plus 1000 models. Then up some more bannermen, characters, trolls, wargs among other things. And almost forgot more movement trays ...
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Belgian
Wow, what a sight!
Dan
https://gfycat.com/contentnewandeancockoftherock
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Just returning to the square footage- since they are based on 1inch circles, that means 144 figs per foot. 1000 figs covers 6.94 square feet in a continuous blanket of orcish mayhem…
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That is certainly a rage of orcs.
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Thanks might have an orc infestation problem. Also forgot I had some 3d printed orcs to pair with plastic parts. So another bunch will be joining the army. Think at least 120 🤭
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Just returning to the square footage- since they are based on 1inch circles, that means 144 figs per foot. 1000 figs covers 6.94 square feet in a continuous blanket of orcish mayhem…
Too much math for my liking :D
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An epic project! You continue to amaze me.
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Those look fantastic man! Keep it up!
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Those will add some great variety to an already amazing horde. I’m looking forward to seeing them painted!
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Thanks quite some work left to do but slowly gathering the troll miniatures to support the orcs, numbers should hopefully be in the dozens with some work.
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This is the best kind of insanity. Finish strong!
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Amazing stuff. I think you probably have a problem but I'm not going to discourage you :)
The 3d printed / kitbashed hybrids look really good. Are the ones in the most recent pic using KzK bodies you mentioned earlier? And what looks like Wargames Atlantic plastic parts?
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This is the best kind of insanity. Finish strong!
Think the finish is getting in sight :)
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Amazing stuff. I think you probably have a problem but I'm not going to discourage you :)
The 3d printed / kitbashed hybrids look really good. Are the ones in the most recent pic using KzK bodies you mentioned earlier? And what looks like Wargames Atlantic plastic parts?
Thanks, luckily it has been a slow project having gathered miniatures over the past 10 years or so. Taking a bit of a "historical" army approach so hopefully there will also be more non-combattant miniatures such as supply wagons, siege equipment etc
The miniatures are indeed made from the same bodies as previously mentioned and mostly Wargames Atlantic parts from their historical and fantasy sets. Think they work quite well but will need some greenstuff here and there. Great way to use the large amounts of spare parts from those kits.
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1,000 miniature thunderous Orc horde!
This is impressive.
Imagine the smell.
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An epic project! You continue to amaze me.
Thanks much appreciated!
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1,000 miniature thunderous Orc horde!
This is impressive.
Imagine the smell.
Thanks, its quite a sight all together might need a slightly bigger table as more is planned already. :D
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Gathering the trolls for the growing army, have quite some spare parts so numbers will be growing even more. Included are a full Mordor siege catapult battery, four troll chieftains and plenty of other trolls. Most are Games Workshop with the smaller ones from Dark Alliance's 1/72 fantasy range. Most if not all of these are bought second hand, making things affordable despite the size of the army.
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That's pretty darned impressive what you manage to do there! I also like the little conversions, especially given the scale of the whole operation.
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It will be a force worthy of Mordor when complete. great project.
I love finding second hand stuff cheap, gives a me a warm feeling knowing that GW are not getting my money.
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Looking awesome mate! I have some of the Dark Alliance 1/72 Trolls and they really do the trick and on a budget. The only issue with them for me is cleaning up the mould lines.
Your armies are much more vast than mine though! 👁
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Those will be a most impressive addition to the army!
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That's pretty darned impressive what you manage to do there! I also like the little conversions, especially given the scale of the whole operation.
Thanks, really like converting although it slows down the progress on the army but great fun!
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It will be a force worthy of Mordor when complete. great project.
I love finding second hand stuff cheap, gives a me a warm feeling knowing that GW are not getting my money.
Quite like their miniatures and they were the start of the hobby for me through their LOTR magazines way back at my kind parents expense but to be honest no way I'm paying that kind of money for toys although I have picked up several of their Pelennor sets as they were quite decent and got them at very good prices online. So mostly 2nd hand miniatures but love recycling them and hunting for good deals on local trading websites.
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Looking awesome mate! I have some of the Dark Alliance 1/72 Trolls and they really do the trick and on a budget. The only issue with them for me is cleaning up the mould lines.
Your armies are much more vast than mine though! 👁
Thanks, they are quite good just a shame of the material and mouldlines but pretty cheap so a good option for me.
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Those will be a most impressive addition to the army!
Thanks your army is going well too!
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Another batch of orcs, just to recover from the festivities. Quite some conversions mostly a mix of Games Workshop with Wargames Atlantic Goblins and other bits and pieces.
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So mostly 2nd hand miniatures but love recycling them and hunting for good deals on local trading websites.
I've found that searching and looking for good deals is its own part of the hobby just on par with painting/building/playing.
Sometimes it's actually even more fun than the rest, as my ever growing pile of unpainted dwarfs grows and grows.
Your project though is looking absolutely gorgeous
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I was amazed when you had about 80 orcs painted up and ready to go. Now you have, what, about 1,200?
I don't know whether this is genus or insanity, and frankly, I don't care, but it is really an astonishing project. Really, it's awesome.
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Thanks sadly disaster struck! Noticed that quite some of the bases started sweating when stored in the attic, seems like some of the basing materials I used were in fact colorful salt crystals slowly drying them and hopefully they will recover otherwise I have some rebasing to do :(
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seems like some of the basing materials I used were in fact colorful salt crystals
One of my worst fears is my basing material dissolving. Hopefully it works out.
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One of my worst fears is my basing material dissolving. Hopefully it works out.
Oh, aye that is a potential nightmare. Wishing you good fortune.
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So after repainting around 1000 bases I'm back! Looks like the salt crystal dried out but needed to repaint all of the miniature bases as it left white residue. So avoid salt crystals and store your miniatures in a more or less well regulated storage space.
Has been quite hot here the past weeks so not too much painting but working on some new battalions to finish my remaining figures. Then hoping to make some movement trays and then up to some larger creatures such as trolls. So plenty to come but may take a while.
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New battalion finished with a slightly different wash method mixing army painter strong tone with vallejo thinner. Makes it easier to apply and dries more matt. Miniatures are mostly Games Workshop but with some conversions and 3D printed miniatures. Really love the Medbury Miniatures drummer and whip master. And started some new battalions to finish the queue.
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Pretty close on finishing another battalion and some more spares. Just need to finish the bases, this time mostly Morannon Orcs and some conversions of the standard orcs with bits from multiple kits and manufacturers. I like the heavily armoured Morannon Orcs as they are quite fast and easy to paint.
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And finished the new battalion and some spares
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It truly amazes me just how productive you are mate. Looking good! 🔥 👁 🔥
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It truly amazes me just how productive you are mate. Looking good! 🔥 👁 🔥
Thanks Rick, much appreciated!
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Amazing army! This amount of minis and the dedication to painting them all is really inspiring! :-*
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Amazing army! This amount of minis and the dedication to painting them all is really inspiring! :-*
Thanks much appreciated!
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Time flies but managed some sculpting on the final orcs.
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Excellent conversions! It’s a lot of fun seeing what folks are putting together with the various plastic kits available these days. I look forward to seeing yours painted!
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Looking good mate! 🔥👁🔥
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Looking good mate! Fire 🔥👁🔥
Thanks, will be working some more on this project ;)
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So last of the battalions in progress and some new movement trays. Also some banners in the background, like the screaming faces. Not sure on The Eye ones so might redo those.
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So acquired new wood for the movement trays and managed to purchase some more orcs (and other factions) at a very good price. So another bunch of battalions in progress alongside the other ones. Long weekend, so finished most of the colorblocking with a wash and basing to follow soon. Think close to 50 battalions now. Hope you like them. Also did a quick count of my trolls and have managed to collect around 40 of them if I can find some alternative bodies to use the supplied spare parts.
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So the end of an era, the last batch of Orc Battalions is finished! Bringing the current grand total to 49 Orc Battalions and no less than 1176 Individual Warriors. Took longer than expected but happy with the final result, next up maybe some trolls or wargs but who knows. Thanks for following.
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That's a crazy amount of miniatures - what do they look like all ranked up together? Looking forward to seeing them if/when they are in action.
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That's a crazy amount of miniatures - what do they look like all ranked up together? Looking forward to seeing them if/when they are in action.
Thanks, might have overdone the numbers a bit but it's a longtime project of mine and one of my favorite settings
(and have most of the minis already in stock, thousands of them)
I don't have pictures of them all together as I need to finish the movement trays first but some can be found in this thread
(see page 3 at 30 battalions so add another 20 with your imagination and that's it lol)
Pretty eager to get them into action as that's the plan when, I can only guess though as I need to to start The Last Alliance armies too.
Eventual the grander plan is to then use the Orcs, Elves and new Dwarves and Goblins for a Battle of The Five Armies game.
That said that's the plan ...
In the meanwhile I decided to finish the Warg Riders next for this army. All second hand miniatures, think 64 of them.
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Only 64 he posts :o
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Only 64 he posts :o
Note that in fact I have around 155 warg rider models, but wanted to keep some for other projects too. For this part I decided to only use the plastic ones too as I have some much nicer metal ones stored too. lol
Managed to yesterday, miliput the gaps and finish the basing texture before thinking on how to actually paint these fine creatures.
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Great to see those riders are being put to good use after many years of confinement in a box underneath my gaming table!
And with so many friends too :D
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They won´t be lonely that's sure lol
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Some more progress!
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Every time I think that your army couldn’t get any bigger, it gets bigger :o
The warg riders are looking sharp. Will you mix in a few colour variations on their fur? I find that a few darker and a few lighter mixed through a horde breaks up the unity a bit where orc armies are concerned.
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Every time I think that your army couldn’t get any bigger, it gets bigger :o
The warg riders are looking sharp. Will you mix in a few colour variations on their fur? I find that a few darker and a few lighter mixed through a horde breaks up the unity a bit where orc armies are concerned.
Thanks, thought about that to speed up painting I paint them in similar batches of eight models. With color differences between batches, when all the batches are finished I can mix them to create a more mixed look. Faster painting and a nice mix of colors.