Tolkien Orc Kitbash p.26 - More orcses painted, Precious

[Keith]

Great work on these 

[Sunjester]

Absolutely brilliant work. I really look forward to seeing the final, painted, results.

[LazyStudent]

Wow!  As always, an excellent idea, executed brilliantly! Really looking forward to seeing these chaps painted. I am very jealous that I lack both the originality to think of something such as these and, sadly, the kitbashing skills even if I did!

I am guessing you won't be going for the GW bright green skin colour??

LS  

[Atheling]

You've hit the nail on the head re: the perversion of our friends the Orcs by the wargames industry over the last ahem, how many years???  [feels old for a moment]

It will be very interesting to see what fort of treatment you give the flesh etc. Will you use some kind of 'livery' for the different regiments/types? Or will the shields portray their standing?

Look forward to seeing what you do!

[AKULA]

Brilliant work Richard, and excellent idea really well-executed as usual

 

They look great 

Not sure about the Conan wannabe in the middle of the second batch though 

Don’t listen to James, I bet his mum gave him that helmet when he was little 

[Roo]

Settles back into chair with a large tub of popcorn...seen the trailer and this is gonna be one amazing show....

[Grumpy Gnome]

Brilliant conversion kit bashing, matching my favorite image of Tolkien’s Orcs. Thanks for inspiring some future Orcs of my own.

[Emir of Askaristan]

You nailed it.
Those fit the bill perfectly.

[Keith]

Just come back to this thread for the second time ths morning.
Fair warning - I'm knicking the idea of combining the Oathmark kits with Victrix Saxons. Might give Viking parts a go too. :-)

[Bugsda]

Excellent! Can't wait to see the paint go on 

Choose your skin tone well, I'll probably be nicking it 

[bobhope]

Best bunch of orcs I’ve seen, top work- and ideas stolen

[Cubs]

[aircav]

Superb stuff Richard 
As ever you are the master of the kitbash

[Captain Blood]

Thanks chaps. These seem to have struck a bit of a chord

Choose your skin tone well, I'll probably be nicking it 

Yes, the skin tone is definitely the dilemma. (It definitely won't be 'Goblin Green' though )
Again, the information in Tolkien's works is sketchy, conflicting and often misquoted / misinterpreted. When he refers to 'black orcs' for instance, does he mean 'black' in the poetic sense (as in black-hearted, wicked) or does he literally mean they look like Africans? Or coal miners coming off shift? Probably it's 'black' in the first sense. I don't recall if he ever actually says they have 'black skin', and I don't want to get into the whole mid-C20th attitudes to ethnicity thing, which I think is a red herring as far as Tolkien is concerned.
The specific descriptive terms that have stuck in my mind (used several times IIRC), are 'swart' and 'sallow'. Which suggests a darkish complexion - but with an unhealthy pallor!
So I'll probably go for a more browny-yellowy hue than my customary 'sunny skin tone'.

Fair warning - I'm knicking the idea of combining the Oathmark kits with Victrix Saxons. Might give Viking parts a go too. :-)

Nick away Keith.
(Godammit - yours are going to be better than mine, I just know it! )

Don’t listen to James, I bet his mum gave him that helmet when he was little 

I never listen to James, and I think you've got it right, Matt. That little orc's mama was a huge Conan fan

Oh dear.  You already make me feel inadequate in WW2 and historicals - do you have to go and get into fantasy too?

Hey, don't you dare feel inadequate - not after that brilliant post-apoc greenhouse!
I'm not exactly new to fantasy... As mentioned, at school I had a Minifigs 'ME' army around 1976 when D&D was just a quirky new thing, and Games Workshop was barely a thing at all!
You must have missed my previous forays into fantasy on LAF too

15mm Hyboria: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=104708.0
28mm Game of Thrones: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=62778.0

[Alan Mercer]

Great work. I did something similar last year, but yours look far better executed than mine, where GS hides many sins! I look forward to seeing your finished orcs.