15mm Orc Army completed - Pattus Magnus' Fantasy Armies

[Pattus Magnus]

As fanatical as I can be about my hobby, taking up residence in another country to reduce the shipping to feed my habit may be taking things a bit far! 

Regarding the shipping, I compared it to the rates on Khurasan’s page and they’re actually pretty close if I was to make a similar value purchase to the test order I put in the cart. Postage at other US based retailers is also in that range. I have to conclude that it isn’t the miniatures companies padding the shipping (as eBay sellers often do), it’s just the current price. 

I’ll hold off on adding dwarf archers for a bit. Need to focus on completing core units for the other armies first anyway.

[Grimmnar]

I’ll hold off on adding dwarf archers for a bit. Need to focus on completing core units for the other armies first anyway.

And you call yourself a hobbyist. We buy all at once, even when that project isn't front and center. You need to multitasking my friend. LOL

Grimm

[Pattus Magnus]

These lads took all month to complete, but they will go some way toward stiffening the back of the snaga rabble I painted back in October.

The first unit is a regiment of common uruks, the core of any orc army!

I originally planned to do 3 regiments of 3 bases, but the Splintered Light orcs didn’t mix as well with the Demonworld figures as I had hoped, so the heftier Demonworld guys ended up in their own units.

[Pattus Magnus]

The Demonworld figures are bigger, so got sent to some special duty units. The first is a small regiment of two bases of “horse killers”. They’re not canonical in Tolkien’s Middle Earth, but I can imagine innovative orc chieftains living near the Riddermark using long spears.

The second unit is the Bodyguard of Bolg, large orcs armed with scimitars of steel. There are also a few Splintered Light sword-orcs mixed in to add variety and round out the numbers.

[Pattus Magnus]

The orc army now has three grades of orc infantry. In the picture, the snagas are on the left, small goblins with a mix of hand weapons and bows. The middle base is the common uruks, equipped with a variety of weapons and shields. And on the right there is the bodyguard, the largest and fiercest  warriors.

[Pattus Magnus]

Finally, a couple of staged action shots, of horse killers testing their new weapons, and uruks and men hotly contesting the outcome!

[Philotep]

I'm always impressed with well painted 15mm figures, and yours impress me a lot! I'm rather on the Orc side, but your Elves are really impressive too, and I'm discovering the 15mm ranges thanks to you.
One more thing, I like your bases very much. Is it just sand, paint and static grass, or did you use something else ?

[OSHIROmodels]

Lovely 

[DivisMal]

Top notch painting and great ideas to use all the orcs that are available for your Middle Earth project!

I like the three grades of orcs a lot. Might steal this idea if I ever get to start my own pseudo Tolkien project.

[Pattus Magnus]

Thanks for the comments!

Philotep, regarding the bases - yes, what you described is essentially the process I use.

It may be obvious, but one thing to do before basing is to paint each figure’s cast on base (and add some texture if it is smooth) before gluing it to the base. With 5 or 6 15mm figures on a base, reaching between their feet after they are glued in place is difficult!

I use acrylic moulding paste instead of white glue to mount the figures and stick on the sand in one step. Spread the paste across the base, stand the figures in it, adjust how they stand next to each other, then pour on sand while the paste is wet. The moulding paste does not shrink as much as glue when it dries, so it helps to make the bases on each figure less noticeable. I also use the smallest grade of sand that I could find. So far, the moulding paste holds the figures just as well as white glue.

After the paste dries, I brush the excess sand off, and paint the bases with a muddy colour (originally I used Vallejo’s US Army Drab, and now use a mix of craft paints that is almost the same, to reduce cost). Then I drybrush khaki and then a lighter drybrush of buff to make the soil look dry.

The last stage is to add the greenery. I don’t use static grass. Instead I use Woodland Scenics flock. I feel that it hides mistakes on the drybrushed sand better than static grass. The colour is a mix of two shades, to get a dry look.  I use the flock strategically to cover up spots on the sand and figure bases that don’t look natural. For example, often there line at the edge between the figure base and the sand is obvious, so flock goes there to hide it. I found that some white glue is shiny so now I use cheap acrylic matte varnish, with a little water added, to glue on the flock. It holds the flock well.

It takes longer to describe the steps than to do them! I hope the information is useful. If I remember, I will take photos of the basing process and post a step-by-step in the workbench next time I base some 15mm figures.

[Philotep]

Thank you very much for the recipe 
And yes, a step by step would be great, if you find time, I love to learn from other modellers.

[DivisMal]

That basing recipe is pretty cool. I need to try it out myself. Thanks for sharing it.

[Pattus Magnus]

I’m glad it’s helpful. I’ll take some pictures and do a how-to thread in the Workbench when I base the next batch of figures.

Edit: The step-by-step with pictures is at https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=145719.0

[Pattus Magnus]

I painted a few wolfriders and snaga scouts to give me six bases of each to screen the main army. It doesn’t take long to finish bases when there aren’t five figures on each!

Four of the wolfriders are conversions- Splintered Light goblin foot soldiers mounted on Copplestone giant wolves. 

[Dean]

Very nice, love how this is all coming together, the full horde should look great on the table