Pattus Magnus' Fantasy Armies - 15mm Barbarians and Giants

[Pattus Magnus]

It took a while to get this unit painted - I got distracted by assembling a few additional kitbashes before getting back to these!

The first pics shows the figures based on GW LotR Morannon orcs. Most are unmodified, but a couple have had head swaps.

The second pic shows Oathmark figures for the same unit.

[Pattus Magnus]

Despite differences in the equipment of the LotR and Oathmark orcs, I think that with consistent painting and basing they mix fairly well in a unit.

[Pattus Magnus]

The first picture shows two of the kitbashes I distracted myself with. I decided to convert one of the LotR spearmen orcs into a linebreaker about to smack an opponent with a double-handed mace. It turned out pretty well, so, of course, I had to go back to the figure in that pose that I had already painted and converted him too. But then I had a hole in the roster of the spearmen unit… which led to kitbashing a spearman.

And since I had the knives and glue out, I went to work on a couple of EM4 orcs and added a couple more kitbashed figures to that collection. These fellows got WA goblin heads, Oathmark shields, and weapon arms/hands from an old GW zombies set.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great work yet again mate! 👍

[WitchQueenofAngmar]

Marvelous work! They blend in perfectly!

[Seditiosus]

they look great..!

I didn't know that, the lotr minis are comparable size wise at all. thanks for the heads up

it really needs a comprehensive size-comparison site on the internet:D no idea why this doesn't exist yet. I remember that I tried to figure out, which if the angmar minis could be mixed with frostgrave ghost achipelago but gave up. at least something was learnt today!

[Hobgoblin]

Brilliant stuff! They're all great, but the chap with the mace is just fantastic!

[Pattus Magnus]

Thanks folks! More figures are in the queue, wolf riders next.

Hobgoblin, he does look enthusiastic about his work, doesn’t he?

Seditiosus, I was also surprised about the potential compatibility of the LotR orcs with the recent plastic kits from Northstar and Wargames Atlantic. I saw some conversions other people on LAF did (I think James Morris was one, it is worth checking out his stuff on his blog, Mogsy Makes; also the LAF thread “pimp you orc” has many great conversions and I think some involve LotR figures). I don’t have GW’s Mordor Orc set for comparison, but they seem like they will blend into units, especially with a little kit bashing.

Regarding size, I think the main thing is the size of the heads. The LotR orcs I have seen have relatively ‘realistic’ proportions to fit the feel in the movies, but that means their heads are small compared to most gaming figures. The easiest Oathmark heads to swap on to them are from the goblin and wolf riders kits, since they are also fairly small. The Oathmark orc heads are a bit bulkier, but probably still compatible (I don’t think I tried any of those on the LotR figs yet). The WA goblin heads are the largest - they can go on Oathmark orc bodies easily, but need a bit of finesse to look natural on Oathmark goblins or LotR figures. The linebreaker with the mace and WA head shows that they can work- I think it shifts the proportions close to what most conventional 28mm figures use.

Later today I’ll pick a few figures out and take some pics to illustrate.

[Seditiosus]

appreciated! thanks for the detailed response. Now that you mentioned it, I went back to the twohanded orc and I can see what you mean. If you look closely, the head is indeed bigger than you would expect, I guess something that tabletoppers generally are used to see when they have any contact with heroic scale miniatures. so kudos to you, that this didn't really seem obvious on first sight. speaks for the quality of the conversion I guess

[Pattus Magnus]

So, here are some comparison shots for gauging how the various orc/goblin heads fit on LotR orcs (and on Oathmark bodies).

The first pic shows two LotR figures, originally holding spears above their heads and now swinging two handed weapons. The orc with the mace has a Wargames Atlantic head and the other figure has the original head. The original head is smaller, but the WA head still looks okay. I did have to shave down the underside of the WA head to get a good fit and avoid it sitting too high.

The second pic shows two identical Oathmark orc bodies but heads from different sets. The axe-man has a head from an Oathmark goblin kit (I don’t remember whether it was the infantry or the wolf riders). It is a little bit smaller, but within the realm of plausibility. The swordsman has an orc head.

[Pattus Magnus]

In the first pic, the bodies are LotR spear orcs. The figure on the left has its original head while the one on the right got a replacement from the Oathmark wolf riders set. With a bit of green stuff to mask the join, the goblin head fit in pretty well.

The second pic shows identical Oathmark orc bodies. The guy toting the standard and mace got a WA head (because it reminded me of McBride illustrations). And the other one has a standard head from the Orcs sprue. They look pretty compatible to me.

[Hobgoblin]

If you're going for a Tolkien-esque look, then big heads are all to the good! They seem to be a notable feature of Orcs: large heads are mentioned in the cases of the Great Goblin ("a huge head"), Grishnakh ("great head and hideous face"), Ugluk (or whoever's head is put on the spike by Eomer & co.: "a great goblin head") and Azog ("a huge iron-clad head").

And in one of the early LotR drafts of the Cirith Ungol passage, JRRT notes that it's difficult for Sam to find Orc-helmets that fit well because Orcs have large heads relative to their bodies. Of course, that might be an abandoned idea - but the quotes above strongly suggest not.

I'm planning to put Oathmark Orc heads on the Oathmark goblin bodies to achieve more Tolkienish Orcs.

So that fellow with the mace looks bang on to me!

[Old Hob]

I wonder what Pattus has been up to over the last couple of weeks... Oh my!

Not only are you banging through these, but they're looking really good, especially your latest orcs. Looks like you'll beat me to painting up wolf riders, which I'm quite happy about as it means I can borrow your ideas. 

Great stuff.

[LouieN]

Well done.  TY

[Pattus Magnus]

Thanks for the compliments!

Old Hob, you might end up finishing your wolf riders before I do, after all. My hot water heater tank failed yesterday and leaked for hours before I noticed, and by then it had dampened the carpet in my painting area (I noticed the problem when I sat down to paint and wondered why the f-k my feet were wet).

So, now my hobby space smells of damp socks (even more than usual) and it will be a little while before painting starts again…