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Author Topic: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins - now with 1980s vintage Orc archers  (Read 11483 times)

Offline Diablo Jon

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Nostalgia can be a powerful thing which probably explains why I’ve recently ended up buying several batches of 1980s lead on eBay. In this particular case is was some citadel C series/Fantasy Tribes Orcs circa 1983-1986 see the links below from stuff of legends.

http://www.solegends.com/citc/c015orcs/index.htm

http://www.solegends.com/citc/c015orcs2/index.htm

I had several of these miniatures the first time around (when they cost a massive 50p each) but back then I couldn’t paint for toffee. These days, while I’m no pro painter, I can at least get the paint in the right place so I was keen to slap some paint on these old minis in a way my 10 year old self couldn’t manage. When you first view these old minis in the flesh you could be forgiven for thinking they aren’t up to much. Once you get some paint on them you release that despite their age they are really nice sculpts which shouldn’t be a surprise when you release these are early Perry brothers work. Anyway here are my painting attempts.



































Pretty pleased with how these turned out and have a few a more to paint up yet having got a bit carried away on eBay  lol
« Last Edit: August 21, 2023, 06:29:03 AM by Diablo Jon »

Offline Spinal Tap

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins roll back the years
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2022, 07:06:22 AM »
Great looking paintwork, especially the tortoise shell effect on that shield.

Offline Hobgoblin

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins roll back the years
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2022, 07:45:21 AM »
Great stuff! Excellent work on some lovely old figures - and fantastic shields!

To my mind, the three slotta-based ones among those are from the very best range of orcs that Citadel ever did. But the earlier ones aren't far behind - especially the armoured orcs and the champion with the mace.

Offline Elk101

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins roll back the years
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2022, 12:55:30 PM »
I love those figures and suspect that we may have been bidding against each other recently! At least yours are now painted.

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins roll back the years
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2022, 06:29:26 AM »
Great looking paintwork, especially the tortoise shell effect on that shield.

Thanks I wasn't sure what to do with that shield tortoise was what I was going for so I guess it came out ok  :D

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins roll back the years
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2022, 06:36:59 AM »
Great stuff! Excellent work on some lovely old figures - and fantastic shields!

To my mind, the three slotta-based ones among those are from the very best range of orcs that Citadel ever did. But the earlier ones aren't far behind - especially the armoured orcs and the champion with the mace.

Thanks.

 I had quite a few of the Slotta based Orcs in my youth but oddly I don't remember owning any of the, ex fantasy tribes, solid base orcs. All my solid base orcs back then where Chronicle/Nick Lund ones that my mum painted for me  lol. I don't know why that was I guess it was just down to what I could buy from the local model shops, limited selection, back then. Given that I was rather taken with the solid based guys, they are nicer miniatures than I gave them credit for, but they didn't really shine until I got some paint on them.

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins roll back the years
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2022, 06:39:29 AM »
I love those figures and suspect that we may have been bidding against each other recently! At least yours are now painted.

Could be though I've given up bidding on eBay now I just get the "buy it now" options it can be more expensive but at least I get the stuff. Far to much heartbreak, missing out on miniatures I wanted, to last second bid snipers  :(

Offline Diablo Jon

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins roll back the years
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2022, 05:31:39 AM »
Return of the King….. No not that woose Aragorn but the most famous Goblin king (and his Guard) the Known world has ever seen Grom! Continuing my quest to build an Orc and Goblin army for WFB 2nd edition I’ve painted up these original 1984 solid base version of Grom’s Goblin Guard which you can find out more about here

http://www.solegends.com/citrr/1rr03groms/index.htm

According to the the original Regiment of Renown description there is no uniformity among the regiment so I’ve tried to paint them that way with a mix of skin tones and shield designs. I still need to source the units musician hopefully one will turn up on eBay at some point.

Finally I have to give out a shout to the regimental standard bearer for the most ludicrous (see picture 6) standard design ever….





















« Last Edit: March 28, 2022, 05:33:30 AM by Diablo Jon »

Offline Diablo Jon

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Carrying on with my efforts to build some Green skins to use with 2nd (or 3rd) edition WFB I give you Notlob and his bolt throwers. You can read all about about Notlob here

http://www.solegends.com/citrr/1rr14notlobs/index.htm

I have read, though I don’t know how true it is, that GW staff named Notlob from Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch. and lets face Bolton is quite an apt name for an Orcish engineer who likes bolt throwers.

My unit actually has two more crew than the original regiment and uses the later C22/27 bolt thrower models the early version of the bolt throwers being far simpler models. The story with Notlob’s and the latter C22 orc bolt throwers, as far a I can work out, is that the Perry twins sculpted the original regiments miniatures in 1985. Later in 1986 Kev Adams was given the job of updating the miniatures using the Perry’s original models as a base at this point the bolt thrower models were also updated and the bolt throwers and crews were then sold as C22/27 Orc Bolt Thrower

http://www.solegends.com/citc/c022orcboltt/index.htm

Interestingly, something of a rarity for a Regiments of Renown, Notlob actually had some special rules, in 2nd edition WFB, which make him and his unit rather decent.

“Notlob himself is an Orc Major Hero. He is also an extraordinary engineer, and counts as a full crew of 3 when firing a war-engine. In addition, any other engine in his unit can +1 to their normal ‘to hit’ score with war engines.”
















« Last Edit: April 01, 2022, 05:38:24 AM by Diablo Jon »

Offline Elk101

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Nice old school minis there.

Offline Diablo Jon

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Thanks Elk I'm very much enjoying re-visiting my youth with these old minis. I'm painting up another two dozen 80s Citadel Orcs at the moment and then I have a bunch of Harborth's Black Mountain Boys soaking in paint stripper after that.

Offline Diablo Jon

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I’m continuing to plough through a selection of old Citadel C series Orcs and have know almost painted up enough for two 20 strong units of orcs to form the core of my Oldhammer army. The miniatures have mostly come from eBay with a few from other second hand dealers. Collecting old OOP miniatures can get expensive, especially from eBay sellers who sell individual miniatures already stripped, I certainly can’t afford to be paying £10-15 per miniature for grunts to fill up units. To get more bang for your buck the best deals are the multi miniatures lots usually covered in a, 30 year old, layer of badly applied, thick paint. Inevitably these lots come with a few miniatures that are damaged.

Commonly on, old, soft metal miniatures, of this era it’s the weapons that are broken followed by snapped legs. All the miniatures below had damaged or missing weapons but I didn’t fell like that needed to be terminal. I broke out the bits box and found alternatives or converted them in to standard bearers (of which there was a surprising lack in the early 1980s citadel lines Harboth’s boys having the only pre-slotta orc standard miniature made) I used my Pin vice and some steel rod and made sure I pinned any new additions.

1. This orc originally came with some sort Plumbata ( a military throwing Dart popular in late Roman armies) and interesting choice of orc weapon. mine had the ended snapped off so he got a nice spear instead.





2. Another Orc that once had Plumbata (I can only assume the Perry twins were collecting a late roman army at the time they sculpted these orcs) This one had a damaged hand so in the end I removed it and replaced with hand holding a Falchion. Surprisingly other than the dart this orc had no other weapons so now he has something to hit people with.





3. This old armoured orc once had a massive mace the head of which was missing. As I already had a second complete version of this miniature I decided to give this one an axe head from my bits box.





4. This is another old armoured orc but this one was missing his hand axe I thought the pose would suit a standard bearer so I fashioned one from some spare steel spears the banner is hand painted in what I hope is 80s Oldhammer style.





5. This last orc was supposed to have a halberd but again the business end of the weapon was missing leaving him with just a stick. The pose seemed perfect for a standard bearer so I cut out the old halberd drilled out his hands and added another steel spear banner. Again I hand painted the banner using a classic orc motif of a bad moon.





I’ll finish of with a group shot. I’m pretty pleased with how these guys turned out with only a little bit of work they are ready to “Pulp some Stunties”.


Offline Cypher226

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins - Rescuing Some Old 1980s Orcs
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2022, 08:28:49 AM »
Phenomenal.  You've really captured that 80's/early 90's vibe. 

Conversions are smoothly done, they add great variety.

To what you said earlier, it never fails to astonish me just how well a lot of those sculpts hold up, once given a more modern paintjob - top case in point always being Jes Goodwin's Eldar, imo.

Offline Elk101

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins - Rescuing Some Old 1980s Orcs
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2022, 10:05:49 AM »
These figures can be quite hit or miss with people, but iblove them. Great refurbishment! The death banner orc is excellent.

Offline Morts

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Re: Diablo Jon's Geriatric Orcs and Goblins - Rescuing Some Old 1980s Orcs
« Reply #14 on: April 14, 2022, 11:54:53 AM »
To me the old pre slotta Orcs were the best. I have a few of those myself.
I could never get into the comical style they morphed into.
Brilliant work on those old figures - puts mine to shame.
Morts

 

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