Some miniatures for Song of Blades and Heroes (minimalist beastmen for Mordheim)

[Hobgoblin]

And with some friends. I like mixing manufacturers in units, and I think these chaps go together nicely. The "uruk" with the shield is a little smaller; I have all the others of his sort, I think, who can serve as a smaller breed or as half-ogres. They, along with Throgg's hobgoblins (also by Jez Goodwin) bear a similar relationship to the Goodwin ogres as the Chronicle hobgoblins do to the newly painted ogre. Eventually, I plan to have a full DR warband of these varieties; I've probably already got enough for a SoBH warband. The Acropolis uggruck fills out the ranks amply.

[beefcake]

Very nice. I'm eagerly awaiting DR to have a read of the rules.

[Globlin]

Really great thread - have got a lot of inspiration from it!

[DeafNala]

TERRIFIC STUFF! The Big Guys painted up in FINE fashion. The shield is INSPIRATIONAL...I need to make a few. GREAT WORK!

[Hobgoblin]

Here's a quick orc I painted this evening for a friend at work (he's just started playing Descent with his family, and I thought he could do with a villain to replace the cardboard counters for the fat goblin, etc.).

[Justin Buck]

Wow! Those look awesome!

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks!

Here are some attempts at Middle Earth orcs. I've been digging out and otherwise amassing orcs that broadly fit Tolkien's conception. The main thing is that they have to be small. I've harped on about it often enough here, but it's very clear from LotR that even the biggest of Tolkien's goblins - the Uruk-hai - are significantly smaller than Men. There's ample evidence for this, but the most obvious thing is that the half-orcs - who are described as "Men" have Orcish features but Mannish height: it's their size that strikes people as odd, because Men - as Gollum observes - are "much bigger" than Orcs. And of course, the smallest ones must be roughly Hobbit-sized (because Sam and Frodo can pass themselves off as Orcs).

Anyway, I'm combining Asgard, Ral Partha, Denizen, Reider and Chronicle in this, so variety is very much a feature. Here are a couple of Chronicle "black orcs" that could work as smallish Uruks or bigger examples of the smaller breeds; I get the impression that there was a blurry line between them - as with the "larger and bolder" of the Northerners who stay with the Isengarders when the rest flee (of course, those larger, bolder Northerners may well be Uruks, as Moria had plenty of them). The Ral Partha "giant goblin" archer is definitely an Uruk, and the Viking is just there for scale.

[Vermis]

Nice. I like the eye on the banner!

[Globlin]

Nice job on those orcs (or should it be "Goblins?). Certainly evocative of Tolkien's descriptions of the foot soldiers of Mordor (or at least how I pictured them in my mind's eye when reading his books)!

[Hobgoblin]

Nice job on those orcs (or should it be "Goblins?). Certainly evocative of Tolkien's descriptions of the foot soldiers of Mordor (or at least how I pictured them in my mind's eye when reading his books)!

Thanks! It should be both! They're one and the same in The Lord of the Rings. I always find it odd that D&D and Warhammer seem to have somehow obscured the fact that Tolkien uses "goblin" to describe the Uruk-hai.

[Justin Buck]

I really like the way you painted the orcs.  I love the old figures, they were so full of character.  Keep them coming.

Justin

[Hobgoblin]

I really like the way you painted the orcs.  I love the old figures, they were so full of character.  Keep them coming.

Justin

Thanks!

Here are a few more. I've been playing around with some chimp-like colouration with these:

[Vermis]

I've been playing around with some chimp-like colouration with these:

Hurray! Looks good.

[Globlin]

The Mordor chimps look good! Especially like the eye design on the shield - very effective.

[Pappa Midnight]

Very impressive thread. Some of the nicest renditions of "old school" Orcs I've seen. I particularly like your freehand shields and choice of colours.

Regards
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