Justin's fantasy figures (Orcs and Goblins added 2-12-20)

[Justin Buck]

I've had this idea of a skirmish/dungeon craw/large battle idea kicking around in my head for a while.  I wanted some figures that I can use for skirmish games (like Mordheim, Frost Grave, or SobH) but can also do double duty in a dungeon setting.  I finally settled on Orcs and Goblins as my main villain, or misunderstood and downtrodden refugees depending on your point of view  











 The troll is from Ral Partha, the larger orcs are from Black Tree Design, the other orcs are from the old Warhammer fantasy regiment box from the 80's.  I swapped out the weapon with weapons from my bits box.  The heads are old GW plastic goblin heads with shaved down noses.  Some orcs from the Battlemasters game floating around in the group too.  There are some goblins from the fantasy regiment box (the ones with a bow), also a lot of goblins from Battlemasters.  I just swapped out some arms to add variety to a single pose figure.  I also painted up some Black Tree goblins, they are the old Harlequin miniatures.  To round out the hoard, I have some GW snotlings and some Alternative Armies goblins to act as lesser goblins.  I wanted to stay away from the green skin as that never made any sense to me.  If the are grown from fungus then wouldn't they be the color of mushrooms?  I for one have never seen a bright green mushroom.  I wanted them to look real, or real as orcs and goblins can be.

More pictures over at my site.  http://theparadeground.blogspot.com/   Let me know what you all think.

Justin

[Stéphane]

Your brown/redish orcs and gobelins are better than lot of green ones.
I love them.

Stéphane

[Za Zjurman]

Really nice skin tone. Love these old miniatures. Personally I would give the bases a dry brush and put some grass/tufts/flowers on them.

Cheers,
Za

[Golgotha]

Their a delightful bunch... Good to see old minis brought to life like this and in an original and realistic looking paint scheme.

[Lowtardog]

Crackiing orcy goodness, lovely proper flesh

[Justin Buck]

Thanks for the complements.  I would've put grass and plants on the bases but these guys have to pull double duty as the baddies in my dungeon games too.  I had to make a compromise with the bases, I think grass would've looked to out of place.

Justin

[OSHIROmodels]

A great set of figures 

Maybe the odd weed or two, here and there might suffice?

cheers

James

[Za Zjurman]

fair enough   still a really great paint job.

Cheers

[Justin Buck]

Looking back at the pictures and thinking about it some more, I think you guys are right.  The bases need a little something "extra".  I like the weeds idea.  Unfortunately, I do not have any basing material that looks anything weed or dead like.  Everything I have is too green.  Do you all have any ideas?

Justin

[Bloggard]

-deleted- (don't know how to delete a post).

[Shaved Dwarf]

Ah, some nice oldfashoned sculpts.
And a thorough paintjob binding them together. Very well done!

[DowVooVoo]

GREAT STUFF

[Modhail]

Great looking Orcs! I like the skin colour.
For dead weeds, you could take your material that is closest in colour and once dry, either paint a wash over it, or drybrush it to the desired colour?
The alternative, of course, is mushrooms made from (plastic or metal) rod with a cap from sculpting putty.

[Justin Buck]

I was planning to make some mushrooms that are free standing.  I don't want to put some on the base.  I might try to find some brownish ground cover and try to dry brush it a lighter brown.

[Hobgoblin]

These look really good! As to the bases, I think there's a good case to be made for keeping them simple. I know the fashion is for lots of detail, but I think that figures with very simple bases often look best in games. Aly Morrison (one of the best miniature painters ever, I think) said as much in a great article he did for White Dwarf in the 80s.

In the case of your orcs, I like the fact that their hide is quite similar to the earth tone - it gives them a "maggots of Ymir" feel - as if they've sprung up from the dirt. If you're doing opponents for them on the same sort of base, I'd wait to see how they all look together.

I like the headswaps and conversions too. I used some of the same heads on the Warhammer Regiment bodies (though without converting) a while back: they go on nicely! And, oddly enough, I've converted one of those Warhammer Quest orcs to hold a spear, though he's yet to be painted. Your conversion looks much more natural than mine though!

Anyway, that's a great-looking warband!