Black orc ogre proxy force 'the Bloodguzzlers'

Gday all

I was recently rummaging through my huge box of unused minis, and i found around 30 brand new black orcs.  These miniatures rank towards the top of my favourites list so I decided to get them out and try something a little different with them.
The biggest problem i had with them was when you rank them up on their bases, not only do you struggle to fit them in, but by the time you do their brilliance is lost in a jumble of random arms going everywhere.
So i pilfered some 40 mm ogre bases which allow you to fully admire each one, and also enable a much greater range of movement.  This is where I decided to do a proxy ogre army using red skinned black orc berserker types.  My goal is to create a 2000 pt army and at least do minor conversions on every model in it.
So far Ive done up around 10 'ironguts' a 'butcher' and a thundertusk, but i plan on adding around 15 'bulls' another butcher, bsb, gorger and a tyrant.  Im still nutting out the fluff, and im sure a few people will have something to say about my orcs being as strong as ogres, but I intend on explaining it to the best of my ability.
I'll post the fluff along with more pics as I develop my army.
Thanks and any feedback would be appreciated.
Dedled

A few of my ironguts











My thundertusk, the second crewman is wielding a giant wardrum







My orc 'butcher'

Interesting, particularly like the thundertusk conversion fits in really well with the Orc theme.

Great project, well executed.
I like the thundertusk in particular - the paint scheme for the beast is very effective, and the war drum is really nicely done.
The tarnishing on the armour looks good too, but the black looks a little flat (n the pictures at least); I would try highlighting before you weather them.

Looking forward to seeing more; could we see a pic of ranked up "ironguts"?

This is awesome, it will be a great looking army!  Any other proxy plans for other units?

Thanks for positive feedback everywhere,

@ Baron Wastelands - I only really noticed the armour might be lacking something after you pointed it out, cheers

I'm pretty new to the gaming side of WFB (In fact I've never played a match before), but as I fully intend on getting involoved in some friendly local games, I did up the following list:


Tyrant
Sword of Swift Slaying
Talisman of Preservation
Giantbreaker          305pts

Bruiser
BSB rune maw
H Armour
G Weapon.            205

Butcher
Lvl 2 LoGM
Dispel Scroll.         160

Butcher
Lvl 2 LoBeasts.      135

9 Ironguts
Full command
Banner Of Swift.    432

4 ogres.
Bellower
Add hand weapon. 134

4 ogres.
Bellower
Add hand weapon. 134

4 ogres.
Bellower
Add hand weapon. 134


Gorger.                   90

Thundertusk.            250

1970

Im not sure how this will run, but Ill put my tyrant, bsb and maw butcher into the IG and have them 4 wide by 3 deep, my bulls will be purely for redirecting, and everything else will directly support my main unit.

I also started work on my gorger, originally I was going to use the new savage orcs, but I decided I needed something orcy without actually using an orc, enter Gouger:



I found a sabretusk or 2 as well as some boar heads, and thought 'if my tyrant is massively oversized' (more to follow) he definitely needs a giant pet boar to go with him.  This conversion is still in its infancy but it should be working by the time I'm finished it.  Im having alot of trouble making 4 same sized hooves for the thing.

As requested a couple of ranked up irongut photos:





As I briefly mentioned before my tyrant is large, based on an ogre bull body minus the gut plate and with a leg change, apologies for the bad photo but I couldnt get lighting that showed him properly.



I'll be keeping him to paint last, just as a bit of motivation to keep at it.

If anyone feels like critiquing my stuff as usual, it would be appreciated, especially my army list which I'm sure could use alot of work.

Dedled

Good stuff - the flash gives you the effect you want on the armour! Use that piccy
They look great ranked up though.
Nice work on the beastie too.

As for the list, I wouldn't run units of 4 bulls for redirecting. If you have worked out model count already, group those in 2 units of 6; if you have some sabretusks (or whatever ;p ), use a couple of those for light work instead. With Maw and Beasts, you'll likely have a few buffs to spread around, so Bulls can be handy in a pinch. You could run your 2nd butcher in one unit; a beasts butcher can be a . . . well, beast if you roll Horros.

Lore wise tyrants are the biggest and meanest of the tribe......I see no problem with having a tyrant double the size of the rest. Looking good so far.

@Baron Wastelands, yer I see where I went wrong there I meant to say a couple of mournfangs one of which I'm converting into my Gorger.  I also have some boars though so they should make perfect sabretusks, would you recommend running say, 3 single sabretusks, or do they work better in pairs?

I've had to slow down a little as I've recently started work again, however over the last few days I have managed to crack out a few more conversions as well as paint some bulls up.

These are my first 3 finished bulls,  the command group of squad 1. 



The centre one is probably breaking orcy tradition a little by reading a map (probably not very well), but it seemed like a good way of designating the unit commander while also breaking up the black and red of the model a bit.

I've also begun working on my bsb 'Big-arm Bagrut', hes carrying a big boulder on his back that has a maw style mouth pushing its way out of the back.  His name comes from the ogre arms Ive substituted in.  They look a bit out of proportion in the photo, but up close it works in whacky kind of way.





And lastly are 4 orcs that I’ve done pretty basic mods to





Below some rough fluff as to how my tribe came about:
 
Bloodguzzlers:

Tyrant (Warchief): Rek'narok Spawnslayer
Head Butcher (Chief shaman): Gazrag Bloodkeeper

During 'The Storm of Chaos' Rek'narok was a member of grimgors bodyguard.  After Grimgor felled Archaon, Rek'narok split off and went on pilgrimage in an effort to become closer to Gork and Mork, by fighting around the world. While travelling aroud the Gulf of Fear, he met Gazrag, a wild orc witchdoctor.  Together they went northeast to the mountains of  Mourn, where Rek'narok had heard rumours of a giant everhungry maw, surely a physical manifestation of the great Gork (or maybe Mork).  While travelling through these mountains Gazrag began worship of the 'Maw' and was gifted with visions of hunger and destruction, to remedy these he altered his own shamnistic rituals to include the devouring of raw flesh which allowed him to channel some a portion of the power of his new deity.

They travelled further north with ogre mercenaries into the chaos wastes where they fought all manner of warp-spawned beasts.  It was while slaying a Khornate blood cult, that Rek'narok singlehandedly killed the bloodthirster Axaxkarax, tore out its heart and drained it of blood.  He was transformed into the giant red orc that he his today. 

After returning from the north he was given the name spawnslayer by the ogres they travelled with because of the carnage he wreaked in the wastes.  Gazrag continues to experiment with daemon blood, specifically Khornate daemon blood, in an attempt to recreate what happened to Rek'narok, however he can only produce much milder effects.  Rek'narok has steadily gathered a following of black orcs, who are more than eager to drink Gazrag's special brew which turns their skin red and drives then into a hate fuelled rage of everything living, dead and chaos

Thanks for reading

Dedled

Really loving this Gnoblog!  Shows a lot of love for some fantastic models.  A truely great proxy army for ogres.  Look forward to seeing more. 

Run sabretusks on their own - there's several reasons why, but the main one is that in pairs, if one gets killed, the other has a good chance to run away, which is not good. Singly, if they die, they die - just keep them 6"+ away from your ogre units! If you got even one redirect (or even a speedbump) it has paid for itself (can't get much cheaper units, after all); but the uses of sabretusks are legion - put them down first as deployment drops, save placement of important units til later, etc. There are some good posts about it around here somewhere, by tyrants with more wisdon than I.

Some great poses on the new orc bulls, and I like the idea of a BSB carrying the Mawstone. If you can pose it slightly more over the shoulders, so the top hand is in contact, it will look more supported - as it is, he's going to lose it any second!

@ Zolas, cheers mate, always good to hear that kind of thing from great modellers

@ Baron Wastelands, haha yer theres a big lump of blu tack holding the stone on at the moment but without it, it sits snugly in his arms, thanks for the army list advice again

Alright, been pretty busy with work last couple of weeks, but I managed to get a couple of things done, not exactly Bloodguzzler related but in a moment of weakness I bought a OK battalion and started on a side project of some allies for my tribe:

3 done so far





And I also converted a hunchback orc butcher:



And painted a standard for them(using a brilliant tutorial for oriental smoke by Beastmum):



My greenstuffing skills are pretty basic, confined more or less to fur and chainmail at the moment.  But I've been getting really into it, and seem to be getting a bit better.

So obviously my attention has wavered a bit off the bloodguzzlers at the moment but I'll crack on with them again when Ive satisfied my thirst for painting green skin again.

Thanks for having a squizz at my stuff

- Dedled

This is a good Gnoblog! You're absolutely right that the 25mm bases don't show off the character of the Black Orc miniatures. Carry on sir!

Just a quick update this time, I finished the orc whos going to be carrying the banner from my last post.

I had a bunch of spare dead hands lying round, and instead of evenly spreading them round my minis, I thought Id put them all onto one.

So this is him, I'm pretty happy with how he turned out, all his random bitz seem to work together well (at least in my eyes)









I've been making a few plasticard weapons, all I have to say is, that its great fun, making huge out of proportion blades.

That painted ogre-orc banner bearer looks really great!

I'm really liking this army....coming along great

Thanks fellas, I appreciate the kind words

Straight up is a pic of my army in progress at the moment, I've done a fair bit, but as you can see theres still a lot more that needs doing.  Whats shown here is the stuff I've at least started on, theres still around 14 more ogre sized orcs that I have in the workshop, ready for some attention.



Next is a shot of Reknarok in his unit of Ironguts,



And 'Sanai Foecleaver' the leader of the big orcs, he's still very much a wip, but I thought I'd put up a photo of him anyway:



In his unit now with a butcher, the small hunched one:




Ok thats enough of that, now my latest orc that I just finished painting up, he'll probably be the leader of the unit of big orc ironguts:








Now, onto plans for future units, I'm going to convert up around 6 more bulls which will have orc heads from the warrior set, with shields that will be count as ironfists. I'll probably give them all axes, maces and choppas.  Thats the next project after I finish painting and converting what I've started (so it may be a while)

Thats all for now
Thanks for reading

Dedled

That is an insanely awesome army.
I love the red orc/ogres, and the ogre/orcs as much as each other, they are brilliant

Haha, this is fantastic! The Blackorcs are almost ogre-sized anyway, so this really works!

Theo

Gorgeous stuff here

Cheers for the comments, its good knowing when your not completely screwing the pooch on a project.

Thought I'd put in a quick update, no pictures at the moment unfortunately.  I've finished converting the final big orc with a black orc head and will probably start painting him tonight.  I'm going away for a couple of weeks on work related stuff next monday, so my army will slow down (no more gnoblog updates).  But I plan on at least finishing this one orc before I leave, and should have a few pics up by the end of the week.  When I get back I might try shifting my attention back to my red orcs, and finishing them up before continuing with the Big 'uns (which I'll probably develop into an army of their own, using the following list).

Tyrant, Giantbreaker, Enchanted shield,
 Sword of Swift, Talisman of Pres, HA (315)

Bruiser, BSB, Crown of Command,
GW,HA (180)

Butcher, lvl 2, GW, Dis Scroll, LoBeasts (169)

Butcher,lvl 2, GW, LotM (144)

5x Ironguts, Bellower (235pts)

5x Ironguts, Bellower (235pts)

3x Ogres, Ironfists, Bellower (106pts)

3x Ogres, Ironfists, Bellower (106pts)

Gorger (90pts)

4x Leadbelchers, Bellower (182pts)

Sabretusk (21pts)

Sabretusk (21pts)

Sabretusk (21pts)

Ironblaster 170

1995pts

Cheers

Dedled

Ok, so I'm putting a question out to the forum:

First a quick backstory, my big orcs are a semi nomadic clan that are based around the badlands and have a shamanistic culture that is heavily influenced by the beasts of the area, they are more intelligent than your normal orc and have a concept of honour (as you can tell I'm a fan of warcraft orcs).  They have a small fortress in the mountains to the west of the badlands where their 3 tribal elders live, and train young shaman of the tribe.  This fortress also has a forge where they create blackpowder weapons for use.

Now my question,

I'm trawling for some ideas on conversions for an ironblaster, as I'm not a fan of the look of the kit as it stands.
I was thinking of getting the kit and converting it so a giant boar (or other plains type animal) is pulling it around, backwards (in the style of an Empire GC) while the orc handler walks beside it.
This is all just an idea in my head at the moment, but it can't hurt to plan ahead.

Anyway Thoughts, Ideas?  Any feedback is appreciated.

Dedled

It took me all week but I finally found the time to finish him, the final part of my feb pledge.  Not quite as happy with him as the others, he seems to be missing something, not sure what it is though.





And an angle shot showing his tabard detail:



And my complete pledge:



Hes also the last of the black orc headed ogres(shamans bodyguard), the rest will have normal orc heads.
I'm hoping to finish off converting my shaman tonight, so I'll hopefully have some photos in a couple of hours.

Cheers
Dedled

Now my question,

I'm trawling for some ideas on conversions for an ironblaster, as I'm not a fan of the look of the kit as it stands.
I was thinking of getting the kit and converting it so a giant boar (or other plains type animal) is pulling it around, backwards (in the style of an Empire GC) while the orc handler walks beside it.
This is all just an idea in my head at the moment, but it can't hurt to plan ahead.

Anyway Thoughts, Ideas?  Any feedback is appreciated.

Dedled

Have you looked at or thought about a giant conversion (giant holding a ironblaster cannon) I know there is a thread on here some where that someone has pics great idea, I am thinking of having my second IB done this way so if I am not playing a serious game with 2xIB I can sub in the giant for fun, also fits with the Orc theme as they run giants into battle themselves

Have you looked at or thought about a giant conversion (giant holding a ironblaster cannon) I know there is a thread on here some where that someone has pics great idea, I am thinking of having my second IB done this way so if I am not playing a serious game with 2xIB I can sub in the giant for fun, also fits with the Orc theme as they run giants into battle themselves

Ispa - Haha could be a pretty fun conversion, maybe a bit over the top for what I had in mind though, but I'm definitely going to try dig up that thread.

Just finished sanding down my shamans cloak, and added fur around his waist, he's done now apart from maybe a couple for bitz and pieces I might hang off him.

Mahai the beast shaman:







He has a handful of runestones, if its a bit unclear.

Well thats it on the modelling and painting side for a couple of weeks, but I look forward to getting back and getting stuck in again.

Thanks

Dedled

http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=25237.0


About 3/4 the way down is the giant a few people have made

Updated my fluff for the big orcs a little bit:

Clan Dragonback

Beginnings:
Fashnak was originally a boss in a long forgotten Waaagh, and was infamous for the massive black helmet he would wear to battle, after the Warboss of the waagh was killed he took a large portion of the remaining orcs and headed south into the badlands where they roamed the plains.
After encountering and taming several large plain beasts, the shaman of his warband began to worship the wild.  This quickly spread through the tribe, replacing Gork and Mork as the chief deity.
While roaming the plains the head shaman decided to conduct a ritual to allow them to commune directly with the ‘spirit’ of the wild.  Unable to fully comprehend the unpredictable nature of their god, something went wrong (the tribes legend states the wild is enraged with them and curses them for an eternity).  Over the next few decades the tribe in its entirety is transformed into ogre sized orcs.  Fashnak himself is slowly driven insane and becomes a massive beast, fleeing into the southlands.
Before his full transformation, Fashnak led the tribe west to the Dragonback Mountain range where he built The Dragons Tooth, a fort built directly into the mountainside,  it is because of this that Fashank gains the title ‘Mountainforger’.
The tribes shamans elect the 3 elders to lead the tribe in their newfound strength and intelligence.  Around this time the tribe begins to send off small warbands that wander across the Worlds Edge Mountains.

Physiology:
Due to the curse they began to change, and over several decades became roughly the size and strength of ogres.   

Religion:
The clan still worship Gork and Mork but to a much lesser extent than other orcs, instead they have a strong link to the large plains beasts around the Badlands, and so worship the wild and beasts.  They don’t overtly worship like many other races, but instead worship through their actions.  The only exception of this is the shamans that conduct many rituals.

Culture:
The capital of Clan Dragonback is a small fortress in The Dragonback Mountains ‘The Dragons Tooth’, 3 tribal elders live here with bodyguard and young. 
The clan has a strong sense of honour, and like dwarves individuals have been known to exile themselves if shamed, they still have strong alliances with orcs, especially Black Orcs. 
Small semi-nomadic warbands roam the worlds edge mountains, more out of instinct than anything else.  These warbands all have a title generally with the prefix ‘Dragon’ (Several notable warbands are Dragon-Heart, Dragon-Scale and Dragon-Claw), there is rumoured to be up to a dozen of these warbands.   Most warbands return periodically to the Dragon’s Tooth for spiritual advice and to pass on any information gathered.
The clan dress in the furs of beasts native to the badlands, which act as insulation against both the heat and cold.

Shamans:
Brew potions, use rune/totem magic.  Before battles shamans brew potions for the warriors which can increase strength/regenerative capabilities/speed etc.  They also carve runes from stones of the Dragonback mountains, which all orcs carry as protection.
The chief shaman of each warband has a bodyguard of orcs who wear full helmets. 
Young shaman go on solo pilgrimages into the southlands ‘searching’ for Fashnak, and will typically be gone for over 3 years.

Warleaders:
Occasionally an orc will become known to the Elders as a great warrior and will avoid being bonded to a shaman.  These orcs will be offered the chance to ‘run the Gauntlet’ if he passes through and survives, the Elders will bless him as a Warleader.  Once given this title the orc will gather a following who will become his warband, they will then either wander the wilderness or be given a specific task by the Elders to conduct.

The Gauntlet:
The Gauntlet is a roughly 45 mile ravine that runs through the Dragonback mountains, this ravine is a holy place for the clan, and is the sole method of electing Warleaders.  The potential Warleader will enter one end of the ravine with nothing, and must survive and make it to the other side.  Little is known about the contents of the ravine as it’s forbidden to be talked about.  What is known is that the orc will face not only physical threats in the way of beasts and monsters, but other more sinister challenges that will test his body and mind.

Bodyguard:
Traditionally wear black full face helmets, as a sign of respect to Fashnak Mountainforger.  They always accompany the shaman they have been bonded too.  They carry large 2 handed weapons as a sign of rank.  When a young shaman returns from his pilgrimage he is ‘bonded’ with a number of bodyguard who are honoured to protect that shaman, should their charge be killed, many will exile themselves and seek to regain their honour by wandering the mountains.

Cannoneers:
Using blueprints captured from a dwarven engineer force, Clan Dragonback has an understanding of the workings of blackpowder weapons.  Orcs that show a particular talent for craftsmanship are trained in the arts of cannon and weapon forging.  These orcs are the blacksmiths and engineers, and will take their prized big boomers to battle in support of the tribe, they will often attach themselves to a wandering warband in an effort to discover more inventions that will be of use to the clan.

Goblins:
Shortly after the construction of The Dragons Tooth a small demi-goblin tribe was encountered, and aided a warband in the defeat of a dwarven engineer expedition.  These goblins were brought back to the fort and recruited as aids to the numerous orc trades within the clan.  The goblins are not used at all in a combat role, purely as labourers and assistants, and will rarely leave the Dragon’s Tooth.  While not oppressed to the same extent as goblins of other orcs, they are still inferior socially in every way.


Clan Symbol: Mountains with smoke around the base.

Capital: The Dragons Tooth (fort in Dragonback Mountains)

Clan Elders:
-Rhoshak Thrice-cursed
-Migrax See-all
-Dushnah Proudaxe

Dedled

My pledge for this month , 2 ironguts and a mournfang

Heres a couple of pics of my started mournfang cav, he's going to be riding it in much the same fashion as orc boar riders, the mournfang has a simple head swap with a boar (initially the boar was going to be a proxy gorger, but I think this works better).   I'm not a big fan of the current mournfang saddle, it just looks unnatural, so I dropped it and the rider is going bareback.... Comfortable.





Its still in early stages, when hes finished hopefully I'll get some clearer pics up.

Dedled

This weekend was pretty busy for me, with saturday being a write-off recovering from friday night.  This afternoon though I did manage to get my next 2 ironguts converted up.  My aim is to try to have a different orc head for every ogre in the force.  I've already bought the orc warriors and savage orc box sets, out of which I used:
a: The heads
b: nothing else
A good way to spend almost $100 I say.  At least now if I need surplus orc bodies for something I'll have plenty lying about.









I realise in the pictures the arm/body joint is a big gap, but I greenstuff that as I'm painting.  Hopefully I'll have the time to paint up at least 1 this week and then the next on the weekend.

I'll chuck in a couple of concept pics of my ironblaster, its obviously in beta at the moment but you get the general gist of it:





Also if anyone wants to share their opinions on my army fluff it's more than welcome.

Dedled

It took me a little longer than I expected but I finally got my next irongut finished (a little too late for the pledge I made last month though):







Apart from the paint job on his weapon (I've never been able to get a good effect on large metal surfaces), I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.


I also finished converting my first MFC:









Thats pretty much it, a slow month hobby wise, but hopefully this month will be more productive.

Dedled

Awesome stuff.. I started orc ogres a few years ago and never finished them, but I'm picking them back up. For a laugh I made some orc yhetees last night.. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8401/8635331956_d0c5b72f3c_z.jpg

Love the rust on the battleaxe - how did you do it?

Thanks for the gnoblar Zolas

The axe is ironbreaker base, heavy chestnut ink wash, ironbreaker drybrush and then a mournfang brown wash( heavily watered down).  It doesnt look as good as it does in the photo, Ive never been able to get metallic metal right

On that note as well, the day I run out of chestnut ink is going to be a sad one indeed, I use it for everything.  I'd cook with it if I could.

I started my first scratchbuild last night.... I'm too embarrassed to put up a photo, it's not as easy as some people make it look haha

Dedled

Loving the look of the pistol wielding Maneater. Do you plan on converting/ sculpting the goggles on the other models yourself, or have you found a good supply of heads/ accessories? I love the look of some good goggles myself, so would be interested to know how you're going to do it- if you sculpt them yourself, can I be so bold as to ask for a tutorial?

@UMB haha I'd love to say I'm going to sculpt them but I'm not quite there yet unfortunately.  Spellcrows the bomb for alternate orc heads though they have a nice range.

What does everyone think for the maneater, a bandolier with pistol rounds or a poncho?

Dedled

Cool, thanks for the tip; I'll check them out

And for the Maneater, nothing stands out for me so much as the idea of a WWII style leather flying jacket, to match the goggles 

Another day, another project I started, this time some hobgoblins.
I saw some conversions a while back using mordor orc bodies and gnoblar heads and though Id try something similar.

Im using mantic goblin heads because I love their long curved noses, and mordor orc warg riders.  So far I've only done up one on foot as a test, but he turned out alright so I'll commit and start making a few more:





I'm going to use the fanwritten hobgoblin army book as the rules for them as a normal goblin army doesnt have much flexibility for wolf riders whereas the hobgoblin one has numerous types of wolf cavalry.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Dedled

Finished up 2 wolf riders tonight, I found it pretty difficult to get a good angle shot on them:





The left is a Kheshig the hobgoblins equivelant of an elite wolfrider, and the right is a ordinary spearman.  I rolled out a big sheet of brown stuff and cut it into little leather armour plates, mongol style.



And this is a shot of the finished footman, who I'll probably use as my Khan, Ill do up a mounted version as well.  And next to him is a 'tug' a mongolian banner.  Theyre traditionally made from black horse hair when a tribe is at war, and my hobgoblins are always at war haha

Dedled

I started on this guy this morning, using an old sculpting tutorial by Ikim (great tutorial by the way).  I'm using black orc models as well as some pics from warhammer online as the basis for him.  I deliberatly chose a static pose, as I thoght it would be easier for a beginner to accomplish.  I did the base of his body from yellow milliput, which I found is good for bulk, and the detail is going to be in green and grey stuff.















I'm still trying to figure out the best way to sculpt his legs, getting both the same proportion will be difficult.  If anyone can see any obvious mistakes Im making, or anything I could be doing better, feel free to chime in and let me know.

Now all Im waiting for is this layer of gstuff to dry.

Dedled

Several more pics of this afternoons work, as you can see most of it needs smoothing out, but ill figure it out.











Ill keep cracking on through the night.

Dedled

This is the last lot of pics for the night, I've made good progress and just have the arms and detail to go, I decided to use a few premade bits that I wasnt confident in sculpting myself like the head, and gutplate remnants, as well as a few others:



A size comparison shot: 









Im gonna beef up his shoulders a fair bit, so he doesnt look so much like he has a massive pair of childbearing hips

Dedled

Next step done, just waiting for the shoulders to dry then I'll sand them down and add details:





Dedled

Finished him up tonight, I'm pretty happy how he turned out, the next one will have to have a lot more detail work though as this one is mainly large surfaces:









After this guy Ill probably start on my black orc army again, but I might start from scratch and paint them up like normal green orcs, a mercenary orc army

Dedled

I'm finally gettting back to my black orcs, with these 4 blokes my wip at the moment:









Ive also just realised that black orc anatomy doesnt make it very easy to get a dynamic pose going, I dont think they 're capable of touching their hands together.

  The theme behind these guys is that they're a nomadic mercenary black orc force that does work for the ogres.  Unfortunately I've decided to can the Bloodguzzlers project in favour of these guys,  because I discovered how much I enjoy painting green skin.  The key to staying motivated is to have several projects going at once so you can switch when you get bored of one.

Dedled

Finished building my next 5 black orcs, I cut down the side plates from ogre ironfists and attached them onto these guys:









And my favourite, the 'get over 'ere' orc who's a unit leader, his pose makes me laugh:





Dedled

brilliant conversion work mate, they look fantastic!!!

Fantastic work here! Great job on your first sculpt. Can't wait to see him painted up!

Thanks fellas,

I painted up one as a test colour scheme, pretty similar to my red orcs apart from the skin colour of course:





I based him with snow but couldnt quite get the look I was going for, so rebased him in a more traditional way.

Let me know what you think of the paint scheme, and basing.

Thanks for looking.

Dedled

I finished another one last night and this morning, I m pretty happy with the basing and colour scheme so I'll stick with it:







Seeing as these guys are mercenaries Im going with a more practical approach, the banners for units will be attached to the backs of the orc, so they have both hands free to whomp with.

Dedled

The updates are coming fast over the last couple of days (even if each one only has a single orc in it).  So contrary to my last post my BSB is going to have a proper standard, I put him on a bit of corkboard to raise him above the rabble.  Hes also the armies paymaster and so will have a chest to carry round, obviously hes still very much a WIP:







Dedled

Little bit more done on my BSB tonight:







Im still trying to decide what he should be doing with his left arm, hes going to be armed with a great weapon(his standard) so I don't want it to be a weapon.  I was thinking maybe make him flipping the bird, or possibly just hanging there doing nothing.

Dedled

Little bit more done on my BSB tonight:







Im still trying to decide what he should be doing with his left arm, hes going to be armed with a great weapon(his standard) so I don't want it to be a weapon.  I was thinking maybe make him flipping the bird, or possibly just hanging there doing nothing.

Dedled

I like the idea of flipping the bird, also pointing would work as well, maybe pointing with a small shield attached to his forearm?

Just throwing out ideas as the hit me.

(Ha, strangling a grot would be hilarious)

Thanks for the feedback mate, Ill probably go with the finger, for something a bit different.

Dedled

I finally finished my standard bearer, 













Undortunately I leave on work again for 2 weeks, so not much will be getting done in the next few weeks.

Dedled

A quick tutorial on how to make my scales that I've been using on my orcs.

You will need:
Putty
A pin
A box cutting blade
A cylindrical object for rolling

1. Mix up a big blob of putty, I use yellow 'Milliput', it has a powdery consistency, almost no elasticity and reacts well with water, almost like clay.  On this note its not good for detail sculpting, only flat surfaces.

2. Flatten the putty out and then roll it flat with a 'rolling pin'.  I use a shaft from a standard bearer.  Roll it to 1mm or less if you can.

3. You then want to straighten the edges and corners of the sheet as much as possible, taking the excess and adding it back and flattening it out, this reduces wastage of raggity offcuts.

4. Leave it to cure for approx 10 mins until it slightly hardens.  Then take your blade and, keeping it level and using the full length of the blade to get straight lines, push it directly down into the sheet. Repeat this until you have a lattice of rectangles(or any shape you want) at the size you wish.  The reason I use the length of the blade and push the lines in, and dont cut them in is because if you drag the knife through the putty it will distort the shape of your squares.

5. Take your pin and make 2 holes along the length of each plate, your sheet should now look something like this:



6. Once you've completed this, I continually reinforce the lines with the blade, eventually as the putty hardens it will begin to break up into its squares, dont rush this and break them apart early as you will ruin your hard work.  Once its fully hardened breaking them apart will be as easy as pie.  You now have handfuls of scales/plates/armour to use.





(Bruiser rank mine)
Dedled

Sculpted a quick pair of feet last night that Im going to try on a ogre:



I start my holidays on friday so there ll be progress aplenty in the coming weeks.

Dedled

Love the crab! Will have to try this on the Pirate Maneater's base when I get around to getting my hands on one those models

These Green Stuff tutorials and tips are really good. Makes the combined knowledge of the Stronghold all that much higher

Keep 'em coming!

- Loran

Ok time to finish off the tutorial, I got pretty fiddly with this so theres probably a better way to do it.  I've put the eye of my sculpting needle in a few photos to give an idea of scale.  I'll crack straight in because theres a few steps.

Step 4:  Now that your crab body is dry lever it off of the base, I changed my mind on the sculpting it directly onto its final position topic.  If you do it how I have it'll end up having a much more 3D feel to it.  So once you have it off the base flip it over and drill a small hole into the bottom gluing a short thin piece of wire into it, the thinner the better, because its going to stay there as support to the legs:



Step 5: Drill a hole into the base and glue the other end of the wire into it leaving about 3mm of space beneath the body (I forgot to take a picture but you'll see it with the next photo).

Step 6: Now roll out a thin sausage of putty and let it dry a little, this is the first segment of the legs.  Once its dried cut 6 approx 4mm lengths, place a small bit of glue on one end and glue them under the body with the majority sticking out from the edge.  3 on each side spaced out like the legs from your reference photo:





The above photo makes the underside look a little shoddy, but trust me, at the end you won't see it.

Step 7: Once the first section of the leg is glued on securely, roll out another small tube of putty (same size as the other one).  Cut it into small lengths (approx2-3mm long) and attach one to the hanging end of each leg, touching it to the ground, try not to bond the leg to the base too much if you want to move it later.  Smooth over the joint.  This step was a bit fiddly but ended up looking a lot more natural than just cutting another dry length and gluing that on as the joint would stick out like a sore thumb:



Step 8: The claws.  Take a small ball of putty and make a slice into it:



Step 9:  Shape the claws a little, depress around one side to make it a different 'level' than the other, have a look at some claws and you'll see what I mean.  Also roll out another sausage, slightly bigger than the legs and cut a length attaching it to the claw as an arm:



X2

Step 10:  Glue the arms on in the same way as the legs:





And that's it, a few things you can do is slowly get it off the base so you can pin it to something with the small wire underneath, the legs should obscure it.  Alternatively you could make the legs a bit thicker and use them as the main support, good luck with that.  Lastly you could glue the body onto the surface and sculpt the legs on afterwards, but it probably won't have the same 3D effect.

I managed to get it off with only minimal damage to the lower legs:



Hope this was a help too a few people, even though my tutorial went for awhile it's actually quite a straightforward thing to make.  If you find a better way to do it let me know.

Cheers
Dedled

DUDE, you got a a nice crab right there!! ( had to be careful how i worded that..)

Thanks a lot for the tutorial, I'm going to give this a shot asap and throw it on my pirates base. Thanks again man, very informative, looks aces!

Great tutorial, thanks!

And the end result looks good as well

- Loran

o.O wow. That is one nicely sculpted crab. It is so small Needs some patience and steady hands to do something like that I don't have neither.. I'd like to add some critters on my bases tho'. I wonder if it will explode if you poke it enough?

Crab is adorable!

For sure one of my favourite gnoblogs! I love the wood elves.. you make me want to pick up my old ones.. 

@Connor&Loran&Assassin.  Cheers fellas I enjoy just finding something random and 'trying' to make it from gstuff.

@Pirk.  Yes, if you poke it, it will definitely explode, that's why I put it on the wire to pin it to the base.

@Snailfoot.   Thanks man, I'll get back round to the wood elves eventually, as you can see I find it hard to stick to one army to completion.

I'm back to main blog, but not for long.
While I've been painting up my samurai I thought I'd give a different type of ogre a go.  This ones supposed to be an imperial watchman style:



Dedled

Nice, liking the night watchman look. Is there anything you can't make with GS? Is this guy going to be part of a small unit or is he a "stand-alone" maneater type?

Looking good whatever he is, keep 'em coming.

Just wondering, how are the Woodies coming along? It seem's a little while since any updates and, whilst we all love seeing ogres obviously, it is nice to see some other armies too. There are allot of Skaven about at present, so the Woodies are a refreshing change...any updates?

G_H