G_H's Thinling Armies - Orcs & Goblins

Having spent a couple of years getting my Ogre army sorted I have found it is about time to seriously start a new army. In this regard I decided to go with Orcs and Goblins.

The reason for this is quite simple; the first army I ever collected for WFB was O&G and it seem's right that many (and we are talking many) years later I could re-visit them. I have built a huge 40k Ork army over about 4 years, which has now been sold and would like to have a bash at their fantasy brethren.

The idea behind this army was to build, primarily, a savage orc army. Having said that it would be my hope that I can include most of the units/ models in the O&G range.

Because I am hoping that this army will be primarily savage orcs I strangely decided to start by building up some core units of orcs (rather than savage orcs) to get them done and out the way. This was kind of a turning point in the build because I actually really like painting these Orc boys which started me thinking weather I actually want to do a savage orc army at all. Less of that for now.

The one thing I did want to do with this army was try and ensure that, unlike my OK army, there are a few more character models in the army. If not characters then better and more key models (such as warbosses, big bosses, bosses, shaman, great shaman etc) in the army than I have in my Ogre army; basically a Tyrant and a slaughtermaster...not really that impressive and little to base some decent fluff on.

The other major thought for me was obviously painting the army. Having already done a few units of Night Goblins I liked some of the colour theme used for that so have decided to tie that it with a colour that I don't really use much; Purple.

I also wanted to really work on my orc skin this time round. For my first fantasy orc army their skin was a dull green colour and my 40k Ork army I did the GW standard skin. This time I would like the orcs to have really bright green skin rather than the Gnarlock, Warboss, skarsnik usual skin tone.

This was the basis for me starting the army. I went out and bought a bunch of kits then started blagging, buying, trading and being gifted (more on that later) orc models for the army to kick-start it off.

G_H

My first job for this army was to decide on a warboss that would feed my imagination to pad-out the army with plenty of fluff. In the end this was pretty easy to do as, when looking at all the Ork models out there, one just stood out and started to get me thinking about the backstory for my army.

To that end I decided to buy up a pristine model and give this chap a career as the head of what I am hoping will be an epic (as in huge) army.

So I decided to go with the Games Day 2007 model of an Orc Warboss. I bought a new one (rather than pre-enjoyed or from Ali express);


Bran spanking new!

But not for long...


and the contents...


I chose this guy simply because he looks like he has some character. More than that he just looked so pissed off; which fed my imagination for the army.

I decided to call this guy Grimbog Skullsmasher. Although he is better known as Grimbog the disgruntled, sulker of the two peaks, self proclaimed warlord of crow river, alleged Tyrant of the darkwood and alleged Lord of the black rock caves.

As a smaller Orc boss/ big boss he proved himself to be a formidable warrior partially due to his foul temper and ability to go off the handle and kill anyone within his vicinity.

I will pad the fluff out later (that is I actually already have...it's virtually a thesis, what I mean is I will share this at a later date).

After getting the Warboss in the bag (and steadily building up the first wave of models to paint) I decided to do a test model for skin colours. This was a converted Ork nob from 40k, now a big boss with two hand weapons.


This skin colour is considerably lighter than any other orcs or orks I have painted.

With that sorted I started building an undercoating all the models I has amassed. As I said at the start, I wanted to have a few more characters (well bosses, Big Bosses etc) so I started building some of them. Here is a few of them undercoated;


We have one on a wyvern, one on foot and one on a boar. Names and stories to follow.

Oh, and what of Grimbog? Well, he has started to get some brush love;

 

a right miserable looking git!


More pictures of the Wyvern and rider;




Next up will be some of the boyz...

G_H

After getting some Orc bosses sorted it was time to knuckle down and get on with painting some boyz. I decided to do a mob with stabbas and shields first as they were the easiest to build up (because of the GW cheap boxes of snap-fix boyz you can get to pad a unit out).

They are now halfway to being done;





The guy at the front there actually has two hand weapons and no shield...but no one told him...

As I was working on getting these guys painted, I also started on a half unit of Black orcs. I say half unit because I want 20 of them rather than just 10. I bought these for next-to-nothing off ebay. They were already built so I had now part in the poses or what parts were stuck where.
When it came to painting these guys there were two things that I really wanted to do;
One was make sure I could put in some purple somewhere which is pretty easy. The second thing was something I never got around to when I had a 40k Ork army.

I once saw a picture of a model that someone had painted where they had painted an Ork nob white. I liked this effect so much that I said I would have a go myself at some point. Well, the black orcs seemed like a perfect choice as they were called "black" so the fact that they would actually be white just seemed amusing and ironic.
Anyway, after much searching (like days of searching) I found the original picture that inspired me to consider doing a white orc and here it is;



I don't expect my painting to be as good as this, but this guy just stuck in my mind enough that I wanted to have a go. I love the way his skin is opaque and looks almost like snow or glass...I bet a good VC painter could re-create this.

Anyway, so far my Black (White) Orks look like this (just a basecoat at present);


Very similar picture TBH


Other units that are on the desk and ready for paint are my Orc arrer boyz. I spent some time talking to Rorhammer (from this forum, my Woodie playing mate) and neither of us could understand why more orc's with bows weren't included in armies. We came to the conclusion that it must be to do with there not being a box of models or an arrer boy spru for them. So people just didn't bother. I wanted some and I have to say I was amazingly fortunate that someone else from this forum very (like amazingly) kindly gave me some. If they have no objection then I am happy to share who this amazing individual is, but to me there are a very generous legend!

So Boyz with Bows;


This is just the start of the army though. All the savage orks (bar the bosses) are still in the boxes and awaiting the real meat of this build. And they will have to wait a little longer, because on the desk and awaiting their turn are these guys;


Another unit of arrer boyz (on the right) and a mob of orc boyz with two hand weapons.

So that is the start of my Orc & Goblin army. As I get stuff painted and finished, I will post them up. I will also start to break-up and condense some of the fluff I have written, so it is in a readable form (readable in the sense that it must be short enough not to bore people to tears!).

Oh, and I did mention my Night Goblins so just to finish off here is some of them;









Night Goblin Spider riderz...who would have thought it...

G_H

I love the look of Grimbog. I haven't seen that model before and he is chock full of character.

It seems you have made a lot of progress on the this army in a short time.

Nice to see the regular boyz getting some love....especially the arrer boyz. That said in game these are far from the optimal choice, so you are going to want to put some time into painting your savages when you get to them as they'll end up in most army lists

Indeed. My understanding of the current "list" for O&G is that Savage Orcs are a must. With that in mind (coupled with the fact that this is supposed to be a savage orc army), I thought I would get the lesser units out the way first before putting some real effort into the savages.

Having said that I am not one for standard lists which does make me wonder what would need to be done to make the standard Orc boys more viable. Numbers probably.

The other thing is; when I build any army I always start it with the aim that it wont be finished until it can cover a 6x4 ft table. My hope would be that within 4 years I should have this army up to the size that when laid out it will cover a standard gaming board and be in excess of 10,000pts+. This is my goal with any army I build. (My ogres are not there yet standing at a measly 6500pts...slackers!).

Savages are not too far off now. Pictures of these pre-oddboy nut-jobs will follow.

G_H

I am loving this new army direction. Grimbog also is a true champion and the name gives him so much backstory that he seems like a both terrifying and hilarious warlord already.

Painting coming along nicely!

My one criticism is the giant sprue mark down the front of the boar armour plate for one of the characters. It's pretty pronounced from the front! If that's not a sprue line then my apologies!

One of the ways to ebrace the savage orc theme without jsut taking the standard lists is to us more than just a unit of bigguns, use some normal savages (far less a powerhouse) and savage orc boar boyz as nobody typically runs them. this way the uber hard biggun unit just fits in the theme nicely

this little lot seems to have came out of nowhere. theres some realy charicterfull classics in there too. im going to enjoy this build. keep it up

Nice work GH. I do like the lighter Orc skin, works very well. Keep up the good work.

I love the Warboss Grimbog (cracking model) look forward to seeing him fully painted, even more so these fabled white Orcs too!

Good job on getting your Orc Warmob up and running, love the sharp green colours in the skin.

A thousand thank you's to all of you! Especially when you consider that actually I have only painted 1 model!

The Boarboss mould-line barely shows up on the model ironically, but is more of a mountain range in the photo...trust me it is now long gone...appalling work on my part 

When I actually get started on the savages I want to have lots of units that I can increase and decrease as needed, with all weapon options not to mention boars, shamen etc. Backed, hopefully, with lots of Forest Gobbo's and spiders. I have some great ideas for them...

The first unit of boys is without command at present, I have actually put them together now so they will be present in the next run of pictures.

It is very unfortunate that whoever stuck the Black Orcs together didn't use the bare head for one of them. It would have really given me something to get my teeth into with the white skin. That is partially why I am going to do a 20 strong mob of black orcs; I just want to do a couple more of these white skinned warmachines! There is (naturally  ) fluff to go with why they are white. I will get to all the fluff stuff.

I cannot go on enough about how greatful I am for the Orc arrer boyz. Neezy13 very, like very very, generously donated these guys to me and I absolutely love them. Forget that they are one piece (plus head) models, standard plastic probably from an army/ rules box. I just love them. Partially because the whole idea of Orcs with bows is ridiculous; who in their right mind would give an Orc a bow? They can barely use a choppa/ stabba without killing each other, let alone a projectile!

I am going to put some extra love into painting them, plus they need a command unit for which conversion work has already begun.

I am itching to get started on my (Warboss) Big boss on Wyvern. It was a nightmare to put together and each part of it needed to be pinned and greenstuffed. Still now it's done it will be a great project to get started on.

I would like to get some Mangler squigs (apparently a must for your modern O&G army) but last time I looked GW was out of them.

Anyway, no one wants to read reams of blather, so I will crack on and get some more photo's done.

G_H

Mini update. I have had a few hours spare to get some painting done. The Black Orks have changed slightly, but I am still not really happy with them. They just don't seem to cohesive colour-wise. In addition to that I have managed to wrestle off one of their heads so I can paint a "white orc" head.

The unit of Orcs is coming together much better. I have had to add in some red as another colour to balance them out a bit.

Anyway, no more blather...when the sun comes up I will post some more progress photo's.

G_H

Updated Black Orcs;





And typically, 30 seconds after taking this photo I dropped them, resulting in two of them losing arms and a weapon snapping. Urgh 

The first two on the front row are finished and the others are near completion (well, they were).

Also basecoated my wyvern;





Thankfully I didn't drop that.

More pictures to follow.

G_H

Tried to take some better photos' (and failed TBH). Had to use the flash as I was losing light, none-the-less this is the result;

First up is progress with Grimbog Skullsmasher:



and from behind


Another look at them Black Orcs (primarily because some of the details can't be seen on the first pictures):













Obviously these are Super close-up (in fact closer than anyone would ever want to see their models) but that all helps for critique and criticism.

G_H

Hey G_H. I love the white Orc he looks the Mac Daddy, full of character. I also love the fleshiness of the drum it adds a grim touch to your musician. Though as always the dirty battered armour on your orcs shines through the best I think was always something I was envious of from your Deathskulls era. The light blue freehand details add a nice touch to your models, and purple? who on earth would want purple in their army?

I really like your highlighting. Looks great.

Black White Orcs look good. Its a shame you didn't have more bare heads inthe unit as it looks like you chapion could be the only white one. The champ looks good, though not as white as I expected....this may be due to his white teeeth and the white skull which mutes his colour to a grey.

ANyway, looks great....the unit has a dark look to it while using very bright colours to catch the eye.

... Its a shame you didn't have more bare heads in the unit...
...The champ looks good, though not as white as I expected....this may be due to his white teeeth and the white skull which mutes his colour to a grey.

The lack of heads is why I am going to increase unit numbers to 20, so I can add in more bare heads. I bought these Black Orcs off ebay, they were already glued together and there were no additional bits, so they just came as they were. £7 for the unit so shouldn't grumble.

The skin is interesting. In my head I remember the Ork that gave me this idea being "white". But, looking again at the picture (up the top ^ somewhere) he is actually more grey than white. This is more prevelant because he has lots of white cloth on him. Really, I was just trying to re-create something similar. So yes he is much more grey than white, but that is purely because the original guy was this way. I could have tried to go more white (and may still give that a try) but I don't want to make a pigs ear of him as the original model seem's to work fine.

I could have sworn he was more white though...shows what your memory can do over time. Don't get me to do a police line-up! The innocent would hang if it relied on me! 

G_H

Ohhhhh man!! I have missed so much in my absence! Look at all the orcs!!!!

I must say, you really have a back for painting greenskin. Not everyone possesses it, and those who do seem to catch on quick. You sire paint good greenskin!

Plus that purple army is gnarly as hell, love it!! This is going to be quite the army once completed, added in with your blue moon night goblins. BAM talk about colour.

Keep it up bud

~ConOgre

I am so bogged down with work at present that in the last 48 hours i have been off work for 13 of them. I wont get home now until 16:00hrs tomorrow (and i have been at work since 14:00 today). Then i am back again at 21:00 for another 18 hours.

I say this because over the last two days i have managed to paint 1 Orc boy 

There is so much i need to get done, and far too much "work" getting in the way! 
Having said that, i do love my job...i just love painting more!!

G_H

Too true too true. Good luck with the rest of those long shifts!

I'am grateful that I don't do long or night shifts anymore.  I did Healthcare  (HCA) for 6 - 7 years and it really kills the hobby time.  Very happy with my physio 8 - 4 hours now!

So I feel your pain!  Hope the shifts go well! And hope to see more of these awesome orcs that are popping out here!

Kind regards Zolas.

... Its a shame you didn't have more bare heads in the unit...
...The champ looks good, though not as white as I expected....this may be due to his white teeeth and the white skull which mutes his colour to a grey.

The lack of heads is why I am going to increase unit numbers to 20, so I can add in more bare heads. I bought these Black Orcs off ebay, they were already glued together and there were no additional bits, so they just came as they were. £7 for the unit so shouldn't grumble.

The skin is interesting. In my head I remember the Ork that gave me this idea being "white". But, looking again at the picture (up the top ^ somewhere) he is actually more grey than white. This is more prevelant because he has lots of white cloth on him. Really, I was just trying to re-create something similar. So yes he is much more grey than white, but that is purely because the original guy was this way. I could have tried to go more white (and may still give that a try) but I don't want to make a pigs ear of him as the original model seem's to work fine.

I could have sworn he was more white though...shows what your memory can do over time. Don't get me to do a police line-up! The innocent would hang if it relied on me! 

G_H

First of all, excellent OnG army so far, I'm definitely a fan of the paintjobs!

I'd hafta say that although the skin seems slightly grayer than what you may have been expecting, it still looks good, and allows the pure-white bits (like teeth and bones) to stand out as an accent point. It also gives the idea of a bunch of orcs that pretty much always wear their armor and seldom seem to get sunlight (idk, if humans go white, why wouldn't orcs?? ). But I like 'em overall!

Although I feel like I already know the army rather intimately through the wonders of Google+, I figured I would follow it on here now I am back

Looks ace mate, and a great choice for your Warboss

JJ

The GD model is sweet, and the colour scheme you've chosen works really nicely! Love the work so far

Keep on painting and posting!

- Loran

As part of my monthly painting challenge for July I said I would paint a unit of Orc arrer boys. That now looks like it may be a wish too far...

...however, over on the thread Warlordsteve suggested that rather than posting on the forum and "thinking" about painting stuff I should get on with! Too true. The suggestion was set that one model must be basecoated and posted on the July pledges section within 24hrs.

I started painting this model when I got in just after 16:00hrs and finished it about half an hour ago at 21:00hrs ish. This is the result;






it's not the fasted model I have ever painted from start to finish, but it's not far off! Just another 25 of them to do then!

G_H

awesome work mate....glad I could motivate.
Having the bow strung really works I think.

Damn you! I don't need another army to paint

Kidding aside, that model is stunning! Lovely to see the amount of detail on a rank-and-file model Did you do the string yourself? That works really well on the model, as the string is not too thick compared to the rest of the model so it looks natural. Great work! Can't wait to see the entire unit painted up!

- Loran

That looks ace! Really great work - depth of shading and highlighting is amazing How long did he take you out of curiosity?

It's nice to see the detail gone into him, with the bowstring. Did you tie it, or drill holes and put it through?

JJ

Nice archa boy there G_H!  Second Just-Josh's question about the bow string.

Kind regards Zolas.

Wow! Where to start?

Right; Josh it took me 5 hours give or take, stopped to eat half way through. I would have to say it is absolutely not the way to paint mini's. For 5 hours you could have done half a unit.

This was done purely to get one mini finished in a day. It's not my record however. That is still held by 28 Necrons whom I took delivery of at 11am and had built, based, undercoated, basecoated and painted by 9pm. In fact this is the very reason I decided not to start a Necron army; if they were that simple to paint where is the fun or challenge?

Warlordsteve; thanks mate, this guy was done especially for you!

Loran, Josh, Zolas; The bow string was made with a bit of cotton (thread the kind that you sew with). There is nothing elaborate about it at all, it was a (all-be-it fiddly) doddle.

Drill holes? Tie it? Nah...I put a blob of superglue on the end of the bow then wrapped the cotton round 3 times. I then did the same at the other end and extended it until it was taught. I was worried at first that the superglue would melt/ burn the cotton, but it didn't.
The "sting" or firing bit in the middle was then coated in PVA to strengthen it a bit. I fully expect it to snap or break at some point, but I will be doing this for all the bows in the unit because I quite like how it turned out.
To thread the cotton through the "bow string" loop at the bottom without getting glue everywhere I just used a pair of tweezers as my fat old fingers are too shaky.

Thanks for all the comments, I suppose I had best get some more of them done then. 5 hours for one mini; ridiculous!

G_H

5 hours isn't too bad mate - not if the end product is that amazing But, I know you and I know you'll manage to crank his buddies out in a lot quicker time!

Ahhh, that's a far more ingenious method than what I had thought up It's a great idea, and one I will employ on my High Elves and Woodies when I get round to them!

JJ

Thanks for the tip! I might give the string a go in the future

As for Necrons, if you've still got the interest for the army (or if it ever returns), check out the new models. While the Warriors are still the same, the Immortals got redone to a dual-kit with the Deathmarks and then you've got the Triarch Praetorians and Lychguard. Not to mention all the new monsters and vehicles. Quite a varied range nowadays, especially compared to the old range

And on the point of time spent, yeah, five hours for a rank-and-file model might be a bit too long especially for larger units, but I feel that it's worth taking the extra time on the first model. Test out the colour scheme and techniques etc etc Once you've got that stuff down, then it's time to crank up the speed and blast through larger units

- Loran

Having not long returned off holiday the first thing I wanted to do when I got home (other than check the latest posts on the OS) was jump back into painting.

This is what I decided to bang out over the last day;







Of course, as soon as I had finished him (and was secretly priding myself on how well I had done the skin on his face) I remembered that he is supposed to have some form of tattoo's or warpaint. I opted for the latter and had to make a few adjustments;







right, I need something else to do now...(I have put a "what the hell should I paint next poll over in the Butchers Cauldron if anyone fancies to have their say...)

G_H

Wow, that's very nice!

That skin tone has come out nothing but exceptional G_H!  Utterly great work there!

Kind regards Zolas.

Awesome job, I personally like the hair.

Amazing work buddy! I also returned from a (sadly) brief holiday, and the first thing I did was check up on the unread posts

I love how you've done the skin. That is some stunning painting there I also like the highlighting on the axe, both the head and the pole. Great work!

Can't wait to see the next unit!

- Loran

Hey GH. Late to the party again but I must say those are some amazing orcs. I really really love the way you have the very deep greens going to the nice bright greens on the raised muscle. Add in that top notch war paint. Woooooooo maaaaan.

Awesome work as always.

Ps, saw some leaves falling off the tree today. Fall is approaching. And I feel the forces of the maw starting to flow through my veins once more.


Until next time friend

~ConOgre

The green painting is truly excellent here. I really enjoy painting orcs for hat reason and you seen to have the green down. That last model is definitely my favourite with its dynamic pose and also the white face paint (last minute addition haha) and he whole lot is coming together to look like one heck of an army!