Clearly I was getting orc withdrawal symptoms (I think I only painted two last year), so I downloaded some of the Wargames Atlantic Digital range from the My Mini Factory site. These were some of the first models by WA Digital, a small range of orcs based on Angus McBride’s classic artwork for the MERP roleplaying game.
While I already have plenty of orcs, I fancied getting a unit of these together to be a warlord’s bodyguard for my Midgard Heroic Battles rules.
As well as having a nice Middle-earth vibe, these chaps fit Tolkien’s description of Bolg’s bodyguard in The Hobbit, being ‘goblins of great size armed with scimitars’ (I’m paraphrasing here, please don’t write in!) They’re pretty tall but I felt that was justified.
I ordered a dozen of the multi part versions which Winterdyne Commission Modelling printed for me after I supplied the files, then set to assembling them. While all parts were supplied cleaned and without supports, this process was slightly fiddly due to assembling with superglue and needing to wait for it to dry, or use an accelerator. I think I’ve been spoiled by the speed of assembly of plastic kits with poly cement!
They all went together very nicely. There are bows and spears available as well, but I’d only ordered sword arms for my unit. I drilled out the hand of one mini to add a standard made of metal foil (tomato puree tube) and wire.
Painting involved a black undercoat, followed by a dry brush of Army Painter Gun Metal (lots of armour) and them a tidy up, re-undercoating the non-metal areas in black. After that, it was traditional acrylic painting, with a base coat, wash and a highlight. I played around with various red/brown washes on the armour and added highlights of silver.
The banner received a skull based on the McBride artwork before I decided to tie that in with a couple of the shields as well.
For basing, I decided to go with all the models (bar a separate captain) on a single diorama style base. I’ve got more than enough singly-based orcs for skirmishing! This is a Warbases 120 x 60mm round-cornered MDF base, sprayed dark brown and with my usual mix of paint, filler and sand for texture.
With some dry brushing plus tufts, flock and grit added, the orcs were ready for their photo session.
Today’s background comes from the Fantasy Ruins & Tunnels book by Jon Hodgson Backdrops. I used the A3 book which gave me a lot more room to photograph around.
I’m really pleased with how these came out – they will certainly be leading the orcs in my next Middle-earth battle!
I suspect that there’s a possibility that these might get made in hard plastic some time, and I for one would heartily welcome the opportunity. Although I didn’t get any spears or bows, a couple of the scimitars broke off at the hilt during painting/ handling and needed repairing, though I suspect this would be stronger in plastic.
A few more shield variants would be welcome, alongside some knives and scabbards to hang off belts, but overall this set is a winner. If you like McBride’s take on Tolkien, you’ll probably want to get some of these.
mogsymakes 