Hey guys

This is my first post on the forum, so hi to everyone! :)

I'm a long time collector of many different games systems, but at the moment playing mostly some board games, Infinity, Mordheim and 40k at the moment.

I wanted to start a new WFB army, specifically Orcs&Goblins. I've always thought about doing them, and have several abortive attempts, but this time I am determined!

But, I wanted to do something a little different. Make this a project not only for painting/modelling, and background, but also to make it as cheap as possible! So, kind of make it like 'A tale of 4 gamers' (except just 1 gamer ^^), writing prices for each item of my army, and where I bought it from. So, hopefully help out some other people who might want to do the same thing, with the objective of making an army that has a common theme but also is as cheap as possible!

I've already got the first bunch of minis, so hopefully some pics and background to follow soon! Thanks for reading :)

Welcome to da warpath. Youv picked a good army for this (in my opinion). We'll be sure to help motivate you...

Yeah, I agree with snikpik, orcs and goblins have so much possibilities and choiches that you can build a nice cheap army ^^ I discovered only one year ago the fabulous world of the 2nd hand, you can find OOP, rare and particular models at amazing prices.
I hope we can keep yu motivated ^^

Ah, WELCOME! :yarr!:

Welcome to Da Warpath! This project sounds very interesting, remember you can always scratch-build things like chariots and warmachines. :)

Theo

A very warm welcome!

And some pointers on keeping it cheap:

1) tomb kings chariots work very well for wolf chariots (at 1/3 the price or something).

2) use Ebay for buying the old one-pose Orcs that cam with the 6th edition box (If I'm not mistaking it was 6th??)

3) You can use the left-over feet from wolf rider for some more goblins with a simple green stuff body:

(And if you're up to it, it works with the wolf rider legs as well, but it's more work).

Hop these help a bit

Grtz
-EM-

Always good to see someone trying to be creative and make an army on the cheap.

Ramshackle games do some decent and very cheap war machines in resin. You can also make respectable spear chukkas from the Lizardmen stegadon Giant bow.

Tomb king chariots are the way to go fro cheap wolf chariots. I've used/am using the battle for skull pass hut as the basis for pump wagons. The troll from that set is usually availible in some capacity at very cheap on ebay. You can buy several and then convert them easily with a bunch of ogre hands.

I've recently seen someone on this forum make savage orcs out of normal orcs, but with static grass used to make fur.

@EntertainME: Do you have any example of the green stuff torso goblins painted?

Very much looking forward to seeing how this goes!

I'm all for building armies on the cheap, and (as has already been said) the 6th Edition starter Orcs (both with two hand weapons and with bows) can be picked up for pennies on Ebay. They're versatile enough, though, that they can be used as the basis for all sorts of conversions. I think all the core Orc units in my army are made out of them...

I'd also second amplebob's recommendation of Ramshackle Games and their range of resin warmachines and beasties.

Wow thanks for the comments, really surprised to log in and see so many replies!

And thanks for the tips, about the Tomb Kings Chariot especially, will have to look out for one of those. One of my first purchases actually was an Orc chariot off ebay, minus orcs but with 2 boars (one of the boars was missing a leg?! :blink: Kind of amusing that it was included but I have a boar left over from a previous aborted project which can sub in. Probably have to put the wounded one to sleep :) ). But, OK for 5GBP inc. P&P.

I want to try and make a theme and background for the army (so I can name them and feel sad when they die in a game :) ), so here goes!

The life and death of Mutilla of Darkwood
They say that you never hear the arrow that kills you. For Mutilla, orc tribesman of the Darkwood clan, that was probably not helped by the fact that he was yelling at the time. And he didn't see the damnable pixie that shot it either, one moment he was running forward, choppa held above his head in a fiercesome manner , the next moment he was lying in the grass. Everything had gone green, and his tribesman were stood over him. He heard the guttural voice of Zugbug, "grab 'is boots, 'e won't be needin' 'em anymore!" A few of the other lads snorted with laughter. But, that laugh quickly changed to a yell of surprise as Mutilla sat upright. He felt kind of funny, but not in the painful way like when you get hit by a choppa or the boss threw something at you.

"I don't believe it! How is you alive!" Exclaimed Girtz "You should be dead", although it puzzled Mutilla that he was still laughing a bit. "Nubbinz, give 'im yer mirror!" Nubbinz was a bit of a curiosity to the other orks - despite his massive frame, he had something of a penchant for a dressing up in the clothes of maidens he had slain, which always looked comical to the other orcs, especially when he wore a bonnet (although they would never say it to him within earshot!) Nubbinz reached a giant gorilla-hand into his bag, and reached took out a mirror, handing it to Mutilla.

Mutilla looked at himself in the mirror. "Zoggin' eck! How am I alive!" Exclaimed Mutilla, almost dropping the mirror in surprise. "Careful with that!" warned Nubbinz.
There, smack in the centre of his forehead, and so far in that only the feathers were visible, was the shaft of an elven arrow. Instinctively, he reached around to the back of his head, and almost yelped in surprise as he felt the pointy end prick his finger. "Actually, that is kinda funny" he laughed, and the other boyz guffawed with him.

"You better pull it out" explained Zugbug, "No good you walkin' round with an arrow stuck in yer 'ead!" The other lads nodded in agreement. "Alright then, what about you Nubbinz, you is the strongest!" Bracing himself and closing his eyes tight, he felt the hulking orc grab the arrow with both hands, and put his boot on his chest.
"One.. two... er.. what's next?" "Just zoggin' pull it!" squealed Mutilla.

There was an awful, terrible wrenching sound, mixed with the sound of elf fingernails on Altdorf China, and suddenly Mutilla found himself lying in the grass again. It was tickling his neck. He looked up, and saw four curious looking faces looking down at him.

"You still alive?"
"I think so.. but I'm amazed after so much haemorrhaging." Replied Mutilla.
"What?" Replied a perplexed Girtz"
Mutilla sat up. And he realised as he did so, that the world looked a little different to before....



That's it for now guys, thanks for reading if you got this far! I'm sure you can recognise what famous ork story I am copying here :)

Next and final part, hopefully along with some mini pics, in the next post!

It's almost invisible from the front. Especially if you give them shields.

But this is the only pic I have now:


The idea was to use green stuff as fast as possible (the only way to do it if you want to make dozens of them). So green stuff work isn't very good, mainly just a bal with a hole poked in for the belly button.

I'll try and find some more pics that show this (hopefully tonight).
If not I'll make some

@Pacific: Mind if I post them in this blog?

Also, nice story for the army. Always nice to see somebody make personalize their models.

There are two methods of getting things cheap for Orcs.

1) 6th Ed mono pose orcs. They are pretty static and you can usually find them pretty cheap on ebay. Well, it might be harder and harder to get them, but you can usually come across them pretty cheap. I've found you can clip the arms off really easy and just buy some bitz to use instead. You can also even just do things like clip a weapon off and put on a shield for some of them. I found it's really easy to make these guys look better. To be honest, these Orcs tend to be a bit bigger and bulkier than other orcs and I tend to like 'em!

2) 40k Starter box (Battle for Black Reach - or something). Most of the regular orks have hand weapons. Maybe you will have to clip an arm off or two. Looks better that way, anyways. A lot of their heads are good. You might need to clip off some hoses or wires. These guys are actually better looking than the regular Orc boxed set! I really like these guys and I like their heads, too. I think you can get them pretty cheap.

The Tomb King chariot idea is great, especially if you buy the bitz for ork bike wheel guards to the front. Or boss poles. Check out my blog for some of that. You will have to buy some wolves for them, though.

Mantic has a really cool rock lobba for their Undead guys. I bought one and use it. It looks a little small, but that's OK.

If you troll ebay, you can find deals. I once got two pump wagons for $12 + shipping. Score!

If you are looking for trolls and don't mind converting, you can do stuff with the Battle for Skull Pass troll. Look at some of the blogs or start a thread asking for conversion ideas. Some people have been really creative. Ogre hands work good. All depends on how good you are with chopping and repositioning.

If you like Night Goblins, just go to the Battle for Skull Pass. You can usually find a crapload of NG for sale. Just get the cheapest you can. They aren't bad for mono-pose starter set guys. You can buy a lot of them on the cheap. I really think spears and hw + shield are really equal. No point in converting what you have. You can throw in some bow guys into a regular unit if you don't want to use them as bows.

You can sometimes get whole kits of stuff cheap on ebay. Maybe you see some cheap Black Orc arms and heads on sale. Then, you hunt until you get some bodies. You have a BO unit for a lot cheaper than you would pay if you bought the box! Maybe not all the options you want, but enough to get by. Sometimes you suck it up and get the bodies at BUY NOW prices, though. Still ends up being cheaper.

There are some people who have made scratch built war machines, too. Check them out.

Oh, if you find wolves from another company cheap, or even buy them from GW, you can usually get wolf rider legs from all over. Then, make your own torso or buy the necessary bitz from ebay and make your own wolf riders for cheaper.

This!

I've used the 6th edition ones and converted them to a stunning unit.
Pics in my blog (if you can find it).


And there was also a bloke here who made a spear chukka from bits of sprue and some odd shields and stuff. Don't know who anymore, but I tried this myself and it's pretty easy.

Grtz
-EM-

Guys, thanks so much for the replies!

It has given me a lot to think about. EntertainMe please go ahead and post if you like, although I probably won't be using any Goblins for the time being. I wanted to create a more 'martial' style Orc army, rather than the horde of savages angle, and for now I think orcs will fit a little better into that (except perhaps for goblin archers/warmachine crew).

My idea is more of a kind of 'Blood Axes' of WFB, perhaps more humanised in their style and methods - so taking inspiration from Tolkein's orcs, and the more general orc fantasy trope of a cunning and extremely violent (almost barbaric human) yet still intelligent, rather than GW's orcs.

A little more background and images coming soon, thanks again for the very helpful replies!

Ahoy, given the prices charged for GW miniatures, I can naught but approve this very project, even more so with yer theme of WHFB Bloodaxes. I 'll be lookin' forrard t' yer result, matey, and I hope to see a lot of Empire bits sprinkled on 'em.

And may I be so bold and suggest a few things on me part as well?

- Balsawood from any craft store is another cheap alternative for chariots. Plus, it's not particularly tragic if the blasted things look ramshackle. After all, we 're goin' fer a Greenskin army 'ere and that's what their contraptions usually look like!

- There's also a few brilliant people who built boltthrowers out of plastic sprues, and over at Bugman's Brewery, Goldo built a bleedin' Goblobba out of leftover plastic bits. If ye don't mind cruelty against Goblins (and, frankly, who does? Those weedy swabs deserve it!), head over and take a look at it. Ye can easily orcify the design.

- Another idea I 've seen executed well on these forums, is to get cheap Skullpass Trolls and use the spare River Troll parts to turn them into more River Trolls. Also, the new big Ghoul thingies set for the Vampire Counts might be of interest if ye want common Trolls. Not cheap, but cheaper than Finecast Trolls, I s'ppose.

- Last but not least: Barter, trade, swab or beg bits from other armies. Need yer lads to look Empire? Ask yer local Humie players fer spare heads, statetroop or - better - militia weapons and so on (Since ye're playing Mordheim, I guess ye got a couple of 'em already). Or get flails (for more Nightgoblin Fanatics) and spiky bits from yer local WoC players.

Incoming plug with the gobo's.

One with just the torso sculpted (in less than a minute BTW)




And the backside which you won't ever see (because gobo's are SO reliable)



I also did a few where I sculpted the left arm (which you only get just enough).




Grtz
-EM-

Thanks for the suggestion, and that's a great idea using a green-stuff body for those goblins!

Actually some pictures in this post! But, first of all, a bit more background and notes on design (sorry! :) )

The life and death of Mutilla of Darkwood, Part 2
An arrow to the brain produced some remarkable changes in Mutilla. He looked around him, at the Darkwood Clan, with new eyes and his apprehension concerning how his kin lived and died began to grow. For a start, why did the clan continue to kill each other and waste their resources on pointless civil wars with other nearby clans? He looked at the humans, the dwarves and the pixies. None of them killed each other, or burnt down each other's yurts. And they were strong! And he looked at their weapons, their armour. He thought about how strong his clan was (much more than the puny humans!) and how much stronger they would be if they had those same weapons and armour. And what about the big guns that spat smoke and metal, that cut his boys down as they ran? Mutilla didn't understand how they worked, but he saw how powerful those weapons could be. His clansman could learn about those weapons too...

Notes on Design & Model choice
First of all, as much as I like the comedic orcs of GW, I wanted to do something a little different. So, keep the savagery, but introduce a more cunning and intelligent type of orc. Almost like a more barbaric human, so something like the original concept of an 'orc', as the traditional fantasy trope from the likes of Tolkein, Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy literature.

So for this I spent some time searching the web for different orc miniatures. I really liked the 'Gamezone' orcs, but they broke the first rule I set out when making this army - it must be cheap! So, I picked up a box of Mantic Orcs. These were very cheap (at just 13GBP for a box of 15), but also importantly they fit with the concept of this type of orc. So, much smaller head and narrow, evilish looking eyes, with less rag-tag looking equipment than a standard GW Orc. Anyway, I thought I would go with them for the time being and see how they turn out! If they don't look any good as a unit, I reserve the right to change my mind about it completely! :D

So here are the first few I have painted. I haven't bought any Mantic miniatures before, having just bought GW orcs, and my first thought was how much smaller they are. In particular, they have a lot less upper-body bulk. They have a nice level of detail on the sculpt, although I can see already that there is a very limited number of options in the box. It doesn't matter too much however as I'm unable to leave models as standard with any project I'm working on, so will probably convert some of them to introduce some variety! I hope it can make a kind of 'organised Barbarian' look when they are assembled in a unit.

Anyway far too much writing, here are some pictures. They were very quick to paint, I've tried to also make a less garish looking skin tone for them. Any comments are very welcome! :)

Looks good! I like the Mantic Orcs. I've been GW for years, though, and I can't mix the two. I was thinking of using them for Hobgoblins, though. If you are looking for future conversion work with those guys, you can look at Dark Elf hands and arms for them. You can probably clip off their arms and use the DE ones. Wickedly curved blades and such fit into the theme.

Get rid of those mold lines!!!!!! I was very lazy for years and just never bothered to remove my mold lines. I highly regret this and have had to go back and re-work all my models. Doing it later also requires repainting. Just.....do it now. You will be happier in the long run.

Beyond that, I have just two suggestions for your painting to help improve it with little effort (or not too much).

1) Paint some rough edges on blades. Just some slightly brighter silver lines on the edge tends to add something to the blades. They look sharp. They look a little rugged. It looks a little more interesting. It only takes a few seconds, really. In fact, I gave the same advice on another thread and pulled out a picture of a NG spear tip.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w64/hey...ck/IMG_9468.jpg

2) Use the GW washes!!!! They are amazing. I can see where they would be good on the clothes for your Orcs. Paint it brown. Use the brown wash. Paint the same color brown on the high parts of the cloth. It looks amazing! Just try it and you will see the difference. It's a very cheap and simple technique that will make it look much better.

A long time since I last posted here, but I have not been lazy.. actually, I have been! I got badly distracted by a collection of old Epic models I had forgotten about! But, I have finally got some orc stuff painted up.

Thanks for the tips Groznit Gofegut, I had a look at the Dark Elf weapons and I know what you mean I think they would look really good alongside the models!

Also, thanks for the painting tips - I got hold of some of the GW washes, and they are great for adding some quick shading. The mold lines are very embarrassing, you wouldn't think I have been painting for getting on for 20 years and still miss that kind of stuff! :huh:

Here are the first of a new unit of Orcs. I have tried to make a more 'martial' look for them, so they have a uniform heraldry of the blue/red shields. I haven't quite finished these yet, but they will have a black axe icon on the shields, as well as the banner when I get round to it.



One problem with these models is they have a limited number of poses and weapons options - so I have done some basic conversion work, changing the poses a little, and added some small bits (notably the head with a chainmail coif).

I will hopefully add some more ranks this week! I've also got an extremely good deal on an army box, and I'm thinking of ways to make some spearmen (spearorcs? :) ) with tower shields for the next unit.

Any C&C would be greatly appreciated! :)

The mantic orcs are really nice IMO, and you've done a mighty fine job painting them :) -Simple but effective. I like that you do nice smooth details on some (skin, shields, some clothes) and then fix some in a less detailed simpler method (armor, most clothes etc). The thing that makes these models become really awesome is that you've made nice uniform bases for them. That really means a lot!

I really dislike the mantic orcs, I wold use them only to convert them as some kind of demi-orcs or hobgoblins, but you've done a pretty awesome work on them. I like a lot the skintone and the shields ^^

Thanks a lot for the comments guys! If you really dislike the models but like mine then that is a real compliment (I think?! :) )

The skin was very simple to paint - The GW foundation paint 'Gnarloc Green' base, with some washes and then grarloc green again with bleached bone highlighting.

I am just working on a chariot at the moment, which has some conversion with Bretonnian parts! It's very difficult to introduce things which don't clash with the ramshackle orc-style, but I've tried to make it look a bit better made.

I will post pics soon, thanks again for the comments!

Nice work Pacific, you have made those Mantic orcs look pretty good :)

One thing I would add is perhaps making sure there are no bare plastic (even painted) areas on the bases. Minor quibble though, the unit there looks great!

I am looking forward to seeing what you can do with the chariot :)

RoV

Hey guys!

Wow I had to look a long way to find where my army blog had gone, far too long since I last posted anything! :(

I've finally finished off an Orc Chariot:



I had a very cheap deal on this model from an old starter pack (I think?) for Warhammer Fantasy, less than £5 inc. P&P from a certain auctioning website! I converted a little bit of it, adding a Bretonnian banner (with the tassels shortened), as well as the shield (I think an old Empire one) to the front. The transfer I have used on the banner and shield is also from the Bretonnian transfer sheet, a simple axe motif, which I hope to have as the symbol for the army.

I have used two Mantic Orcs as the crew, one a standard 'Axe' Orc and the other a 'Great Axe' who were left over from the unit I posted above. Again, I used some small modifications, giving them spears/halberds, also taken from the Bretonnian Men-At-Arms sprue (I have absolutely tons of bits left over from an old project, so am finally trying to put them to some good use! :) )

I really want to try and make a more 'martial' look to my army, as opposed to unruly barbarians. It's a bit of a random point, but has anyone seen the old Japanese Manga 'Fist of the North Star'? In that movie, in a brutal post-apocalytpic world inhabited by barbarians (think Mad Max!) one of the film's baddies has marshalled an army. Rather than just a gang of individuals, who usually end up killing each other, he has organised them into formations, and a real 'army' (with uniforms and armour/weaponry), and uses it to knock all of the other barbarian tribes out of the way. I thought it would be cool to try and make a parallel with Orcs, contrasting with how they usually go on, and what might happen, or what they might look like, if they were ever organised properly?

Anyway, enough rambling! C&C would be really appreciated, hopefully some more stuff on the way soon! :)

Hot tip: you can make a really good Rock Lobba out of the howdah bits from the Arachnarok kit. You can get the Flinga arm as a leftover from almost anyone who has the kit (because almost nobody assembles the Arachnarok with a Flinga), and you can get the howdah bits from a bits reseller quite cheaply.

Along with one howdah/Flinga from my own kit and 2 free Flinga arms from friends, I got two howdah kits online for $3.50 each, so I effectively got 3 Rock Lobbas for 7 bucks.

Pics are a bit small for good C&C. But from what I can tell it's a nice model.

Would've liked to see the army colors in there a bit more though. Now it's all sort of a uniform brown + metal (the cart, the orcs, the board, the ropes, etc). With the exception of one shield on the whole thing (and the banner obviously).
Some more color would liven it up a bit.
(Note to self: Do this on your boar-trolley as well!)

Also like the uptake on the army. Some rough barbaric individuals being coerced into an army. Nice theme for unit fillers as well.


Looking forward to seeing more!

Grtz
-EM-

Really nice conversion and paintjob ^^
I really like the logo too :D

Thanks a lot for the comments guys!

Thanks mate that is a really good idea, I will have to check those out! I've been struggling to find a good and cheap substitute for those rock lobbers/bolt throwers, and that sounds like it might be it.

@Thitanium Prince - thanks that sounds like a great idea also! Must hit the bits websites :)

@EntertainMe - thanks for the feedback! I must say the darker colours are a bit of a deliberate thing on my part. My last couple of projects (a white space marine army, and some Infinity stuff) have all been really bright and clean. So really, I wanted to do something a bit more dark and gritty - more like a medievil, industrial Tolkein-esque orc, rather than the more bright and loud official GW models.
Point taken though, I will think about how I can try and move the army colours into the uniform of these guys a bit more.

Here are a couple of better, close-up photos (the other one has shrunk quite a bit when I pasted it on here!) I'm currently thinking about some orc archers, will hopefully post some more pics soon!





Thanks again for the C&C! :)

I understand that and actually like it.
I believe OnG is a dark and dirty army so I paint it likewise.

I was just talking about tying the chariot in with the army theme.

Also, I think the chariot is painted pretty good and the mantic Orcs fir surprisingly well with it.

Grtz
-EM-

Really like your stuff on here. The chariot is very good and the crew work brilliantly.

I'm not a massive fan of the Mantic orcs overall but yours look great and fit in with your gritty theme.

I like the mantic orcs on the chariot, looks good.

As for cheap catapults (and indeed bolt throwers) check out ramshackle games.
Also the stegadon giant bow is very easy to make bolt throwers from. They go pretty fast from the bits sites though...

Thanks a lot for the comments guys!

At present I'm busy with a lot of other projects (specifically an Infinity event I'm hoping to run in October) so this army has slowed down even more from its usual snails pace!

But I have been messing around with making an archer. Mantic haven't made one yet, and I'm keen to keep the army as being all Orcs (with no Goblins). So I had a try at making one with a combination of bits.



I reposed the head and arm of a standard Axe-orc, the left arm is from a GW Empire freemen sprue (I think that's what they were called? The pack you could buy for the old Lustria campaign that looked like pirates). I then greenstuffed a shoulder pad very basically, the arrow quiver is from the really old GW skeleton sprue (not the previous ones, the ones before that!)

I did try and use a GW Orc archer arm, but the scale was completely different (the bicep was about the size of his waist! : )



Any C&C is very welcome as this guy is just a prototype! I hope to make maybe a row of 10 of them, with an officer Orc at the end holding up his arm and ordering them to fire, Napoleonic style. :)

The archer looks good man. Seems like a fairly simple conversion, so you could esily get a unit out.
If I had to add some CC... I'm curious about the bulge half way down the arm. Is that green stuff or just part of the free company arm? I think I'd either tear that bit off, or atleast make it more angular...