Orctober 2023 - Fantasy Force

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

I wanted to do an Orctober for several years now, but always, October was sudddenly there and I had a pile of other projects ongoing, so I said "next year" again and again.

This year I started as early as February to be prepared.

I got a Dwarf Army consisting mainly of Battle for Skull Pass miniatures, which are not true mono pose minis, but close to them. I bolstered their ranks with some EM-4 Plastic mono pose Dwarves. Ever since (2007-ish or so), I wanted to get their Orcs as well; especially as from a fluff perspective, the Orcs are traditional enemies of the Dwarves.

So this year I got 50 Orc Bowmen, 100 Orc Spears and 100 Orc Swords from EM-4. That should be sufficient for a greenskin horde. I planned to convert some of the minis to boar riders, and bought 15 Red Bard Game's Boars.

When checking 3rd ed. Armies for troop choices, I started to look for bits for some conversions. Since I got a 3d printer this year as my birthday present, I quickly found a suitable set of stls on My Mini Factory. I could also just have printed the Orcs from that set, but I wanted to do the EM-4 mono pose guys.

I printed shields and weapons, heads and drums in order to be able to customize all the unit types and command groups I want to build. After some test prints, I settled for printing the bits in 83% size of the stls as bought, that to my eye fits the EM-4 Orcs best.

As I only have a month (which I can easily manage... for sure... I guess... probably...) I am willing to make concessions when it comes to painting. Also the Dwarf force mentioned above, I only blocked in the colors, then gave them a dunk in Army Painter Quick Shade and called it a day. I will go the same route with the Orcs; on the one hand due to time contraints, on the other hand to give them the same general look/style as their Dwarven adversaries.

I also will base these minis on plastic bases, and not on metal bases as I switched to for all my minis over the last years; again for the same reason, to have them look similar to the Dwarves.

---

So here is the whole project so far. Should be easily managable within one month, right...? For the bases I got every 25mm base out of my box of spare bases I accumulated over the years, but I did not had enough and ordered some additional ones.

---

As mentioned above, I ordered the Red Bard Games Boars, but the set of stl files also included Boars. And chariots. So I think I will use the 3d printed boars in this project, and base and paint the Red Bard Games ones as animals for handler packs.

The stl bits I printed at a smaller scale, but the boars did look not large enough, for them I will go with 100% scale. Which also gives me more room on the chariots, as I need to print them the same size as the boars. There are a couple different boar sculpts in the stl pack, but this is a monopose project, so I will only print one body/head combination.

---

To stand any chance of finishing this project in October (which will not work out anyways, but I want to get as much done as possible), I gave me a little head start. I did most of the 3d printing, and I started to remove the flash and the integral bases of the 50 bow armed orcs. One of the good things about post-Covid-mostly-home-office is, that in Zoom/Teams calls where you need to pay attention, because someone might be involving you, you cannot do any "real work" besides where you need to concentrate, I found it is perfectly possible to intently listen to what is being said, while at the same time have your fingers mindlessly remove flash from plastic minis. Doing that in the office would probably also be possible, but I might get some strange glances.

---

The process will be the same for all the three types of minis. Remove the mould lines, cut off the round thing on their backs (I think it originally was intended to glue shields to, the Dwarves had the same protrusion) and then cut away the base (first with a cutter, then the fine work with a knife).

---

Here you see some samples of what I printed for converting.

---

The next 3 days we will be off with my mother-in-law, but a bag of orcs and cutting tools
will accompany me

 

[twisted moon]

looking forward to seeing this progress. i have every faith in your getting it all done by the end of the month.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

looking forward to seeing this progress. i have every faith in your getting it all done by the end of the month.

Thank you for the motivating words

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

The 50 Orc Bowmen are divided into 5 units of 10 Arrer Boyz each. 20 of them (2 units) will be upgraded to crossbows. In 3rd ed Armies only one unit in an army can be upgraded to crossbows, the ally contingent can't have any crossbows, but in the mercenary contingent any number of Arrer Boyz units can be upgraded.

---

For the leaders and crossbow armed boyz, I cut off the left hands at the wrist, and drilled a hole into the arm, as the 3d printed hands have a ball joint. From the cut off bows, I scraped away the hand and cut a crude pattern to represent some wrapped cloth or something, and glued the bows to the back of the minis.

---

For the musicians, I printed drums. They come as one piece with the arm, so I cut off the whole arm from the mini and drilled a larger hole into the shoulder to glue the drum holding arm into.

---

I had some trouble aligning the crossbows boyz. I would have liked to glue all the arms in the position as the front right model has it, but that makes the crossbows stick out too much, so that the second rank would not sit flush with the front rank. So I had to angle up the arms.

---

For the banner bearers I cut off the bow, drilled a hole through the hand and inserted some brass rod.

---

Where the banner had a vertical bar, I glued that on with super glue first, then wrapped it in twine for both the optics as well as for securing it in place.

---

I also had 20 spear armed boyz cleaned up, so I glued them onto their bases, added shields (which do not sit where they should, when you consider the position of the hand, but from the front it looks fine), and built the command group. The drummer has the same drum as the Arrer Boyz (there is only one in the stl file set), the banner was build as for the Arrers, and the leader got an axe arm and a replacement head, that is supposed to make him look more imposing.

---

First six units ready for washing and priming.

 

[EricF]

They are looking great, conversations have worked very nicely. Just a few to paint then!

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Thank you

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

I finished building another unit, this time based on the sword armed models. All models had a shield added, the command group got the brass banner, 3d printed drum arm and the leader an axe and a printed head, to make him stand out.

 

[twisted moon]

cracking work so far.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

cracking work so far.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

I gave the models a spray basecoat with Army Painter white from a rattle can.

---

The first unit I painted were ten Arrer Boyz. Army Painter quick shade to be done.

---

The second is a unit of 10 spear armed Boyz. Army Painter quick shade to be done. Also, I need to start working on banners, to know which symbol to paint on the shields.

---

When playin around with 3e Armies, I again stumbled upon the mandatory troop choices I choose to ignore so far - 20 Gobbos and 20 Gobbo Stickas. As mentioned in the first post, I want this Orc force mainly for my Dwarves that consist mainly of Battle for Skullpass Dwarves (plus some EM-4s) - and that box also contained some Goblins. I think I remembered having started but not finished painting them, so I went through my boxes of minis and tada - they are basically done to the same standard as the two Orc units above. They have all the colors blocked in as one coat, waiting also for the Quick Shade. I have no clue, why I didn't finish them back then, so close to be doing done...

So, some more Orctober cheating (on the one hand because they are Goblins of course, on the other because the main work on them has already been done quite some time ago). The troll is even completely done.

Goblin Spider Riders​

The Forest Goblins didn't exist back in 3e, also 3e only knows Giant Spiders, but not smaller spiders as riding animals. So I need some rules and points values. What do you think about the following?

Bestiary​

I started by considering the Giant Spider from 3e as a Level 10 Spider Hero. So by subtracting the modifiers of the hero level, I arrived at the basic large spider.

Name	MOV​	WSK​	BSK​	STR​	TOU​	WOU​	INI​	ATT​	LDS​	INT​	CLN​	WPW​	PTS​
Giant Spider	5​	3​	0​	5​	4​	4​	1​	2​	8​	3​	6​	2​	45​
Level 10 Modifiers	-0​	-2​	-1​	-1​	-1​	-1​	-1​	-2​	-1​	-0​	-0​	-0​

That would not work. So again, with Level 5.

Name	MOV​	WSK​	BSK​	STR​	TOU​	WOU​	INI​	ATT​	LDS​	INT​	CLN​	WPW​	PTS​
Giant Spider	5​	3​	0​	5​	4​	4​	1​	2​	8​	3​	6​	2​	45​
Level 5 Modifiers	-0​	-1​	-1​	-1​	-0​	-0​	-1​	-1​	-0​	-0​	-0​	-0​
Large Spider	5​	2​	0​	4​	4​	4​	1​	1​	8​	3​	6​	2​

The cost for a hero level is calculated as (points * level) + points, so:

x * 5 + x = 45
x * 6 = 45
x =  45 / 6
x = 7.5

At first, 7.5 points seems quite low, but on the other hand, the spiders are also really slow... Not sure yet.

• Physique: Large Spiders are ugly, hairy, creeping monsters that shamble and skitter as they move, filling the forest with unnerving rattling noises. They are dark coloured and very difficult to see except for their countless eyes which catch the light like small black gems. They are not as big as Giant Spiders, but still between a dog and a pony concerning their height.
• Alignment: Neutral | Evil – Spiders can be malicious and hateful creatures, although most are simply animals hunting in the only way they know how. They can be Evil or Neutral.
• Base Size: 25 × 50mm
• Rules:
  • Spiders are immune to all psychology excepting that they dislike fire. A spider attacked by fire weapons, or moved to within 4” of a burning building, must take a panic test.
  • Spiders cause fear(6”) in all creatures under 10´ tall.
  • Spiders attack with /bites/, which are /Poisonous Attacks/. Beings taking damage are not necessarily dead, but may be paralysed, although they are removed from the table as casualties.
  • Spiders are not only very powerful creatures, their mouth parts are especially designed for penetrating deep into a victim's body. Accordingly, any blows struck by them have a better than average chance of penetrating armour. An enemy's armour saving throw is reduced by -1 if struck by a Large Spider.
  • A Larger Spider is a Riding Animal.
  • Spiders may move through wooded areas without penalty. They may also ascend trees instead of a normal move – this puts them out of charge reach of beings under 10´ tall. They may descend trees as a normal move, or descend and charge up to 5” as a charge move.

Orcs & Goblins Armies Entry​

 

[EricF]

Amazing work and great presentation. I've pinched your nice table layout for the stat line an put it over in the guides section, hope you don't mind!

The spider rider rules sound like fun.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Amazing work and great presentation.

Thank you

I've pinched your nice table layout for the stat line an put it over in the guides section, hope you don't mind!

You're welcome

 

[twisted moon]

the troll looks great, and good progress on the rest.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

the troll looks great, and good progress on the rest.

Thank you.


What use is a goblin unit without fanatics...? Right. So I needed to add 9 fanatics, after all I got 3 goblin units. I printed fanatics from MOMminiatures which are in the same style as the Battle for Skull Pass miniatures. The model in the .stl is quite large, so I did several test prints to find the right scale. As shrinking the model made the chain quite thin, I strenghtened it by applying miliput mixed with alcohol by brush, a technique I only recently learned of from the linked video by Marco Frisoni.

---

Since the last post, I managed to print and paint the fanatics, as well as another bow armed orc unit and a sword armed orc unit.

 

[Malacassa2]

Great to see the old Grenadier plastics put to good use. Proving you can still put together a nice looking army at a reasonable price.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

Great to see the old Grenadier plastics put to good use. Proving you can still put together a nice looking army at a reasonable price.

Definitely when you are going for a mass army with a horde look, yes.

---

I painted the first banners. Normally I would tear or burn orc banners, but this is a quick painting project, so just basic shapes and colors.

And attached to the miniatures.

---

Earlier today. Watch the Battle Reports section in the coming days...

 

[twisted moon]

looking good. i'm keen to read the battle report.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

looking good. i'm keen to read the battle report.

Now I feel under pressure

---

I painted the same hand symbol as I used on their banner on all the spear armed orcs' shields.

---

Then all the models I painted so far were treated with The Army Painter Quickshade(s). I used =Dark Tone= for most of the models, the Goblins' skin got =Strong Tone= to give them a lighter complexion than the Orcs', and on the black goblin robes I used the ancient =Dark Shade= (which I think is not available anymore).

It is an =The Army Painter Brush=, but still it got ruined by the application of the quick shades Wasn't a new brush anyways.

---

I then started to prepare for the Orc chariots, by gluing together two 50mm x 50mm bases for each, and connected them with miliput. I also finished the next Orc unit, these Orcs are armed with two hand weapons. I used the spear armed models as a base, their arms are thinner than those of the bow armed orcs, so the ball joints of the 3d printed hands would not fit into the arms. I cut away the ball joints, superglued the hands in, and secured them in place also with miliput.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

On of the most annoying things about the way I based my miniatures so far is painting the sand. Covering the base in PVA and then sprinkling sand on is quite fast. Then painting the sand takes forever. The total surface area to cover is huge compared to the base area, getting into all the nooks and crannies is difficult and requires at least two coats, and all the time you need to pay attention to not get paint on the miniature. Painting the base in the base colour first helps a bit, as missed parts with the sand don't stand out as much, but still.

So I tried a new approach: I painted the sand before glueing it to the base.

I mixed a batch of my base color and thinned it down slightly, had some sand in a bag, poured the paint in, and massaged the bag until all the sand was coloured. Then I spread the sand on baking paper to let it dry.

This took like two days, in between I mixed and broke up the sand (the drying colour created larger blobs and plates of sand) several times. Finally, I broke it up one last time and put it into containers.

---

I then glued the sand onto the bases like I would with unpainted sand, only that I was done with that.

---

When the glue was dry, I applied scenic glue on top with a pipette to seal the sand in.

Ready for drybrushing. And much faster than painting the sand after glueing it to the base.

---

The sand is slightly lighter that the base color, need to work on the mixing ratio or thickness of the colour when dying the sand, but otherwise I think I will use this way going forward.

 

[ManicMan]

I always prefer to do a base BEFORE gluing the figure to the base but that is a bit of a problem at times. One good thing with some slotta base miniatures is you can hold them in the base for painting, then remove for basing.

But that painting came out a good way of doing them like that.