Evil On The March ~ Army of the Black Crag

I decided to muster my army of evil doers ~ Orcs and wolves, and ogres and spiders ~ just to see what I have because I've lost count. It's quite a decent sized army with orcs making up the main bodies of foot soldiers along with a variety of support elements. So, without further ado, here' is: The Army of the Black Crag.

Click on the images for larger, more detailed pics.

The army is reasonably large and easily takes up the 6' edge of my table. The main body of infantry are Oathmark Goblins. I made up an Orc Legion (that's what I call it). Forty bases divided into 10 cohorts (4 bases). Each base has 3 figures because I found it really difficult to put 4 figures on one base.

The heavy cavalry are Mantic armoured orcs riding ill tempered looking boars. I don't recall what they're actually called but they are great looking figures. They make up a  regiment that looks pretty intimidating. The GW Spiders are the old Goblin spider riders with a bit of greenstuff modification because I lost the actual riders. These make up a light cavalry element.

I also have Wargams Atlantic orcs. I have these mounted on round bases for games where I need single figures. I put them onto sabot bases to act as mountain Orc light infantry. I have a fair few more of these figures that need painting. I'll get around to it soon. They are easy to paint.

My new commander and his subordinates. This is a Mantic orc/ogre thing that came in a Dungeon Terrain Box. I recently remounted him to make a command base. He looks suitably big and intimidating. Just the sort of fellow that could keep the orcs of the Black Crag in check. The drummer came from EM4 figures, if I remember rightly and I think it's an old Copplestone sculpt. The subordinate commanders come from a variety of sources.

You can't have an evil army without a lupine element. These are made of various figures. The basic wolves at the forefront are Reaper metal figures, the big dire/werewolf and the half-orc rider are both Wizkids D&D figures. The werewolves at the rear on the left, are all Reaper Bones and the warg riders are Oathmark. So they are an eclectic bunch of evil wolfishness .

A recent addition are my mountain orc giant scorpion riders. These look really great in the flesh but I've been finding it hard to get decent photo's of them. I haven't quite figured out how they will fit in with the army but they must have a role somewhere. They look far too nice to be left off the roster. I detailed them in a recent post. They are Wargames Atlantic figures on Reaper Bones giant scorpions.

For magic support I have a few shamans. The lady in red is a Reaper Bones figure as is the chap in the centre. The one on the right is a metal Oathmark figure from one of their command sets.

The ballista battery is from Wizkids. These are a great set. If I recall correctly they come as a pair. I used the same ones to make a pair of elfish ballista (painted a nice green and sans skulls). They're on a sabot base so that I can use them for other games. The artillerists are very simple conversions from Othmark Goblins.

Ogres. A few big smelly lads with massive clubs to give the army a bit of a punch. In the rules I wrote for myself single figures can be added to individual cohorts to give them some big hitting power: Line-breakers in current wargaming parlance. I do have more ogre type creatures but I'm not sure whether to add them to my Woodland army or to go with these fellows.

Skirmishers. I think there are 36 of them. That's pretty much a whole box of Oathmark Goblins dedicated to a skirmish element. To differentiate this army from the other armies in my collection I have only given them skirmishers as missile troops. No formed archers. The army's main strength relies on a heavy infantry charge instead of archery.

And there we have it. The Army of the Black Crag as is stands today. I think it need more heavy infantry just to make it look more intimidating. Then again, I do have some Northern Barbarians that I can add to their ranks to make up some numbers.

However, there is something missing here: A centrepiece creature/monster. I have something in mind that I'm working on and I'll post it as soon as I get it painted and based.