It's Orcish Re-Basing Time

I haven't quite finished rebasing my elves but I was getting bored with doing the same bases over and over so I thought it must be time to start getting my orcs into order. These bases took a bit more thought and effort than the elves and a fortuitous trip to my closest wargames supply depot (House of War) saw me buy all the supplies I needed in one fell swoop.

The basic item I needed was a basing past. The one I wasted was European Mud from Vallejo, and I was lucky in the fact that the shop had a delivery and the stuff was put on the shelf an hour before I got there. So I bought two tubs along with a large bag of stony grit and several packs of tufts.

I started with some infantry. I wanted to make the units as looser formations compared to the elves and as a result I only used 10 figures per base instead of 12. This will end up giving me two or three extra units buy the time I get them all done.

The vast majority of the heavy infantry are Oathmark Goblins plastic figures. However, there are a few other figures including a couple from Mantic some conversions of human figures. 

The bases are the same as I used for my elves - 11.2cm blank cup coasters that I get from my local hardware shop. I cut them down to 7cm depth, round off the cut corners and add a 12mm dice frame. After that I slather on the basing past and add stony grit and foliage. I like the result although it is time consuming.

I also did a couple of bases of skirmishers. This army won't have formed archers but they will have formed crossbows.

Next are what I'm calling Mountain Orcs. These are Wargames Atlantic goblins. I initially made these as light infantry but I decided to change them a bit. I have three Reaper ogres/trolls and I could put them together to create a unit but I decided to add them to an infantry unit. I like the idea of a troll escorted by contingent of smaller critters (to make them feel braver) so that's what I did. Sort of.

As you can see I painted these orcs with a dark tan skin to differentiate them from the regular orcs. I think these figures they look better with this skin colour. The idea of these bases is to create a hard heavy warrior unit and not a monstrous creature unit. They will be Heavy Infantry Warriors with a couple of appropriate traits (Spears as Tribute and Brutal).

However, The trolls are not permanently fixed to the bases. I made a plateau using 3mm cork sheet and cut out a 40mm x 40mm square. I put a magnet into the bottom of the creatures bases and a square of thin metal sheet onto the base (after photo). In this way I can actually group the three creatures together into an dedicated troll/ogre unit.

And now, here's in one of my favourite and weirder units: mounted bows on giant scorpions - Scorpion Archers!

Hey, I forgot to add tufts to the second unit and I also forgot to paint the bases edges!

These were made using Wargames Atlantic Goblins and Reaper Bones giant scorpions. I used the saddles that come in the goblin box and fitted them onto the big stingers with some minor modification and some greenstuff. I'll make these Heavy Riders with bows and the traits Fearsome and Spears as Tribute.

I had to put these onto fairly large bases. I tried mounting two of them onto a shallower base but they didn't project the same sense of power and awe as the single base with three. I was a bit sad to have to remove these from their single 60mm bases but the big bases wouldn't fit on to a sabot with the same frontage as the rest of the units.

And, that's it for the orcs so far. I still have a lot to do including warg-riders, boar cavalry, spiders, werewolves and a dragon! I'm sure there are other things too that I can't remember off the top of my heard right at the moment.

Thanks for reading,

IanKH

P.S. Since I began writing this post I've done another 4 bases of heavy infantry bringing the number up to 10 units and I still have plenty more to do.

The Erlking's New Model Elfin Army

Well, this is going to be a big post...

I've continued with the rebasing of my elf army. There are about 6 companies/bases of spears, 3 of formed archers and 6 of spear & bow. Next there are 6 companies of medium infantry - 2 x sword & shield, 4 x javelins and 4 companies of skirmishers with bows. That's 25 infantry units. I think it's about 240 figures. Add to these some cavalry, chariots, light artillery and command ~ as well as a couple of big beasties to keep things interesting - and it all comes to around 300 figures.

First: here are the rest of the heavy spear units and the formed archers. As in my previous post these represent different houses or clans (or whatever). I still haven't written up anything regarding the army so it's just a bunch of regiments thrown together more for the sake of making them colourful, at this stage, rather than anything else.

These ones below are the light/medium infantry. In the Midgard rules they will be counted as Skirmishers (light Infantry). The swordsmen will be the same but I can give them the trait Spears as Tribute to give them more of a combat role. I've kept these troops as individual figures and put them onto some 12cm x 6cm sabot bases that I already have. This suits the skirmishers okay but I'm not so sure about the swordsmen. I think they might be better on a single base. All of them are magnetised so they are stable on the sabot bases.

I posted these below guys last week but I've added them hereto show the javelin companies all together.

I don't have many actual skirmishers units. Just four of them at this time. Once again these figures are on sabot bases and I think this suits them fine. The first lot are Oathmark figures from their light elf infantry kit, but the second lot are kit bashed. I had a bunch of Dark Age warrior figures that I didn't really need. I made these figures a long while back before the above mentioned kit was available. Overall I actually think they, arguably, look better than the Oathmark figures. I'm not sure which manufacturer made the figures but they were warriors - not archers. Likewise, I don't remember where the bows and other bits came from. However, the heads are all from the Oathmark heavy elf infantry set.

Every army needs some cavalry and here's what I have. The heavy cavalry will be counted as knights. They're made using the popular Gripping Beast Goths. I used the Elite Cavalry set for these companies. I don't think I'll make any more elf cavalry. I think this single contingent is enough. Chariots, however, are a different kettle of fish. I think they fit the elfin aesthetic better than cavalry so I would like to add more chariot companies.

The chariots will use one of the light cavalry templates. I'm not 100% sure about this basing. They are held by magnets so the basing isn't permanent. I contemplated if I should have a single chariot on the base with several chariot runners. Two carts on the base makes it look very crowded. I have three chariots all up plus an extra one that remains unpainted. I kit-bashed them using 4Ground mdf Egyptian chariots and plastic Perry horses. If I do the "Runner" thing I could have 3 units and I could then make the remaining cart as a Hero/Commander. That would give a good sized contingent for large battles.

A light ballista company. These were made using a set of WizKids ballista's. You get two in a set for about $10, so they are a good cheap option with a little bit of conversion. I used the same set for my Orcish army. Again, they are magnetised so I can remove them and use them as single models if needs be.

I rebased the Earlking. I originally made a pretty large base with three individually based figures (first photo. This base is too large so I made a smaller one with the king still removeable but the herald and banner bearer attached. With this set up I can remove the Earlking and replace him with the Elf Queen (either as a warrior queen or spellcaster).

The Erlking's base was made using some wooden disks I found in a craft shop. I gave the bark on the outside a couple of coats of pva glue to prevent it from peeling off at a later date. I rebased the Wood Elf King onto a similar base.

And here are all my command and heroes together. The figure at the front (with shield) was a kit bash I did a few years back and is a bit out of date with the rest. He was made with a left over Norman foot knight torso. I have a few elf figures in amongst my general fantasy figures that could make potential heroes. I'll have to go through them and see who is worthy for a promotion.

I have co-opted other figures in the past, so maybe one of these fine fellows can make the grade...

Anyway, that's it. There is still a little bit work to be done with this army but the re-basing is mostly complete. I've already started on a couple of Orc bases but they're a bit more complex and will take a bit more effort. I'm hoping that by the time I'm finished with both armies I'll have my 6 x 4 table back and I can set up both armies and get a couple of photos of them in full array. After that I'll start on the Undead and my Northern Men (basically my Anglo-Saxons with added "Not the Rohirrim" Riders and some fantasy elements. There is also my Faerie Army to add to the mix too (lots of fauns, goblins, centaurs, trees and other forest dwelling creatures).

And my Granbretanians.

So much to do.

The End

Something Arrived & Re-Basing Ensued

Well, Midgard arrived in my mailbox. Along with series the videos put out by the Too Fat Lardies, this new set of rules has really captured my imagination. For the past few years since I built my large fantasy armies I've been wondering what to do with them. They have been re-based a couple of times (from multi-figure bases to singles) and I've never been happy with them. However, I'm doing it all again and I'm really liking the results. Here's the start...

All of my troops are in units of 12. This started because I originally collected them for Dragon Rampant and I just sort of carried on with the 12 figure unit. For this rebasing, I did consider reducing the numbers of figures per unit but I do like the massed ranks of spears. This unit was/is my Royal Guard and was originally made as a 36 figure phalanx. Now it is more like a 3 company regiment. I really like that each base has a tight packed look.

The bases I'm using are pre-made, blank glass/cup coasters that I get from Bunnings (our local BIG hardware chain in Australia). They are 11.2 cm which is just shy of the 12cm recommendation in the Midgard rules. I already have a big bunch of these that I half-heartedly painted and flocked a couple of years back. I trimmed them down so the depth is 7cm. The recommended depth is 6cm but I like the extra bit of play that the extra 1cm gives me. I also allowed me to add a 12mm dice holder at the back of the base.

The dice look less intrusive in the flesh, so to speak, but I might invest in a set that will blend in better.

I have about 18 units all together (of 12 figures) which makes for quite a decent sized army when combined with the horse and other elements. They include several different houses/contingents with distinctive colours and symbols. The largest house is the one below which has three units of spears and three of bow - So that's 72 figures. I decided that I'm going to organise these troops differently and make them spear and bow - Sort of a sparabarra type thing. This type of unit is in the rules and this is a large army so why not add a bit of variety to the mix? They'll be 6 companies strong! 

This spear & bow mix was something I tried to incorporate into the rules I wrote for my own games during The Plague.

At this point in time my Elfin Houses have no names and no history. Maybe I should take the time to create something to give them a bit more depth.

Something else I also have on hand is a large bunch of pre-fab MDF bases. I'm planning on using these for skirmish units and other lighter units with less figures that are more spread out (medium infantry types). These bases are all 12cm x 6cm; some with 6 figure slots and some with 8 slots. I have a lot of them. By doing this I can also keep a significant selection of figures on single bases for use in other games but still use them for large battles.

So I figure I can use these as skirmishers with six figures per base so that one unit of 12 can be used to form two companies of javelineers.

Alternatively, I can also remove a couple of figures and insert a couple of place holders to create 3 skirmishing companies of 4 figures each. I already have a bunch of these little place holders made up and I might actually make a few with dice holders.

And that's it for now. I had a bit of a break for a week because we have my wife's family staying with us which has disrupted our lives a bit. In fact, my wargaming room has become my wife's home office as her original office has become a bedroom.

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P.S. It's going to take me a while to re-base all of my fantasy armies, I have my evil/orcish troops, forest folk, undead, northern riders, evildoer men, some dwarves and fantasy barbarians. I also have a significant Anglo-Saxon army that I intend to use for Midgard. So there's lots of work ahead for me.