Bill's Greenskins: Nock, Draw, Loose! (170.5 pts)

 Rank and File Month #4

"Oi! Yez knows the rules, orcs eat first, then gobbos!" Epigruel snarled at the short, lanky form half-glimpsed over his shoulder as he rushed to dump more mashed turnips into the bubbling pot of stew.

"WOT did yez just call me?" rasped a gruff voice behind him. Epigruel turned.

The greenskins standing there in chainmail and striped trousers were short, yes, and lean - not scrawny, like a goblin. Their tusks and plug-nose spoke of orcishness, and their red eyes were narrowed in fury.

"We'z come all the way from Stirland to join this Waaaagh, and yez tellin' us we'z gotta wait to eat?" the leading greenskin snarled. Epigruel just blinked stupidly.

"Yez an orc?" the cook finally said.

"Yeah, and a Gork-damned hungry one! Now'z get to dishin' or get to dyin', tubbo!"

I feel like this month I've really earned my Oldhammer "cred," so to speak. Not just modern figures sculpted in an Oldhammer style, not just figures I remember from when I entered the hobby in 2001, but Citadel miniatures from the 1980s. Yes, I got my hands on some of Harboth's Orc Archers from 1987, including Harboth himself. 

I haven't got shields for most of them yet, so the points for those haven't been factored in. Tom's Bad Moon Orks inspired me to try putting some stripes on the trousers of the orcs who were wearing them, and of course the big smooth belly-plate Harboth is wearing cried out for some freehand, so I painted my tiniest "evil sun" face to date. It ended up looked more concerned/confused than "evil," but given that it's smaller than my pinky fingernail, I'm not complaining,

And finally, a pair of close-ups of Harboth himself. 

Next up, something I'd hoped to have finished last month for my Wild Card but just couldn't swing it in time. They say an army marches on its stomach, and if you look at the Warmonger Orcs I've spent most of this Challenge painting, you'll realize my army has a lot of stomach. The archers put me over 1000 points of greenskins, and that calls for a Baggage Train, or in this case, a Chuckwagon. 

 

I found "Mighty Epigruel, Orc Chef" on Warmonger's site, and did some quick thinking to figure out another four figures that could accompany him and make up the civilian contingent of this baggage train. I found a goblin chef brandishing a spoon and an overworked snotling carrying a full pot of something, and then brainstormed over the orcs until I decided on a spearman pausing to chug from a bottle (a wagon guard taking a break?) and an orc musician playing a triangle - literally ringing the dinner bell! The boar was also from Warmonger, while the wagon, cauldron and assorted boxes and barrels were 3D-printed. As a final touch, a landsknecht casualty figure from Warlord Games was painted in Averland's colors and loaded into the back of the wagon.

"That's my last bottle of cooking sherry, Crugdrun."

Just as an aside, Epigruel marks the third greenskin in my collection that Kev Adams sculpted with a booger hanging out of their nose.

After some consideration, I opted not to simply use the points cost listed on the box for Harboth and his archers, since I don't have shields for them yet. Instead, I'll go with this:

• "Harboth," Level 10 Orc Hero, Two-Handed Weapon, Light Armor, Shield - 66 pts
• 11 Orc Arrer Boyz, Light Armor - 104.5 pts

For a May total of 170.5 points, and a total score five months into OWAC IV of 1008 points! Not counting casualty figures, and treating each troll as only one, I'm also at 72 figures painted so far during the Challenge, the single largest army project I've ever successfully committed to.