Jaakko and Rugluk - Rank & File month #3

Grey dawn crept over the hills when Rugluk’s ragged warband reached the ridge. Below lay a lonely farmstead: a few huts, a barn, some fences, and a handful of humans still asleep.

Rugluk scratched his chin. “Right then. We sneak down quiet-like… nick da food… bash anyfing wot wakes up.”

Behind him a troll belched and scared three crows out of a tree.

Rugluk sighed.

“Quiet-ish.”

Just as they were about to move, a deep growl rolled from the trees behind them.

A band of savage orcs stepped out. At their front stood a massive brute with a feathered head dress.

He looked at Rugluk.

“You da boss wot bashed Gronk Skullbasha?”

Rugluk straightened.

“…Might be.”

The brute grinned wide. “Good. We like a boss wot stabs bosses. Keeps fings interestin’.”

Rugluk blinked once.

“…Right.”

The brute pointed at the farm below.

“So… we bashin’ dat?”

What followed was less a raid and more a small natural disaster.

Savage orcs smashed through the fences howling. The trolls wandered into the barn and snotlings chased chickens with never ending enthusiasm.

Within minutes it was over.

The huts burned. The food was looted. The savage orcs were laughing and mixed in with the boyz.

Rugluk stood in the middle of it all.

The savage boss slapped him on the back hard enough to nearly knock him over.

“Good raid, boss!”

Rugluk nodded slowly.

He looked at the smoking farm, the squabbling goblins, and boyz already chanting for another fight.

For the first time in a long while, Rugluk allowed himself a proper grin.

Hello again! Another month has passed and another batch of miniatures has been painted. I decided to paint some of the miniatures left over from the past months, along with some extras to avoid monotony. I'm behind from my initial plan, but miniatures are painted and progress is being made.

I managed to paint 10 Savage Orcs to complete last month's unit, as well as a troll, a giant, and a wagon. The purpose of the wagon will be revealed next month.

For some reason, the wagon draws the Giant's attention. I wonder what he's up to.

This month in points:

We also had the chance to play a game of 3rd edition Fantasy Battle with a group of friends. Rugluk’s orcs clashed with my dwarf army. The battle was neck and neck until Rugluk defeated the dwarf king in a duel, and the green tide swept over the remaining dwarves.

The hill in the middle has been in use since the ’90s-back when it was pretty much the only piece of terrain we had. I’m making new ones to match my current basing style and mat, but I’m sure this one will always see play.

Goblin Fanatics wreaked havoc among the ranks of gnomes, dwarves, and goblins alike.

And that’s it for the month. I can already feel the pressure lifting as there’s not that much mandatory painting left. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the challenge, as the final stretch has been the most enjoyable part in previous years.

Jaakko and Rugluk - Rank & File month #2

Night lay heavy over the valley. Trolls snored. Snotlings squeaked.

Rugluk squatted by the fire, gnawing a bone, when the flames twisted unnaturally. Smoke coiled, shadows stretched… and a towering figure emerged: Rugluk’s father, battle-scarred and ghostly, eyes blazing like forge fire.

“Rugluk,” the ghost’s voice rumbled, echoing across the valley. “Da path ya walk… leads only to ruin.”

Rugluk froze. “Father?”

“Da ambition in yer heart… it will devour ya if ya walk blind,” the ghost hissed. “Yer boyz, yer trolls, yer snotlings… chaos follows every step. Watch it. Trust none. Not even yerself.”

Rugluk tightened his grip on the bone. “So… what should I do?”

“Do?” the ghost spat. “Remember da blood ya spilled, da tribes ya crushed… and know… every choice… feeds da fire dat eats ya.”

A snotling peeked from a bush. The ghost’s eyes flared. The snotling squealed and ran.

The ghost drifted higher, silent now, its eyes burning like dying embers.

Rugluk’s gaze fixed to the ghost’s fading figure. “Dat made no sense... but I fink dis ain’t done. Dis ain’t over.”

Somewhere, a distant howl cut through the valley.

The ghost was gone. Only the fire and the whispering wind remained… and the uneasy knowledge that destiny had just spoken.

Here we are again! I had a lot of time at the beginning of this month and decided to start working on one of the largest units in the army. I ran into some unexpected trouble during the month, including a thumb wound that kept me away from the painting table for a while, and ended up ten models short of completing the full unit. The silver lining is that I have ten nearly finished models on the table, promising an easy month to come. But no more rambling-here are the models!

I managed to paint a unit of 20 Savage Orcs. They were pretty quick to paint, as many of them are equipped with just a loincloth and a blade. I loved all the sculpts and really enjoyed painting them.

I see the Savage Orcs as an orky version of the Dwarf Troll Slayers. That's why I wanted to take something from the dwarven death cult and turn it around, and decided that this tribe bleaches its hair. The original concept also included white body paint (ash?). I didn’t have time to experiment with it, so I skipped that part. I also have a unit of Savage Arrers, and might try the body paint idea on them though.

Da Boss

The month in points:

On the green skin

I’ve been painting models for Heavy Metal Hordes for their upcoming Kickstarter project as a side quest. They asked me for pictures and some explanations for a painting guide. I’ve also received some enquiries about the orc skin recipe I use, so I thought I’d share the pictures with you along with a few words about the skin painting process.

Start with a base colour of Elysian Green. Then apply a wash of watered-down Druchii Violet with a dash of Agrax Earthshade in it. Add small amounts of Druchii Violet to selected areas, like the eye sockets, between fingers, etc., for a more dramatic effect if needed. Highlight with Elysian Green, and add Ogryn Camo to selected parts of the skin on the face. Knuckles, knees, and elbows get Ogryn Camo with dots of Kislev Flesh.

And that’s it for February! Next month, I’ll paint a few more Savage Orcs, but I’ll try not to stop there. That might mean something a bit darker, something much bigger, or maybe some fast-attack choices.

See you later!

Quin’s Rainbow Vale - Wrap Up

Another challenge has come to an end, quite a relieving feeling! Alas, with many other projects looming over me I’ve decided not to finish any of the additional items for my army this month. I leave behind shields and banner for my unit of savage orcs, a later C20 troll and a dozen of the Drew Day Williams trolls. From where I’ve started, I’m quite pleased with the outcome of this year’s challenge! To keep things brief, here they are..

In total this year I have completed the following:

Level 15 Savage Orc Hero (88)

Level 15 Savage Orc Shaman (163)

15 savage orcs w/ hand weapons, shields & bows 7.5 points each (112.5)

Standard Bearer with shield, hand weapon & bow (14.5)

Level 5 orc shaman (63)

Level 5 savage orc hero with hand weapon, shield & bow (36)

4 savage orc boar boyz with double handed weapons & bows 25.5 points each (102)

Level 25 orc chieftain on boar with double handed weapon & bow (153)+(16)

Orc Manmangler (93)

5 Trolls - 65 Points Each (325)

Level 15 Troll Hero with Double Handed Weapon (257)

Level 5 Troll Shaman (145)

4 Troll Foresters 67 points each (268)

Forest Giant (250)

8 Giants 250 points each (2000)

Level 5 Giant Wizard (280)

Dragon Type 3 with Flight (550)

Total (4965.5)

 It was a pleasure to watch everyone else’s armies grow throughout the challenge, I look forward to the opportunity to do it again next year! Hopefully I’ll be able to figure out blogger a bit better by then so I can resume commenting on my fellow colleagues blogs. Next year’s project will be in smaller proportions, that is, I will be painting chaos dwarfs. I look forward to seeing you all there. 

Congratulations to the other OWAC victors!

Quin’s Rainbow Vale - Millions of Dead Elves (1080.5 Points)

For some semblance of keeping a theme I attempted to recreate the album cover from below

Wild Card Month, or Rank & File V

 I was able to finish painting everything with ample time this month, however in the last days I have been heavily distracted adding flowers and flocking to everyone’s bases. I also attempted to finish a piece of scenery in painting the Orc Village, released around the time of 5th/6th edition. I’m nearly halfway there, but didn’t have enough time to complete it for today’s pictures. Here’s hoping I will keep the motivation going and have it ready for my army shot next month. 

 Getting into what I have accomplished, my month started with another C28 giant. A combination of Body 5, Head 1 & Weapon 2. The body had some significant flash left over on the hand holding the “cannon ball” which I thought looked like severed optical nerves, and I painted it as such! Touched up with some Blood for the Blood God, I’m quite pleased with the results of this one :)

 Up next is from Grenadier, a Storm Giant. In this case I decided to leave him with a more natural skin tone and use him as a giant wizard.

 And for the last of my giants, I believe the oldest in my collection. From Heritage’s Dungeon Dwellers “3506 Great Monsters” box set is the 1299 Hill Giant. Having painted a great many ropes so far this year, I opted to give this savage looking gent something more interesting. Belts made of viscera, again smothered with Blood from the Blood God.

 Unfortunately I had forgotten to affix shields to these Orcs prior to basecoating them, and continued to put it off until it was too late. In the future this unit will be upgraded to bearing shields, and a banner. For now no additional points.

 

These two are interesting, because they are the same sculpt with slightly different variations. The version with red hair has a bit of flash connecting the scythe to his body. The other figure has a shield bump on his back. The flash I understand could be easily trimmed off, but the figure with red hair has definitely never had a shield bump.

 Anyways, the models are both ORC2 Brarg, though I suspect one of them is a later release with the added shield peg and support to the scythe possibly lost through years of using the cast? Or as suggested otherwise, removed by a previous owner.

      

    Two ORC2 Chundi.

 Left to right, ORC2 Chugg, ORC2 Bault. Two of my favorites from this range. While planning my list I had considered including them as savage orc “assassins”.

  

  Left to Right, ORC2 Zag, C15 Gobstob, Sword Bearer

 

ORC2 Cryack, as you can see I didn’t add a banner to this figure yet, eventually I plan to fly a skinny banner from the section of his spear just above his hand, and below the blade. Though his opinion of any incoming army is still visible on his mohawk.

Leading the unit of orcs into battle is C15 Hoglod Bone-Breaker. Equipped with an interesting blade and a cowskin diaper, complete with a cool beard and a bald head he would make any respectable elf tremble upon sight.

 

My final figure for the month is ORC4 Mandig Elfsickle. Quite a lovely figure that will be used as a high ranking shaman in my savage orc community. I attempted to differentiate him from the other orcs by way of bright feathers and hair, as well as giving him a rusty blade. I wonder if I should have rusted them all? Something to consider as I move forward…

2 Giants 250 points each (500)

Level 5 Giant Wizard (280)

9 Savage Orcs 5.5 points each (49.5)

Level 15 Savage Orc Hero (88)

Level 15 Savage Orc Shaman (163)

Total for June 1080.5 Points

Family Photo:

Quin’s Rainbow Vale - Boar Boyz and the Big Cheese (271 Points)

 Leader Month

 Greetings again from the sewers.of.estark, my apologies for the lack of any cool backstory. Hopefully next month will prove more fruitful in the ways of painting & writing. I also plan on attempting to be more proactive in regards to replying to comments on my posts (future & past) as well as commenting on others :) Anyways, here’s what I’ve got for the month. A big bad Savage Orc chieftain & his boar riding lackeys.

 I had planned on taking better pictures this afternoon (written the day of 4/30) but a sudden rush of rain has made that plan backfire. Luckily I took a few yesterday in the late afternoon, so they aren’t quite as bright as I would like. Regardless, I present you with my lot for April!

4 savage orc boar boyz with double handed weapons & bows 25.5 points each (102)

Level 25 orc chieftain on boar with double handed weapon & bow (153)+(16)

Total - 271 Points

See you next month with more big guys.