15mm Black Orcs

Black Orcs

Ok as some of you will know and as I say on this blog my long time love is 15mm Fantasy Mass Battle!. So why has it taken so long for me to paint any..........well I did do some Dwarves last year (I will put pictures up).

So here is the start of my 2011 offering to the hordes of fantasy. These are Blood Dawn Orcs, sold in the UK by Magister Militum.

These miniatures are on the larger side of 15mm, more like 18mm and very chucky but I think that adds to the appeal. They just said 'Black Orc' to me so that is how I will represent them.

These guys will actually be getting an outing in a couple of weeks. they will be taking on Al's Undead in a 'Black Magic' game. This is a new thing for us and is simply a few additions to Warlord's Black Powder. It is free on the Yahoo Group and looks good fun.

What we are really aiming for is using Warlord's, well Rick Priestly's Hail Caesar ancient rules that have just come out. The same guy who wrote the Black Magic additions has started on Hail Caesar so hopefully it will not be long and finally my vast fantasy armies will be dusted off and the field of battle once more!

There will be pictures of the armies involved and the battle itself.

FOW Soviets

Ok more of the Red Tide........First off is a Commissar Team, these are QRF? Would someone let me know.

The first batch of painted Plastic Soldier Company, a group of 25. AS you can see they paint up as well as their metal comrades and in the next picture you will see that they are quite close in height and stature. They should mix quite well. My only concern with these figures is there lack of variation, the same basic poses are used twice, just different head gear. That is why I am keen for them to blend with the QRF.

The comparison,

Left to right

QRF, Battelfront Plastic Soldier Company

I should be ok.

In most 'historical' armies I generally only like to use one manufacturer's figures. But with these the PSC where an impulse buy at PAW2011 and the QRF were a steal on EBay. Hopefully the gamble will pay off.

Heavy Mortar Company

Some heavy mortar support for my soviet infantry. A 2 platoon company, very nice models and happy with the look. These are Battlefront Miniatures although they are not as 'stocky' as their SMG troops.

A close up of the individual 'tube'.

The essential bit of the company, the commander and the spotter team.

Flames of War Soviets

Hi guys, here are some examples of, what I think are QRF Russians? Please correct me if I am wrong.

They are nice figures and paint up very well. They are not as chunky as the Battlefront SMG platoon figures but having painted some Battlefront heavy mortars they fit in size with the crews?

So far I have painted about 80 of these guys, so just about a company's worth.

FOW Soviets

Ok, finally get to paint some of my own collection! I have got the FOW bug and have chosen Soviets. I wanted to do Germans but there are already at least 2 German armies at the club.

This is the first Soviet platoon that I have painted and they are Battlefront miniatures. They were very nice to paint and I am doing them in a way which should make the army quite quick.

If you look at the pictures you will see I have gone away from my usual drybrush painting method and adopted a block style with a wash.

I wanted the Soviets to look quite dark and dirty, I think I achieved that a little too well on this platoon!

The basic method was an undercoat spray of FOW German Armour, which is a yellow ochre colour. Then I just painted the figure's details, webbing, weapons flesh and helmet etc.

The whole lot was then given a wash of Games Workshop Delvin Mud which brings out the creases and gives them some depth.

For this army I have somehow managed to get a mix of three different manufacturers Battlefront, QRF and The Plastic Soldier company.

I will do a comparison shot once I have painted examples of all three.

Comments welcome.........

Dystopian Wars

Just a couple of pictures of the Airwing all together. My next purchase will be a pack of fighter tokens, a pack of bombers and 2 of the new scout ship zeppelins. That should keep my fly boys happy!!

Dystopian Wars

The completed Zeppelin Carrier in all it's glory, well not quite I have lost the flying stand poles, so need to find some replacements! LOL

It is a truly impressive model though.

Dystopian Wars

Finally some of my own Dystopian Wars fleet..............the first of the Prussian Empire to be photographed. Here we have the freshly painted Zeppelin and the carrier top that goes with it

When I first bought these models I thought that they would be quite difficult to paint but they were surprisingly easy. As with most of my painting projects these were simply drybrushed.

Both parts were sprayed black and then various shades of grey for the zeppelin until the desired effect is achieved. Then it is simply a case of picking out the details, such as the weapon nodules, engines and national colours on the tail fin.

The carrier top was equally easy with a drybrush of the decking and superstructure in appropriate colours and then picking out the airplanes and weapons. I must admit I do like the results, even if I do say so myself!!