Orcs!

Thanks to a generous donation from a colleague, I now have more GW Ungor bits than I can ever possibly use.It did, however, mean that I had a chance to do some proof-of-concept converting before ordering the kits I plan on tearing apart.

A bit back, I threw together this Orc for a D&D Underdark-themed warband:

(Seen here with his two Duergar mates)

I really liked the combination of hornless Ungor head with Bretonnian body, but after thinking it over for a while I was a little put off by the comparative slightness of the Fireforge arms (not the mention the prospect of clipping off the upper arms from every Bretonnian body I might want to convert).

So, with the pile of Ungor bits going spare, and a couple of Bretonnian bodies left over from other plans, I sawed off some arms and got this chap:

With the addition of Ungor arms and weapons, I've for a much more savage-looking creature, and one that suits my image of Orcs as being a little beefier than the average human (bearing in mind that I'm using regular 28mm kits for humans, so this guy is appropriately chunky in comparison). This sword is probably the most ridiculously bulky of all the Ungor weapons, so I'm a little surprised at how chuffed I am with the end result. In theory, if this works fine, the rest shouldn't look bad at all!

With proof-of-concept achieved, I then got bored and started mucking around with bits I had no real intention of using, as they didn't really fit with the rest of the aesthetic – chiefly the fat 'Friar Tuck' body from the Bretonnian command sprue and the quad-horned Ungor champion head. While the champion head was easy enough to trim down to become hornless, it did unfortunately mean that the ears (sculpted against the lower horns) were lost. I was going to chuck it away, but then thought about adding a hood (well, first it was a bandana, than common sense returned). Once that image was in mind, I glued this chap together:

(Khaaaan!)

Voila – one Orc shaman/priest/druid/skald. The forearms are an Ungor archer arm (right) and a shield arm (left). All told, not that displeased with what was essentially going to be a throwaway piece, and he'll be finding a place as an advisor to my Orc chieftain. I need to polish the hood bit once the green stuff is dry, but he's otherwise done as is.

As the kit I want for the Corsairs of Umbar isn't out until Salute (Gripping Beast Arabs), this should keep me occupied for a while. It's only a small gang, and I don't expect to expand it into a larger army (never say never):

• Chieftain (got a nice conversion in mind for this, but need to find a few bits first)
• Druid (or whatever)
• Standard Bearer
• 2x bodyguard (maybe – not sure yet)
• 5x archers
• 10–15x warriors (sword and board or spear)

I also kind of want to drop in a troll or something a little larger, primarily because that's one of the best scenes in the LOTR movies and I'm a big fan of size variations in small armies – gives a more interesting profile on the table.