Sunday 4 October 2020

Harboth's Orc Archers


As it's Orctober I thought I would post some pictures of the Orcs I have been working on. First up is one the classic regiments of renown- Harboth's Orc Archers. This is one of the first box sets I bought as a kid a very long time ago, and recently repainted them. 



Harboth's Orc Archers painted miniatures regiment of renown


Harboth's Orc Archers regiment of renown

I wanted to use the box art as inspiration for colours and for the banner or standard bearer.

Harboth's Orc Archers regiment of renown back of box

The back of the box has a story with a lot of character, including information like the Orcish word for moving out can also mean deserting, running away or soling one's underwear.  I also like the information on equipment, Battlecry, Deeds, Uniforms and Shield designs.




They even spelt Harboth's name wrong here- Who is Harbath?! But you can see a close up of the banner. I like the ghostly ethereal look to it, so I set out to make my own version.




And an advert in WD. This also has a print version of the banner, in bright green for some reason, so I used this as starting point to make my own version.


Harboth's Orc Archers banner standard



Harboth's Orc Archers banner standard photoshop

At first I made a version in photoshop, but when I printed it it just didn't look right. It looked fake, a bit faded, and just... printed on a computer. I tried painting over it, but the printer ink would run and react to water based paints.

Harboth's Orc Archers banner standard miniature painted


Which brings me to my final version of Harboth's standard bearer. This was painted in water colours and some acrylic paints, mainly the black. The trophies are mostly dwarf, the story on the back describes how Harboth's Orcs like to kill and eat Dwarfs -"Pulp do Stunties!" Is their warcry after all! So Dwarf trophies seemed appropriate. I'm really happy with the final result.

Harboth's Orc Archers miniature painted Yaskin Forit

Here's Yaskin Forit, the units champion. Unit Champions back then didn't have to be armed identically to the rest of the unit, so he wields a two-handed Dwarf tickler. He also manages to wield a two-handed weapon and use a shield at the same time! 
His name is sounds like "You asking for it?!" - the sort of thing some aggressive thug might ask before a fight. 
I didn't like the Roman style crest on the helmet, so I removed it and stuck some horns on, I felt bad defacing the old model, but I much prefer how he looks now. Much more Orky! 
While repainting Yaskin Forit I noticed he has a necklace of ears, some are even pointy! Gruesome! I also hope to paint some design on his shield when I get time. Probably a crude face of one of his victims.



The musician- not a lot else to say, except he's the only Orc archer not wearing any chainmail or armour.




And lastly, the man himself, Harboth. His original weapon was damaged and I replaced it with an axe. 







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