The Mighty Ugezod's Death Commandos

This is the completed unit of The Mighty Ugezod's Death Commandos. Some Orc big 'uns thrown in to make it a proper sized unit. This is a unit of elite Orc characters in a classic fantasy style.

The original box art. I wanted the shield and banner to look like the one in the image above.

The original art by John Blanche. Note that the box art was actually flipped so that Ugezod was carrying his axe in his left hand. In the original he is right handed. Also note that the Orcs are not green skinned but yellow which I quite like. In fact in makes look like hobgoblins.

The back of the Box.

The back of the box has all the characters names. And the lower image from the compendium has their race and class. Gnar is a mutant goblin, although I read somewhere he is probably meant to be a Kobold, GW probably changed it for copyright reasons. 

The Mighty Ugezod

Here's the big man himself. Crook-backed and long arms a bit like a gorilla. I tried to make the shield look like the one from the box art. The photo's bleach out some details

Mormo Jabberbinder
Orc Shaman

Although the back of the box says Mormo is an Orc Shaman I think he looks more like a Hobgoblin. I quite like his ripped robes and the expression on his face as he points his staff at his victims. I had lost the top of his staff and replaced it with this skull thing I found in my bits box.

Guzrog Dogchild
Giant black Orc

The way he was carrying his shield made me think that he was sheltering from arrows. I had to find something suitably large, so he is carrying a coffin lid. He had lost his original axe so I found a replacement. In fact many of them had lost their original weapons, I probably  swapped them for boltguns in the distant past, which wasn't such a bad thing as they tended to be low in detail and bit small or rounded.

Shylob Carcassbreath
Hobgoblin Berzerker

Berzerker with a Z. I opted for yellowish skin tones for my Hobgoblins. Gave him cat like eyes and a small buckler like shield. I like the eastern influence of this model.

Kudra Stuntysmasher
Goblin Hero
Kudra is a bit big and hairy for a goblin so I use him as a Hobgoblin instead. I really like the dynamic posing.

Sileth Frothlip
Hobgoblin Warrior

 I think Sileth should be a berserker and Shylob should be the warrior, I wonder if they got these the wrong way round? Another enigmatic name! You can imagine a berserker to be frothing at the lips! Armed with a two-handed mace and not much more!

Ushtug the Gut
Pot  Belly Orc
There's something about old Ushtug that I really like. Orcs today look like they spend their lives in the gym, or worse, have inflatable cartoon muscles. So I like the idea of an Orc that's fat, clothed in smelly rotten furs, with an old leathery face. A face like a bulldog chewing a wasp.

Ushtug always reminded me of Bolg, an Orc Marauder that appeared in an old White Dwarf under an article for wfrp. Another great illustration by Paul Bonner- just how I imagine my Orcs!

Saggrob Spikesticker
Orc Standard Bearer

This Orc model was originally just an Orc champion. It felt like heresy to cut off his spear, but I wanted a great looking model to be in the front rank carrying the banner. He is wearing a skinned goblin on his head! The banner was inspired by Nico Realms' work. The skull is water colour as I couldn't blend acrylics the way I wanted to and they were coming out too shiny. The photo is bleaching it out.

The Orc commandos or Orc Big Uns. These models are so full of character and details like things they have looted, mismatched armour and weapons, and trophies.

Orctober-work in progress

 Bratt's Boar Boyz

Orcs were the first army I truly collected so they hold a special place in my heart. When I think of Orcs I think Paul Bonner's versions, maybe crossed with Tolkien's (from the books, not the movies so much).

Here are my work in progress Orc Boar Boyz:

One of my favourite Orc units was my boar boys. They used to strike fear in my opponents as they were so hard to kill. But the models were never that impressive. The marauder orc models I had at the time didn't seem to represent the weapons and armour I had paid points for. Few of them had spears and some didn't even have armour or even clothes!

I was inspired by one of the Regiments of the Renown called Bratt's Boar Boyz (back in WD 106). I always hoped GW or someone would bring out models like these. This is how I imagined Orc boar riders to be. This story really brings Orcs to life, places them in what feels like an actual society full of character, unlike the new crap they churn out which is more about how many times the author can fit Waaaaaghh in a paragraph. A unit of Orc ferocity, bristling with spears and barely controlled boar mounts. 

    

So here they are, work in progress. Twenty Orc Grunta's and Snorta's!

The majority have spears and the majority have armour of some sort.  The size of the boars varies, maybe one day I will acquire boars all the same size, preferably boars that look like they are charging!

Now I just need to add shields, an impressive banner, and finish painting them!

And Man Mangler the Orc mangonel catapult. Love the carved face on the front of this. Painted it orange to contrast with all the green skin and drab clothes. It looks a bit like a pumpkin, which may or may not be a bad thing. Added puddles using varnish.

Orc with flag

I'm not a fan of the newer Orc models, they are too cartoony with ridiculous muscles that look like inflated balloons. Plus their heads seem too stretched, like something that has melted in the sun. Prefer my Orcs to be bandy legged, crook-backed evil creatures.

This guy:

And a sad troll. I don't know why he is so sad looking!

Mordheim House Rules

I thought I would upload our Mordheim house rules. Maybe of some use of inspiration to people out there.

Mordheim_House_Rules is a mix of the old Necromunda rules and Mordheim rules. It adds vision arcs, Injury chart (less lethal and with flesh wounds), follow up move, coup de grace, weapon traits, panic tests, new weapons, and magical miscasts.

Mordheim AHRE:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HhSmBrXBgvBkMzr-q5EUX0rvn9_xLOUV?usp=drive_link

The second doc is a work in progress of converting Mordheim to the new Necromunda or N17 rules. Mordmunda? Necroheim?

Necroheim:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12_6J67tjFi_9hSOpohVq0srBbeFEemn2?usp=drive_link


Also available on scribd:

https://www.scribd.com/document/646851387/Mordheim-House-Rules-01
https://www.scribd.com/document/646851206/Mordheim-M17-v01

#Mordheim #Orcwarband # Dwarfwarband #Mordheim17 #Mordmunda #Necroheim #M17

Dwarf Flame Cannon

Not sure why I painted this, it's not even a model I particularly like, but felt compelled to paint it and give it a decent base and here its is:

I thought the guy with flag could do with an upgrade. He originally had a tiny flag which I don't think anyone would see when on the battlefield. I removed the back plate as it was a huge hunk of metal about the size of a garden shed! It made the Flame cannon feel less like a cannon and more like a construction or vehicle. Now its just a simple tread plate but about a quarter of the size.

The noticed while painting it that the crewman carrying the fuel barrel only just fits it under the horns on his helmet! Proving that horned helmets are really impractical for almost anything. I also added a base with wheel ruts and burnt grass and bushes.

Ruglud's Armoured Orcs - Spike-Can Commandos

 

Finally got around to Painting Ruglud's Armoured Orcs. I still need to finish the bases, the banner, and maybe some extra weathering sometime. Rather than paint their armour in the traditional way with blacks and browns (which is the colour of most of my Orc army), I thought I would try something a bit different.

The story on the back of the box describes how Ruglud came across a huge room filled with dead Dwarfs. "Spiky Stunties an' reg'lar ones... wiped each uvver out...". In other words, Dwarfs were fighting Chaos Dwarfs. The Orcs loot the Chaos Dwarf armour. So I decided to paint the armour in the style of Chaos Warriors- would dwarf armour fit an Orc? 

I then had to decide what Chaos faction to paint them: 

• Undivided - Black armour would just look like a lot of the Orc units I already have. 
• Nurgle - rusty brown metal or green, and again would not stand out. Green armour and green skin doesn't sound like a good combination. And a lot of my Orcs are already in rusty armour.
• Khorne - Reds and Blacks, tempting but still similar colours and style to some of the Orc units I have already. 
• Slaanesh ...nope. At best, just complicated to paint those pastel colours. At worst, complicated and I would end up with kinky Orcs.
• That left Tzeentch. A nice faded blue colour, and something that would look different to my other Orc and Goblin units.

This is a confusingly named regiment, the story states Gudruk is the chief, Ruglud is just an 'Orc hero' so seems to be the Champion. I'm not surprised by how many people get the models mixed up. The stat line says "Gudruk is equipped with heavy armour and a two-handed sword." and "Ruglud is equipped with heavy armour, a shield and is armed with two swords."

This is contradicted by their names being stamped on their slotta base tabs - see above (well Ludruk and Ugludd- but it's close enough).

In addition the story on the back of the box describes how Ruglud gets his head stuck in a Chaos Dwarf helmet. "The tribe feasted upon Goblin-flesh long into the night - all except for Ruglud, who couldn't get his helmet off, and was reduced to sucking broth through a straw." Which also explains his face being all squashed up.

But just to add to the confusion the end of the story also states "As the gear's discoverer and the bravest, meanest and certainly the most stupid Orc, Ruglud was made leader." So does this mean Ruglud was supposed to be the higher level hero and therefore the leader all along?

Either way, because of the slotta tabs and the story stating that Ruglud is wearing a helmet, I'm certain that Ruglud is the model on the right with the helmet on.

Finally the command group characters. From left to right- Maggot (Gudruk's offspring and standard bearer), Gudruk (the leader), Ruglud (champion), and Bambrag (musician on the xylobone and whiny, cowardly shaman).

I think I may have overdone the glow on Ruglud's sword, but it was my first time trying this technique. I plan on adding a banner later on. It will be made up of two ripped banners. The top half will be Dwarf, the bottom half will be a Chaos Tzeentch banner, all crudely stitched together. Probably add some Goblin trophies as the units battlecry is "Gobbo fer tea, Gobbo fer tea, Gobbo, Gobbo, Gobbo fer tea!"

I hope you like them!

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. 

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

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.

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.

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.

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.