Paint Bench: 28mm Gondor Army

 I added more Gondor Cavalry as well as infantry. I went slightly crazy with this project. I think I have over 128 cavalry and now over 600 infantry. And another 100 archers. I use the old Harlequin/Black Tree Design and now Scotia Grendel line for my Lord of the Rings armies they are the bigger 28mm more closer to 32mm  I also have a few Mirhril Miniatures as well (Dol Amroth)  

Paint Bench: 28mm Gondor Army Re-basing Project Done

Finally starting my Lord of the Rings armies. I have a bunch of Gondorians...maybe 800 or so to do. They should go fast.

I stayed up till about 2 am last night and finished these. Then I started on Dol Amroth and Rohan.

Paint Bench: 28mm Orc Re-basing project (Done)

Repaint Time: 1 day (400 minis)

I decided to repaint all of my figures starting with my orcs that are all on my Siege of Gondolin table. Along with all of my elf army. Then I will just keep going. I think I have about 5000 figures to repaint the bases. I posted some pics of some figures on TMP and someone suggested that I paint my bases differently. So I did, and I really like the new way I paint them. So now I have to go backwards and repaint everything. Crazy. I did that once when I decided to start washing figures. So I went back and washed everything....took me about a week or so. 

Simple upgrade makes them look a lot better.

Repainting all the orcs and elves on the table, as I organize it for battle.

Paint Bench: 28mm Orc Crossbows by Black Tree Design Finished!!!

Paint Time: 21 days

Finally got my Black Tree Design Goblin/Orc crossbow. 

 

Part 2

Been busy lately and have had hardly time to paint with both of my daughters birthdays 5 weeks apart. And also have been busy with Ebay stuff. But I finally got back to painting and I am almost done with these guys. Tonight I finally washed them after gluing their crossbows on after painting them. Next the flocking begins.

And the finished product! Done painting orcs for a very long time. 

 

Paint Bench: 28mm Greater Orcs by Black Tree Design Finished!!

Paint Time: 3 days


I am painting these old Harlequin Greater Orcs (now Black Tree Design) up as Trolls in my Orc/Goblin army. They are huge figures, but I like them. I can use them to drive my orcs and goblins on the battlefield...Big Bosses so to speak.

These guys paint up great!



Part 2

Finished! Not the best, but good enough for the table.

Harlequin Fantasy Armies Orc Crossbows (FA0229) from Black Tree Design Review

I have been looking for some Orc Crossbow for awhile, and I just in got another sample from Black Tree Design today. I got the FA0229 28mm Orc Crossbows pack. They are the same scale almost with my Harlequin LOTR Orcs,  but just a just a bit bulkier, but the sculpts are good. At first glance I did not like them because of their faces and heads, but I decided to go with them because after I painted them up they looked a lot better. So I finally found my Orc Crossbow and at a bargain price at 3 for $5.60 roughly on sale at BTD. I will have 60 of these guys coming in soon to add to the ranks of my Orc Army. They all come with separate crossbow.

 BTD FA0229 Orc Crossbow comparison to a old Harlequin LOTR Isengard Half-Orc (on left).

Black Tree Design Orc Crossbows FA0229

I am really pleased how they turn out when they are painted up.

Harlequin Great 28mm Orc Crossbow and Great Orc Fighters by Black Tree Design Review

I went on a quest to find some 28mm Orc Crossbow for my ever growing Orc Army. I searched and searched for figure comparisons of the Harlequin Great Orc Crossbow (HM1050) with no luck. So I thought I would share my findings. All of my Orc army are from the old Lord of the Rings range by Icon or Harlequin miniatures, now Black Tree Design, but the molds were sold to Scotia Grendel. I was trying to find a Orc crossbow figure that would match the scale of the Greater Orcs of the Old Harlequin Lord of the Ring Range which are now owned by Scotia Grendel and sold under the generic fantasy figures. I thought these orcs were huge until I got these Black Tree Design Orc crossbow in the mail. I also asked for a sample of the Great Orc Fighters (HM1044).

First off, I want to say these Orcs are amazing with very nice detail. But they were way to large for my current Orc army....they were Troll size compared to Orcs I have. But totally happy with the figures, I just can not use them. But I may paint them up one day for some fun. 

As you can see they are very large. I did not measure them in millimeters, but they are in the upper high end of Heroic size 28mm figures. The Crossbow are very large, the fighters are just as large, but hunched over a little, so they do not look as big, but they have large bulky bodies.

Here is the crossbow that comes with the Orcs, very nice detail, and large.

A comparison to the LOTR Harlequin range Orcs and half orcs. From left to right, Harlequin LOTR Orc from the early 90's, BTD Orc, BTD Orc, and a Harlequin LOTR Half-Orc.

A size comparison to a LOTR Harlequin Orc beside a (BTD) Harlequin Great Orc figher (HM1044) And btw, that LOTR Orc is not finished being painted.

Close up of the (BTD) Harlequin Orc Crossbow (HM1050)

I hate that I can not use these in my current Orc army because they are very nice figures, but I have another sample coming from Black Tree Design. I am getting a sample of the BTD Fantasy Army range Orcs with Crossbow (FA0229).

I am getting a sample of these in the mail any day now. Hopefully they will be more to scale and blend well with my LOTR Harlequin Orcs. I have read that they blend well with any early 90's Orcs from various manufactures. I am not really too excited about the cartoonist faces they have, but I will give them a chance. That will be my next review.