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)  

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. 

Paint Bench: 28mm Isengard Half-Orcs from Scotia Grendel (aka old Harlequin LOTR Orc) Finished!!!

Paint time: 51 days!!


Got my next batch of Scotia Grendel Half-orcs in. It is probably going to take me a day or two to cleans these up and make them fit the 20mm bases that I wanted. Also, I am going to glue their shields on differently than some of the poses are. A little bit of work but worth it. I need to get a bigger pair of wire cutters, my hands are a mess now. Keep in mind I arm the with the shields or Mordor...for my own reasons.

Part 1

The first orc on the left will have his shield in front of him, which will make it a whole lot easier for formations. I will leave a few of them in that pose for variety.

Part 2

All Skinned awaiting some fur!

Part 3

I have 4 colors on them now, they are getting closer to being done. But I still have a lot of work to do on them. 

Part 4

I am moving right along. I have almost finished painting the Isengard Half-Orcs. I washed one set already out of order, mainly because I spilled a whole bottle of wash on the table and immediately started washing figures. I will moving on to the Great Orcs next and finishing them up before I start washing all the figures. 

This batch is washed and completed.

Before and After Wash.

The wash I am using is the Citadel Nuln Oil shade.

 

Update 5

I finished washing all the figures finally and I have started on the shields...all 300 plus of them. I think it took about 3 days to wash everything, I think they are turning out satisfactory. After I finish the shields in a week or two, I will start flocking the bases, and then gluing on the shields, and I am done with these guys and they will have marching orders to Gondolin.

I had to paint 330 of these shields...took me a whole day.

Finished!!! Finally, and glad at that.

I am very happy with the results. I flocked each base differently or tried to.

Orc Reinforcements arriving at the Siege of Gondolin finally!!

 

Paint Bench: 28mm Great Orcs from Scotia Grendel (aka old Harlequin LOTR Orcs) Finished!!!!

Paint time: 56 days!!


For some reason I can not stop buying minis and painting them. I decided I did not have enough Orcs so I added 150 to my army, which now stands somewhere around 500 plus or minus plus 36 wolf riders. I think they were a bit out numbered by some of the good guys I have...because I did the same thing with them, went a little crazy buying and painting.....what can I say I am a maniac. But it keeps me at home and out of trouble...besides I needed more orcs for my up coming Siege of Gondolin...someone reminded me I did not have enough orcs to elf ratio so I panicked.

These are the old Harlequin Lord of the Rings Miniatures, aka Black Tree Design Lord of the Realm, aka now Scotia Grendel Generic Fantasy minis....they bought the molds off of Black Tree Design about the same time I bought the remaining stock off Black Tree Design. So I had to wait a bit for the orcs to come out. 

I don't know what I am going to do when the old Rohan riders come out.....spend.

And by the way here is an idea I am starting to throw out there about Middle Earth in the 5th age...where Romans and Greeks, and Macedonians can fight Morgoth, ie Orcs...just a thought. I have been having this uncontrolled desire to have orcs fight ancient Greeks and Macedonians, etc..

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=341574&page=1 

Part 1

I got the first wave of my orders in from Scotia Grendel today. 150 Great Orcs, the old Harlequin Great Orcs.  I have the cleaned and based, and priming them tonight. I want them done and ready to paint before the next 2 batches of minis come in. I also got some Half-Orcs from Scotia Grendel as well, they are also the old Harlequin LOTR ones as well.

 

I will make an update soon. The painting begins!!!!

Part 2

Small update, putting some skin on. I plan on painting all 450 plus at once. 

 

Part 3

All Skinned and putting their fur on.

Part 4

Slowly making progress...I am painting everything at once...350 orcs. It was 450 but the BTD Greater Orcs with crossbows were huge and way out of scale...they had to be about 34-35mm tall. Great looking figures, but too large for my armies. 

Part 5

I am almost finished painting this batch and nearing the washing phase. I am finishing up the Half-Orcs first and then should finished these by next week. 

Before and and After wash using Citadel shade Nuln Oil.

Part 6

Finished washing all of them and now painting the 300 or so Mordor shields. Then I will flock them all and put them out on the Gondolin table and start the game soon. But I still have about 60 Orc crossbow in the mail to do. Along with some skeleton warriors I am painting on the side. 

Here is the size of the army I have been painting. I have been painting all of the orcs at once, including the Isegard half orcs along with a few samples of some orc crossbow. 

And I am finally finished with this batch! I went on a marathon painting crusade over the Memorial Weekend! I painted for 3 days with about 4 hours of sleep in between, minus eating. I finished up tonight with the last gluing of the shields.

I had to change storage/movement trays because the shields prevented me from placing them on Games Workshop trays, so I used my homemade trays...I only have about 400 of them I made laying around.

Orc Reinforcements arriving at Gondolin

And I decided to repaint my Sauron mini. I re-dry brushed it and re-did the base, it is not finished in this pic.