Wargames Factory recently announced the pending release of their multi-part 28mm plastic orc warrior set. This release looks awesome. Not only do Wargames Factory do an amazing job of bringing excellent plastic troops to the table for excellent value, but they have gone with the classic Angus McBride style of orcs (shown below) seen in the artwork he did for the Middle Earth RPG.
If you are a fan of this style of orc, you will know that it has inspired many orcs that have shown up throughout the history of gaming from the Mithril Miniatures line of old to the newer figures from Khurasan Miniatures in 15mm. Similar orcs also appeared in the D&D products in the later 1E and 2E days in one form or another and became the standard replacement for the old pig-face orcs during the Larry Elmore days. I really do prefer these orcs over the pig-faced or the later "extreme" orcs of 3E.
In addition to this release being perfect for adding classic, non-GW, orcy goodness to any 28mm collection but with WF's growing range of multi-pat sets (Romans, Celts, Germans, Numidians, Zulus, etc.) there are infinite possibilities for mixing and matching to create all sorts of cool conversions and combinations. One idea that came to me was to mix Human heads and arms with the orc bodies, weapons, shields to make some truly nasty looking fantasy humans. The orc heads and arms could then be used on some of the human bodies to make better equipped orcs or something like that.
I'll be picking some up, even though I don't normally play in 28mm. Heck, maybe they'll end up as some sort of beast Men of Venus or something for VSF or Pulp games.
Have fun!
-Eli
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I can't wait for these to be released! Hopefully they will match the size of the historical minis.
ReplyDeleteI want to use the Khurasan orcs for HOTT and the WF orcs for RPGs. Either way, there are some great choices out there!
I plan to use the WF for skirmish games in the same campaigns as the 15mm ones. Most of the nations in my D&D campaign setting are analogous to an Earthly culture to one degree or another so I can usually find figs for those in multiple scales.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if WF will end up doing its own versions of lesser orcs/goblins and trolls?
Who Knows what Horrors lurk in the Shadows of Venus?
ReplyDeleteEli Knows.
I was pleased to see the McBride-esque sculpt. I was a bog Mithril collector in junior high. I so wanted to play MERP, but didn't know anyone else with an interest.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to see some other fantasy races, they're planning on Dwarves next.
ReplyDeleteI left a message a few days ago on the forums to see if my orc was any inspiration but received to reply. I'm guessing by their silence that it's a yes. I wasn't going to ask for money or anything, after all it wasn't my design.
It may be that they just haven't checked the comments yet.
ReplyDelete