The Big Uns Arrive!

My major project these days is a nostalgic, 90's-inspired Warhammer Fantasy project. It came about when I stumbled across the fan made version of the rules: Warhammer Renaissance.

The Warhammer Renaissance rules are about perfect for what I want from WFB; they are a blend of 4th, 5th and 6th edition, taking the best bits from each and also making some improvements to the playability of the game in general. They definitely lean into 6th edition's more army-focussed approach as opposed to the Herohammer that came before, but I've found that with the right players you can avoid the usual pitfalls of "listhammer" and whatnot anyway.

I began by buying an Orc & Goblin Battalion from GW's Warhammer: The Old World line, which is mostly re-released kits from the old 5th to 8th edition era. Personally, I liked many of those, including the divisive "ape orcs" that I am now the dubiously proud owner of. Anyway, things have spiraled somewhat out of control since then and I've spent a small fortune in gathering numerous armies made up of figures from my preferred era and in my preferred style. I hope to be able to field painted forces of all kinds as time goes on, but I'm mostly working on greenskins and the Empire to begin with.   

A Fantasy Battles tabletop wargame as it was played in the 1990s — not as it actually was, but as it should have been.

The Greenskin army is coming along nicely. I hired my very talented friend Andy to paint the Stone Trolls for me (some of my favourite Warhammer sculpts ever, and I wanted them to look their best. The rest of the army thus far has been painted by me in a very colourful style (medieval armies were colourful, so should fantasy armies be!). They even have green bases! Behold! 

Future photos will show these up close...

One of the issues I faced was this: in the army list for the Orcs & Goblins the orcs are split into three subcategories - being Common Orcs, Big Uns and Black Orcs. The orc figures seen in the above photo are what I use for Common Orcs. Games Workshop re-released the older orc Big Uns in glorious metal, but being older figures, they're actually smaller than the figures I use for Common Orcs. This will not do! 

  

 Lovely figures, but they can't really be Big Uns when they're smaller than the Regular Uns, eh?!

 

So, utilising a LOT of spares I had acquired from a big Orc & Goblin lot I was lucky to get for a good price, I got to work on kitbashing my own. The main foundations of the figures were the orcs from the Warhammer Fantasy Battles 6th Edition Starter Set. These limited-pose figures (four poses, four heads, mix n match) seemed to stand taller than the multipart plastics that made up the usual orc regiment set. With a hobby saw, knife, files and loads of bits from all manner of orc releases, I started to put together a nasty bunch of bigger and more menacing orc boyz! 

 

Don't mind the big metal Black Orc. He's the officer and will keep them in line by quelling their arguments (animosity rule, voided by the presence of a black orc character)

Before long, I got some paint on these bad boys! After numerous painting sessions, I got the whole unit done (except for their Black Orc leader). I went with darker green to further indicate their Big Un status. The orcs of the Warhammer fantasy setting get darker in skintone as they get bigger! 

 

Pre-flock progress
 

Their leader is painted now... I just need to take some up to date photos. 

I do think I've achieved my goal quite nicely. Bigger, meaner-looking orcs. They're even a bit flashier, with lots of bronze and even gold bits and bobs on their swanky-yet-orcy gear. Below are some pictures showing the difference between them and the Common orcs a bit closer up.

 

 

 

 

Big Uns accomplished! At some point I'll do a post showing all the Orc & Goblin units I've done so far up close, and that'll include this unit with its now-painted Black Orc leader. He's a Black Orc Hero in rules terms, and will greatly aid my ability to actually get this unit to do what I need it to do in battle; fight the enemy, not one another! 

 

Soon I will detail my Empire forces!