Drogrot & Morthang

Drogrot & Morthang...sounds like a firm of Orc solicitors. I can't imagine there's much market for Orc legal advice though...

''Ello, Drogrot & Morthang!"
"I was bashin' stunties and Grimfang stole me squigs!"
"Well?"
"Can you 'elp?"
"Yeah. Bash Grimfang an' get yer squigs back!"

I don't remember Ally McBeal being like that.

Anyway, to business. Or pleasure, rather, Drogrot and Morthang are, in fact, the two characters I've just painted for my army. Wahey!

The characters themselves were actually created by Andy Lawhammer for our WFRP game. When I decided to make an Orc army, and to have a Wyvern-mounted war boss leading it, I recalled our PCs facing a Black Orc on a Wyvern. Well, I say facing. He swooped down, his Wyvern ate our rock-hard NPC henchman in one gulp, and we ran away.

So Andy filled me in on some of the details, and lo and behold! Morthang da Burna.

Morthang da Burna, on his wyvern

That flaming sword represents the Grudgebringer sword, as featured in Dark Omens and Shadow of the Horned Rat. The sword, once borne by Captain Bernhardt, found its way into the hands of this mighty Black Orc. I converted Azhag the Slaughterer with a burning wizard sword, graciously donated by Andy. In game, I'll use the Ruby Ring of Rhuin to represent its fireball attack.

A more detailed view of Morthang.

I'm pleased with how the flaming sword has come out. You may just be able to see the hint of runes I did at the base of the fire (Grudgebringer, in our canon at least, is one of Alaric the Mad's Dwarven runeweapons). Obviously Morthang has attached it to a bit of bone to give him a proper, Orcy handle (the original plan was to strap the sword onto a huge Orc choppa, but it looked silly).

The reasons for his red crown are twofold. I wanted his helmet to stand out. His armour looked rag-tag, so I wanted to paint it all bashed, rusty iron. But the helmet looked cool, with the little crown-like peaks and what-not. But, when I got to painting it, I realised I had a limited palette of colours to use. In particular, I've yet to pick up a gold colour (hence Morthang's bone hilt). I'd already done one model, an Orc Boss, with a red helmet, and liked the effect, so that's what I went for.

In a full game, when I can afford the points, I'll probably give him The Trickster's Helm. It's a pricy magic item, but quite useful for a tough old Black Orc (it forces enemies to reroll successful to-wound rolls). There's also a nice connection to my WFRP character, Adhemar, that would take too long to explain here.

Morthang from the side! From the side! (obscure Lee Evans reference)

Overall, he's painted more roughly than I'd like. I'll probably tidy some bits up (I've manged to get red in the wyvern's armpit. Wingpit?) and some of the drybrushing's a bit rough. But once he was based, he really came together, and I'm pretty chuffed overall.

Now, Andy also mentioned that Morthang was accompanied by an Orc Shaman, Drogrot Gorkeye. This fanatical visionary is convinced Morthang is the reincarnation of Mork himself, destined to bind all the Orcs together in the greatest Waaagh the world has ever seen.

Now, while the Warhammer Orc shaman is a cracking model, it didn't really capture the steely-eyed intensity Andy was describing. So, I turned to Avatars of War, who do some cracking figures. Their Orc Shaman, in particular, is wicked, and looks the part. So he became my Drogrot:

Drogrot Gorkeye; driven

I love this model. The detail, the pose. Brilliant, and really fits the character. His cloak has some cool details on it too, severed hands and skulls and what-not.

Detail on Drogrot's cloak: pleased with the severed hands!

Through an online shopping debacle, I've ended up with two of this model: I intend to convert one to become a Battle Standard bearer, but more on that later.

I've wittered on for quite long enough, all that remains is to tot up my points so far...

Lords - 320 (25%)
 Morthang on Wyvern

Heroes - 190 (15%)
 Drogrot (level 2), Mord (level 2)

Core - 615 (49%)
 10 x Savage Orc Big Uns, 15 x Orc Boyz, 20 x Goblins, 10 Spider Riders, 5 Wolf Riders

Special - 135 (11%)
 5 x Orc Boar Boyz

Total - 1,260

Not bad, not bad at all. I should also mention here that I'm using Quartermaster, an army building app that is aces. Love it.

I still have a Savage Orc Big Boss to finish painting, and a BSB to convert, and I think I'll buy myself some Savage Orc Boyz this week too. Time Skargutz's Boyz got reinforced.

Waaaagh!

Army Building

So I recently played my second game in our personal Warhammer Rennaissance, this time against Andrew (700 points). Once again, it was a draw, with me ahead on VPs, but not enough to classify as a win (I was 75 VPs ahead, when I needed 100). Nooooooooooo!

Noooooooooooooooo!

Also, it's the second time in a row I've forgotten about my choppas special rule (+1 S in 1st round of combat for Orcs). Not a massive deal, but given how narrowly his necromancer survived, it may have made a difference. Next time I'm going to write it on my hand or something. 

Still, it's a learning curve, and I suspect that when next we meet, I'll be facing more than one necromancer. After the game we had the usual tidying up debrief; Andrew realised having one or two low level spell casters to back up his General would be a plan, and I realised I needed to bolster my army's leadership. 

I also realised that I'd been misreading the rules when it came to characters. I had somehow convinced myself I couldn't take Lord characters unless I was playing over 2,000 points. I have no idea where I got that from, as it ain't in the BRB or the Orc Army Book. I also realised I can have 25% Lords and 25% Heroes. Suddenly, I realised I have a bigger army than I thought, as the wyvern I bought didn't have to sit on the bench for an age. 

GW's awesome Azhag the Slaughterer model: waaaagh!

Here's what I own, right now (not all painted).

Lords: 345 points

Black Orc Warboss on Wyvern (using Azhag the Slaughterer model)

Ruby Ring of Rhuin*

345 points

Heroes: 190 points

Orc Shaman

Level 2

100 points

Goblin Shaman

Level 2

90 points

Core: 805 points

Forest Goblin Spider Riders

x 10, full command

160 points

Wolf Riders

x 5, shortbows, shields, musician

70 points

Wolf Riders

x 5, shortbows, shields, musician

70 points

Goblins

x 20, shortbows, shields, full command

110 points

Orc Boyz

x 15, shields, full command

140 points

Savage Orc Big 'Uns

x 20, additional hand weapon, full command

255 points

Special: 135 points

Orc Boar Boyz

x 5, Spears, Shields, full command, 

135 points

So my totals are:

Lords:    345

Heroes:  190

Core:      805

Special:  135

Total:    1,475

25% of 1.475 is 369, meaning my Lord is just under 25% and my core is well over it. Slam in a couple more magic items (Banner of Discipline? A magic weapon for the Warboss?) and I have a legal 1500 point army!

It's not a great army, by any means, of course. The Orc Boyz and Orc Boar Boyz both need to be bigger. I could really do with some Ld boosting stuff too (Battle Standard bearer? Banner of Discipline? Crown of Command?). 

But it's a 1,500 point army. Cue happy dance!

Numfar! Do the Dance of Joy!

*Ruby Ring of Rhuin - this is actually a sword. It's the Grudgebringer Sword (as featured in Warhammer games "Shadow of the Horned Rat" et al), which in our WFRP game found its way into the hands of a Black Orc. I've converted the sword onto the model, so will always take it for character reasons. More on that once the big fella is painted!

So simply by including the handful of unpainted minis I own, I can more than double the points of my army. Nice! I could also drop a couple of redundant bosses (Goblin archers, I'm looking at you) to get some extra magic items. 

I'm feeling pretty dang pleased with that. And keen to get that Wyvern painted. So enough spraffing.

To the bat-drybrush!