Minihammer: 15mm Orc and Goblin Warhammer Army

First a preamble...I am not sure where this idea came from. One minute I was perusing Copplestone Castings range of 15mm barbarians and thinking 'there quite nice' and the next thing I am digging out my old warhammer rules and army books and planning a whole series of new warhammer armies, only in 15mm scale. It might be rash and a bit left-field, but it is certainly different and should reassure Pulp Citizen that I haven't completely succumb to the dark side of Historical Wargaming. 

So Why Warhammer?

Pulp citizen and I grew up playing warhammer (well mostly 40K) and like many wargamers this was our introduction into the hobby (and look where that has got us- Pulp Citizen is a games developer with two successful Kick-starters under his belt, while I have an ever growing mountain of unpainted lead). I love the world inhabited by the denizens warhammer, as it is very evocative and has great stories and myths built into it. Naturally, when I thought about getting back into fantasy wargaming, Warhammer jumped out at me. I looked at Dragon Rampant and Songs of Blades and Heroes, and they are both good, but my history with Warhammer swayed it for me. 

So Why 6th Edition?

Bluntly...because I already had the books. I had a big box of rules and army books in the loft for back in the day. I know that GW has brought of Age of Sigmar, to mixed reviews, and I know that it is free to download, but somehow Age of Sigmar didn't do it for me. I like it Old School. 

So Why 15mm?

Well this is the big question...why on earth would I not just paint up a GW army? After all I already have three 28mm GW armies in the loft? In short I wanted to do something different, and painting 15mm is just that. Its also a lot cheaper that current GW ranges,and with the growing popularity of Old Hammer even the cost of second hand old lead has spiralled out of my price range, where as the 15mm market is much cheaper (particular the historical figures I could use for Bretonian and Empire).

So there you go. I began by searching the web for good 15mm figures that suited the GW/Citadel ascetic as I didn't want anything that was radially different- I wanted it to look like a warhammer army or what's the point. Some armies are easier to do than others as they have most of the entries in the army book covered by good proxies form other 15mm manufactures. I found that Orcs and Goblins were one of the best, as the old Ral Partha Daemonworld range (available from Ral Partha Europe).

After trying out a lot of different ideas for basing I decided that basing them on multi-bases of six was the way to go. This way they are in regiments with six figures in a rank, and the removal of a single stand in the equivalent of loosing a rank. In addition I have halved all the ranges, which mean the playing surface is reduced to 3x2- small enough for my kitchen table!

So here are my first few figures for my Orc and Goblin Army...

The Bad Moon Boyz

The Dwarf Eater Tribe- Black Orcs from the heart of the Badlands   

Ruglug Brain Eata- Savage Orc Shaman

Grog The Flatulent, Shaman to the Bad Moon Tribe

Aggro The Beard-Cutter, Black Orc Battle Standard Bearer

I also had a quick go at making some scenery to fill up the battlefield- here is my first one...a ruined boarder fort probably destroyed by giants decades ago.  It is only a quick stop-gap until I get round to making something cooler.