And all of the heads

 

The full range of marching Orc bodies.

 These are photos of all of the marching Orc bodies. 12 in total - 3 Command (leader, standard bearer, drummer), 6 Orcs marching, 3 Orcs with bows marching. 

I think the painted versions show the detail better at the moment. I’m still experimenting with other finishes to see which works the best - probably a combination of both. 

Archers

 A few shots of the archers in a group. There are 3 body variants, and the same number of separate head variants. 

More photos

 Some photos of a unit in progress. Hopefully it gives a better idea of what the figures look like en masse. Several more bases are in progress, plus a couple of bases of archers. 

K

 This Orc Champion, potentially, will be a freebie, which will be given out with bulk orders. I haven’t quite decided on the qualifying order size yet. I really need to get somebody more competent to paint some examples. 

It was supposed to be part of a 3 figure ‘High Command’ set, but the other 2 figures need some adjustments.

 Some more painted examples.

Why Alan’s 40s?

My wargaming journey started in the late 1970s when some guys at school talked about Dungeons and Dragons. I watched them play and was hooked immediately. Since then, I have moved through D&D to Warhammer 1st and 2nd edition, 28mm Napoleonics, Indian Mutiny, ACW, Warhammer 40k and, then 40mm AWI, Napoleonics, War of 1812 and, now, 40mm Fantasy. 

Although 40s are a niche within the hobby, I find the larger figures more evocative of what hooked me in the first place. And, as I get older, I can see the detail better for painting. The biggest influence recently was through the Lead Adventure Forum and Salute where some big 40mm games, particularly those staged by the late Ian Smith, and others, caught my imagination.

I read The Lord Of The Rings regularly, want to game it, and, like most readers, I have my own vision of how things should look. The films, although entertaining, didn’t necessarily capture how I imagined things. 

So, why produce my own figures? 

Essentially, I can’t find the figures I want and 40mm Fantasy is quite a niche within a niche, and probably commercially unviable, so no manufacturer is going to produce them. 

I already had a sculptor working on some AWI figures for me, so I gave him some ideas for some Orc miniatures and he has come up with a pretty good interpretation of what I asked for. 

Just to be clear, these are, of course, generic orcs for fantasy gaming, not specifically for LoTR, although they can be used as such. 

I always intended these to be part of a commercial experiment, just to see whether 40mm has any mileage left in it. If it failed, i hope it doesn’t, I will have a pretty pricey private range! They are intended to fit a massed battle set up, but should also fit skirmish games too. 

As a teaser, here are some examples of the figures, assembled and painted. More images and how to buy them will follow. 

I am a fan of the ‘marching to battle’ pose, and they rank up better than many fantasy figures. The AWI figures will be available at some point too, starting with Highlanders.