Alkony miniatures updates

Painting a Red orc veteran for Alkony - Orc Spear #2 from Renegade Miniatures - Painting and conversion log

Renegade Miniatures orc spear painted as Red orc veteran

I painted an Orc Spear #2 from Renegade Miniatures company as red orc veteran for the Alkony games.

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Details - Painting a Red orc veteran for Alkony

Paint scheme: red orc veteran , Setting: Alkony

Miniature: Orc Spear #2, Range: -, Company: Renegade Miniatures company

Paints used: Pentart acrylic paints, Pentart acrylic metallic paints, brushed on, Company: Pentacolor

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Preparations - Painting a Red orc veteran for Alkony

Concept

When I got a Renegade Miniatures 28mm orc, I thought it would make a good leader for 1:72 orc legionaries. My first idea was to go for a red orc veteran. The legion should be an imperial one, because I want to use him into a wider range of scenarios. It means the colours of the armour will be gold and black – it fits the red skin, so it’s good.

Choice of miniature

As the whole concept came from the miniature, it was an easy choice to use the Orc Spear #2.

Modifications

The big, pointy ears do not fit the orcs of Alkony, so I wanted to get rid of them. My first thought was to cover them. While thinking about a heraldry of the platoon, I settled for a raven as their standard. So adding raven wings to the helmet could cover those ears. But as luck had it, a simple paintjob could turn the ears into wings. I then carved a raven head out of a plastic sprue, and glued it onto the central stud of his helmet.

Helmet detail

I also wanted to show he is a veteran, maybe even leader. The original miniature is quite plain – it is a rank-and-file foot soldier, and there is nothing fancy about him. Adding some accessories, trophies could help to create a feeling of him being a veteran. I cut the tail of an old Airfix horse to add to his helmet. (The horse is not a casualty though, I’ll use the body to create some wasteland animals.)

While I was having the Airfix horse in my hands, I cut the head of it, and carved it into a skull shape. I drilled a hole through the eyes, and put wire into it, so it could hang from the orc’s belt. After finishing it, I came to realize that it’s not easy to recognize it as a horse skull. I might remodel or repaint it in the future.

Horse skull detail

Even though a spear is a good weapon, I didn’t feel it would fit with the veteran theme I’ve imagined. When I searched for my Games Workshop miniatures for the latest article’s comparison shot, I’ve found my 28mm bits box, and there were some axes. I cut off the head from one, also cut the head of the spear and put the parts together to form a poleaxe. While drilling the axe head to pin it, I managed to break it into pieces, so I gave up, and just used CA glue. We’ll see how tough is the bond.

Poleaxe detail

The original model had a shield, but I didn’t like it, as it was too bulky. I cut a cardboard form, glued strips of cardboard on the edges of the outer part. To get a more flexible miniature, I wanted to be able to take the shield off. I glued two strips on the inner side, and glued a ring of wire under them. It’s not the most elegant solution, but I can change it later.

Scratchbuilt shield detail

In the end, after I’ve finished painting, I’ve cut the bottom tab with clippers, and glued the orc on a 30mm transparent base. As the miniature is well balanced, it was easy to do so.

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Painting - Painting a Red orc veteran for Alkony

Basic painting: Brown coat, white primer, some conversions, then basic colours.

Paints used: Pentart acrylic paints, Pentart acrylic metallic paints, brushed on, Company: Pentacolor

Base coating

As I started painting after midnight I actually forgot to use primer on him (even though it’s a metal miniature), and just used a base coat of brown paint. When it dried (and I came to my senses), I tested the paint, and – of course – a lot of the edges lost the colour. So I applied a coat of Pentart acrylic white primer on the brown base, somewhat in a manner of drybrushing, so that the brown still shows in the deeper parts. I hope the recesses will hold the brown paint, and they will give a shadow to the figure.

Painting

In the beginning I didn’t have a clear picture of the colour scheme. However I’ve already decided the orc will be red, so I’ve started with the skin colour.

I’ve painted the arms, the face and the neck with a darker red (Pentart rose red). I added orange highlights, then I corrected my mistakes with a middle red colour. I’ve added some black tattoos on the arms and hands, but then I painted over most of them because I didn’t like the outcome – from a gaming distance, they just looked like patches of black paint. Only the shoulder tattoos remained.

I decided that colour of the armour and the helmet will be gold, so I’ve painted dark outlines on it with brown. Then I’ve painted it with metallic gold. The Pentart gold does not cover well enough, so I needed several layers of it. It also looks strange, so I put brown wash on it to dull the glittering.

By this time I’ve got the idea of the raven standard, so I’ve painted a black raven on the helmet – the pointy ears of the Renegade orc became the wings. I’ve also added a raven to the belt buckle.

Some painting detail added.

I’ve painted the pants and the front of the boots black. The knees of the pants got some dots of grey that I’ve smudged on them. I also smudged metallic silver on the fronts of the boots. The boots became glossy green. The rim of the boots got a grey colour, with white highlights.

I’ve coloured the wooden handle of the poleaxe in a colour I’ve used on the log fortress first – brown base, green patches, small white patches, and black dots in the white patches. The original colour also had a light brown drybrush, but I thought it will look good enough without it.

The head of the poleaxe got covered with black. As I’ve broke it apart, it doesn’t look good, so painting them black will hide it better. I’ve drybrushed the head with metallic silver. I didn’t like the result, so I glazed the head with a 50% matte varnish, 25% green, 25% black mix.

Finishing seal

Pentart acrylic matte varnish brushed on.

Finished miniature without shield.

Finished miniature with shield.

Future plans

• Adding a cape or coat.
• Repainting the helmet, and adding wings to it.
• Repainting the horse skull.
• Drilling the hand to be able to attach the shield.

The red orc veteran with some of his warband.

Uses

• Arena combat - Images

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Buying the product - Orc with Spear #2

Buy miniatures from the Orcs Spears (4) set from Renegade Miniatures from Amazon

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Buy miniatures from the Orcs Spears (4) set from Renegade Miniatures on eBay

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Buy miniatures from Element Games (UK) ref. code:KAD935 Buy miniatures from Firestorm Games (UK) Buy miniatures from Wayland Games (UK) Buy miniatures from Magic Madhouse (UK) Buy miniatures from Goblin Gaming (UK) Buy models and hobby supplies from Hobbies (UK) Buy miniatures from Noble Knight Games (USA) Buy toys and games from Fun.com (USA) Buy board games from Book Depository Buy miniatures from Aliexpress (China)

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How would you make an veteran or officer out of a generic soldier figure? What do you think of this red orc veteran miniature? Tell us in the comments!