I will be going into my army choice in some detail, though that will have to wait until God of Battles is closer to coming out. For now, the broad strokes are that I’ve picked a minimal sized army with none of the frills. This allows me to focus on the core troops needed and get an army sorted and onto the tabletop in the shortest time. Adding fancy bits will be fun later.
Even with the minimum army size there are a number of different approaches you can use to select your force. In this case I’ve concentrated on the real basics: 2 units of orc warriors to thump folk, a couple of units of goblin rabble to back them up and two mobs of goblin pests to stick the opposition with arrows while the rest advance. Six units then: two of orcs and four of goblins. That will give me a solid basis to expand the army later.
Having decided on this army, I rummaged in the box I’d been collecting models in for just such an occasion. I’m sure that I’m not alone in collecting things for future projects. In this case I already had a box labelled up into which I’d been putting the occasional purchase over the years.
This photo is me laying out some models to check I’ve got the right sorts of numbers and don’t need to rush off and buy any more. I’ve actually got a lot more than this, so there are plenty of options for the Orcs. Looks like I won’t need to do too many conversions to get my desired lack of duplicates. That’ll speed things up nicely.
The goblins in the photo are mostly GW ones as I’ve mislaid the Mantic ones I had who will be joining them. Can’t trust a goblin to be where he’s supposed to. Typical. Anyway, there are a lot more to add to the mix here, which already includes several generations of GW greenskins of the smaller variety. There are a handful of Foundry gobbos to come as well. However, my main interest here was to check I was on the right track in terms of numbers (which I am), and then I’ll be starting with the orcs. I have rather more chopping about planned for the little greenskins.
Quirkworthy 
“Having decided on this army, I rummaged in the box I’d been collecting models in for just such an occasion. I’m sure that I’m not alone in collecting things for future projects.”
I was able to break out my Mantic Undead I’ve had lying around since they came out to make one of my two armies. They mapped across perfectly to give the same size of force and have just gone under the paintbrush.
Excellent! The more GoB armies the merrier 🙂
Orc’s & Goblins are truly the “Jazz” of the wargaming world. It seems that no matter where you start, you’ll always end up there tinkering with a force that can never truly be mastered.
I used to have the old Citadel Orc rock band, but I don’t think I’ve seen the greenskins jazz quartet yet. Can we expect that from you in the next wave of figures?
Its tempting, it really is!
Go on… you know you want to 😉
I think to some degree they are something that appeals to older and more self-conscious gamers. This goes primarily for the Orc(k)s that GW has developed over the years and the various Orkoids that have followed in their wake (and arguably this goes for things like the flying monkeys in Fanticidy and things in a similar vein). Orc(k)s fundamentally are very much like us – true gamers. Nobody in the grimdarks of the various stripes has a lot of fun, apart from the Orc(k)s and gamers. Who believes that a vehicle would go faster when painted red? Orks and gamers (it´s in the rules after all). At the same time Orkoids are somewhat analogous to puberty: Scary up close, but somewhat comical when seen from a distance. As a result they appeal to the kind of person that can look at their baby pictures without embarrasment and laugh at the clothes they wore when they were 16. When you have the confidence to take the view that being an adult with a collection of toy sodiers does not make you a creepy lunatic, but a person with an interesting hobby/lovable quirk, then you are generally going to find that adding a collection of toy soldiers that reflect precisely that view is for you. And that´s Orks, because nothing says “I know most people find what I do slightly ridiculous, but I don´t really mind” like – say – a classic Snotling pump wagon, or Goff Rokkers, or a Scratchbuild Mega Gargant or anything Kev has ever done…
An excellent theory 🙂
Do tell more about God of Battles !!
It’s ace and you should buy it 🙂
Well, what Ben says 😉
Seriously though, I’m waiting for some news on a proper release date before I discuss it at length. Trust me though – as soon as I get the green light I’ll be more than happy to talk about it. In fact, you won’t be able to shut me up 😉
Your starting an army! Hooray! This is so exciting. It’s going to be so, so epic. Good luck and godspeed. Happy painting to you!
No, not Epic. That would be tiny 😉
As you have started the ork army, well hope this link may be of interest
http://puppetswar.com/product.php?id_product=26
For that little bit of army humour