Build Me An Army Worthy of Mordor, My Personal Army in a Weekend [Hobby]

Being a father of 2 and a husband I rarely get a chance to sit down and really solely focus on hobby
without interruption. Often this means that larger projects take exponentially longer for me, even though I set aside time to concentration best I can. I know many have these problems, so who am I to talk. But when the wife and kids went out of town one weekend, something in the boxes of unpainted models was calling to me... a harrowing spirit that could only say one thing....

Build Me an Army of Mordor...

Again I will mention that I am not the best painter out there, I am pretty average. But like allot of you out there I am trying to learn the tricks of the hobby and get better as I go along. So sometimes I like to push myself, like this army in a weekend or the sudden object source lighting that I tried, its all in expanding your knowledge and going outside your comfort zone.

I had about a 3.5 day span they would be gone, then take from that about a day that I thankfully got some Kings Of War games in, and further a few hours to do the honey-do's I was left with. So really about 1.5 days were mine, and depending on how much sleep I wanted on my vacation, I had a handful of hours to really crank out this Orc army I have been dedicated to.

Behind the scenes leading up to Zero-day for painting, I had one Mantic Orc Mega Army Box, fully assembled and primed black, two sets of MOMMiniatures Orc Command team assembled and primed black, a GW LOTR Mordor Troll assembled and primed black, a  MOMMiniatures Troll assembled and primed black, and two GW LOTR Ringwraiths Mounted assembled and primed black. I had already cut out my bases just as I had shown in my previous article on 25 cent multi bases, but nothing yet was decorating them.

Starting Friday after everyone was on their plane and I had time to stop and get beer to wet my brushes for this task (ok fine it was for me), I began to work on my first GreatAx regiment. I am not sure what my expectations were for speed in doing this, but when I finished this regiment and looked up at the clock I was surprised to see it was well into the evening, and I had sunk about 5 hours on this unit. Frantically I moved on to something more lighthearted, my two soon to be Giants, which ironically by both MOMminatures and GW were designated trolls. They just happened to be more in scale with Giants for Kings of War, so they were a nice break to paint after doing a ton of little orcs.

Thankfully  they only took me a fraction of the time of the regiment, and I was soon busting out the Ax horde which I knew would be an even bigger task. That big guy (or guys...) took me about 6 more hours, which kind of shows that the delta between painting a regiment or horde of the same thing was little when you had a process down and were warmed up.

Dry kitty litter dry...

By this time on Friday I was really sweating it because I had intended to have everything painted and based before I moved on to the next units on the next painting day. Being that it was 11 o'clock I got hot throwing kitty litter and shards of slate on my bases before spray painting the hell out of them. And then I was disheartened to figure out that the kitty litter I used for gravel was going to take a good amount of time to dry. So by that time it had been 13 hours since I started painting, and I called it a night to allow bases to dry.

I was able to play some games of Kings of War and Mordhiem that day, and I had every intention of having at least a few units done to have something to show. So waking up early, I began to finish off the bases by applying a few color layers of dry brush and a couple Shadow's Edge Miniatures grass tufts and viola. With a bit of super glue I applied the models to the base and after 14 hours had a GreatAx regiment, two giants, and a Ax horde all finished... phew.

So after some fun getting defeated by dwarves.... again... and then getting a "just barely" victory over Kingdoms of Men, I returned to the painting table Sunday, and deliberated over what my next steps would be.

To get the biggest bang for my buck I warmed up painting the two Mounted GW Ringwraiths I was to use as Krudgers. And at some point along the way I got sidetracked into learning and trying for the first time, Object Source Lighting on one of their swords. So given I was watching a youtube tutorial and painting ever so carefully it took me a lot longer than intended. After a few hours spending on two models, I went in on three regiments of Gore Riders... at once, cause that's less models right?... If you count the mount and rider as one that is...

So again I found myself late into the night before I finished painting all of the models, and then some more time waiting for kitty litter to dry on the bases. After what seemed like the longest day of painting, and about 8 more hours, I had two Krudgers and three Regiments of Gore riders!

At this point I knew the wife and kids were coming home the next day, and I still had those honey do's to take care of, but the hobbyist in me just knew I had it in me to at least top it all off with the Flagger and two Wardrums I had waiting. So about 3 hours of painting and basing and I was finished... my army in a weekend was complete with 25 hours of total painting, it seems crazy looking back at how much time I spent, but I really don't like sitting over a long period of time on one project (having taken like 3 years to do Brotherhood).

So now that I have regaled to you the story of my 25 hours of my own personal army in a weekend, lets show off the unit by unit paint jobs.

GreatAx Regiment 

The big ugly guy in the middle is one of the MOMminiatures command Orcs. I figured he looked nice with the Mantic models as some sort of Warboss. 

Giants 

So I had this Mordor troll sitting around for a LONG time as part of the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game collection I had since I was about 13. He was painted before, but I  Simple Greened all of that off and primed it once more to get his new colors, with his new army.

The MOMminaitures troll is just such an awesome pose that I could not pass up having him in this army. The sweeping motion of his twin clubs screams D6+6 and Crushing Strength (3).

Ax Horde

So the opportunity to multi base a horde is never one to pass up. And since Orcs are very much a horde army I knew that dedicating the Ax as one would not be a problem. Plus I wanted to have a creative way to show off an army standard or hero without having to dedicate a specific model to it. So on the ledge of the small hill that I modeled into the base with pink foam and plaster, I made a 25x25 size indent that lets one of my unused heros sit nicely in the middle of the horde, like they are marching around their inspirational leader to battle. 

"Krudgers" mounted on "Gores"

I write this in quotes because I took an artistic liberty here with my narrative spin. The Orcs have such funny names for things. Who would have thunk such an elegant name as "nazgul" would come from some mouth breathing Orc? No, they say something basic like "Krudger". 

Consequently I wanted these guys to pop, specially my Witch King model which had such an awesome rearing pose. He ended up being my first model that I tried Object Source Lighting on by watching this awesome tutorial from Colour of the Gods. I can't say its the best OSL out there, but for my first go I am pretty stoked about it. 

Gore Rider Regiments

So for the most arduous of the units I painted, the Gores did come out quite nice. The Mantic Mega Army set even came with 2 extra riders. I assume this was to allow you to switch out the Krudger models they give you, but I had two LOTR SBG Wargs sitting around that needed a brave Orc to mount them. Thus two of my regiments get awesome leader models. 

Wardrums

So the MOMminiatures command spru came with some cool drummer orcs that made it pretty easy to call them Wardrummers. They were larger than normal orcs, though they don't fill up the whole 50x50 base, so they get the job done.

Flagger

I really wanted a cool looking banner to represent my whole army for my Flagger. I typically have not been that great at freehanding banners, but with this one some touch of god (maybe Sauron) allowed me to create this pretty awesome montage. 

The Age of Men is Over...

And so that about wraps all of my accomplishments this weekend up. Super excited I have a partially painted army on the table and that I can get some games as Orcs in. I even just found out the wife is gonna let me go up to Jekyll Island GT  in Georgia in the beginning of December. Though this means that I have to get the rest finished before then.... well there is always Thanksgiving break?

How to Make 25¢ Kings Of War Unit Bases for Multi-Basing [Hobby]

As I approach the ramp up for making a new army in Kings of War, I get excited about the prospect of all the miniatures I will buy and from what company or model range I will choose from. Setting out a budget as to not spend myself into oblivion, AKA the dog house with the wife, I often forget to set some money aside to base the army on something sturdy.

On the market, laser cut bases for Kings of War are a popular option for those who like to multi base their armies. And with multi basing for miniature wargaming being a fairly new concept there are only a few options to choose from. I will highlight a local favorite for me, Armada Games in Tampa which sells a whole line of Kings of War bases in all different sizes (FYI they also carry the full line of Mantic models *ahem* US players looking for a source on this side of the pond). These are nice bases, I based all of my Brotherhood army on them and I was very pleased. However I did spend about $25.00+ on these bases, which don't get me wrong, is a completely respectable and economic option for those who want to skip the DIY bit. However; being the penny pincher I am, I just knew I could find a way to make it cheaper.

Yes I need better desk lighting.

Pre-Work: The Materials

I am not sure how I discovered what ended up being my material for these bases, most likely the wife was dragging me through what is prob 1 of 20 Dollar Trees we have in Titusville, FL, but in the school supply section were these nifty wooden clip boards that caught my eye. Picking them up it was very obvious they were made out of wood and not a cheap card board, they felt firm and were not far off from what an MDF material would feel like. Penny-pincher senses tingling, and Kings of War hobby always near to my thoughts, I knew this was my solution for saving a few bucks to spend on nice miniatures instead.

Like everything at Dollar Tree, these clipboards cost me a whopping $1 (.75 GBP for our friends across the pond), a piercing arrow of a cost to my miserly and penny-pinching heart. However I recovered from this sticker shock, and pressed on with this great hobby investment.
 

Pre-Work: The Tools

Getting it home I broke out a few tools I would use for the job: A pair of good sharp snips, a metal ruler (any ruler beyond 250mm is fine), exacto knife (optional), and a fine point Sharpy. While I realize that these tools are an additional investment for those who do not have them, they are nice tools to have for many portions of the hobby, especially terrain making. The snips themselves I got at Home Depot for some other project, but have since used them for too many hobby projects to count.

It is true that if you have a table saw handy it may be even easier or cheaper to buy the nice wood in a sheet at the hardware supply store and cut it using the tablesaw, but this is for those of us who do not have such tools in our hobby room.

Step 1: Make a Plan

Starting off I would decide what sizes bases I would need to make with the amount of clipboards I had. Being that I was working on my Orc army at the time, I would have to make quite a few 125mm x 100mm bases. The clipboards themselves would allow me to make 4 such bases with a bit extra leftover where the clip is screwed in. This is where I get my 25¢ cost per base. Though most armies use the 100mm x 80mm bases which you could theoretically get more out of the clipboards, driving your cost per base further down.

Step 2: Measure and Mark

After I have determined that I need 4 125mm x 100mm bases, I took my handy dandy metal ruler and very carefully aligned it to the edges of the clipboard. Usually I would accomplish this by aligning the tick marks along the edge in a very exact fashion, ensuring my ruler was straight. From there I would mark off 100mm deep and 125mm wide with the sharpy, giving myself a reference before I sunk my snips into the wood.

Also as a tip, you have to decide now if the mark you are making with the sharpy are within your measurements, or are the outside border. It matters, as the sharpy mark is about a millimeter wide and will therefor mess up your width somewhere if you don't decide on this now.

Step 3: MEASURE TWICE

Ha, you think I would let you cut without giving you the old saying your daddy never stopped nagging you with? Measure twice, cut once please. Seriously though, this is Kings of War, imagine someone is laser lighting the angle to get that rear charge, and they get it because you eff'ed up the cutting portion of this step. The menacing sound of triple portions of dice hitting the table made me fearful of screwing up this step. That and the cost of wasted materials.... *shudders*.

Step 4: Make Your Cut

Now its time to commit after you did all that measuring... you did measure twice? RIGHT? If not please follow Jim to the Pit of Misery... Dilly Dilly... now return to Step 3. 

Anyways, now that you have measured, take your snips and carefully cut along the lines you made with the sharpy, keeping in mind whether you decided that the sharpy line is inside or outside the measurements. The snips I used I had to make a couple different cuts depending on the length of the side I was cutting. It may be even more exact if you are able to make any side in one cut, so if there is a tool out there that I am missing that could do this I'd love to hear about it.

Step 5: Verify Your Cut

Exactness is key like I said before with Kings Of War bases. Its a game at its core of boxes and the angles that they make, therefor you have to make sure that you have good measurements for the bases that you cut. After the base has been cut out I measured each side and the middle of the base to ensure that it is exact. If not I trim (very slightly) with either an exacto knife or the snip until I have reached the desired measurements. Typically at this point id use some sort of right angle to ensure that my corners were right angles (a good indication if you cut/measured right) it is also very key for obvious reasons you have right angles in Kings Of War. I would often use my KoW wavering or LOS widget to verify.

Step 6: Repair (As Needed)

Its OK to have made a mistake in cutting that resulted in a tear or some sort of damage. Its fairly ease to fix small errors to your bases with some good old wood filler or wood glue followed up with a verification with your your right angle/ruler. Pictured to the right one of my corners ripped off of my base, the best thing to do in this situation is to save whatever bit that fell off and try to reattach it. This ensures you keep all of your important measurements and angles.

You're Done!

All and all it took me about 10 Minutes average to crank out one base, give and take whether I was working on the same clipboard or not. While when you go for a cheaper option in basing you are paying for it in time, but usually even the cutting of bases is enjoyable for me in the garage after a long day (anything to get that army on the table).

So there you have it, a quick and simple way to make cheap 25¢ (or maybe less) Kings of War bases with some supplies from the local Dollar Tree. I'm super stoked to get to basing my orc army on all of the 50x50s, 125x100s, 250x100s, and 120x40s I cut out of this material. While I had a surplus of 20x20s and 25x25s for my Orc army, there is nothing stopping you from using this method for those size bases as well. In that case I could only imagine how cheap it would be to make lots and lots of bases (KoW: Vanguard warbands anyone?). 

As always if you have a question about anything from this post or others, feel free to tweet me or comment below!

Testing out the bases in my first Orc test game

Ready to Waaaggghhhh