November 2023 Preview: The Orcish Tide!
Good evening fellow printers!
Hope you are all having a spooky and not so cold October. Winter is coming huh...
The Highlands Miniatures Roadmap we published in May 2023 is coming to an end this following November and that means we will publish a new Roadmap for the first half of 2024 in a couple of weeks.
We have had a blast these months working on all these amazing set of miniatures we have created so far but... one of the most savage one is coming right away!
Today we have the great pleasure to introduce you the Moredhun's Orcs, our new fantasy race coming to Highlands Miniatures this November 2023. But first, let's talk about them a bit more:
If you have been following the progress of these orcs in our Discord channel you will know that we have had some headaches trying to design these miniatures.
As you know, when we though about designing orcs our first idea was the incredible old school fantasy illustration of the orcs, depicted more as a brute and evil medievalesque creatures -that you can find even in the Sleeping Beauty Disney movie- rather than the mountain savage thing has become in today's world.
The work of Alan Lee or Angus McBride for Lord of the Rings has been a major influence in our work, and also for these new miniatures.
But we also wanted to bring some of the classic elements and aesthetic we are now used to see when everyone think about orcs in this fantasy setting, like the anatomy work behind these miniatures. We have tried to mix all these ideas into something new and it has been a difficult and intense work but we are finally happy with the results.
It has been also hard to make them rank on the default 25mm square bases! These are big boys and you will need some planning to properly make them rank. Having ten of these orcs with modular hands also helps to add more variety within the different core units.
It has been an arduous job and we know everyone has their own idea of how an orc should be, so these lads may not be for everyone taste, but we really hope you like them guys!
The November 2023 Release will be composed of:
10x Orc Warriors with hand weapons and shields (modular hands)
5x Orc Warriors with spears
3x Orc Warriors Command Group
5x Orc Archers
3x Orc Archers Command Group
5x Mounted Orcs with Spears
3x Mounted Orcs with Spears Command Group
3x Orc Boars
1x Borgok Skullcrusher
Now... let's dive into it!
Join our Discord: HERE.
Comments (45)
When I saw you were doing orcs in November, I held my breath! There is a real lack of good orc models available. Most currently available sculps are too world of Warcraft. These are perfect! I love the choice of medieval style. I hope your black orc equivalents (when you release them) keep to that medieval style. I never liked the newer, bulky space-suit esthetic GW gave to orcs. Your orcs feel like orcs to me!
Thank you for your lovely words Charlie! We always envisioned the Orcs with this medievalesque aesthetic that you can find in old fantasy sagas and illustrations. We are updating some of the miniatures to close a tiny bit the gap between the old and the classic Orcs we are use to see but the aesthetic will remain the same! You can also take a look at the Roadmap we did a few months ago where we published a preview of a heavy armoured orc that will come next month! https://www.patreon.com/posts/highlands-2023-83145502
Wonderful! I especially like the hooded ones. The archer boss looks right mean! :D
Glad you like them Niels!!
Just wanted to say that you have been doing fantastic work with each faction and I can't wait to see more!
Thank you for your lovely words Joshua, we really appreciate it!
I like them well done looking forward to printing and painting them. Hopefully I can make my second army to fight my {empire} army.
Thank you so much Jasper! We hope to bring more Sunland miniatures in the future too! :)
Presumably at some point you'll do Savage Orcs - I'd like them to be naked, spike-haired Celts, if possible. I don't think anyone else has done that.
Proper scottish orcs!
Will your orc cavalry be piggly, sqiggly, or something else?
Mounted on boars!
They have this old Grenadier's orcs vibe. Nice.
They look awesome!
Thank you so much Jared, glad you like them!
They look similar to the Warhammer FB 6th ed starter box orcs! (maybe a bit less angular?) They look great! You're Killing me with the amount of resin I'm printing and need to paint.
Glad you like them Tim! We have had a hard time with the poses / dynamism of these miniatures as we had to make sure that people will be able to rank these miniatures for rank and file games, which in this case.. it is a nightmare!
Sorry to say but don't like them at all. You've been knocking it out the park for months but these just aren't for me, sadly. The heads don't feel right and lacks savagery perhaps or not bulky enough. Just not vision of orc. Purely down to taste this is of course. What's coming next?
And that is completely fine Alistair! As stated in this post, our vision of the orcs has always been closer to Lord of the Rings and the work for it created by Alan Lee and Angus McBride, more medievalesque rather than the image represented by GW in the latest years, so it is completely understandable that these lads aren't the best of it for GW fans! On a funny note, we can't produce miniatures everyone likes all the time, else we would be a multimillion dollar company and not a couple from their living room! haha Thank you for your feedback!
I like you went with your own take on Orcs rather than very close to GW orcs or Lotr orcs. Can't wait to print these off and add them to the goblins the only real question is do I paint them green or brown.
Thank you for the support Liam, glad you like them! We really wanted to pursue this path and explore a more old fantasy medievalesque orc aesthetic. And we are anxious to see how the community paint these guys!
How long until you get back to Eternal Dynasties, one of my favorite things about Highlands is you get whole armies
Hi Kelly! The Eternal Dynasties was more like a spin-off for Halloween, as we always do undeads in October, but we will bring more of them just after Gallia and the Orcs and Goblins are finished! :)
Man, i reaaaaaly love the look of these. I cant wait to print and paint an army of these buggers
Thank you so much Nicholas. We look forward to see them printed and painted by the community!
They are ok, Any plans for Aegean Elves ? in H1/2024 ?
I would love to see his way to design high elves. Especially after I've seen how he modernized the old gw style for the dwarves, tomb kings and bretonia. Now this for high elves please :)
Dese are CLASSIC Boyz!
Some classic miniatures for some classic players!
those are just how i would imagine them to look, good job, can't wait to print an army of green destruction! bit of detail to the banner like empire heads or skulls would be good?
Thank you so much Neil, glad you like them! We really want to see the take of the community with these miniatures. And that sounds like a very nice kitbash -digitally is even easier these days- project!
Me encantan!!!
Muchas gracias Alberto!!
Any chance for females in this same style?
That's an interesting question! As we did with the Goblins, the sex of these orcs is indistinguishable between male and females, so any of these miniatures can be male or females.
You guys reminded me about this gem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoAfb3f04mo
Then we have done a good job with these miniatures!
I actually really like that they don't look like the typical GW Ork or a LOTR film Ork, plenty of other creators make those. When I first read the Hobbit, this is really close to what I imagined Orks looking like. Guess it's time to spin up the printers again :)
Thank you for your words Andrew, glad you like them! We grow up with these medievalesque orcs that were available in many fantasy books for childrens and adults, and the work done by Alan Lee and Angus McBride has been an incredible font of inspiration since.. always!
Oh these are great! Getting kind of a Ogre vibe from that Disney Gummi Bears series
Thank you Oliver, glad you like them! That's a very fun reference! haha
And now I have to start ANOTHER army.. :D Can't wait for the roadmap, and more Eternal Dynasties!
Glad you like them! We expect to keep working on these Orcs and Gallia almost for the first half of 2024 but we want to to bring more Eternal Dynasties within those months too!
Dem classy boyz :3
Glad you like them Piotrek!