Orc Of War

By Adrian Hopwood Company – Draconia Price – £13.70 Scale – 75mm Material – White Metal Code – DR-FAN07 Sculpted by – Unknown A new company to me, Draconia do have several figures in their “Lords of War” series, and all are available from El Greco Miniatures. This is the latest addition to the line, and establishing the company stepping away from “human” figures with this and their last offerings. I’m not sure where the inspiration for these piececomes from, although this latest figure does rather resemble the Lord of the Rings Uruk-Hai Orcs – possibly even more so if it’s painted with the white hand of Saruman across it’s face. Very good moulding on the model I have here – only the slightest of mould part lines is in evidence, and it might be advisable to run a thin primer wash onto the figure, just to catch any that you miss. My only reservation is the size of the feet – do Orcs have dainty feet ? Perhaps they do, although a bit of mud or dust will hide the size of these quite easily. I’m not sure that there was any necessity for the right forearm and the right hand to be cast as separate pieces, but they have, and whilst the joint between these is O.K. it does mean that the shaft of the weapon in the right hand is has only a small area to fasten on to. Pinning this point I think will be a must if you want to keep him armed properly. The separation of the parts do however allow for the substitution of a longer wood handle for the blade that is moulded integrally with the right hand ( possibly making the weapon into a short spear by using a cocktail stick for the handle extension ? ). Favourite bit, and hat’s off to Draconia, is the inclusion of arrows that are to be stuck into the shield ( or ground for that matter. Now you might think I’m being sarcastic here, but I’m not. This company has actually shown up every other company to exist so far by actually producing a kit that has arrows WITH THREE FLIGHT FEATHERS, rather than the two that is usually offered. They’ve managed this impossible feat and moulded the arrows with a shaft ( White Models offered multi part flights in their Half Armoured Samurai – but they were a bugger to put together ! ). Every other kit I’ve come across ( all of the big names included ) usually have arrows with two flights. I know, I know, I’m a very sad person for making a big thing of it; I’m sure I’ll calm down soon. Not perhaps my favourite offering ( only because I really like the previous two figures more ), but it’s still a good one, and with all sorts of possibilities for paint schemes. Thanks to Matt and Celine at El Greco for supplying the review sample. Adrian Model available from El Greco Models 67, Westhill Stantonbury Milton Keynes MK14 6BG United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0)1908 313055 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Home Page: ElGreco Website