There are two approaches one could take, to solve the "what do I do with all these orcs/dwarves?" problem. 1) Divide them into two or three sets, and paint them in radically different ways. Now you're not just looking at a bunch of redundant orcs/dwarves, but different _groups_ of orcs/dwarves. Possibly that are actively in conflict with one another. Imagine being in a DnD game, and your party gets caught in the middle of a war between two orc tribes, or two dwarf clans. Both in terms of alternating encounters, and possibly with the party fighting both at the same time in a three-way battle. 2) Between the large numbers and square bases, these figures make great filler for a tabletop wargame. Why shell out hundreds of dollars for an orc army from Games Workshop, when eM4's minis are right there? I've been thinking of buying a set of both, to run Age of Fantasy games (a fan-made, rules lite version of Warhammer Fantasy by the good people at One Page Rules). I have ideas for making a "Volcanic Dwarves" army, using a fiery color scheme, and other editions. (That, and fielding some painted up dollar store dragons, because dragons).
Yeah, these are absolutely viable options! I don't run wargames myself, though, so #2 won't really do it for me, personally. But #1 is definitely a good idea. That said, at this point I don't have a lot of these anymore. Many were given away to new people in the hobby. :)
I actually learned that not too long ago from another comment. I think that's pretty cool! And those shields might be the ones eM4 is selling, as well. You get a bunch of round shields very, very cheap. :)
I saw these recently on another channel. That person glued small shields on the backs of the miniatures to cover the injection points. As for the numbers you ended up with, I am sitting pretty heavy with some types of miniatures as well and thought I might put my players inside of some massive battles to get some use of them. Thanks again for sharing.
Yeah, I've had a couple of pretty large encounters, but I ended up giving a lot of these away to others that were getting into D&D and minis. :) I've used the ones I have painted for some larger sized encounters, though. ;) And yeah, I've seen the shields on the back thing. It's even what eM4 themselves recommend. However, it only makes sense for 2/3 of these minis. The dwarven crossbowmen and orc bowmen would look silly with shields on their back, covering their quivers. And in my personal opinion, it would also be weird if all or even most of the others had shields on their backs when they're supposed to be in combat. But hey, that's just me, and I can be a stickler for details like that, hehehe! ;) Thanks for watching, man! :D
Cool review. I play a couple of wargames, and buying a bunch of dwarves/orcs just to add up in numbers in a big army at such a cheap price has saved me. Even if they're all the same, as you remarked, applying some convertion to them is pretty easy.
Whoa, I had these waaay back in the late 80's or early 90's... you mean I can still get them? I'd like to buy them again for nostalgia. I don't recall the name "eM4"-- they came in a "Fantasy Warriors" box set, I believe made by Grenadier.
@@TheCreativeKobold Doug -- who started EM4, was also one of the founders of Grenadier. EM4 still sells the Grenadier plastics. Some of the metals are also available at Moonraker Miniatures. The FW mass-combat rules can be downloaded from several locations.
@@TheCreativeKobold The shields can work very well to cover up the mold injection spot, if one is in no mood to shave it off. Indeed, having the mold injection spot might make it _easier_ to affix a shield to the back of the mini.
Hey, thanks for watching and commenting! :) This is absolutely possible. And it is what eM4 recommends doing as well. Though I'd suggest getting a bag of shields from eM4 if you're going to put in an order, as it's only £1.50 for 50 or so round shields. ;) Personally, I'm not too fond of this approach though. Could possibly do it for a couple of them, but if they had shields they would be in their hands when ready for battle, not on their back. So that would look weird to me. And for the archers and crossbowmen, it would be in the way of their quivers. But that's just my personal take on that, hehe. ;)
@@TheCreativeKobold I always keep my eyes open for in-expensive but good quality mini's. thanks for the heads up. also, you never know when you need to create the 'Han Solo / Storm trooper scene from the death star' with hordes of enemy to convince the party to "run away!!!" instead of trying to fight it out... no such thing as too many mini's.
@@arcadia5096 I absolutely agree! And hey, finding inexpensive minis is the whole reason I started this channel. So I'm glad my videos can be of help. :D
Cool! They definitely have several sets of minis that are worth checking out! There are some more I'm quite interested in getting, which I just haven't gotten around to yet.
I just stumbled across these the other day on their website. I’m half tempted to get the 50 pack of spear Orcs because it looks like I could chop off their arms and give them a variety of weapons. They are so short they may qualify more as goblins than Orks. But having goblins with a laser rifle or AK sounds fun to me.
I enjoyed the video, now as for the injection point, I work in plastic fabrication and the material is shot from the center of the part to insure a even flow. Also these minis are good for painting classes which I do for free for the kids that go to where I game and with the cost of games now it's a cheap alternative for many people just starting or getting into games that have no minis.😇🙏
Ah, that's interesting! Always happy to learn new stuff! :D And that's really cool, in regards to the painting classes. I agree, this is a great, cheap option for something like that! Another good option for that would be the Tehnolog minis. :)
@@TheCreativeKobold I have been painting those since they first came out some I use for 40k some just to paint and some are great for converting. Also they used to have buildings don't know if they still make them though.😇🙏
I saw the sci-fi model versions and they are still pretty cheap. A set of 5 for 2.99 pounds, I could buy a whole bunch and use them as a cheaper alternative to space marines. Nice find!
I remember buying a set of those back in the day, and just found one that escaped the purge. I thought these were maybe a Grenadier product from the 90's?
Oh, that's cool! Did they have the injection points on their backs then too? From what I understand, eM4 is one of several companies that have bought old Grenadier molds after that company went out of business, or something like that.
@@TheCreativeKobold I will try to remember when I get home later tonight to pull the guy and post it on Twitter later so you can see the nearly 20 year old figure lol.
just bought some from ebay, will see how they turn out. Found another review for them - geekandgarden.wordpress.com/category/dirt-cheap/ Recommends just cutting out the mould point on the back and has good photo when painted
Very cool! And yeah, I cut off the injection point on these - but I didn't find that the easiest task in the world, as it's quite large, and on uneven surfaces where there are details you want to keep. But at this price, you kind of just have to accept that it's not going to be out of the box perfect. :)
Hey, thanks for watching and commenting! You might notice that this is one of my very first videos. I'm happy to let you know that in my newer ones, I do have a script that I follow. :)
There are two approaches one could take, to solve the "what do I do with all these orcs/dwarves?" problem.
1) Divide them into two or three sets, and paint them in radically different ways. Now you're not just looking at a bunch of redundant orcs/dwarves, but different _groups_ of orcs/dwarves. Possibly that are actively in conflict with one another. Imagine being in a DnD game, and your party gets caught in the middle of a war between two orc tribes, or two dwarf clans. Both in terms of alternating encounters, and possibly with the party fighting both at the same time in a three-way battle.
2) Between the large numbers and square bases, these figures make great filler for a tabletop wargame. Why shell out hundreds of dollars for an orc army from Games Workshop, when eM4's minis are right there? I've been thinking of buying a set of both, to run Age of Fantasy games (a fan-made, rules lite version of Warhammer Fantasy by the good people at One Page Rules). I have ideas for making a "Volcanic Dwarves" army, using a fiery color scheme, and other editions. (That, and fielding some painted up dollar store dragons, because dragons).
Yeah, these are absolutely viable options! I don't run wargames myself, though, so #2 won't really do it for me, personally. But #1 is definitely a good idea.
That said, at this point I don't have a lot of these anymore. Many were given away to new people in the hobby. :)
Those dwarves used to be manufactured by Grenadier miniatures. I had that set in the early 1990’s. They also came with separate plastic shields too
I actually learned that not too long ago from another comment. I think that's pretty cool! And those shields might be the ones eM4 is selling, as well. You get a bunch of round shields very, very cheap. :)
I have a huge set of these orcs; they got me through an entire orc war at my table :)
Very cool! They are quite good if you need an army of them, indeed! :D
I saw these recently on another channel. That person glued small shields on the backs of the miniatures to cover the injection points. As for the numbers you ended up with, I am sitting pretty heavy with some types of miniatures as well and thought I might put my players inside of some massive battles to get some use of them. Thanks again for sharing.
Yeah, I've had a couple of pretty large encounters, but I ended up giving a lot of these away to others that were getting into D&D and minis. :) I've used the ones I have painted for some larger sized encounters, though. ;)
And yeah, I've seen the shields on the back thing. It's even what eM4 themselves recommend. However, it only makes sense for 2/3 of these minis. The dwarven crossbowmen and orc bowmen would look silly with shields on their back, covering their quivers. And in my personal opinion, it would also be weird if all or even most of the others had shields on their backs when they're supposed to be in combat. But hey, that's just me, and I can be a stickler for details like that, hehehe! ;)
Thanks for watching, man! :D
Cool review. I play a couple of wargames, and buying a bunch of dwarves/orcs just to add up in numbers in a big army at such a cheap price has saved me.
Even if they're all the same, as you remarked, applying some convertion to them is pretty easy.
Yeah, I can definitely see this working out quite well for large armies! :D
Whoa, I had these waaay back in the late 80's or early 90's... you mean I can still get them? I'd like to buy them again for nostalgia. I don't recall the name "eM4"-- they came in a "Fantasy Warriors" box set, I believe made by Grenadier.
That's very cool! I think they might have bought the molds for casting these from Grenadier or something, then. :)
@@TheCreativeKobold Doug -- who started EM4, was also one of the founders of Grenadier. EM4 still sells the Grenadier plastics. Some of the metals are also available at Moonraker Miniatures. The FW mass-combat rules can be downloaded from several locations.
@@katielucas3178 Oh, that's so cool!
Great video! I love the shields from EM4 too
Thanks! Yeah, I want to buy a set of shields from them as well! Next order! :D
@@TheCreativeKobold The shields can work very well to cover up the mold injection spot, if one is in no mood to shave it off. Indeed, having the mold injection spot might make it _easier_ to affix a shield to the back of the mini.
@@Bluecho4 Yeah, absolutely! :)
to cover some of the injection points, make some card stock shields and glue them on to conceal.
Hey, thanks for watching and commenting! :)
This is absolutely possible. And it is what eM4 recommends doing as well. Though I'd suggest getting a bag of shields from eM4 if you're going to put in an order, as it's only £1.50 for 50 or so round shields. ;)
Personally, I'm not too fond of this approach though. Could possibly do it for a couple of them, but if they had shields they would be in their hands when ready for battle, not on their back. So that would look weird to me. And for the archers and crossbowmen, it would be in the way of their quivers. But that's just my personal take on that, hehe. ;)
@@TheCreativeKobold
I always keep my eyes open for in-expensive but good quality mini's. thanks for the heads up. also, you never know when you need to create the 'Han Solo / Storm trooper scene from the death star' with hordes of enemy to convince the party to "run away!!!" instead of trying to fight it out... no such thing as too many mini's.
@@arcadia5096 I absolutely agree! And hey, finding inexpensive minis is the whole reason I started this channel. So I'm glad my videos can be of help. :D
They also have a line of space marine-likes. I think they came out to $3 for a pack of 5.
Cool! They definitely have several sets of minis that are worth checking out! There are some more I'm quite interested in getting, which I just haven't gotten around to yet.
I just stumbled across these the other day on their website. I’m half tempted to get the 50 pack of spear Orcs because it looks like I could chop off their arms and give them a variety of weapons. They are so short they may qualify more as goblins than Orks. But having goblins with a laser rifle or AK sounds fun to me.
That's not a bad idea! Could probably do that with some of the others, too. Go for it! :D
These are very cool for the price. But the orc bowman does look a little like an old man with a slightly bent walking stick. :)
Hahaha! Can't unsee it now! xD
I enjoyed the video, now as for the injection point, I work in plastic fabrication and the material is shot from the center of the part to insure a even flow. Also these minis are good for painting classes which I do for free for the kids that go to where I game and with the cost of games now it's a cheap alternative for many people just starting or getting into games that have no minis.😇🙏
Ah, that's interesting! Always happy to learn new stuff! :D
And that's really cool, in regards to the painting classes. I agree, this is a great, cheap option for something like that! Another good option for that would be the Tehnolog minis. :)
@@TheCreativeKobold I have been painting those since they first came out some I use for 40k some just to paint and some are great for converting. Also they used to have buildings don't know if they still make them though.😇🙏
@@JohnMiller-yh2lj That's great! I certainly enjoyed painting up mine! :D
I saw the sci-fi model versions and they are still pretty cheap. A set of 5 for 2.99 pounds, I could buy a whole bunch and use them as a cheaper alternative to space marines. Nice find!
Absolutely! :D
what is the background music you are using? Sounds like a cool old video game.
It's "Alien Restaurant" by Kevin MacLeod: ua-cam.com/video/GiMAEHAWQKc/v-deo.html
I bought the shields and stuck them on the backs.
Cool! Definitely the easiest fix. :D
I remember buying a set of those back in the day, and just found one that escaped the purge. I thought these were maybe a Grenadier product from the 90's?
This is the one. I wish I still had it lol! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6487/fantasy-warriors
Oh, that's cool! Did they have the injection points on their backs then too?
From what I understand, eM4 is one of several companies that have bought old Grenadier molds after that company went out of business, or something like that.
@@TheCreativeKobold I will try to remember when I get home later tonight to pull the guy and post it on Twitter later so you can see the nearly 20 year old figure lol.
@@TheCreativeKobold I found my old figure and it does have the injection ports.
@@benjaminedenfield3368 Thanks for getting back to me on that! That's quite interesting.
all the orcs I'll ever need 😃
Without a doubt! xD
just bought some from ebay, will see how they turn out. Found another review for them - geekandgarden.wordpress.com/category/dirt-cheap/
Recommends just cutting out the mould point on the back and has good photo when painted
Very cool! And yeah, I cut off the injection point on these - but I didn't find that the easiest task in the world, as it's quite large, and on uneven surfaces where there are details you want to keep. But at this price, you kind of just have to accept that it's not going to be out of the box perfect. :)
Real talk friend. Write a script.
Hey, thanks for watching and commenting! You might notice that this is one of my very first videos. I'm happy to let you know that in my newer ones, I do have a script that I follow. :)