"Cheapest 25/28mm orcs " Topic

I'm planning on starting an evil fantasy army, and obviously I'll need lots and lots of orcs. Since numbers are key here, I also need them as cheap as possible. Mind you, I would vastly prefer them to be more like Tolkien's orcs than the odd monstrosities as put out by Games Workshop and World of Warcraft. Other than that caveat, just about anything goes. Also, pictures would be of great help if y'all can find them.

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I would say these

Old Glory Ghost range.

It's hard to beat the price of the WF Orcs Ashokmarine linked to, especially if you can catch them on sale. I'm also really fond of the Angus McBride look of the figures, and the versatility of their reversible torsos, in addition to their low price. If you are looking for a more (genuine imitation) GW style of Orc, then Mantic's figs are not too badly priced.

Doug

Warrior minis link

Probably the least expensive option, would be to mold your own, using Prince August molds. They are true 25mm scale. They will run around $0.40 USD per figure, using Model Metal, which yields the best castings. If you use lead tire weights, the metal is free, but pure lead is more challenging to achieve good castings with. Here is an image of one such mold's castings:

There are three different figures per mold; you can pour metal into all three cavities, or just the ones you need. Each mold is good for around 500 castings, before it begins to wear. I believe they have at least three different Orc molds to choose from, or use all three, for greater variety.

I owned several PA molds, and I cast more than 100 such figures for my fantasy armies. If I didn't like the way a figure turned out, I put it back in the melting pot, and cast another batch.

Alternatively, there is Caesar's plastic figure sets. They are 1/72, but in reality, the figures are around 25mm tall, foot to top of head. They come in boxes of 35 figures, for around $12 USD-$15, delivered. Here is an image of these figures:

Cheers!

If you use lead tire weights, the metal is free…

Nicking them in the middle of the night???

No, Bill… Visit your local automotive tire shops, and ask them for used tire weights -- they have to pay to dispose of it, as it is usually considered hazardous waste; just ask if you can have it, and if they ask what you plan to use it for, tell them you are casting fishing sinkers/weights. Cheers!

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EM4 orcs

The above link to the EM4 orcs doesn't work. Try this and then navigate to plastic orcs.
em4miniatures.com

The plastic orcs are 21p each or 50 for £7.70 GBP. I don't think you're going to get any cheaper than that !

iron wind just re-released Tom Meier's 02 line from Ral Partha .

The EM4 ones might be even cheaper than that since you're in the US, & 7.70 price includes VAT, so EM4 might remove the VAT.

I'm liking the price for the em4 plastic orcs thus far; I'm gonna need hordes and hordes of them A little WoWish, but an original paint job could probably help with that. What about shipping to the US though? em4 looks like its based out of the UK.

I'm from the USA, and I have the em4 orcs, specifically the ones carrying spears. While they are all unipose, you get a massive bag of forty-eight for only about ten dollars, I believe. They're quite decently sculpted overall, and the best option if you're going for raw numbers.

Here is a link to a German forum post of someone who converted the em4 Orcs for more variety with lots of pictures. Maybe that is indeed the way to go?

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The EM-4 orcs are cheap but you can also manage a buck an orc from Mantic if you buy their horde set. I'd suggest mixing the two, get a couple hundred of the EM-4 orcs and mix in a box of the Mantic ones for commanders and the like.

Lancer are doing some now -although they ae the GW style of nonsense…
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If you can find them, the boxes from Wargames Factory are pretty good for the less cartoonish orcs