Fantasy Orc Miniatures: Artisan Guild's Blackcrag Orcs Warband

Orcs are the enemy most tables reach for first, so it pays to own a warband that looks like it means business. Artisan Guild's Blackcrag Orcs is one of the most complete sets of fantasy orc miniatures we print. You get mountain barbarians, apefiend cavalry, three named heroes, a warlord on a manticore and a ruined shrine to fight over, all printed to order in our UK workshop in 28/32mm resin.

What's in the Blackcrag Orcs range?

The range is built from two squads, three character models, one big centrepiece and a piece of terrain. You can buy the lot as the Blackcrag Orcs Full Set or pick it apart model by model from the Blackcrag Orcs collection.

The three heroes also come in larger scales (35mm, 40mm, 54mm and 75mm) if you want one as a display piece or a painting project on its own.

Building a DnD orc warband from the Small Sets

For D&D, the Barbarian Mountain Orcs are your raiding party. Six is a good number for a first encounter, and the Alt versions mean a group of six never looks like the same orc copied down the line. Buy two or three singles if you only need a scouting group.

The heroes do the storytelling. Throgar is the chieftain your players hear about for three sessions before they meet him. Lugzubur works as the war-mage hanging back behind the shield wall, and Vesdra gives you a shaman for the camp, the ritual or the parley that goes wrong. If the party gets ambitious, the apefiend riders turn a fight in the hills into a chase, and the Wild versions double as plain beasts when the riders are gone.

Then there's Gordarash. A warlord on a manticore is the kind of model you build a whole final session around, and because it comes with or without the rider, the manticore can show up on its own much earlier as foreshadowing. Our D&D miniatures size guide covers base sizes if you're checking how much of the grid a big monster will take up.

Using 28mm orc miniatures in wargames and skirmish games

At 28/32mm, the Blackcrag Orcs sit comfortably alongside most fantasy skirmish ranges. The squads give you rank-and-file, the apefiends give you fast cavalry, and Gordarash is a ready-made general. If you're filling out a fantasy army, our guide to Warhammer Old World alternative miniatures covers how 3D-printed ranges fit into army building. Proxy and WYSIWYG rules vary between events, so check with your organiser before a tournament.

Orcs rarely fight alone. Artisan Guild's Svartwood Trolls make heavy hitters for the same warband, and our Orcs & Ogres collection pulls in more greenskins from across our designers.

Painting the Blackcrag Orcs

Every model arrives unpainted in resin, cleaned and cured. Larger pieces like the manticore are garage kits, so a little sanding or filler at the joins can help. Give everything a primer coat first; our guide to prepping and priming 3D-printed resin miniatures walks through it.

Green skin is the classic choice, but a mountain clan can carry greys, ash browns or bruised purples just as well, and it helps the warband stand apart from a friend's orcs at the club. The Shrine of Doom is the quickest win in the set. A dark basecoat, a heavy drybrush and a glowing rune or two will have it on the table in an evening, and our post on how to paint 3D printed terrain has the method.

Fantasy orc miniatures from Artisan Guild

Artisan Guild releases a themed saga every month, and Blackcrag Orcs is one of those sagas. You can see the designer's wider back catalogue on their MyMiniFactory page, and we print a big share of it in our Artisan Guild collection.

Start with the six barbarians and Throgar, and you have an orc band ready for Friday's session. The manticore can wait until your players have earned it. Browse the full Blackcrag Orcs range when you're ready.