Orc Idols for Warhammer Fantasy

This article was first published in issue 2 (July 2021) of the Herohammer Fanzine as: "Modelling Workshop: The Orc Idols" (p. 20-21).

The Orc Idols

Idol of Gork was released in March 1997 as the second installment in a series of campaign packs for the newly released 5th edition of Warhammer Fantasy. The campaign told the story of an Imperial expedition into the Orc-infested lands of the Border Princes. At this time I had just discovered the world of Warhammer and started collecting Orcs & Goblins, but for some obscure reason I never bought the Idol of Gork set even though I thought it looked really awesome! Fast forward two decades, and it’s high time to make up for past mistakes by building the terrain pieces from the campaign for my collection. The Orc idols were obviously the centerpiece, so I decided to have a go at them!

Construction

The first thing I did was to get the measurements of the original card terrain to get the scale right. The terrain feature consists of four main parts - the base, the idol of Gork, the idol of Mork and the platform that the idols sit upon. I began by cutting blue XPS foam (used for insulation) into the correct thickness and then drawing the shapes using a marker pen. Cutting out the shapes is a lot easier if you have a hot wire foam cutter, but it can be done with a sharp craft knife as well (watch your fingers!). Once I had the basic shapes I added further details to the idols by gluing on smaller pieces of foam. This was done for the feet, hands, faces and chest decorations. I decided early on that I wanted one of the idols to be removable (as per the first scenario in the Idol of Gork campaign), so I made a hole in the platform and made sure that one of the idols (Gork) would slot into the hole. At this stage I also scored lines in the platform to simulate individual blocks of stone. The base was made out of foam PVC sheet (it is easy to cut and does not warp easily) and the platform was then glued on top of the base and the idol of Mork on top of that. Be sure to use a glue that does not melt foam! It’s best to try out your glue on a spare piece of XPS foam first.

Texturing and Painting

Once the glue had dried, I mixed PVA glue and water and brushed it onto the idols and the platform in a thin layer. Immediately after that I sprinkled on tile grout (unsanded) to create the impression of a rough stone texture. Once the glue had dried I took a soft brush and gently brushed away any excess tile grout. 

The next step was to begin the painting process. I started by undercoating the model with black. You can use a spray paint, but if you are unlucky it can melt the foam so it is best to use a brush for this. There are many ways to paint stone, but I used the following method. I started with a mid-grey basecoat and then applied thinned down blotches of brown, mocha and ochre. I followed this up with a drybrush of a lighter grey colour. Next up I applied a black wash to create some definition, and after that I applied a very light drybrush using an off-white colour. To simulate algae, I took a thinned down green wash and applied it to the lower half of the platform and at the bottom of the idols.

Details and Basing

The Greenskins search for the magical Crown of Gork in the first scenario of the Idol of Gork campaign, so I thought it would be fun to add this little detail to the terrain piece. I used a spiky shoulder pad from the Orc Boyz set to make the crown. I then painted it gold and glued it in place in the hole underneath the idol. Time for basing! I painted the base brown, applied a coat of PVA and then added a mix of brown tile grout and soil (you could also use sand). Once dry I applied some glue on top of the ground cover and applied my green flock. I used three different shades of green on this piece. I also applied some light green flock to certain areas of the platform to create the impression of moss.

With the idols finished I guess all that remains is to get the WAAAGH! going...

Materials

Idols

• Blue XPS insulation foam (50 mm thick)
• Green XPS floor insulation foam (3 mm thick)
• Tile grout (non-sanded)
• PVA glue
• Plastic Orc shoulder pad (for the Crown of Gork)
• Black paint
• Brown, mocha and ochre paint
• Grey paint (several shades)
• Brown, green and black washes

Basing

• Foam PVC sheet (3 mm thick)
• Ground cover mix (1 part brown tile grout, 2 parts sand/dirt)
• Green foam flock (3 different shades)
• PVA glue (thinned down with water)
• Brown paint

Tools

• Hot wire cutter
• Craft knife
• Brushes