Fantasy Peg Warriors

I've been making these figures for use in loads of different fantasy wargames. I don't think it's quite correct to call them 28mm 'scale' exactly, as their proportions are quite exaggerated, but they are mounted on 20mm bases, and the orcs stand 30mm high, which is just about right for 28mm games.

Making

The main body is a wooden peg doll from eBay. There are lots of people selling them. These ones are 30mm tall and 15mm in diameter, which allows them to sit on a 20mm base comfortably and they'd look fine on 25mm round too. I removed about 5mm with a saw when making the dwarfs, using a mini mitre box.  I've been using brass drawing pins for the shields. These ones are about 9mm in diameter. That works fine for the dwarfs, but I might look out for larger ones for the orcs. I predrill a hole and blob a little superglue in the hole before fixing it in.

Cocktail sticks work fine for the spears and banner poles. These banners are made from scraps of 2mm mdf. I filed a flattened edge onto the poles where the banner was to attach, and also cut out a little curve from each banner where it would meet the round helmet. This seems to give enough contact to create a secure bond.

The little round horns on the orc leader's helmet and the dwarfs' noses are glass headed pins, the shafts cut down a bit, and glued into drilled holes like the shields. The heads on these are 3mm in diameter.

The spiky horns on the dwarf leader's helmet are cocktail stick ends, again fixed and glued into drilled holes- a larger drill-bit is required here.

The dwarfs' axes are Lego ones. I bought 20 from eBay for about £2.50. I cut down the hafts, but if I make dwarfs with two handed axes later, I will use them as they come.

The beards are tiny little scraps of green scouring pads carefully superglued on, and then flooded with thin superglue to stiffen them. They take take paint fine once spray primed.

Painting

Naturally the painting style for a project like this has to be stylised and gestural- a 'toy-soldier' look is best. hands and arms are just painted onto the wood, and legs are ignored altogether. I started with a base of black spray primer, and leave a black line between areas of detail to suggest form and depth. The dwarf beards are given a simple drybrush to bring out the texture, and then that colour is continued as stippled paint onto where the sideburns and hair extend on the dwarfs' heads. Once complete, the whole model is sprayed with gloss yacht varnish.

Next Steps

Once the basic idea is hit upon, lots of developments come to mind. I already have plans for larger models, vehicles, buildings, mounted figures and different arms and armour, all achieved in a similar way. I'm convinced that just about anything in the more generic army lists for games like Kings of War, OnePageRules' Age of Fantasy, Dragon Rampant, Thud & Blunder, Saga Age of Magic, classic Warhammer etc. etc. could be created. I feel that these figures have the advantage of being not only inexpensive, but also easy to 'read' on the tabletop, and, because the transformation from the original materials is so complete, and the work to make them into believable miniature warriors is entirely your own, a full army like this could be a great source of pride- for younger and older gamers alike.