LOTR/HOBBIT Orc Army Building

[Trunkbass]

Hi guys, I have a question about (Mordor) orc army building.

I'm (at the moment) not a big fan of buying minifigures from Bricklink, because in Europe the prices are mostly 5-10 euro for a nice orc with hairpiece. I've bought Uruk-Hai Army multiple times because the price for 4 Uruks was more or less the same on Bricklink and you do get the extra pieces if you buy the set.

I was wondering, which set(s) would you guys buy to build an orc army? There have only been a couple of sets with orcs that got nice hairpieces. Which would be the most profitable according to you? I'll list up all the sets that have orcs (or goblins) in it to my knowledge. I know some might seem a bit ridiculous (Orthanc f.e.) but I wanted to make a complete list.

- 2012 LOTR The Mines of Moria: 2 Moria Goblins with headpieces (maybe to distinct from the regular orc color/armor, could stack up cave trolls as well)

- 2012 LOTR The Orc Forge: 2 orcs, one with headpiece (the headpiece is nice, and you get Uruks too)

- 2012 HOBBIT Attack of the Wargs: 3 orcs, two with headpiece, one is Yaznek (you get two nice wargs too)

- 2012 HOBBIT Goblin King Battle: 3 orcs, all with bald headpieces (one has little feet, but easily adjustable, probably too expensive)

- 2013 LOTR Battle at the Black Gate: 2 orcs, no headpieces (and an awfully misplaced Uruk helmet! )

- 2013 LOTR Pirate Ship Ambush: 2 orcs, no headpieces (probably way too expensive)

- 2013 LOTR Tower of Orthanc: 1 orc, no headpiece (just ridiculous for orc army building)

- 2013 HOBBIT Dol Guldur Ambush: 2 orcs, with headpieces (trying to sell Beorn a dozen times scares me of)

- 2013 HOBBIT Mirkwood Elf Amy: 2 orcs, no headpiece, a warg (nice Elves too but quite expensive in Europe at the moment)

- 2013 HOBBIT Dol Guldur Battle: 2 orcs, no headpieces (Azog is nice but hardly reusable as grunt)

Feel free to post your own methods, ideas, ... How do YOU muster an Orc army?

[deskp]

The european prices are less than 5-10 euro. Not even the hair AND armor one is 5 or more. The orcs without printed legs are infact more expensive than the ones with printed legs so ignore those, who prefers plain brown legs over a nice prince anyways.

"hunter orc" hair+leg print Link 2,8 euro from seller with 10 available

"gundabad orc" hair and armor Link 3,6 euro from seller with 20 available

"Gundabad orc" only hair Link 2,5 euro from seller with 16 available.

Obv there is shipping on top of that, but most of the time the lowest rate if youre just buying minifigures.

I do not have any solution like you did ask for though.

Edited January 14, 2014 by deskp

[Deathleech]

The Gundabad Orcs with hair seem to be the cheapest, followed closely by the Orc Hunters from the Warg Attack set. Those are probably the best two options if you want the hair and ears. The bald ones are significantly cheaper. Unfortunately there are no sets like Uruk-hai army or the Uruk-hai polybag to quickly and easily build a large Mordor Orc army.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Deathleech

[Alcarin]

Well as long as you had the option to get Orc Forges for less than 37€ a piece (Germany amazon) you could part the set out and kept the 2 Orcs inside the set for free.... + potentially made a little cash.

Now that those are gone I would say Gundabad orcs might be cheapest because of DGA set.

I really dislike the look of Hunter orcs though and Moria orcs are quite expensive.

[Deathleech]

I really dislike the look of Hunter orcs though and Moria orcs are quite expensive.

The Mordor Orcs and Orc Hunters are identical other than the legs. You can buy the Orc Hunters for around $3.50, buy an extra set of dark brown legs for ~40 cents, and still be saving almost a dollar vs buying the Mordor Orc with hair and ears.

[Trunkbass]

@ desp: Thanks for the links! These are indeed a lot cheaper then those I stumbled upon. Do you have good experiences with ordering minifigures from a Bricklink store in the US (payment, waittimes, import taxes, etc.)?

Set-wise the Dol Guldur Ambush indeed seems like one of the cheaper options. I might get some Attack of the Wargs sets too if there discounted, then you can have some evil cavalry as well.

I don't mind the leg printing on the Hunters. Although they do look like more like 'scoutish' orcs, there legs are easily replaced by regular brown pants, as Deathleech pointed out.

[SerenityInFire]

I've ordered a number of times from Bricklink and have only ever had good experiences. It's a wonderful site.

[skeaghshee]

I totally agree that some prices on bricklink were extremly high and make it difficult for army building.

The army builder sets like uruk-hai army and mirkwood elf army are sadly also much more expensive in europe like they are in the us.

Today I buy two sets of 9471 for the full price. First I wanted to wait for a discount but when I saw they are sold out at lego.de I had the bad feeling that they will probably become more and more expensive.

It is also sad that we don´t get some of the polybags in parts of europe which allows us easier to build armies.

[h22chen]

Too bad that the Moria "orcs" are so expensive, they are my favourite out of all of them, I'll willing to trade for them, if anyone is willing.

And I agree with the consensus that the Gundabad Orc with hair (they look way better with the ears and hair anyway) in the Dol Guldur ambush is the cheapest way to build an Orc army (If you are located in the US, Toysrus just had a buy one get one 50% off before Christmas season [i missed it though] and they didn't mark up the price that time, they have since "updated" their pricing).

It seems that the Dol Guldur ambush is the best bet when buying sets, it is the same here in North America.

I only recently realised that one of my best friends love the Mirkwood Elf Army set (since he wants to build an elf army) and I also missed that Toysrus opportunity. I believe it'll be a while before any specials will come, all the high seasons are gone.

Edit: after reading your post again, I realized that you are in Europe. My apologies.

Edited January 14, 2014 by h22chen

[deskp]

@ desp: Thanks for the links! These are indeed a lot cheaper then those I stumbled upon. Do you have good experiences with ordering minifigures from a Bricklink store in the US (payment, waittimes, import taxes, etc.)?

Well in norway if you purchase for mroe than 200nok you have to pay and extra 25% import taxt aswell as handling fee by the toll officce people. Unless your seller wants to mark it as a gift or a lower value.

Most of them you jsut pay with paypal wich works good.

Wait times varies. the longest i've had to wait was a month. But most takes about 2 weeks I think.

[Trunkbass]

Thanks guys! I guess I'll be stacking up DGA-sets while scanning for Bricklink opportunities!

What do you guys use to differentiate your orc army? Do you use helmets from the Castle fantasy era or banners, other shields, ...?

Feel free to show some pictures! I couldn't find a lot on Orc armies, it's mostly (and understandable, since we have sets like 9471) Uruk-Hai armies.

[Preuss]

What do you guys use to differentiate your orc army? Do you use helmets from the Castle fantasy era or banners, other shields, ...?

Feel free to show some pictures! I couldn't find a lot on Orc armies, it's mostly (and understandable, since we have sets like 9471) Uruk-Hai armies.

I hate the bald, earless orcs, so all of mine end up with those Uruk-Hai hairpieces (all my Uruks wear helmets) or brown farmer cowls (not very orcish, but the color matches). I also have a few goblin shields from Brickwarriors which I think fit well. I'll try to post a picture when I get home.

[Trunkbass]

Yeah, those bald orcs are pretty awful. I prefer hairpieces over helmets or cowls, but it may be harder to differentiate them that way.

Those shields don't look bad as well.

I would love to see a picture of your army!

[SerenityInFire]

It is also sad that we don´t get some of the polybags in parts of europe which allows us easier to build armies.

Don't feel too bad. We don't get the polybags in parts of the US either. :/

[h22chen]

I tried to find the Uruk Hai polybags in my areas last year in both Canada (Toronto) and US (LA), no luck.

[Deathleech]

I tried to find the Uruk Hai polybags in my areas last year in both Canada (Toronto) and US (LA), no luck.

They were only available at Lego Discovery Centers (only 6 in the US and all Mideast/East coast locations), and Five Below stores. I honestly think the UK has it the best when it comes to Lego. Their Lego prices are almost the same as the US, they get almost everything released there that we do, and they have the ridiculously good newspaper promos where they can get minifigures for less than a buck.

[Seaber]

I honestly think the UK has it the best when it comes to Lego. Their Lego prices are almost the same as the US, they get almost everything released there that we do, and they have the ridiculously good newspaper promos where they can get minifigures for less than a buck.

In the US, you can get the current LOTR wave for about $403 from LEGO.com. That's £245.

In the UK, the same wave costs £362 from LEGO.com, which is $595.

I'm not sure how that works out with taxes and postage in the US, but you have it far better over there. Polybags is another matter, we have had Uruk-Hai, Frodo and Gandalf, but missed the Mirkwood Elf Guard. It's a shame they were included in such horrible newspapers, but they could be bought cheaply, and they sell for about £2 ($3) on eBay, but the MEG goes for around £10 ($16), and there aren't many of them going anyway.

[Deathleech]

I dunno, it seems like they have tons of sales in the UK and they often are better than the US ones from what I recall on Toys n Bricks. Everyone complains about not getting the Mirkwood Elf Guard polybag but it's not really that great anymore with the release of the Mirkwood Elf Army set. I would of MUCH rather had the super cheap Uruk-hai polybags. They are just more useful for buying en mass quantities. I actually ended up selling a bunch of my Mirkwood Elf polybags off when MEA came out. Why have a slopped together minifigure with mis matched colors and the servant print when you can get the actual scout print?

[Sasaki]

it seems like they have tons of sales in the UK and they often are better than the US ones from what I recall on Toys n Bricks.

I agree with this point since I got 10 pirates ship ambush for the price of just 5 which is ridiculously cheap (purchased when I got chance visiting London), I ended up loving the look of the whole army of the dead so I'm stocking up with those green spooky paranormal guys. Recalling the Sun's promotion, I got literally 133 uruk hai polybags due to the close relationship with the publisher, I know with other countries it would be tough getting those polybags but it's frequent in UK to have those local newspapers or even stores to have flash promotion with Lego minifigures or "build yourself kit".

[Gondorfan]

I used attack of the Wargs to build a MASSIVE orc army. The cheapest way to build an orc army is to buy the new Laketown set.

[AFOLguy1970]

It is worthy to note that Dol Guldur Attack (the one with Beorn and two orcs with hair) is currently discounted on the US S@H site. Considering that this is from the previous wave and the final wave of Tolkien sets are upon us, this might be a good time to buy some. You also get some extra parts in addition to the orcs. Just a thought......

[Mr. Cube]

Best way to build an orc army is using the BrickLink, because TLG didn´t give us any proper battle-pack.

[richchie]

i prefer bricklink to buy orcs for my army, its cheaper that buying multiple sets in my opinion

[Trunkbass]

What do you guys think about using the Minifigures Series 13 Goblin as a variation to a Moria army? Will you use the whole figure, just the head, the ears or nothing at all? Is it too childish in you opinion?

Edited January 8, 2015 by Trunkbass

[OrcSan]

I also thought using that guy as a Moria goblin but it looks a little too friendly :). Maybe a change of armor or a more fearsome helmets to mix them up will do the job.