I came across Gisby’s first article explaining how he converted some EM4 orcs and got a good looking army at a reasonable price.
I thought, ‘Now THAT’s an idea worth ripping off!’
A couple of years ago at our local club’s monthly gaming day one of my friends showed up with a few bases of 28mm fantasy figures painted up and based for Hordes of The Things.
Most members of the club focused on 15mm historical armies, but the 28s looked so good I couldn’t help myself. The question was – what army and what figs?
Not long afterward I came across Gisby’s first article explaining how he converted some EM4 orcs and got a good looking army at a reasonable price.
I thought, ‘Now THAT’s an idea worth ripping off!!’
When his second article came out, I was hooked and immediately sent in an order to EM4 for a mitt-full of orcs and dwarves.
When they arrived, I headed for the garage with the saws, files, knives and clippers. I also took along the “bits box” and some greenstuff.
Some time later, I emerged with the first converted figs for the HoTT army, and I’ve since completed dwarf and orc forces.
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I’ve also moved on from HoTT to the Kings of War rules, a shift that required making additional elements and some movement trays.
Throughout the project, the EM4 plastics have been front-and-centre. So, my thanks to Gisby for the idea, as they say – plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery!

The conversions involved adding bits and pieces from a variety of sources. The round shields are mainly from Wargames Factory’s Vikings set, with a few others from their Ancient Gauls set.
The axe heads came from Games Workshop’s dwarfs, as did the “pole-toppers” on the standards for the crossbow and axe men units, which were originally shields.
The standard in the spear unit is from the GW dwarfs; some details were chopped off and it was glued to a brass rod, rather than the original plastic staff.
The pavises for the crossbow unit also came from GW and were originally shields carried by Brettonian men-at-arms.
Nearly all of the figures are EM-4 plastics, but the spear unit’s command group also includes a few metal figures originally produced by Vendel Miniatures but now produced by Sergeant Major Miniatures. As you can see, the metal dwarves fit in well next to the EM4 figures.
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