'Orcs and where to find them'or 'they ain't got to be green

[Godwin]

I first started fantasy wargaming with the GW warhammer first edition. Many moons ago. I guess I got brainwashed into orcs being a certain style. Green skin & comically violent. I always had a soft spot for them, I was a GW addict totally oblivious to other games. Then I stopped gaming. Sold most things off .. except some orcs n dwarfs . Now I have started again and discovered there is more out there than GW! I know.. surprise right? Amazing stuff , and freedom to use different rules and different models. So this thread is so I can find out how others paint their orcs.. what companies make them , what styles go together what background fluff people  prefer. Feel free to show off your work and ideas and let me know what's out there. Meanwhile here are a few orc pics of mine.

[Godwin]

Some more..

[Cubs]

I don't want to double-post too much, so I'll just show a couple of pics of Orcs I did a few years back, which neatly captures how I paint them. I don't mind greenskin Orcs - I think an Orc can be whatever colour you want them to be - but I tend to lean more towards brown and grey shades than any other. I also like to put a reddish flesh colour around the eyes, nose, mouth and other extremities to show some raw patches of flesh under the tough Orc hide.

They are all vintage Citadel, mostly the pre-slotta days of the C15/16 Orcs, which still remain my favourites of all time, of all manufacturers. They imprinted on my mind the way all Orcs should be - gangly and wiry of frame, with jutting jaws and tusks.







 

[Cait Sidhe]

I still have my GW orcs but I went right off them as a style. I'm also not fond of bright green skin tones though not green in general if it's more brown or greyish.

My more recent orcs are the Ral Partha Gargantua orcs by Bob Olley which are lovely models. The standard orcs I used Vallejo Desert Yellow as the base skin colour while my black orcs are Dark Fleshtone.

[Godwin]

Great stuff. Love the brown shades , reminds me more of tolkien's idea. Not seen yellow before .. they do look good. Time for me to experiment. I have some mantic orcs knocking about.  Who manufactures the giant in that warband? I'm looking for similar for a greek warband.

[Cait Sidhe]

Who manufactures the giant in that warband? I'm looking for similar for a greek warband.

It's a Cyclops from the old Dark Eye range, also sold by Ral Partha EU.

http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/dsa-the-dark-eye-28mm-fantasy-c-30/creatures-17000-c-30_34/17027-cyclops-p-1023.html

[Nord]

Got a few orcs meself, from different eras, from different systems, blimey some aren't even GW.

These are Oathmark Goblins, good size if you like Lord of the Rings scale (true 25mm or 28mm as some would call it).



I also picked up a few Avatars of War figures, big scale more like current GW stuff, metal figures but only characters available.



Recently I have gone back to the beginning and started collecting the orcs from fourth edition (early 1990s). After spending years painting in naturalisitic tones, I have gone for a more classic urt-yer-eyes green on these, it seems fitting. If you have any spares of these knocking about I would be happy to trade. 

[Machinegunkelly]

I´ve made almost the same journey as you have and I´ll vouch for Oathmark goblins. I´ve got my first box a few days ago and have assemblied 10 out of 30. I am more than happy with them. I´ve also seen a interesting mash up with Fireforge Men-at-arms bodies and Oathmark goblins head and arms.

MGK

[Godwin]

I have looked at the oathmark ones and I am impressed. All the oathmark figures look good. I did buy a couple of dwarf sprues off ebay to make a spear unit.

[Elk101]

I like the idea of this thread.

I've been collecting orcs for the past few years with a view to picking up a cross section of different interpretations. I'm only picking up stuff I like but that includes some of the old C15 Citadel armoured orcs, 80's and 90's Citadel orcs, Marauder orcs, and more recently Oathmark goblins and Ral Partha Gargantuan orcs.

Have a look here at some of the old Citadel stuff:

http://www.solegends.com/citadel/catindex.htm

[Hobgoblin]

Here are some of my non-green schemes:

Red (old GW/Battlemasters plastic):



Vaguely European-looking (Chronicle and Grenadier/Mirliton):




Blue (Chronicle):



Speed-painted just with washes and metallics (Ral Partha and GW):







Sallow (old Grenadier):



Blueish (old Grenadier):



Yellow (old Citadel and new Russian 54mm):




Black, no highlights (an idea pinched from Spooktalker: Acropolis, Grenadier, Gremlin):


Greyish/sallow (a motley bunch):


And one very green lot (clothes, armour, skin, the lot: Citadel and Marauder):



And then there are hobgoblins (just big orcs in Tolkien's conception, but taken down some weird paths by Gygax & co.):





Finally, some of my 'cave orcs' - inspired by Alan Garner's svart-alfar and their "fish-white" hide (Citadel):

[Godwin]

 Those all look amazing! So much variety. I don't think my orcs will be the same ever again 

[fastolfrus]

My first orcs were Minifigs from their Middle-Earth range. Absolutely tiny by modern standards

[gibby64]

I won't repost all these pictures, but here are some old very unique ranges.

http://underthemountainblog.com/athenaeum/aarklash-archive/factions/orcs-of-the-behemoth/


http://underthemountainblog.com/athenaeum/aarklash-archive/factions/orcs-of-bran-o-kor/

[Spooktalker]

I love many kinds of orcs, and have an enormous variety going back the past 40 years.  The two groups that have seen paint in my adult lifetime are these below, both "by-the-book," but different books.

The book for these means the way these Citadel figures were showcased and painted by the Citadel art and design team in the late 80s. I love green that's actually 4 parts yellow to 1 part green. Not kelly green, not mint green, not forest green, not British racing green, but snot green, vomit green, bilious green! 

Orcs o' the Old Skull Tribe by Spooktalker, on Flickr

Gallery here:https://www.flickr.com/photos/spooktalker/sets/72157633012161816/

The book for the second group is the original Monster Manual. 'Nuff said.

Orcs by Spooktalker, on Flickr



Blog post: https://belchedfromthedepths.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-pig-face-orcs-that-never-were.html

In addition to having enough more to go of the above to keep me busy painting for years, I have several more orc forces I hope to get to some day, the main one being Tolkien style using figures from Chronicle, Grenadier, Asgard, Ral Partha, among others.