Thinking About Orcs

[arabianknight]

Despite having done fantasy roleplaying and wargaming for over 2 decades my son was surprised to find that I only have one single painted Orc (see the sad example below). This both is surprising but expected to myself. I've have a problem knuckling down to Orcs, despite them are a most obvious foe after the ubiquitous undead.

One problem is finding a style I like. I've never liked the Games Workshop style of Orc - which begs the question well what do I like? Again it comes down to "what sort of Orc do you want?". There are Savage, barely clothed types, varieties in complex armour and a whole variety of body types, sizes and facial features. I doubt there's a fantasy race with so many different interpretations.

And then there is the skin colour. I'm no scholar, so I need to ask - who planted the description of the "Greenskin". I don't think it's a Tolkien thing, so my guess is Dungeons and Dragons (from what I can remember from old artwork). The bright cartoon neon G.W. choices just put me off completely, but I've trouble thinking up and combination I like.

It's not as if there aren't any Orcs lurking in my lead pile. Many different sizes, ages and styles have been picked up through half baked purchases and job lots, which has made it more difficult to rinse through my collection and make a start on a force.

So I've decided, as an ongoing bit of fun, to gradually try out different skin combinations on the unsuspecting models in the cupboard. They would make up unfocused crowd anyway, so having a range of skin tones shouldn't make much more difference!

First example of this is here. I have no idea what manufacturer this is from, so if anyone can enlighten my I would be grateful. He looks prime for appearing around a dungeon corner, and I love the single snaggletooth. For this example the skin base is Citadel Doombull Brown, then layered with Citadel Calthan Brown and highlighted with a mix of Calthan Brown and Game Colour Heavy Ochre.

[Hobgoblin]

And then there is the skin colour. I'm no scholar, so I need to ask - who planted the description of the "Greenskin". I don't think it's a Tolkien thing, so my guess is Dungeons and Dragons (from what I can remember from old artwork). The bright cartoon neon G.W. choices just put me off completely, but I've trouble thinking up and combination I like.

Yes, Tolkien describes his orcs as 'swart' and 'sallow' - though only the latter is definitely a skin description. He says that one small orc in Mordor is 'black-skinned', but that seems to be a feature that distinguishes it from other orcs.

The green skin appeared in some 70s illustrations of Tolkien's work - like Tim Kirk's The Road to Minas Tirith from 1975:



The Hildebrandt brothers also did some green (and reptilian-looking!) orcs in the 70s:



The idea of green goblins is a bit older, though - there's Spiderman's foe, of course, but also the green goblins in Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword, which was published in 1954, the same year as The Lord of the Rings.

And then there are various 'green men' and green-skinned fairies in folklore.

So it may be that 'green' was just considered a default colour for goblins and one that illustrators reached for if they hadn't read Tolkien's text very closely.

D&D's orcs don't really resemble Tolkien's at all (other than tribal names and hostility towards each other), but early illustrations, including those in the 1977 Monster Manual, certainly owe something to the Hildebrandts' orcs. The Monster Manual says that orcs are blueish-green with pinkish snouts.

Oddly enough, GW/Citadel orcs weren't always green in the early 80s - at least not bright green. "Olive" and "dark brown" are mentioned in early Warhammer, and some of the staff painted theirs a deep red. And the first Citadel Paint set was advertised with a Black Mountain boy painted in European human skintones. John Blanche's cover for the second edition of Warhammer had orcs of the brightest green, though.

Your new orc looks good! Not sure where he's from - maybe Metal Magic?

[Hobgoblin]

So I've decided, as an ongoing bit of fun, to gradually try out different skin combinations on the unsuspecting models in the cupboard. They would make up unfocused crowd anyway, so having a range of skin tones shouldn't make much more difference!

I meant to add that that sounds a great idea. It also gives you the potential to develop a number of different tribes. I always find this handy in RPGs, because it automatically adds a bit of variety to encounters: "Wait - are these orcs Grinning Moon or Bloody Tusk like the ones we fought in the caves? Or something else?".

[scatterbrains]

These are the sort of things blue hobgoblins know best 

I'm gonna have to make this decision with my Battle for Skull Pass goblins, best keep an eye on what you come up with!

[arabianknight]

That, Hobgoblin, was a much more comprehensive answer than I was expecting. Thank you - most interesting! 

Your point about the different tribes is a good one as well. I'll have to bare that in mind when pulling victim's out of the pile and try and group some of them together.

[armchairgeneral]

I can’t  really relate the wild chaotic look of many orc figures.

For Middle-Earth, orcs were bred to be soldiers so would surely would have a regular appearance being issued with mass produced standardised weapons and armour?

As for skin tone, I used to paint mind a khaki colour which seemed to look good.

[AzSteven]

The Tim Kirk painting has long been how I pictured orcs, but it was a while before I saw a color version of that illustration, so my late-70s orcs were often a dark olive, brown or khaki in color. 

Nowadays I tend to do ruddy brown almost to black, or a muddy olive.  I have started painting orcs for an RPG campaign set in Middle Earth I hope to start running in December, and there are three tribes/bands involved; each has a different appearance and skin-tone.  One is based on GW LOTR movie orcs, one on the new Oathmark goblins, and one on a selection of old Heritage LOTR movie orcs.  Each will have different skin tones - ruddy dark brown for the GW orcs, olive for the Oathmark orcs and dark brown/black for the old Heritage orcs

[FierceKitty]

I'm always bothered by the eyes. A nocturnal race should have big, cute bushbaby eyes, surely?

[arabianknight]

Second Orc completed in this side project. I want to say he's an Alternative Armies figure by the style, but I can't find him on their site so I don't know (part of the job lot source).

EDIT: He's a "Mon-Oger" by Standard Miniatures. Thanks to Greg on the Alternative Armies FB page for his help

For skin tone this one couldn't be easier: White primer and Vallejo Game Ink black green. Literally that's it. I thought I'd better give his clothes a strong colour otherwise he'd look a bit washed out.

[Hobgoblin]

Nice work!

I think he's a Mon-oger from Standard Games. They did a range of orc-like creatures, some of whom were riding sabre-toothed tigers. This guy, I think, is B30: Mon-oger,  two-handed axe. I wonder if your earlier orc might be B28: Mon-oger, mace from the same range.

The Mon-oger range is still in production at Magister Militum: here's B30. I can't see the guy with the two-handed club, but I suppose he might be the unphotographed one labelled 'savage orc'.

[arabianknight]

The Mon-oger range is still in production at Magister Militum: here's B30. I can't see the guy with the two-handed club, but I suppose he might be the unphotographed one labelled 'savage orc'.

Thanks Hg, it's nice to see that som eof the range are still available. Also between the Lost Minis' wiki and Magiister Militum I've managged to ID a few other figures in the Orc box.

[arabianknight]

Orc 3, and you're not going to get more classivc than a 1980's Grenadier Orc. The higher lead content from this era means I lost count of how many times the halbard blade came off (OK, 4 if you're asking and I know only the first one counts againt the metal!)

After a comment about khaki skinned orcs I thought I'd give that option a go, especially as the idea seemed to matcxh with early artwork of orcs.

To be honest my attempt hasn't come out as well as I'd hoped. The base khaki with deepening washes hasn't given the muted khaki tones I'd hoped (details below of what was used). I do have a couple more orcs from this range, so I'll continue with the khaki theme for them as well but maybe change the process, probably building up to a khaki layer rather than relying on washes to bring depth. Oh, and the deapset eyes had the wash run into them. Not the best execution ever!

Even with the slightly less than desired end result it's good to get this figure painted. I like the sculpt a lot more than I did before any paint was applied, and despite being slightly small by modern standard he's my favourite "general warband" figure so far.

Skin details:

Base: Colours of War Khaki
Wash: Game Ink black\green
Wash: Gsme Color Sepia
Highlight: Colours of War Khaki

[scatterbrains]

Nice one, I've never worked with lead minis!

Thanks for sharing the skin recipe too

[Brandlin]

I love those grenadier orcs... nick lund sculpts - i have " a few"
I think the skin tone isn't as khaki as you hoped because the ink you have usedis very saturated so its green-ened the whole skin. I'd suggest you either use a dark flesh or mid brown wash to go with the khaki, or if you want the green tinge then water the wash down a lot.

[arabianknight]

I love those grenadier orcs... nick lund sculpts - i have " a few"
I think the skin tone isn't as khaki as you hoped because the ink you have usedis very saturated so its green-ened the whole skin. I'd suggest you either use a dark flesh or mid brown wash to go with the khaki, or if you want the green tinge then water the wash down a lot.

Yes I think you're right. I'll avoid the green ink for my second try and maybe used a flesh wash as needed. We'll see how I do...