Perfect 'classic' orcs question.

[Malebolgia]

Excellent topic and very interesting for me as I have just starting collecting "classic Orcs" to use in Frostgrave. My main inspiration were the Heroquest Orcs and I wanted the rest to fit in with these. So in the end I went for the Orcs dinohunterpoa posted: small, slouching, a bit on the silly side, not too much detail, often with bare feet. They mix well with the plastic Heroquest Orcs and the corresponding artwork.
I have quite a big warband by now and I love all of them!

[Jagannath]

I really like the asgard orcs too. One of my favourite orc ranges is the Eureka 18mm range



but funnily enough 'classic' fantasy is one of the few genres I'd want to do in 28mm.

[Hobgoblin]

Something that unites the classic (Perry) Citadel and Asgard orcs, as well as the Russ Nicholson ones, is that they generally have proper (albeit shabby) clothing and boots. Iron-shod shoes or boots - for trampling all that's green and pleasant - are surely an orcish essential. And the more recent trend towards depicting orcs as semi-naked savages seems misplaced; orcs are soldiers above all (ranks, serial numbers, relatively advanced weapons and armour), not hunter-gatherer types.

Also, the trend of making orcs hairless seems very odd to me. Tolkien's were certainly hairy.

I think Aly Morrison's hobgoblins make pretty good orcs. They're certainly in line with Tolkien's descriptions, for the most part, although the three-toed feet don't fit. That's also true of the Mithril orcs; I was always puzzled by those orcs' lack of footwear, given the description of iron-shod shoes in LotR. My other criticism of the Mithril orcs is that most have relatively small heads, rather than the proportionately big heads Tolkien describes.

[Hobgoblin]

Also, this post - from a sadly missed and brilliantly overripe RPG blog - has some food for thought.

[Earther]

Yep. I likes my orcs with lank hair and iron scrap-armour. 

And wonderful to meet another heartbroken follower of the excellent Middenmurk blog. I thought I was the only one!

[frenchfever]

Citadel oldhummer 80's What else ? 

[westwaller]

I think those Asgard Orcs have a good look, but the anatomy is awful!! Orc ranges are a funny thing, I love some of the Oldhammer Citadel ones, but for every decent one in the range, there are about five dire ones. I have to say I do like the monopose early plastic ones with the long arms from the late 1980s fantasy regiments sets.

For fantasy Orcs, I like a long snout/jaw on an orc but I don't mind the more ape like appearance either, as long as they are not 90s comedy orcs. Scimitars are good as are pole arms and Bows/Crossbows. I like at least some of their armour to look like its been looted.

I'm hoping the Northstar ones wont disappoint

[Hobgoblin]

Orc ranges are a funny thing, I love some of the Oldhammer Citadel ones, but for every decent one in the range, there are about five dire ones.

I think there are three Citadel ranges, apart from the 1980s LotR packs, that are (virtually) all killer, no filler: the C15 armoured orcs, the C16 orcs and the first slottabased C15 range:






But after that, I'd agree. I don't think the Kev Adams ones were nearly as good as the Perry ones (much as I liked the Adams ones at the time), and they tended to have a lot of "filler" (possibly because they were produced more quickly and for Warhammer rather than RPGs).

[Cubs]

On the subject of hairy orcs, I've always liked this Chris Achilleos orc picture.

[Elbows]

Following this with interest.  Looking to replace some orcs I recently sold off on eBay --- just can't find a line at reasonable cost which I "love" for orcs.  Frustrating.  I do really like the Otherworld Pig-faced orcs, but I don't know if I want to dedicate myself to that aesthetic (or that cost!)

[Will Bailie]

I'm a fan of the old, knuckle-dragging Ral Partha orcs



(not my work, image 'borrowed' from http://www.ralpartha.com/index.php gallery page)

[nic-e]

Gonna just sit and watch this develop to help me with my orc drawings for pocket Tolkien.

 I actually really like the way the movies handled orcs. A unified military force but with each member being distinct rather than having animal like uniformity in it's physical features. They hinted at the corrupt, imperfect nature of the orcs creation whilst also giving them personality and motivations. they drank, had arguments and conversations, but still acted as the army they were.

[Luddite]

1. Russ Nicholson is one of my favourite artists.

2. Those old Citadel orcs were amazing - far better than GW's modern offerings.

3. I also like these:


Otherworld pig-faced orcs


Hasslefree goblins

[fred]

For me its definitely the C15 and C16 Citadel Orcs - because these are the first ones I had (and still have).

Some what strangely I'd never even thought these were orcs - despite having had the book for 25+ years. I think I had though they were Skaven. But great picture either way.

On the subject of hairy orcs, I've always liked this Chris Achilleos orc picture.

[Cubs]

Funny enough, I'd always assumed they were orcs because of the title of the piece 'Orc Charge'. But rooting around on the interweb I found this blog about Fighting Fantasy Orcs - http://realmofzhu.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/an-unnatural-history-of-fighting.html - which explains that they are meant to be 'Doragar' (no, me neither) which are described as Orc/Troll crossbreeds. Black Orcs in anyone else's language perhaps.

The blog also talks about the top-knot and how it became synonymous with the FF Orc for a long time, hinting at an Asiatic style, until they became more like brutish gorillas.

Ian McCraig's Orc from Deathtrap Dungeon.


Les Edwards' Orc from Caverns of the Snow Witch



Paul Bonner's black and whites in the Warhammer books were wonderful as well, with their almost warthog-headed brutality, which probably marked a turning point in their evolution in the fantasy world as a whole. The pictures I love, but I can't decide on whether I prefer that style or the previous one.