Orcs similar to Kev Adams Renegade orcs?

[Zodaxa]

I know the Heartbreaker orcs are quite similar, but they are a step too exaggerated for me and I don't like the helmets on them. Are there any other 28mm lines with a similar aesthetic? It sems the renegade orcs cannot be found online anyhwere which is a shame. Hell, I can hardly find photos of them.

[Lord of Moria]

Kev Adams sculpted most of the early models for this company's orc & goblin line:
https://knightmareminiatures.com/category/green-skin-wars

I am a huge fan of this entire product line -can't recommend them highly enough.
They may be "too exaggerated" for you though.
Cheers

[Zodaxa]

Kev Adams sculpted most of the early models for this company's orc & goblin line:
https://knightmareminiatures.com/category/green-skin-wars

I am a huge fan of this entire product line -can't recommend them highly enough.
They may be "too exaggerated" for you though.
Cheers

Honestly these goblins might be the ticket for orcs for me. By exaggerated in regards to the Heartbreaker orcs, I suppose I am mostly thinking about the extremely big mouths and long faces on many of them, and I do see the same on these orcs, unfortunately. Though, they are awesome.

[Hobgoblin]

Have you seen the Ral Partha Europe "Gargantua Orcz"? Although they're not by Kev Adams, they are (a) very nice and (b) large and "stylistically subdued" (not nearly as excessive as either the Heartbreaker orcs or Bob Olley's Essex or Iron Claw orcs). They're quite reasonably priced too, at under £3 each for big lumps of metal.

And it's a huge range too, with some nice reptile cavalry. So they might fit the bill:

[mikedemana]

I like those Orcs -- much more than the cartoony Warhammer-esque ones...! 

Mike Demana

[Zodaxa]

Have you seen the Ral Partha Europe "Gargantua Orcz"? Although they're not by Kev Adams, they are (a) very nice and (b) large and "stylistically subdued" (not nearly as excessive as either the Heartbreaker orcs or Bob Olley's Essex or Iron Claw orcs). They're quite reasonably priced too, at under £3 each for big lumps of metal.

And it's a huge range too, with some nice reptile cavalry. So they might fit the bill:

Many of the ones on the site are awesome and I will likely purchase some! If anyone can show me some size comparisons with these that would be great. I prefer a smaller 28mm but am not so picky with monsters.

[Hobgoblin]

I will try to take a comparison photo for you tonight or tomorrow morning. They're quite big and chunky but fit on 25mm square bases. I think they're taller than the Heartbreaker orcs but with smaller heads - possibly about the same mass as the larger Heartbreaker orcs overall.

[Cosmotiger]

The Great Orcs Kev sculpted for Harlequin miniatures might work for you also.

https://miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Orcs_(HM)_(Harlequin)

The problem however, is that Black Tree Design has re-released them as their Barnorsk Orcs-- and I would not recommend ordering directly from Black Tree. They are infamous for their bad service and slow turnaround. But if you find them on the secondary market, they might fit the bill.

[Hobgoblin]

Here are a couple of images that might help. The unpainted figures are the Ral Partha Europe Gargantua orcs.

In 1, we have, from left to right, a Gargantua orc, a Forlorn Hope (ex Grenadier) giant orc, a Gargantua orc, a Kev Adams Citadel orc and a Perry Citadel orc.

In 2, we have Forlorn Hope, Tin Soldier UK (a nice range - more Perry-ish than Adams), Nick Lund Citadel/Chronicle, Gargantua, Kev Adams Citadel, Perry Citadel and Gargantua.

[Zodaxa]

Here are a couple of images that might help. The unpainted figures are the Ral Partha Europe Gargantua orcs.

In 1, we have, from left to right, a Gargantua orc, a Forlorn Hope (ex Grenadier) giant orc, a Gargantua orc, a Kev Adams Citadel orc and a Perry Citadel orc.

In 2, we have Forlorn Hope, Tin Soldier UK (a nice range - more Perry-ish than Adams), Nick Lund Citadel/Chronicle, Gargantua, Kev Adams Citadel, Perry Citadel and Gargantua.

Thanks so much for this. I must admit, they are bigger than I might like. Howevever, now you have me interested in the Kev Adams Citadel orc and the Nick Lund Citadel/Chronicle orc. Those look great! Are those lines still available?

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks so much for this. I must admit, they are bigger than I might like. Howevever, now you have me interested in the Kev Adams Citadel orc and the Nick Lund Citadel/Chronicle orc. Those look great! Are those lines still available?

No problem at all! Those Gargantua orcs do live up to their name (they're about the size of mid-80s Citadel ogres!), but they do also fit neatly on 25mm square bases.

The KA and NL Citadel figures are long out of production (since the early 90s, probably - they're both mid-to-late-80s figures).

But there similar figures are available. You can get the full range of Nick Lund ex-Grenadier orcs from Forlorn Hope (in the UK) or Mirliton (in Italy). I used to contend that the Citadel/Chronicle black orcs were Nick Lund's best - and better than the later Grenadier ones, although they're very similar in style. Now, I think that while the best of the Citadel/Chronicle ones are indeed the best, there's a lot of overlap: the best Grenadier ones are a lot better than the poorest C/C ones. With the Grenadier lot, there was a quite poor boxed set (the "Battleset" - though the leader and standard bearer are great) but much better blisters of three (swords, polearms, spears, two-handed weapons, etc.). You can get all of them quite cheaply at Forlorn Hope.

Here are some pictures (the first one shows an old Chronicle figure, Forlorn Hope, Citadel/Chronicle and a Forlorn Hope giant orc). The second one shows some EM4 plastic orcs in the background; these were originally designed by Mark Copplestone for Grenadier to fit in with Nick Lund's metal ones. You can get them very cheaply (48 for 15 quid!) from EM4.







Also, for Kev Adam orcs that are less rococo than the Heartbreaker ones, have you seen his huge Warmonger range? There are Orcs and War Orcs, each with several different categories in the drop-down (so there's much more than on the pages I've linked).

The Orcs are in Renaissance/Landsknecht garb:




The War Orcs are in simpler garb:



All of them are great figures - really characterful and lots of fun. I've picked up a few for Mordheim but have yet to paint them. They aren't cheap, though, and they are quite big - not as tall as the Gargantua orcs for the most part, but very broad and brawny - and heavy as a result!

Finally - another great Bob Olley range: Cursaa's Orcs from Essex (they start from Q31 here). They're much more stylised than his later Ral Partha/Gargantua range, but lots of fun:

[anevilgiraffe]

I assume Nick Lund's Mighty Uge Zod set are in the depths of the GW vaults somewhere...

[Hobgoblin]

I assume Nick Lund's Mighty Uge Zod set are in the depths of the GW vaults somewhere...

It would be interesting to see those revived!

I wonder if GW does still have a lot of the older moulds. The earliest thing they've brought back, I think, is the Marauder giant (1990?). I wonder if they have a policy of not reviving anything that goes against current "lore" (e.g. the smaller orcs of the 1980s, non-goatish beastmen, ambulatory Slann).

[anevilgiraffe]

I don't know where the Chronicle range sits to be honest, there are recasts on ebay of Uge Zod's set, some of the weapons are off... but some of those Nick Lund ones are the spit of his Chronicle minis - is that just because it's Nick Lund or are they old Citadel/Chronicle? Foundry has old Citadel ninja and medieval stuff, so don't know where GW is nowadays on the old old stuff...

[Hobgoblin]

I don't know where the Chronicle range sits to be honest, there are recasts on ebay of Uge Zod's set, some of the weapons are off... but some of those Nick Lund ones are the spit of his Chronicle minis - is that just because it's Nick Lund or are they old Citadel/Chronicle? Foundry has old Citadel ninja and medieval stuff, so don't know where GW is nowadays on the old old stuff...

I don't think any Chronicle stuff has been legitimately sold by anyone since Citadel/GW stopped selling it in the (late?) 1980s.

A lot of the ex-Grenadier/Forlorn Hope/Mirliton Fantasy Warriors range is very similar to the Chronicle stuff produced by Citadel (the Giant Black Orc range and the two Ugezod sets). The only real difference is that the ex-Grenadier ones have chunky integral bases whereas the Citadel/Chronicle ones have slotta tabs. But the figures themselves are stylistically identical. Nick Lund also like revisiting the same poses, so there are echoes through all his ranges.