Another seriously Oldhammer blast from the past is this guy. Known as “Cyclops” in the old catalogues for rather obvious reasons, this Orc was sculpted by the Perry Twins, and the earliest reference I can find to it is in the Autumn 1985 Citadel Journal. Thanks to a little bit of extra research spurred by IRO, it turns out that this guy was also the designated model for Fangor Gripe, Chieftain of the vile Rune Orcs in the classic WHFB 2nd Edition Campaign Blood Bath at Orc’s Drift.
I was rooting around in my metal O&G box for some more models to paint after completing the previous batch (which I haven’t fully shown yet, but soon!) and this guy stuck out to me. He’d previously been overlooked as a ratty old figure that never especially appealed, but since Nostalgia is the new black, and more importantly, he’d clearly paint up pretty quickly I fished him out and made him have the colours. I tried to do something interesting with his breastplate and the metals, mixing both a brown and blue tone. but I fear it’s too subtle in these photos, let alone in person. Something to folllow up on down the line, though!
A simple and straightforward paintjob here. It’s not a flashy model, and most of it’s interest comes from its cyclopean nature (*edit: And his named spot in the Orc’s Drift Scenario.) If it had two eyes, it wouldn’t even have a whole lot of that nostalgia-based “character” and would be a pretty unassuming and generic orc for the middle or back rank of some unit. Still, it’s another one down, and it’s enough of a curio that it gets it’s own blog entry today. It’d be pretty funny to use him in an AoS game, though – so I’ll have to do that whenever I get around to trying out the game.
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Awww, he is cool – and cute! Look at his bandy ickle legs! And to think, that is the great-great-great-great-great-great sporefather of the towering behemoth that is the modern Oruk warboss…
Brilliant find mate, thanks for giving him some love and sharing him 🙂
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Thanks Alex. And to think about how literally correct you are in that this guy turns out to have been an Orc Chieftain back in the day…
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He is very cool! Rare too I imagine?
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Thanks mate. Like anything from those days, he’s rare in a relative sense in that he’s bloody old, they didn’t make as many back then, and many of the ones they did make wouldn’t have survived the last 32 years. An eBay search turned up two of them for sale right now for AU$8 and $17, plus $7 and $9 postage – so he’s within reach for those who might want one. Poking around like that led me to a bit more of his history, a position in an old but famous WHFB campaign and a name – so thank you for that prompt!
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Nice model. A different take on the usual Orc. I do like the skin colour and the metal also turned out well. Maybe add a bit more rust to the armour. Those sabres he has are not that well sculpted. A pitty, really. If you have another of these guys you could replace them with some bitz.
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It’s an interesting model, and very much a product of it’s time. I was going for a mix of blue and brown with the armour rather than a traditional rust, and I can see just the hint of what I was trying to do in the finished product, though it turned out way too subtle as I really wanted to avoid overdoing it – so I’ll have another go ’round on another model. Plenty more to go, after all!
Agreed that the weapons are rather crude, but he’s a one-off in my collection, and given the age of something like this, it’s better off as a painted-but-unmodified curio than a figure to be improved. There are much better models out there to spend extended time on!
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Fair enough. I like converting miniatures, but some I just sell off given the time and effort it would take to make them into something I enjoy. Well, I also make statues out of them…
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I get you there. I’ve given away tons of models over the years for the same reason. Really old figures like this I’d rather keep as curios, and if I can make myself actually paint them in a quick and easy length of time, they can go into a tabletop army and potentially make for an interesting blog post. I’ve noted that sometimes the act of painting models I’m not especially fond of can turn me around to an extent – the recent delve into my Marauder Minis Dwarf Slayers has been a case in point.
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