The earliest I can find this particular orc is in the 1988 “blue” catalogue listed as an Orc Champion, though he’s an alternate sculpt of “Mannik” from the ORC1 Warrior Orc range, found in the 1987 Citadel Journal, so it’s likely he was originally part of that range, given his dodgy facial sculpt. The catalogues get pretty ropey from 1987 and back. Anyway, he’s a duplicate of a figure I painted myself way back in the period between ’88-90 who I found and reburbished recently, with a small touch-up and a new base. The plan was to complete the pair and post them together, but I lost the original shield from the original Orc, so until I find it and remount it, this guy stands alone.

I’ve gone for much the same colour scheme as I did with my other older orcs (that came later, circa 4th edition WHFB), and painted both the red of and the the skull on his stomach guard as a reference to those figures. The highlight of this figure though, is his shield. The freehand orc-face design was originally painted way back in my early days – I think I originally planned for it to go on a war machine – but when I saw it sitting around after all these years, I decided to get it onto a figure, and this guy fit the bill perfectly. All I really did besides the rim was add the upper level highlights.

With his not-especially-interesting front, and cool looking shield on his back, this guy is a shoo-in to be in the rear rank of any force on aesthetic value alone. 😉