Orktober 2021 – Da Big Round Up

So having announced just yesterday that I’m embarking on another painting challenge I thought it was high time I padded my post count took a look back at the last one. Last month was Orktober (sometimes spelled Orctober – but never, ever spelled October because that’s for wimps!). I had a plan for the month; to paint as many of my unpainted greenskins as I possibly could. Then I discovered that my fellow warboss and blogger, the legendary IRO had the same plan and from this a contest was born (more on that below).

Now as the dust settles I find myself looking at 37 newly painted Orks. Want to see what they look like as a group? Of course you do! (As usual don’t do your eyes a mischief by peering at the pictures, click on them for a proper look).

Quite the mob isn’t it, but with so many green bodies crammed together it’s hard to make out what’s going on so let’s take a closer look at some individual groups. My Ork army for Warhammer 40k is my longest-standing collection (that I still have anyway). It was the Orks that first got me into Warhammer 40k back in 4th Edition when I stepped from being a casual observer of the 41st Millennium to being a full-blown addict. Back then the Ork warlord Ghazghkull and the Second and Third Wars for Armageddon were intrinsic to 40k (nobody talks about the First War for Armageddon on pain of being taken away by the Inquisition…). The struggle to control that planet remains one of my favourite 40k storylines and so it was a real pleasure to add Ghazghkull to my collection at last, alongside a whole bunch of other boyz.

It wasn’t all about the grim darkness of the far future however, I worked on a warband of Savage Orcs (or Bonesplitter Orruks if you prefer) to run riot in games of Warcry.

I also added a couple of models to my Kruelboy collection, enough to turn them into a Warcry warband as well. These two very different greenskin philosophies will have to determine which is best soon in the only way they know how – by battering each other silly on the tabletop.

I already have a small collection of Ironjaw Orcs, the bigger, more heavily armoured breed of Orc living in the Mortal Realms (although even a paper bag is more heavily armoured than the Bonesplitters, many of whom forget to even wear clothes). Three more joined the ranks this month, including a pair of Brutes and a hulking Warchanter.

Long before Orcs started looting tanks in the 41st Millennium or sneaking around in the swamps of the Mortal Realms they were indulging in a spot of hobbit-bothering and ransacking the civilisations of Middle Earth in Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. As I’ve commented many times the LotR miniatures range (or the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game as it’s known currently) never really hooked me in, but I do have a few Orcs to paint from that range too and this seemed like a fine moment to be working on them.

 Sport has been described as war by other means as nations prove their superiority over one another through teams of athletes rather than armies of soldiers. Of course, if you’re a Black Orc playing Blood Bowl there probably isn’t much difference. This month I motivated myself to get the Orc half of the team painted, and I’ll aim to work on the goblins that accompany them soon.

Of course a team needs a few cheerleaders to keep the fans on side, and no-one in the crowd is going to dare to misbehave with this lady keeping an eye on them!

It wasn’t just about greenskins either, I even managed to sneak in a few other models of a distinctly un-orky persuasion.

And there we have it – 37 greenskins, and 4 other miniatures, not bad for a month’s effort. Of course I didn’t do this alone. A good adversary is vital to an Ork, giving them someone against whom they can test themselves. The more an Ork fights the bigger, tougher and meaner he becomes. Faced with a good enough enemy an Ork who might otherwise have been just a weedy little yoof can grow into a warboss whose tread shakes the galaxy itself. The Commissar Yarrick to my Ghazghkull Thraka was that mightiest of warbosses, the mean, green antipodean, the Imperial Rebel Ork himself. We set out at the start of the month to see which of us could paint the most Orks in a single month and against all odds battled each other to a draw. Really there’s only one thing to do in a situation like that and that’s come back for another go next year!