Some of the first miniatures I bought with my own money circa 1992 were orcs sculpted by Nick Lund (the Orc Champions, both on foot and on wolf). Lund is sort of a mysterious figure to me who seems to have come on the scene in the early ’80s as the sole sculptor of Chronicle Miniatures. His Chronicle orcs have more human proportions and builds, but already have the big underbite, tusks, bald heads and a lot of the working class character. In 1983, Citadel either bought Chronicle, or began to distribute their product, with Lund contributing to some Citadel lines, but it seems like the partnership had soured by the middle of 1984, at which point Lund departed for Grenadier Models and Chronicle disappeared from the market.
At Grenadier, Lund developed his Fantasy Warriors wargame rules and sculpted so, so many orcs (and dwarves and barbarians and trolls and ogres and undead and goblins) for the game. I love all of them, honestly, but his orcs in particular just have so much personality to my eye. They’re oddly proportioned, with hunched posture, legs that seem to want to squat, arms that often seem too long and muscles that verge on comically large proportionally to their frame. Honestly, I see a lot more DNA from Lund’s orcs in Warhammer’s standardized orc design than I do the work of John Blanche or Tony Ackland (at least in their art in my 1984 Warhammer box set).
I particularly enjoy the sense (and this might totally be a head canon decision on my part) that they are laborers rather than professional soldiers (at least among the rank and file orcs). Their armor is patchwork and their weapons often seem improvised. With the exception of the very highest leadership models, they all seem extremely put out to be on the march. I don’t ever want to march anywhere, so I definitely identify.
I have, I think, the entire Lund-sculpted line of orcs and many of their auxiliaries (trolls, ogres, goblins and so on; the War Giant is technically part of the orc army, but I doubt I would ever want to field it). In four years, I’ve painted just 23, so, uh, I guess I have a long way to go. How big is a wargame army supposed to be, anyway?
2022
Sword (9002 g), Orc Battle Set, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc Champion (949 a), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Polearm (9002 h), Orc Battle Set, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc Champion (949 b), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
These are all done using the traditional three phase method on black primer, which gives them a much darker look overall. These are some of the earliest miniatures I painted and they’re perfectly OK, I think. The mace champion took a couple tries to get right. Oh, yea, purple skin! When I decided I was going to go all in on Lund’s orcs, I decided green was the most boring possible choice. Orange had a serious moment, but I already knew that orange paints tend to be watery and frustrating. So I went with purple. It wound up to be a good choice because there is quite a range of hues that read as “purple,” so these lads have a nice range of skin tones, which I like.
Orc Wolf Rider Warrior (912), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc Shaman (5628), Personalities, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Baby’s first wolf rider. This is a much better version of an earlier Chronicle sculpt, a version of which, hat and all, appears in the 1984 Warhammer box set, in case you needed further evidence of Lund’s influence. Orc is painted in the traditional way, the wolf is Speedpaint. Magic paints are very good at fur.
Sad there are only two orc shaman models in the whole Fantasy Warriors line, because I love the design. Annoyed that the varnish on both of these remains glossy despite the rattle can being clearly labelled matte. Happens sometimes, I guess. Oh, the shamans have blue skin because of the effect of long-term exposure to arcane forces. The goblin shaman who controls the War Giant displays the same mark of his trade.
Giant Orc Warrior #2 (5625), Personalities, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
A subset of the orcs line are “giant” orcs, who are hulking fellows that stand about 30% taller than the typical orc. Every single one of them looks like they are gonna fuck you up, and I love them. This was my first go with one, using the three phase method on black primer. I think of all the miniatures I’ve painted, this one really showcases the negatives of black primer. He’d be twice as good on gray or white. I know this because I wound up with a duplicate, which I painted for my editor, Jamie, at Strange Attractor. Infuriatingly, I didn’t take a normal photo, but this still from the video I think illustrates how much more pop the gray primer gives the model.
Orc Wolf Rider Champion (910), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc Wolf Rider Archer (911), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
I’ve had the Champion since the early ’90s and I have never really decided if that device on his helmet is meant to evoke the armor of a samurai (in comparison, most of Fantasy Warriors hobgoblins, sculpted by Bob Naismith, lean obviously into samurai and oni-like designs, probably in part because D&D hobgoblins have samurai-like armor in the Monster Manual). I find that the crescent standards read as just “fantasy” to me. There are some other real world influences elsewhere in the line, to Ottomans and Cossacks and other, particularly via hats, but it never seems like clear comparisons are being made.
In contrast, I love the functional leathers worn by orc archers and how strongly they contrast with the more brutish models, like the Champion.
2023
Troll w. Cutting Weapon (938), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Love this guy. He still has a bit of the classic D&D troll about him, with the sunken eyes and the pained expression, but he’s armed and armored in the mode of more civilized trolls that are showing up in Warhammer and later Warcraft, and which became more frequently seen in D&D 3E. The face and the stringy hair are real good. Honestly, I’ve not done the rest of the Lund trolls in part because their hair is not as good.
Orc Wolf Rider Drummer (9004 b), Orc Wolf Riders, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc Wolf Rider Standard Bearer (9004 c), Orc Wolf Riders, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc Wolf Rider Shaman (9004 a), Orc Wolf Riders, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc Wolf Rider Mace (9004 d), Orc Wolf Riders, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
It took forever to paint these idiots but they are all much cleaner that the previous year’s efforts, I think. Wolves are all Speedpaint and they’re OK. I would do more with them now. The lads are all traditional methods on I believe gray primer. There are things I could do better now, but there is also plenty I like just fine. The standard, is probably the highlight.
I should note, a while back I was moving these from place to place and just totally dumped the tray. Just about every orc came unglued from every wolf which came unglued from the base (the lone exception was the shaman, because he’s magic, I guess?). They laid in tangled pile for a long time until this past week, when I needed to finally bite the bullet and repair them for their photos. There are a couple minor chips in the paint (most notably on the Champion’s skull trophy) but for the most part, they came through unscathed. Varnish your miniatures, folks, it really does protect them!
2024
Polearm (9002 l), Orc Battle Set, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Giant Orc Battle Leader (953), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
2024 was not a good year for orcs, I guess. Regardless, I really love how these two came out. Both faces convey a ton of personality. They’re also a nice illustration of the size difference between the typical orc and the “giants.” These are both Speedpaint on gray primer, then worked over with regular paint. I love how much brighter they are, even in the armor which is regular metallic paint.
2025
Giant Orc Warrior #1 (5624), Personalities, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Giant Orc Warrior #3 (5626), Personalities, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
What a pair of galoots! These are done with a mix of regular and magic paint. I like the mace guy is in gray primer, ax guy is white. Ax guy’s ax strikes me as a repurposed pieces of farm equipment, which is why I decided to go with the black and rust instead of metallic paint. In doing so, I think that started me on trying to move away from metallic paint generally.
Orc with Scimitar (945 b), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc with Two-Handed Mace (942 c, version 2), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Two of my very favorites to date. I love the scimitar guy’s paint job, its just super clean and I lucked into a solid color combo. Mace guy’s hat is stellar as is his somewhat plaintive expression, but my favorite part is his ridiculously swole arms. I dunno if they really come across in the photo, but in person, they are just comically huge muscles.
Orc with Polearm (944 a), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Orc Leader (950 b), Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
Polearm (9002 d), Orc Battle Set, Fantasy Warriors, Grenadier
First polearm guy is fine, though I am annoyed at the lack of differentiation in the tones between the fur, the cloth and the chainmail. The leader was a gigantic pain who got dumped in the paint stripper at least once. He’s the first orc I tried with non-metallic armor and I think it looks fine. He is sort of a weird sculpt with a little too much detail. The decision to make the plates of the armor metallic was at the end, because there was just too much going on and it needed differentiation. Too much leather, too. It would have been more manageable if he were properly a “giant” orc, but he is just moderately taller than the typical guys as you can see.
Second polearm guy also fine. I think his non-metalic armor looks good, but it isn’t differentiated enough from the gray leather. Also disappointed in how the shades of red dried down to be rather too close in tone. Overall, though, I enjoy his loud clothing choices.
To be continued in 2026!
