ORKTOBER

Orktober only comes once a year, so it’s best to take advantage of the pumpkin spice-scented, green-tinted, rabble-rousing orkish energy while it lasts. Caught up in the mighty WAAAGH!, the spirit of Gork (or maybe Mork) has wormed its way within The Army Painter and lit a ‘propa orky fire within our minds.

18 individuals emerged from their green stupor with glorious, miniature representations of the greatest species to grace any fictional universe known to man—the orc(k)!

Don your thinking-squig and peruse the entries below before voting on your favourite at the bottom to let us know who’s going to emerge the victor in the most well-mannered orc-based competition this side of the fighting pits. WAAAGH!

VOTE NOW
I really wanted to paint a bust, and this seemed like a great opportunity to try one out. I primed the model in Oak Brown, then I used a mix of Angel Green and Scarab Green as a basecoat with a makeup sponge. A great tip for doing stone or dark crystals is the John Blanche Turnbull Turquoise—it’s such a versatile paint.
I’m a big fan of Halloween, and for me, October is prime spooky time, so what better way to celebrate Orktober than by combining the two? This trio of orc-ish zombies were primarily painted with a zenithal prime and then a bunch of Speedpaints, before layering up with Warpaints Fanatic. You can’t forget a liberal splash of Dried and True Blood as well!
I painted Viv from one of my favourite books: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree! She's a retired adventurer who has a dream of opening a coffee shop. I had fun blending five different greens to find the right hue for her orc-y skin and building it up in thin layers.
I have always imagined a sneaky git coming up from a pool of water in a very kunnin' way. Who better for the job than Boss Snikrot!For this effect, I knew I would need a resin pour. I am pleased with the result, but also acknowledge that some mistakes were made. These are all lessons that I take with me for my next resin pour project. Sometimes you have to go out of your comfort zone and accept that mistakes will happen, that way you can continue to push your limits and find new and fun ideas for future projects!
Continuing my Speedpaint journey, I painted this Ork Nob almost entirely with Speedpaint after undercoating with Brainmatter Beige. I used Orc Skin for the skin, Crusader Skin for the cloth and Hardened Leather for the shoes, belts, trim and pouches. I used Broadsword Silver for the metal and Slaughter Red for the eyes. Finally, I gave it a wash of thinned-down Dark Tone to mute the colours and used Resplendent Red for the chipped armour colour.
This is my first ever Ork – going back to basics as a beginner influenced me to test out different colours and paint – so welcome to the native ork.
I painted a Paul Bonner orc from the Board game Zombicide Green Horde. I used Satchel Brown Speedpaint on the shoulder horns, on his fur cloak and on the chainmail.
I recently picked up miniature painting again – starting with my favourite - orcs! Orktober seemed like the right time. This fella’s been unpainted on my desk for years… talk about being left in the dark green.
This ork is the third mini I’ve ever painted, brought to life with Warpaint Fanatic, SpeedPaint, and Washes. He lost an eye in a duel with a rival ork wielding a live rabbit, and ever since, he’s been purple with rage - WAAAGH!!!
I recently found my old Warhammer Fantasy Orcs and Goblins army from around 20-25 years ago, and for Orktober, I decided to repaint one of my old Orcs to my current standard to have a display of how much I've learned since then. And let's be honest, the quality of and options for paint have also improved a lot since then!
As a rookie painter, this is my fourth mini ever painted. I am a bit of a sports fanatic, so a Blood Bowl orc was the way to go. The mini is my attempt to paint my favourite football team, the L.A. Chargers. Bolt up!
My Orktober entry is not really an Ork, but a Grot who wants to be an Ork. Ever jealous of the cool Deffkopta ork pilots, this brave soul has built his own kopta and sets out to make his contribution to the Waaagh!
For Orktober i chose to paint an Orruk Warclans Killaboss Zagnog. I chose this mini because it reminded me of the Lord of the Rings orks! I used Warpaints Fanatic Greenskin for the basecoat on the skin, then I highlighted with Wild Green.
I chose the classic Orc Shaman model by Brian Nelson as it is my all-time favourite Orc sculpt, and I jumped at the opportunity to paint it for this Orktober. I went for a darker, grittier look for him, with a lot of purples and reds mixed into his skin to give him a bit of life.
For this year, I had to dial down my ambitions, but I still wanted to take part in the fun!I painted this quick orc bust, trying to stick to a very simple and warm palette - It's a good exercise to paint with a limited palette once in a while - it's a great way of exploring the versatility of the Fanatic range
As a less experienced painter surrounded by AMAZING painters with GALACTIC ambitions here at The Army Painter, I chose an (for me) ambitious mini with the Orc on a boar from Black Sun Miniatures. Using a combination of our Speedpaints along with our Speedpaint Markers allowed me to realise the original vision I had, including adding the drama I saw possible along the way. I LOVED it and have bought the exact same Orc again to start over, but in a different direction to celebrate Orktober properly.
The distinction between the orc skin and the troll hide, which are both green, was a fun challenge on this model. I kept the orc’s skin a warm green and painted the troll hide in the Desaturated Cool Green Flexible Triad and shaded this with purple to match the scales on the back. The orange of the crab and claw was further contrasted with blue on the clothing of the orc. I've never really done much with Speedpaint for basing, but this was really easy with white painted sand and Ruddy Fur overtop
My Ironjawz needed a second foot Warboss, so I dug this one out of the vault. My Ironjawz are themed around reusing Stormcast armour, but only once they’ve beaten it into a suitably orky shape.
GREENSKIN STARTS HERE

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