Greyhawk Grognard just got some pig faced orc miniatures cast from the old Minifigs molds from back in the day. You may recognize them as the same figures featured on page 167 of Dr. Holmes' book "Fantasy Role Playing Games." In the book, they are set up in an Atlantic Hobby "Pharaoh's Palace" model, probably from Dr. Holmes' own collection.
http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2014/09/pig-faced-orcs.html
Holmes has an interesting take on these orcs: "The Minifig orcs, being officital D&D orcs, carry the most bizarre weapons, for one of Gary Gygax' many areas of expertise is medieval weaponry. The D&D books list the combat die-rolls for the flail, the guisarme, the fauchard-fork, the glaive, the halberd, the morning star, the bastard sword, the spetum and the voulge... The Minifig orcs are armed with a variety of such weapons, most of which are weird and dangerous cutting, thrusting, and hammering things on the end of long poles."
ReplyDelete"Another unique thing about these particular orcs is that they have pig faces. Some D&D fans have complained about this, although the artist Tim Kirk did a Tolkien Calendar one year featuring pig faced orcs, and very ferocious they seemed, too."
ReplyDeletePig faced or no, what do you think?: http://www.tolkiencalendars.com/calPictures/1975/BAL1075.jpg
I dunno, but I remember how thrilling it was to get the little cardboard boxes from the UK with those Minifigs in them. I had a couple of sets of orcs, and the wood elf, high elf, and dwarf ranges. Also lots of figures from their unlicensed Middle Earth range. I still have a few kicking around!
ReplyDeleteMakes sense to me, Zach H. The Tim Kirk image I linked to was from the 1975 calendar. 1976 looks like a much more piggish year.
ReplyDelete