Children of Mordor

The biggest warband in Castle Meatgrinder must be the ravening horde of orcs.  You can get an even two dozen of these bad boys from Splintered Light for twenty bucks.  And these figures pretty well match the style of those in the Jim Roslof artwork on the cover of B2: Keep on the Borderlands.

The green skins might surprise some readers.  Most old-school painters go with the reddish to ochre skin of later editions.  According to the Moldvay canon, orcs look like "a combination of animal and man," with no mention of skin color.  Not only does the green skin adhere to the color picture on the cover of the B2 module, it's really the best choice from an artistic standpoint.  It provides plenty of contrast against the brown leather armor that dominates the garb of these figures.

 

And just for reference for those of you who, like me, mix manufacturers, here's a comparison shot of a bunch of different ones.

From left to right you're looking at:

• Ral Partha Europe Dwarf (15mm)
• Ral Partha Europe Elf (15mm)
• Splintered Light Thief (15mm)
• Splintered Light Orc with Spear (15mm)
• Splintered Light Orc with Axe (15mm)
• Pendraken Minotaur (10mm)
• Pendraken Ogre (10mm)
• Pendraken Ratman (10mm)
• Pendraken Lizardman (10mm)