Let's start a conversation about how to differentiate Ork clans beyond the basic clan colours. Let's get deep into the fluff. Throw in your ideas of palettes and techniques for different clans, and explain what motivates your choices and how it relates to the fluff of that clan. Share whatever part of your decision process that interests you. This thread will be for those of us that like getting lost in the details and telling a story with our miniatures.
Here's what I'm running with currently:
As a starting point, Orks have a lot of variety. Browns, tans, greys and black are common for clothes and boots. Clan colours occur as accents. Our model Ork has green skin without hinting to other colours. Ork skin gets darker with increased age, size and power. Grots have significantly lighter skin, with highlights betraying a bit of flesh colour. When I use the phrase "healthy" in reference to skin, I mean by an Ork's standards: Green and propa'
Goffs (Primary: black, seldom used secondary: red)
- The epitome Ork Kultur on the battlefield. They take war somewhat seriously and their image is developed to inspire respect from other orks.
- Liberal use of clan colours (uh, black). It is an unspoken uniform.
- Skin is a deep and pure green, slightly darker than average, representing the natural authority and strength that they possess.
- Saturated and bright colours are undignified.
- Red is simply Khornate Red. It doesn't distract the eye, and is a convenient nod to Khorne, who shares the same values (from me, not to Orks themselves)
- Weapons and metal components will be dirty from use, but not from serious neglect.
- Battle damage present to the degree that is most pragmatic. Broken things get replaced in a Goff warband.
- Sparing use of embellishment; only occasional checkers. I'm unsure of how I feel about dags.
- Somewhat standardized gear. Not that they make an effort in the way Blood Axes do, but their kits undergo a sort of convergent evolution. They all share the goal of krumpin, so they've all figured out how to do that best.
- Stormboyz still in black, but more 'put together' than other boys. Pragmatic tactical dress.
- No face or body paint.
- Occasional tattoos, classy by ork standards. Displays of association to warbands or mobs.
- No hair. Too much muckin' about.
- Grots have the 'average' lighter green grot skin. They are heavily burdened, but through natural selection in a Goff environment, they are decently robust.
Evil Suns (Primary: bright red, secondary: yellow)
- Fundamentally gear-heads. Their passion is in speed, and devote their energy into that passion.
- Liberal use of clan colours and embellishments on vehicles. Average use of clan colours on the orks themselves.
- Skin is lighter, and less saturated, as they do not spend as much mental energy on conventional warfare. Lighter and less saturated green also plays better better against bright and saturated reds.I really like what Waaagh Studios has done here
https://www.thewaaaghstudios.com/articles/tutorial-painting-ork-skin/
- I'm considering mixing a bit of yellow into the latest stages of highlighting. Might be harebrained, but we'll see.
- Reds are bright, saturated, and lovingly polished.
- Embellishments include Yellow flames, and black and white checkers.
- Equipment is extremely oily, but not dirty. These guys obsess over their gear, particularly if it has an engine in it. They will go overboard to make sure it's in prime working condition.
- Battle damage almost non-existent. They'll be cracking the whip on their grot pit crews between battles.
- Occasional personalized red face/body paint
- Occasional tattoos, both personalized and associative.
- Usually without hair, but when it shows up it's brightly coloured (though dirty) and as a mohawk.
- Grots are rather pale, as they are heavily burdened and have less exposure to warfare as their ork masters zoom out with only a few oilers per vehicle.
Kult of Speed
- Frankly I've never even considered putting together a Kult of Speed that
wasn't from the Evil Suns clan. I see a Kult of Speed as Evil Suns that are just even more Evil Suns. If anybody's played with handling this differently I've love to hear about it.
Snakebites (No clan colour. Leathers, fabrics, furs, etc, come in their natural colours or are coloured to individual preference)
- Old school boys. They prioritize ancient Ork Kultur and their roots are deep.
- A hint of deep turquoise in the skin. Still a healthy, saturated green, but maybe with a basecoat of Sotek rather than Caliban green, for instance. The idea is that they're tapped into something ancient and pure. Their lifestyle and diet hints at some kind of energy that the other orks don't have.
- Equipment is well used and dusty while avoiding dilapidation. They don't take pride in the appearance of their gear, it's just gotta work.
- More copper bits than average. They are using older technology.
- Oxidization well present.
- Lots of embellishments. Checkers, dags, icons and glyphs everywhere. Kultur is everything and everywhere. Think of a pakistani truck. Lots of colours, but prevented from becoming garish by reducing saturation. A lot of their inks would be derived from traditional methods and applied by hand. Exact opposite of Evil Sunz and Bad Moons in this regard.
- Various personalized face/body paint
- Various tattoos, personalized and associative
- Hair shows up in various ways,
- Grots have saturated, healthy greeen skin, as Snakebits grots are the strongest and well-raised grots in Orkdom.
Feral Orks
- I would treat them as Snakebites with the following differences:
- Healthy, but slightly lighter skin. As a whole, Feral Orks are young, whether as individuals or as a tribe. They are fresh.
- No 'traditional' embellishments. As Feral Orks are isolated and living in more Darwinian circumstances, they are separated from tradition in the form of Ork Kultur. Any culture they do develop will be unique to that tribe, and minimal in form. To develop culture is a luxury that they do not have.
- Any embellishments would be derived from the natural world (this really is a modeling thing rather than a painting thing)
- Face and Body paint would only be one or two colours, likely white, black or brown. Pigment is technology; they'll figure out some basics, then put efforts into other things (like figuring out how to use a bolter)
- No hair. This is kind of reaching deep into the lore, but Ork hair at one time was hair-squigs. Totally stupid idea, but there it is. Hair squigs are the product of selective breeding, so they would not show up on the heads of Feral Orks.
- Grots would also have very healthy green grot skin. They are still subservient to Orks, but on a biological and psycological level, there is way less grind in a Feral tribe. The relationship is a naturally occurring symbiosis, rather than an acknowledged, rigidly enforced systematic oppression.
Bad Moons (Primary: Bright yellow. Secondary: Black. Occasional use of Red or Blue on a unit-by-unit basis)
- Prideful, overconfident, tacky, garish.
- Average use of clan colours and embellishments on the rank and file, Nobs and powerful characters go overboard with it.
- 'Average' green skin. While they aren't as 'stuck in' to combat as other orks, they do think highly of themselves, and given ork psyche-physiological connection, this compensates.
- Gear is clean, shiny and in good working order. Even the grots' gear.
- I'm thinking Ironbreaker, rather than Leadbelcher is the starting point for metal
- Lots of gold, particularly on personal armor and equipment, rather than vehicles. It's about displaying wealth.
- Lots of personal expression in the gear. Armor and guns are very individualized.
- Teeth highlighted all the way up to white. Badmoons are who they are because they grow and replace teeth quickly. Therefore their teeth would not have time to become stained and yellow.
- Lots of embellishments. Black flames, checkers of black, red or dark blue on yellow, icons and glyphs of all colours. Badmoons think they are classy, but they aren't.
- Virtually no face/body paint
- few tattoos.
- Grots have a decently healthy green to them. They are heavily burdened, but the pride, over confidence and lavish lifestyle of their masters rubs off on them.
Freebooters (???)
- As Freebooters have recently been bumped from occasionally-occurring mercenaries to full-status clan in the lore, there's not much to go off of. I'd love to hear if anybody has been actually kitting out any non-Flash Gitz units as Freebooters, and how they're doing it. At the present I don't have any units on the list to be done up as Freebooters, so
- Freebooters have a strong association with Bad Moons, so there could be something to play with there
- Purple could be a good primary colour, as it's not found anywhere else in Orkdom and it's a traditional colour of royalty, which suits the self-made nature of Freebooter wealth.
- Disregarding checkers and dags for stripes would be a great embellishment.
- Freebooter Grots would be very similar to Badmoon Grots.
Blood Axes (traditional military colours adapted for situation)
- Prudent, resourceful, pragmatic, tactical, military minded.
- Clan colours applied tactically, each mob sharing the same scheme.
- The lightest and most desaturated of greens, with even a hint of flesh tone in the highlights, like we often see on grots. They are the most distant from any notion of Ork Kultur, and everybody is aware.
- No personal embellishments.
- Standardized equipment. Only officers have kustom items.
- The only bright colours to be seen are on symbols that related to military hierarchical systems. Badges, rank indicators, etc; they are tools of communication.
- Stormboyz colours in 'dress uniform' (I'm planning on copying the 2nd ed template)
- Tactical face/body paint when necessary.
- Any tattoos are associative to the squad.
- Palest and most 'fleshy' of grots. Deathskull grots are functionally the closest thing to a human that can be found among greenskins.
Death Skulls (primary: blue, secondary: white,
- Resourceful, underhanded, creative, scientists and engineers, superstitious, highly individualized
- Liberal use of clan colours everywhere, it's lucky, after all.
- Skin has a lot more brown in it, using washes. Deathskulls are looters, which means they aren't afraid to do dirty work which other clans might leave to the grots.
- Skin is not as dark or saturated as other clans, they have creative and technical aspirations.
- Embellishments of all kinds. Checkers, dags, skullls, bones, icons and glyphs.
- Gear is oily, dirty, oxidized. Work in progress is a perpetual state. Brand new pieces are beside rusted wrecks.
- Battle damage is common, especially where function has been re-purposed.
- Lots of metal colours. Bronze, Copper, leadbelcher through to Runefang. Deathskulls use a variety of materials.
- Lots of blue face/body paint and tattoos. Personalized and associative.
- Grot skin is healthy but dirty. Grots are more likely to find personal purpose in a Deathskull clan, as the numerous Meks and Painboys need teams that they can somewhat rely upon.
That's all I got.
For me this is a living document, I'll develop along with the painting. Throw in your ideas, argue mine, whatever lights your fire. I just want to read your ideas.
