Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Eh, do what you like. In strict, official background terms, Orks have green skin in 40k, but do what you like. The galaxy's a big place, and there are plenty of reasons for things to look different from the "standard". So go with whatever is going to make you have the most fun painting a bunch of them.

It's a big freakin' galaxy. Nothing to say a particular group/cluster of Orks has polluted or modified algae content and it shows up a different colour (side effect of a planet's radiation or local fauna/chemicals/atmosphere).

I prefer ruddy brown orcs...more classic.

I think a dark brown base with tan highlights would look good. Give them some colorful armor to help them stand out.

When i started my Orks several years ago I chose red as my color more or less soley based on this one model i bought from some online-store



Sadly i dont have any current pictures and are to lazy to do some cause those were more the early days of painting for me

Since then I´ve added quite a number of models to my ever increasing Ork Horde and kinda kept with a demonish/rugged looking theme (bright yellow eyes/lights everything else brown/grey/black) and started adding some csm/chaos allies now.

Always get great reception when i unpack them at a store.

There is not much precedent for Demon Orks in the codex fluff but that one story with that band of orks stuck in this khorne-infused nightmare/dream was enough for me to go with it ^^

 Traditio wrote:

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:
Your models. Do what you will.

In fluff, most orks are green - hence greenskins.
HOWEVER, warpaint is a thing, as is the Warp. Another think I've noticed is a few sources (my main one being Gunheads - to my best knowledge) citing larger orks to have nearly brownish skin. If you make your army brownish in colour, I wouldn't have any particular fluff objection.

If it looks good, it looks good. Nuff said.

This. They are literally called "greenskins," "greenbacks." "Green tide" is what you get when a whole bunch of ork infantry decide to WAAAAAAAGH!

It would be like painting my crimson fists in yellow power armor with white helmets...and no differently painted hands.

Bejezus. So what that GW fluff says one thing? Here's a newsflash. GW ain't ruling the world.

His models, he can do whatever he wants with them. He can rewrite fluff for his taste if he wants. All GW does is give THEIR suggestions on how to play. NOTHING they produce is sacred enough players can't tinker with to their hearts content if they want.

Rules, models, fluff, paintschemes, NOTHING WHATSOEVER is set in stone by GW.

Players can do what they want. You have problem with it? Tough. Your problem. Not his.

Davor wrote:
I don't know, just tired of the green all the time. I like how Bloodtrolls in Hordes are blue. I am wondering if full gang (brood, squad?) of orks painted blue would work or not?

I am getting back into 40K, and only have the 4th edition codex of orks. I can't remember if there was fluff for different colour orks and what it means. Do I stick with the green like everyone else? Should I try different colours? Do different colours mean different things?

My wife likes works but since I have to make and paint them and tired of all green, just wondering if there is other alternatives.

Orks are supposed to be green. Not only because its the color of their skin, but also because in Ork culture, green is considered to be the best, and anything not green isn't orky.
That said, Orks have been known to paint themselves different colors to show their clan allegiance; the Dethskulls, for example, tend to use blue warpaint, leaving a bit of skin uncovered to show they are green orks.

.

As you can see, most of their skin is covered by paint. You could use the same rational for your orks, leaving maybe an arm green to provide contrast between the warpaint and skin.


Some 10 years ago there was also a white dwarf article / web article about Orks corrupted by chaos. They had multiple arms and pink / blue skin.

So the tzeentch horrors are actually mutated orks....

This actually makes scary sense.

I did recall the mutated orks looked a lot like horrors, but it didn't flat out say they are one of the same. Not to mention that horrors are supposed to be pure warp energy.

It does, however, give rise to some interesting concepts; maybe horrors-like-demons are one of the end products of mutation, like spawn.
There is a precedence for this in the form of Plague Bearers; iirc, those who die to Nurgle's Diseases are reborn as Plague Demons, and the longer they hold off the ailment the stronger the resultant demon.

Perhaps Tzeentch has similar mechanism, where if you get corrupted and somehow don't become a spawn, you become something similar to a horror. As Orks have sturdier physiologies, perhaps the latter is more likely.

Keep in mind this is all fan nonsense speculation.

Good luck trying to find the images to serve a point of reference; in their infinite wisdom, GW decided to make their webpage a webstore, and deleted all those nice articles, short stories, conversion and painting guides, complete with all the nice pictures.

That reminds me, there was a white dwarf a while back - the release of the most recent Black Templars solo codex iirc - where there was an army on display, "Da Pale Orks". They were a very light shade of blue, having spent most of their existence in a space hulk (again iirc). I'll see f I can't find some photos

Boom Wolf wrote:So the tzeentch horrors are actually mutated orks....

This actually makes scary sense.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
I did recall the mutated orks looked a lot like horrors, but it didn't flat out say they are one of the same. Not to mention that horrors are supposed to be pure warp energy.

It does, however, give rise to some interesting concepts; maybe horrors-like-demons are one of the end products of mutation, like spawn.
There is a precedence for this in the form of Plague Bearers; iirc, those who die to Nurgle's Diseases are reborn as Plague Demons, and the longer they hold off the ailment the stronger the resultant demon.

Perhaps Tzeentch has similar mechanism, where if you get corrupted and somehow don't become a spawn, you become something similar to a horror. As Orks have sturdier physiologies, perhaps the latter is more likely.

Keep in mind this is all fan nonsense speculation.

Good luck trying to find the images to serve a point of reference; in their infinite wisdom, GW decided to make their webpage a webstore, and deleted all those nice articles, short stories, conversion and painting guides, complete with all the nice pictures.

Is this a thing?

Can this actually be a thing?

Could you, in principle, use orks as pink horrors?

Obviously, there would have to be some kind of conversions, kit bashing and painting schemes involved.

Is that a thing, though?

Every bit of that sounds totally awesome.

Go flat out crazy. Just make sure you keep the whole War Band the same color. Prime them burnt Orange. Base coat Fire Red. High light with Fire Orange. Dry brush with a Fire Yellow. Use a Neon Green and Fluorescent/Medium Purple for war ban colors. One figure is all I ask.

 Traditio wrote:

Boom Wolf wrote:So the tzeentch horrors are actually mutated orks....

This actually makes scary sense.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
I did recall the mutated orks looked a lot like horrors, but it didn't flat out say they are one of the same. Not to mention that horrors are supposed to be pure warp energy.

It does, however, give rise to some interesting concepts; maybe horrors-like-demons are one of the end products of mutation, like spawn.
There is a precedence for this in the form of Plague Bearers; iirc, those who die to Nurgle's Diseases are reborn as Plague Demons, and the longer they hold off the ailment the stronger the resultant demon.

Perhaps Tzeentch has similar mechanism, where if you get corrupted and somehow don't become a spawn, you become something similar to a horror. As Orks have sturdier physiologies, perhaps the latter is more likely.

Keep in mind this is all fan nonsense speculation.

Good luck trying to find the images to serve a point of reference; in their infinite wisdom, GW decided to make their webpage a webstore, and deleted all those nice articles, short stories, conversion and painting guides, complete with all the nice pictures.

Is this a thing?

Can this actually be a thing?

Could you, in principle, use orks as pink horrors?

Obviously, there would have to be some kind of conversions, kit bashing and painting schemes involved.

Is that a thing, though?

Every bit of that sounds totally awesome.

Yeh, go for it. Horrors are meant to be creatures made of raw warp energy, so they could theoretically take any form they want. Not to mention that chaos mutation is pretty weird itself.
In the past GW used to condone modelling projects like that. Now they'd rather you buy their stuff as it is from the box.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Brother Payne wrote:
That reminds me, there was a white dwarf a while back - the release of the most recent Black Templars solo codex iirc - where there was an army on display, "Da Pale Orks". They were a very light shade of blue, having spent most of their existence in a space hulk (again iirc). I'll see f I can't find some photos

I might have been thinking of that. The mutated orks I remember were certainly blue, and some had extra arms.
I also recall pink orks, but that may have been something else.

Anyway, people have painted orks colors other than green. Not entirely fluffy, but they look nice.

I would encourage you to paint them something other than green. Mine are all green and I wish I'd been braver to try a different colour.

I've been to a few events as WHW and seen, red orks (deep blood red), red orks (highlighted up to a bright orange like flames) and purple orks (deep purple highlight up to a light blue). Each looked fantastic and I was really envious! Try out a few test models and go for the colour that appeals the most, let the fluff fit your choice rather than feel forced into green. Out of every 100 people you play, 99 will love the uniqueness of your army..

Variety is the spice of life and all that...
I have started an Ork horde painted using a scheme I found on here, green inks over a yellow base coat, giving a traditional look. I like the idea of grey Orks however, maybe they've been eating rocks or something. The broken tooth (literally) clan.

Also, if you support that Orks from 40k were the same species as those from WHFB (when it was still a thing), elite orks could have dark green, nearly to a black, colour. Black Orks in 40k would be awesome.

I think that exists in 40k too.
I vaguely remember reading in one of the ork codices about Orks becoming darker in skin pigmentation the bigger they get.
I think it was 4th ed.

I always found it odd how squigs are red, yet Orks / Grots / Gretchin / Snotlings are green.
Aren't they the same species? Its not a bad thing, just odd.

Strange I thought I remember a few pictures in Rogue Trader and possibly up into 2E of Orcs/Goblins with colors other than green - I seem to recall it was only with 3E they unified the race into "Greenskins".

Okay, screwing on my geek hat really hard... 'er we goh!

"Fer Orks, greun iz da bestest, no arguments or ya git crumped.
But, red iz da bestest color in Ork cultur.
"Go fasta red", our buds da Squigs are red, da bestest guys ter scrap: "Khorn" eben they knowz red iz speciul.
Sum o' da lads loike it so much they paint dimselves red fer luck.
Afta a scrap, der iz so much o' da red stuf it iz easy ter find.
If yer nub covereded in da stuf, ya woz nub scrappin roight anyway.
So greun iz da bestest, but red iz nub bad."

So yeah, some red tattoos are good and will contrast quite strongly.
Evil Sunz fit right in with this color choice plus like flames on their vehicles so if you are into that kind of thing...

A "secondary" contrast is violet and orange if you want to avoid any hint of a Christmas theme.
I have seen Violet tattoos and all leather work or armor with bits of orange: it is awesome to behold.
If you paint all the metal bits the orange you can lean towards a rust look which you can play with in many ways.
Blood Axes like camouflage and many human ways of doing things so rather than tattoos you could paint cameo on their skin and equipment.

Deathskulls usually are painted blue and are the looters and do not like enemy tanks getting blown up: they can be the reason for the fight, they want them!

I think you can have much fun with it and not commit "heresy" in the eyes of your Ork playing brethren.

For Ork background, find yourself a copy of Waaargh! The Orks from 1st edition. It's nothing but background, and nearly all of it's still suitable.

Come up with a reason in-universe for them not being green, or just say that in your 40k, Orks are whatever colour you paint them. This stuff's all made-up anyway, so it's not like your different-coloured Orks are any less made-up than green ones.

The reddish-brown of LotR's Orks would look good, or off-white (like the Goblins from the Hobbit films).

Orks... I paint there flesh green and armour bits the fang and leadbelcher. And i also paint there pants blue and there shirt sometimes. (to give them a jean feeling) And I paint there shirts zandri dust.
Might not help but blue is my ork clan colour

I paint my purple, also I can never seem to find them.

I can think of several fluff reasons for them to be different colors. Maybe pale blue because they've been on a Krooza for years. (Even if that isn't lore friendly, they're your dudes and who cares.) Maybe the planet they sprouted from is volcanic like the Salamanders so they're all dark brown. Actually, in the lore, orks can be varying shades of green, even a dark brown.

If I were to start Orks today, I would paint them up to be wearing jeans and wife-beater shirts. I would portray them as backwater American Southerners. I would come up with a logo that was reminiscent of the Confederate Flag, but not outright the same thing. And I would make it blatantly clear that my army was parody. I might even do something like paint a Trukk lIke the General Lee. I would also get a Creed model and a Chimera and do them up in police colors to represent Boss Hogg. The Orks would be red-skinned.