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Considering that they are a fungus that spans the galaxy, are there red, blue, white, spotted, stripped, thin ones, fat ones, ones with multiple arms or heads? maybe one withs things growing out of them? some with larger limbs than others? anything? cause they all just seem to be green guys that range from big to biggerer.

why not, if you're looking for a fun new way to paint your orks, the only reason you ever need is simply that they are orks.

Well all Orkses knows dat green is da best colour so dey beat the snot of out all da purply Orkses because dey aint Orky enough! And dem purply spotty wunz knows it too!

Orks seem to be pretty uniform, over both time and space. Maybe this is because the race was engineered? Reliability is a desirable characteristic in a tool. The Old Ones probably did not want natural "flaws" (such as genetic mutation) to interfere with their creation. It may also explain Orks are seemingly impervious to Chaos.

You used to get ork chaos mutants and ork genestealer hybrids many years ago

Gorkamorka is another Example of Orkish evolution

In 'Gorkamorkan Society' it is the Meks who lead not the Nobs


but there is nothing to say something local could effect pigmentation of Ork Biology.. while the Vast majority of Orks are Green.. somewhere there could be a planet whose local conditions make Blue Orks

The 3rd edition rulebook featured a note on Orkish variations in the section featuring line drawings of various xenos races.

Hmm, squigs have all kinds of colours and they are related to Orks. I'm not opposed to the idea. It could also be a snakebites clan with a habit of extraordinary warpaint.

In the novel "gunheads" the orks are brown. The reason for this is that they've adopted to something in the atmosphere on the planet. If you feel like paiingnt your orks brown, red or pink then go nuts.

 Nerak wrote:
In the novel "gunheads" the orks are brown. The reason for this is that they've adopted to something in the atmosphere on the planet. If you feel like paiingnt your orks brown, red or pink then go nuts.

Now there's an excelletn fluff justification: The Orks have adapted.

(now imagining a Cybork with a laser eye)
"Youz will be Assimlatid. Your kulturz will be krumped to service us."

The adaption angle seems thin to me. Orks are very specifically "pre-adapted" for anything they might face. The most famous example is probably their inherent understanding of the tech they need to fight. General resistance (immunity?) to disease seems to be another. Standard disclaimer stands: anyone is free to paint their own toy soldiers however they see fit.

There are many strains of Orkoids.

Orks, Grots, Snotlings, actual fungal growths, Squigs, Squiggoths, etc... All are different strains of the same species.

They're all orkoids. But an Ork is not a Squiggoth is not a Grot, etc.

Manchu wrote:
The adaption angle seems thin to me. Orks are very specifically "pre-adapted" for anything they might face. The most famous example is probably their inherent understanding of the tech they need to fight. General resistance (immunity?) to disease seems to be another. Standard disclaimer stands: anyone is free to paint their own toy soldiers however they see fit.

one could use this bit of fluff to your painting benefit. They may be pre-adapted, but the color change may be part fo that process. They get hit with J radiation, they automatically generate compound X to counteract, which has the side effect of changing their exterior skin color, etc.

Just a nice method to incorporate a person's preferential paint scheme via fluff.

It would seem much like flora an ork would adapt to fit whatever color would best utilize the local sun. That likely means green on human worlds, but hey on this odd planet of ____ the sun is ____ so they adapted to blue with pink pokedots, boom done.

I know that the teef of bad moons orks grow faster, and that snakebites are supposed to be poison-resistant.

As for finding excuses to paint your orks different colors, there are always the death skulls who paint themselves with blue warpaint.

 G00fySmiley wrote:
It would seem much like flora an ork would adapt to fit whatever color would best utilize the local sun. That likely means green on human worlds, but hey on this odd planet of ____ the sun is ____ so they adapted to blue with pink pokedots, boom done.

Except they are fungus-animal hybrids and dont rely on the sun unlike plants. They are canonically universally green because of this.


I'm not saying that the OP can't paint his Orks any colour he likes, just that canonically, Orks are green, period, and there's a reason behind it. Sure there are variations on that green, but always green. If fact, its deeply tied to status, culture and psychology. The more green, the more Orky. If a pink Ork ran into a green Ork, the green ork wouldn't even recognise the pink as a propa Ork.

There are a few different versions of orks. At the very least, there are other colors of orks.

For example, in Gunheads (or another IG book.) the Orks are described as being a dark brown or orangey green due to the extreme arid conditions they lived in which had a lot of ultra fine red dust (imagine Red Mars dust, but so insanely fine that it can actually get into your blood stream through skin contact).

Beyond that, I'm sure its possible. Its one of those great things about 40k. Its so massive and open that (almost) anything can be possible.
I saw a conversion that was a Hulk Toy covered in Ork armor to play as a Ork Knight Titan. Giant Titan Orks are possible (again, its so open ended its practically saying "there is nothing saying it can't happen")

I think there is mention of Grey or "faded green" Orks in some places, but I can't recall from where.

One of the players here runs albino orks!