Absolutely, for me at least… There have many iterations but nothing says Orc like the classic illustrations from the early D&D and AD&D books from the 1970’s (The Holmes Basic D&D book and the various Advanced D&D ‘Manuals’ feature classic illustrations). And I’m not alone. Forget about the bizarre things Peter Jackson created for his Lord Of The Rings trilogy (and the goblins, what the heck!). Even as a Kiwi who loves the movies some key aspects just don’t ring true to the books for me (the Orcs & Goblins and Uruk-Hai among them). Or for that matter the abominations Games Workshop/Warhammer and others have tried to foist onto people (oh, and it’s Orc not Ork), no Pig-Faced Orcs are the one true Orc.

Origin Of The Pig-Faced Orc

Gary Gygax (perhaps infamously) claimed that the pig-faced version of an Orc was the result of yet another miscommunication with his artists (to paraphrase James Maliszewski here); but I suspect he would have seen any illustrations before publishing. He was very passionate about D&D and was very imaginative, but one suspects not the most organised and not always consistent? One can easily image pig-faced Orcs being de rigueur one day and then not the next. There’s also a fascinating speculation about the origin of pig-faced orcs in this “Orcs in Disneyland… of the pig-faced variety of course” post (at the Realm of Zhu blog). As an aside back to the initial comment about Gary Gygax and his illustrators:

(Original) D&D implies that goblins and kobolds are the same creatures, the only difference being that kobolds are weaker physically. While I like the scaly dog-men versions of kobolds a great deal, Gary often said that that version was, like so many other D&D monsters, based on a miscommunication between himself and the illustrator, Dave Sutherland. Gary originally envisaged kobolds as evil wizened, gnome-like creatures, as in German folklore.

James Maliszewski’s Grognardia blog

Pig-Faced Orcs Are The One True Orc Modelling Inspiration

Orcs appear particularly disgusting because their colouration – brown or brownish green with a bluish sheen – highlights their pinkish snouts and ears. Their bristly hair is dark brown or black, sometimes with tan patches. Even their armor tends to be unattractive – dirty and often a bit rusty. Orcs favour unpleasant colors in general. Their garments are in tribal colors, as are shield devices or trim.

AD&D Monster Manual, 1977 – Gary Gygax

Hhhmm, as an aside, if the pig-faced illustrations is an error, how come the descriptions above match the illustration? And these were either done by Gary Gygax or vetted by him for the Monster Manual? No I suspect he really did intend Orcs to be pig-faced but later back tracked when questioned about it.

In my quest for 25mm pig-faced Orc figures for my OSR (Old School Revival) D&D gaming I’ve drawn inspiration from a couple of blogs and painters. Firstly Spooktalker‘s “Belched From The Depths” blog and the brilliant efforts to convert old 1970’s/early-1980’s Grenadier and similar orcs into ‘pig-faced’ varieties. You can see the results in the picture below. Check out these 2 posts: The pig-face orcs that never were and Pig-face Orc Shaman. While I won’t be doing this (custom modifying non-pig-faced Orc figures), these are still great inspiration.

Secondly the painters of the Pig-Faced Orcs on the Otherworld Miniatures website (more of this below). And thirdly Matthew Sullivan’s work illustrated on his Pig Faced Orcs: Off the Endangered Species List post. Note a couple of other manufacturers used to make pig-faced orcs (incl. Foundry) but there is no evidence of them now.

My 25mm Pig-Faced Orcs

The original Pig-Faced Orc Figures as far as I can tell were the Mini-Figs ones (1977 approx.) and these are the ones I am starting out with. Examples of them are in the image below, they are available via Caliver Books at the Mini-Figs UK Website. In my mind these most closely match what they should look like to me based on the D&D illustrations from the 1970’s and early 1980’s (especially those of David Sutherland and later Doug Chaffee).

The other (and from what I can see only other) option is Otherworld Miniatures (the figures date from around 2007) – they do some fantastic classic AD&D Monster Manual stuff, including Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears, Gnolls and of course Pig-Faced Orcs! There ones are slightly different to the Mini-Figs ones, and for my mind a little too ‘snarly’ but they are great and I am planning to use a few to add variety (and extra leaders) to my Mini-Figs ones; plus provide a small contingent of Orc ‘Boar-Riders’!

In Conclusion

I love pig-faced orcs, they are the quintessential D&D bad guys and what orcs should be! Pig-faced orcs are the one true orc, and they are synonymous with My Old School Revival of D&D; and classic Adventure Modules like B2 The Keep On The Borderlands. Hopefully in early 2022, and not too many months distant from now, I will post a follow up with my painting progress.

For more on Pig-Faced Orcs see also these blogs and websites:

• Pig Faced Orcs! at the Greyhawk Grognard (some other useful info here).
• Of Goblins and Pig-Faced Orcs (James Maliszewski’s Grognardia blog)
• Doug Chaffee gave us pig-faced orcs several times in the (AD&D) 2e period (Old School FRP on Tumblr) – includes a fantastic colour illustration of Pig-Faced Orcs assaulting a castle!
• Pig Faced Orcs: Off the Endangered Species List (Oldenhammer in Toronto blog) – some beautiful Otherworld pig-faced Orc paint jobs in this post by Matthew Sullivan!
• Orcs in Disneyland… of the pig-faced variety of course (Realm of Zhu blog)

P.S. Dungeons & Dragons Heroes’ Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook features a recipe for Orc Bacon – so on that note I rest my case!