Help me catalog this Citadel Orc?

Tartar Sauce

Tartar Sauce

Serf
Hope this is an OK spot to post this. Im pretty sure there's a few Orc collectors around here so I was hoping maybe somebody can help me identify which line this GW Orc falls under.

I've been trying to collect all the Orcs off the 1988 catalog and I picked up this fellow along the way. He's a little different so I assumed he was part of the Ad&d or LOTR lines from the 80's but now that I'm looking into it he doesn't seem to be at all related to either of those lines.

Here's what I can tell- He's definitely a Kevin Adams sculpt, dated 1987 which I think excludes him from the Ad&d and LOTR lines which were done by the Perry's and I think before 1987.

He's not listed in the 1988 catalog nor can I find him any any preceding catalogs or contemporary flyers.

I assume at this point he was released along with the bulk of the Kevin Adam Orcs in 1987 but there are differences- His base says 'ARCHER' rather then 'Orc' as all the other 1985 and 1987 Orcs do. Also he seems to be unique, while most of the 1987 Orcs would have one or two brothers with miner differences I haven't been able to identify a similar model.

If anybody can help shed some light on this guy it would be much appreciated.


Was he released along with the rest of the Citadel Orcs, Is he cataloged somewhere, does anybody else own one, are there more like him?

orcarcher1_zps8a10e92b.jpg

"ARCHER"

orcarcherback_zps8ed5e832.jpg

"GW 1987"

orcarchers_zps98f12751.jpg

He's a nice beefy chap, stands about a head taller then most other Orcs.



http://solegends.com/citcat1988/index.htm
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniature ... d_Original
http://www.solegends.com/rsadd/add53/index.htm
 
I'm doing some research on this figure at the moment - what I believe you have there is an unreleased harboth Orc archer. I'll update you once I've done more research
 
A noble pursuit, and one that I'm sharing. Nice find, would love to have one. Never seen it before. Hope Steve can find some info on him.
 
IIRC I bought a similar (not identical) one on ebay some time ago, but it's now somewhere in my stripping jar
As soon as I'll find it I'll take a pic to compare
IIRC (again) I was quite happy with the purchase because I thought it was uncatalogued and quite rare.
I'd happily snap this one off your hand, btw :grin:
 
Citadel Collector":1rapaibq said:
I think there are a couple of other variants. I need to get this sorted...
Click to expand...

Hello, Steve.
as a newcomer, let me say I really appreciate your in-depth knowledge of all things citadel

I apologize to the OP for hi-jacking the thread, but while we're on the subject of little known orcs, would it be possible to find out something about the variants of this guy, as well?
orc.JPG


I'm sure that at least another three sculpts based on his body were made (they show up in a regiment pictured in WD 136 and in WHFB 3rd ed, too, but you have to look closely), all of them sporting the halberd of the alternate wyvern rider from the boxed set, but with 3 different heads (one from a musician, one from a champion, the third similar to harboth's one, but with a different face)..I'll try to post a pic of them.

I've NEVER seen those guys in any catalogue and I can say I started browsing ebay in order to get hold of them, to no avail.
I think it would be possible to make two of them out of the bits from various commonly available sculpts, but I'd prefer getting an original one.
 
Tex":2nwi3m2a said:
Citadel Collector":2nwi3m2a said:
I think there are a couple of other variants. I need to get this sorted...
Click to expand...

Hello, Steve.
as a newcomer, let me say I really appreciate your in-depth knowledge of all things citadel

I've NEVER seen those guys in any catalogue and I can say I started browsing ebay in order to get hold of them, to no avail.
I think it would be possible to make two of them out of the bits from various commonly available sculpts, but I'd prefer getting an original one.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words Tex, and the orcs you refer to above do indeed exist as unreleased variants. Yet more blogging for me to get around to! :roll: :grin:
 
Tex":3cd38lce said:
Citadel Collector":3cd38lce said:
I think there are a couple of other variants. I need to get this sorted...
Click to expand...

Hello, Steve.
as a newcomer, let me say I really appreciate your in-depth knowledge of all things citadel

I apologize to the OP for hi-jacking the thread, but while we're on the subject of little known orcs, would it be possible to find out something about the variants of this guy, as well?


I'm sure that at least another three sculpts based on his body were made (they show up in a regiment pictured in WD 136 and in WHFB 3rd ed, too, but you have to look closely), all of them sporting the halberd of the alternate wyvern rider from the boxed set, but with 3 different heads (one from a musician, one from a champion, the third similar to harboth's one, but with a different face)..I'll try to post a pic of them.

I've NEVER seen those guys in any catalogue and I can say I started browsing ebay in order to get hold of them, to no avail.
I think it would be possible to make two of them out of the bits from various commonly available sculpts, but I'd prefer getting an original one.
Click to expand...


Are these the WD #136 Orcs you're referring to?
wd136orcs2_zps0082d843.jpg


I would lean towards those being conversions of the Dog-Cart Orc, as noted the two heads looks like strait head swaps. But Kevin only knows, they could un-released variants.

I wonder if those Orcs in the picture are in Bryan Ansell's collection, the banner looks like something he would hang on to.
 
@Mutantdale
thank you for the welcome
Yes, I know where it comes from (I already own 4 or 5 examples of it, which I'm planning to convert if I won't find the other variants)

@Citadel Collector
thanks for the prompt response: I feared they could be unreleased sculpts, indeed, and therefore rather difficult to get hold of...in case you manage to come by one of them, please remember I've been looking for them since WD136 was published :grin:

@Tartar Sauce
that's the one, thanks!
1st rank - the third L->R
2nd rank - the second L->R
3rd rank - the third R->L
to this day this picture and the one on Ruglud's orcs boxed set keep giving me the best inspiration in painting orcs.
I think these ones are Colin Dixon's paintjobs, as I remember an 'eavy metal article by him featuring the standard bearers: as you can see in the pic posted by Steve, there are actually two orcs holding the staff after losing their weapon...it's a rather simple but effective conversion, which I won't be ashamed to copy
 
Tartar Sauce":2pvxy37r said:
Citadel Collector":2pvxy37r said:
Yes those are the orcs I mean and they are not conversions they are unreleased castings. And yes Bryan does have that orc with banner in his collection:

http://thecitadelcollector.co.uk/zen/in ... tn_011.JPG
Click to expand...

I should be excited to hear there more un-released Orcs around, but alas I am saddened there are yet more Orcs I will never own let alone see in the flesh. :cry:
Click to expand...

I feel your pain...I've been after these variants in particular since that picture was published, go figure :roll:
 
Returning on topic, after digging in my stripping jar I can confirm I own another copy of the orc posted by the OP.
 
At the risk of threadomancy, did anyone manage to get any more info on this orc? I finally got hold of the 'unreleased' casting in a job lot of Harboth's / ORC1 Archers, so I assume it did get some form of release.

I noted there appears to be a mould tear at the casting's neck line, so I'm wondering if the mould / master was defective?

Although the unreleased miniature's horned helm is very similar to the released Harboth, the slotta on the unreleased version states ARCHER which suggests to me that he was rank and file; the fact that he is slightly oversized may have meant the sculpt was rejected on that basis? Or perhaps he was a Kev Adams 'black orc' test sculpt that got shelved?

Have any other varaints of this orc surfaced?
 
Sorry for the mother of all threadomancies, but I have some interesting news ;)

@ A Badger: last week I managed to snap 3 unreleased-looking archers on ebay...I'll take some pic as soon as I'll receive them.
Some time ago I purchased another head variant of the one we were discussing in this thread, for a total of 5 unreleased archers in 2 body variants I've managed to get hold of!
 
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