Army of the Month: Orc Town

For -/28’s first Army of the Month, we have K2’s awesome army, Orc Town, which is oozing with flavor and theme. Big shout out of thanks to K2 for taking time out of his schedule to talk to me, and send me all these amazing pictures, without further delay, here is ORC TOWN!

First, I’d like to thank you for choosing SKULL FACE and ORC TOWN as your premier Army of the Month. It’s a high honor, considering the amazing Kings of War armies, and generals around the world, so thanks to you, and all my fellow New England War Kings (NEWK) members for their support. Indeed, most of what I write below would not have been possible without my friends, that I’m lucky to play every week totaling hundreds of excellent games. Again, I thank you, thank my club mates and thanks very much to Mantic for making such a damn fine game. – Cheers! (K2 is a member of the amazing North Eastern Game club, Warkingz)

Who is Skull Face? -Skull Face is my Orc army’s general. His official title is, SKULL FACE, Supreme Leader, and General of ORC TOWN. I came up with the idea for this benevolent, Orc dictator, after meeting fellow NEWK member, Ron Ricci, who, whenever playing his goblin army, assumes the persona, “Da Great Khan of the Mungdroolian Empire.” If you ever get to play Ron, his enthusiasm for his goblins is infectious, and you can’t help but get into the spirit of his pseudo Mongolian goblin culture.

When 2^nd edition dropped, like most of us at the time, I was looking for a replacement to Warhammer Fantasy Battle; so I started playing Kings of War. At the time, I was playing my very tired Empire army, that I shoddily converted to League of Rhodia; and upon meeting Ron’s Mungdrools I saw the opportunity, in this new game, to cut ties to the old Warhammer World, and start a new army; with its own characters and legend. Skull Face was the first hero model I put together for my Orc army, that I named ORC TOWN.

Model wise, Skull Face is unremarkable, a simple kit bash of Age of Sigmar Orruk Riders kit, Warhammer Boar boy, and some unknown WFB Ogre pewter sword. I took the skull glyph from the Orruk rider kit, shaved it down carefully to fit over the face of a Boar Boy’s helmeted head, and pinned the pewter Ogres.

I wanted to emulate the look of General Kael, from the movie Willow. I always thought, as far as skull masked helmets go, Kael’s was the most bad ass. (Great character to reference to!- Editor) I remember joking to myself in my most cartoonishly evil voice “SKULL FACE!!! the most feared Orc warlord in all the world,” kind of like a kid playing with action figures – we all do that right?

Skull Face, in game, is usually played as my Mounted Krudger or Gakamak. The fluff behind my army started in earnest, during the Edge of the Abyss campaign; my club got really into it. We played the whole campaign, meeting every Wednesday evening, at our beloved local game store, “Game Night”, in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. The EoA experience table mechanic was perfect for making the hero my fledgling orcs needed, and as you can guess, I spent every experience point possible on Skull Face. Eventually, he had stats and abilities that surpassed even Gakamak, and was working small miracles for Orc Town. He became nigh unstoppable. Numerous times he would be cornered by some huge dragon or demon, only to see these enemies fluff their rolls, and be slain by SF’s mighty blade!

 During the week, when we were not playing the campaign, my club mates and I would constantly rib each other, on FaceBook, and I took to making memes illustrating the previous weeks triumphs, of Skull Face over Orc Town’s enemies. While the Edge of the Abyss campaign has long been concluded, I never stopped making the memes, which now number in the hundreds. (And are sprinkled throughout this article- Editor) 

Having a BA in Russian Studies, many of these Orc Town memes naturally are adapted from old Soviet style agitprop, that have evolved into a full-blown personality cult of Skull Face, permeating every aspect of Orc Town culture.

 Like the former USSR under Stalin, or the PRC under Mao, these regimes often portrayed their leaders, as being capable of superhuman feats and unrivaled intelligence. In North Korea for example, Kim  Il-Sung penned twelve lengthy volumes on his Ideology of Juche. Skull Face and Orc Town similarly have the collected volumes of THE SKULL FACT. Where Juche is the teachings and exploits of Kim Il-Sung; The SKULL FACT is the exploits of Skull Face, and his teachings of MOTGA. MOTGA being the admittedly unoriginal slogan “Make Orc Town Great Again.” It is meant to be shouted orcishly “MOTGA!!!”

The Skull Fact tells the story of when SF was finally killed by a club mate’s triple Flame Belcher attack, and SF rolled a ONE on the injury table, making him not just dead, but permanently dead in the campaign. I was so upset, that the next day I posted a photo of Skull Face’s funeral; with a procession of grieving Orc Town citizens paying their last respects.

But I wasn’t going to ditch Skull Face, I didn’t have another model after all. So, the next day I posted a photo, that puts SF in hell, fighting legions of demons single handed.

Then the 2^nd day I posted SF, on a giant throne, in hell, to illustrate that SF had conquered hell, in a day.

Blasphemously, on the 3^rd day, posted a picture of SF coming out of a tomb resurrected. Hence why SF is conveniently immortal. When SF dies in game, he goes to hell, catches up with old buds, and returns via his personal staircase, that happens to exit through the entrance of Lenin’s Mausoleum in Red Square – Now that Orc Town has a leader incapable of death, the orcs have undergone a renaissance, since there are no longer needless power struggles, and squabbling among the ranks. Every orc knows if you kill Skull Face he always returns meaner and badder!

This has been the brief explanation of Skull Face, Orc Town, and the Skull Fact. There are more characters within Orc Town, such as SF’s trusty sidekick, “Prime Minister Orcling,” as well as Orc Town’s Secret Police Boss “Stogie McStoags,” but that may have to wait for another retelling of the Skull Fact.  I can’t stress how much I have enjoyed playing my orcs over the past two years, and sharing this crazy cooked up story with all of you. I know Orc Town fluff is not always made in good taste, and can be insensitive to the history, and culture it spoofs, but I hope people find it as I do, strangely adorable.

Yours in MOTGA,

                                        Kenneth Heisler, Jr. aka K-2, aka….

SKULL FACE, Supreme Commander and General of ORC TOWN.

NEWK