The Headtaker - MM25 Marauder Orc (1989)

Got this on eBay, who knows when. It was definitely in a bundle. I am not an Orc lover, to be honest, but this figure looked cool. So when Phil Gregory aka oldmanpaints launched his Old Orc competition for Orctober, this is what I found in my lead pile. Literally, the only Orc there was.

I learned only later that this is a Marauder MM25 Orc, sculpted in 1989 by Aly Morrison and sold in a blister of four. I love the heavy armour that defines Black Orcs, heavy scale hauberk that contrast with the later Middlehammer silly plates with spikes and horns. The shield was missing and I decided to play with a couple of Elf heads taken from the GW Zombies sprue, and so the Headtaker was born.

I had lots of fun painting this, mostly because looking at other painters motivated me to improve and experiment. Besides conversion, which is not so common for me, I tried Blood for the Blood God colour with some interesting results. 

 

The final result is a very brutal-looking Orc, displaying the heads of two Elfs, probably captured scouts, while he wields his bloodied axe and offers a bloodied grin. Glorious.