Ruglud's Armoured Orcs – Classic Citadel Miniatures and Chaos Dwarf Armour

Painting Ruglud's Armoured Orcs

I've finally got around to finishing my unit of Ruglud's Armoured Orcs, one of the classic Citadel Regiments of Renown for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. These are characterful old miniatures with a great backstory, and I wanted to do something a little different with their armour rather than paint them in the usual Orc colours.

Ruglud's Armoured Orcs, classic Citadel miniatures for Warhammer Fantasy Battle, painted with blue Chaos-inspired armour.

The story on the back of the original box explains how Ruglud and his Orcs stumbled across a huge room full of dead Dwarfs.

As the Orcs put it:

"Spiky Stunties an' reg'lar ones... wiped each uvver out..."

In other words, the Dwarfs had been fighting the Chaos Dwarfs, and the two sides had all but destroyed one another. Naturally, Ruglud's Orcs saw an opportunity to help themselves to the spoils.

I liked the idea that the armour worn by the regiment had originally belonged to the Chaos Dwarfs. Rather than painting it in a conventional Orc style, I decided to use a colour scheme inspired by the Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch.

From left to right- Maggot, Gudruk, Ruglud and Bambrag

A Tzeentch-Inspired Colour Scheme

I already have quite a few Orc units painted in black, so I wanted to try something different for Ruglud's Armoured Orcs. The Tzeentch-inspired colours seemed appropriate for armour looted from the battlefield, and they gave me an excuse to experiment with a palette I hadn't really used on my Orcs before.

I'm not entirely convinced by the finished result, though!

There's an old saying that blue and green should never be seen together, and looking at the unit, I can see why it came to mind. I wanted the armour to look unusual and distinctive, but I'm not sure the colours work quite as well together as I'd hoped.

Perhaps it'll grow on me. Alternatively, I might revisit the unit and repaint the armour one day. That's one of the advantages of collecting and painting miniatures over many years: there's always the opportunity to go back and try something different.

For now, at least, they're finished and ready to join the rest of my Orc army.

Ruglud – The Orc with the Stuck Helmet

One slightly confusing thing about Ruglud's Armoured Orcs is that the regiment is named after its champion, Ruglud himself. He's the Orc carrying the two-handed sword, but he's not necessarily the model you'd pick out first from the unit.

Ruglud the Orc leader with his distinctive squashed face and helmet.

The story on the back of the box explains why his head looks so peculiar. Ruglud once managed to get his head stuck inside a helmet, leaving his face squashed up and his eyes squeezed almost shut.

The accompanying story has a wonderfully ridiculous punchline:

"The tribe feasted upon Goblin-flesh long into the night - all except for Ruglud, who couldn't get his helmet off, and was reduced to sucking broth through a straw."

The Banner – Looted Dwarf and Chaos Dwarf Trophies

I wanted the banner to tell the same story as the armour. If Ruglud's Orcs had looted their equipment from a battlefield littered with dead Dwarfs and Chaos Dwarfs, it seemed reasonable that they'd have taken the standards as well.

Standard bearer Maggot and Gudruk

I made the banner by combining a Dwarf banner with a Chaos banner, effectively stitching the two together. It gives the regiment a suitably improvised appearance, as though the Orcs have cobbled together a new standard from whatever they could carry away.

I also added Goblin trophies, which tie in with the background on the original box describing the Orcs' encounters with Mountain Goblins.

These little details are what I enjoy most about painting older Warhammer miniatures. The models already have plenty of character, but a bit of thought about their background can help bring the whole unit together. Rather than simply painting a collection of armoured Orcs, I wanted mine to look like a band of warriors who had scavenged their equipment from the remains of a bloody battle.

A Classic Oldhammer Regiment of Renown

Ruglud's Armoured Orcs remain one of those classic Citadel units that are full of personality. Between Ruglud's unfortunate helmet, the looted Chaos Dwarf armour and the improvised banner, there's plenty of character to work with.

I'm still undecided about the blue and green colour scheme, and I may yet repaint the armour. What do you think? Does the unusual colour combination work, or would you have gone for something different?

I'd be interested to hear how other Oldhammer collectors approach these classic Regiments of Renown, particularly when it comes to using the miniatures' original background to inspire a paint scheme.