"HAVOK miniatures rules" Topic

At least one manufacturer offers a line of half-orcs. (Jacobite)

Which implies there are enough half-orcs that someone can organize them into fighting units or even entire armies.

Now, in the usual way of fantasy, I would assume that half-orcs are more human and less Orcish. If you think Orcs are weak, then half-Orcs are stronger; if you think Orcs are big and strong, then half-Orcs are weaker. And I would think that half-orcs are more inclined to have settlements and basic civilization.

I'm putting together my half-orc army, so I have to think about these things!

Bill

Stop spamming the boards or I'll report you to that Armintrout fella!

John T

I wouldn't think there would be enough of them to make an "army" anyway- maybe a unit. Maybe.

I mean, how often would orc-on-human "relations" produce offspring? Maybe half-orcs are like mules, and cannot themselves breed. Would they even necessarily breed with one another to begin with? If a half-orc DOES produce offspring with a human or orc- not to be too mathematically literal- is it that offspring a half-orc?

How silly. Just make a gnoll army, Bill. Gnolls rule.

Tolkien's Uruk Hai, the original half orcs, are stronger than regular orcs.

I seem to remember in AD&D (or was it D&D…) that individuals of mixed orc & human decent were 90% likely to be orcs, and only 10% had enough human features to qualify as "half orcs" (which effectively means 90% of half-orcs are indistinguishable from full orcs, and only 10% are "half-orcs" in game terms).

On the other hand I never liked that particular interpretation of half-orcishness.

As long as you're not attempting to emulate a particular fantasy setting (say Middle Earth or Toril) you should feel free to interpret orcs & half-orcs as you see fit.

By way of comparison "goblins" has meant everything from "ghosts" to "faerie" to "small orcish creatures" depending on the author. In "my fantasy world" I see goblins as small ill-tempered humanoids who are atoning for their errors in previous incarnations by being goblins for a lifetime or two. They are also used in Centaur Rules Football as the ball (which for a goblin is actually not the worst possible lifestyle). Still if you want goblins to be more like faeries in "your world" you should feel free.

Tolkien's Uruk Hai, the original half orcs, are stronger than regular orcs.

There's always been some discussion about whether – in Tolkien – Uruks, half orcs and Man Orcs are all the same thing with different names or something that represents "variations on the mix".

I've never heard of a conclusive argument being made one way or the other.

John T