Orcs

Orcs concept drawings

Goblins and Orcs are known as "Greenskins". Orcs are big bulky humanoids with great strength and vitality. Their culture is violent and revolves around combat and proving their worth. Brute strength and combat prowess is highly valued between them. "The weak must fear the strong." - that would be their motto if they could care about it. But all they care about is fighting.

Political and Social Structure

Most orcs live in nomadic clans. A typical clan is commanded by  a single Orc - the strongest, the meanest and the biggest one in the clan. The rest of the Orcs obey him without question - unless someone feels strong enough to challenge him to a fight. Successions are usually in the form of armed combat and often bloody. Infighting between clans is common - constantly producing skilled fighters. The constant raiding and small scale skirmishes are seen as normal. Young Orcs often raid civilized settlements to prove themselves and bring back weapons and tools as their own metalwork is very crude. Even so other races are seen as inferior as true power between Orcs reside in Orc fist - there is little need for a fancy spoil or weak slaves. But this slowly changes.

	The Orcish War Camp is where the Warlord resides. He often has many Warriors under his command. Beware his wrath.
	Typical Orc Camp. Even small in numbers Orcs are dangerous enemy.
Some really powerful Orcs who gain experience fighting human kingdoms or goblin cities start erecting permanent strongholds. Usually they are made from wood and earth. It's not a rare sight to see slaves grow food or tend to livestock nearby. Sometimes - more often than not - the slaves are livestock themselves as Orcs eat everything.
	Orcish Stronghold. The crude markings show the signs of subdued clans.
	Fortified Orc Camp made by an aspiring Warlord.
Orcs are not easy neighbors. The state of constant fighting sometimes pushes defeated ones into civilized nations territory. Sometimes they are small band of raiders, sometimes they are a bunch of exiles, sometimes the entire clan moves to slaughter and pillage.
	Orc Camp, erected in the ruins of a human castle.

Military Structure

The military structure of Orcs is rather simple: The strong rule and the weak obey.

On the top reside the Warlords. They are the strongest and most cunning Orc. Big and heavy armored. Not only they are proficient in melee combat but also can easily intimidate enemies and boost morale of their forces by use of their voice. Often accompanied by Orc Warriors, Warlords are a true challenge and possibly the strongest enemy in the universe.

Orc Warriors are experienced fighters. They are the strongest and biggest Orcs with the best weapons and armor available. They easily push lesser Orcs or other races around breaking enemy formations. No wonder that by many Orc Warriors are seen as the pinnacle of foot soldiers. They are the pillar of every Clan, Tribe or Horde.

Berserkers are Orcs who aspire to achieve great status or improve their martial skills. Often excluded from normal orc structure, they form bonds outside their clans with other similar individuals. As they lack resources and status to become Warriors they concentrate on improving their skills by any means necessary. Their fighting skills are unmatched and they are cunning enemies that are not afraid of death. They often fight with no armor showing off their bodies' scars and marks of defeated enemies.

The rest are called Orc Young - no matter of their true age. The Young ones are the Orcs with the lowest status but there is a big difference within their ranks - the most crafty and skilled often have a good armor and weapons while the lowest often have only a tree branch as their equipment (big and heavy tree branches).

Sometimes a Warlord appears who unites a few clans under his command. These legendary leaders take a title of Khan. There are many stories about them pillaging civilized lands. All of them are the past.

Military Tactics

Orcs are all offense.

A battle usually starts with a strong charge of many Orc Young. As they lack discipline they rely on their impetuousness and physical superiority to stun and throw an enemy into disarray. As prolonged melee is often deadly for light armored Orc Young, some smarter Young use Javelins to provide support. They lack other means to fight at range which a smart commander can utilize at his advantage.

The Berserkers are often used as flanking troops, trying to attack the enemy's rear or flank. As they are dangerous in melee they should be countered by mass use of ranged weapons. If not killed quickly they could inflict heavy casualties. Luckily, they are rarely armored.

Orc Warriors enter a battle as the last. They lack the impetuousness of young orcs but they have tremendous staying power. Their armor and bulky bodies grant them resistance from many attacks. They also use their big stature to easily push lesser enemies around - breaking enemy defensive formations. The best counter against them are heavy anti-armor weapons like heavy axes, hammers and billhooks but beware, Orc Warriors can easily kill as they are strong. Additionally, they are immune to be stunned.

The Warlord often supports his forces from the back, using his voice to terrify the enemy and bolster his subordinates. But make no mistake - in melee he is even heavier armored and more dangerous than Orc Warriors.

Orc Troops

Stat values given below for hp are unofficial estimates derived from analyzing battle log figures in Build 0.6.0.21. Durability of enemy armor should be exact as there is no damage overkill in the battle log when armor is destroyed. Melee and Ranged Defense stats are inferred from comparing known Melee/Ranged Skill for brothers with the to-hit % displayed on mouseover.

Melee Skill for mobs inferred from Melee Defense of brothers (after taking into account diminishing returns) and hit threshold displayed in battlelog of full release version 1.1

Orc Young

Orc Young
Strengths Stunning Charge High Damage Decent HP (about 125) Decent melee skill (about 60) Has Shield Crusher Perk - Axe Mastery. The only type of Orc, who uses a Throwing Weapon - only Crude Javelins.
Weaknesses Sometimes unarmored. Low armor relative to Orc Warriors. Typical armor if present include: Helmet(60), Hide Armor(80), Metal plated Hide Armor (120) Very low base melee defense (-5) Very low base ranged defense (-5) Very poor ranged skill (about 45)
Tactics Spear and shield wall to prevent stunning Charge them yourself to avoid being stunned Have a few indomitable brothers in your front-line to absorb the charge without being stunned Their shields are easily broken and their armor is light so Axes are strong against them

Orc Berserker

Orc Berserker
Strengths High Damage, especially when uses Strange Mushrooms, thus adding 40% damage Tends to use two-handed weapons (Could kill an excellent armored brother or even a few with AoE attack in one swing) High HP (about 200) Good melee skill (about 70) Has shield Crusher perk - Axe Mastery. But rarely uses it, because prefers to deal maximum damage.
Weaknesses Frequently unarmored, no shields Extremely low base melee defense (-10) Extremely low base ranged defense (-10)
Tactics Spear and shield wall to prevent stunning Snipe out two-handed users as fast as you can

Orc Warrior

Orc Warrior
Strengths High Damage with powerful orc weapons High HP (about 200) High melee skill (about 70) Heavy Armor. Typical armor include head armor(240), looted scale armor(300), looted reinforced mail (340), looted plate armor (400) Uses large, durable Heavy Metal Shields (72 durability) Often uses Knockback to disrupt your frontline Has shield Crusher perk - Axe Mastery. If an Orc Warrior wields a Head Splitter, that means they will 1-shot heater shields and anything less durable.
Weaknesses Slow initiative Extremely low base melee defense (-10) Extremely low base ranged defense (-10)
Tactics In general, Orc warriors have vastly superior health and armor, but normal amount of fatigue and morale. Perks such as Fearsome and weapons such as maces are very effective at neutralizing Orc Warrior's effectiveness without killing them. Use blunt weapons to fatigue them Neutralize their push. Reduce the number of backline troops, and add additional frontline shield troops into the backline in order to rotate archers/pikemen out of the way of Orc warriors Use weapons with high armor damage such as Warhammer and 2-handers to get rid of their armor fast

Orc Warlord

Orc Warlord
Strengths High Damage Very high HPs (roughly 300) Very high melee skill (about 80) Very Heavy Armor with 500 durability Has shield Crusher perk - Axe Mastery. Has a special Warcry ability (Mighty Roar) that bolsters the morale of nearby Orcs and weakens the morale of nearby brothers
Weaknesses Extremely low base melee defense (-10) Extremely low base ranged defense (-10) Slow initiative
Tactics Use a brave (high Resolve) team member perked with Rally the Troops (Sergeant), to avoid panic and fear Use blunt weapons to fatigue them

Trivia

• In an early version of the game, swamp-dwelling Lizardmen were planned to be implemented instead of Orcs.
• In build 0.6, Orc Warriors and Berzerkers both had -5/-5 Melee/Ranged Defense and are now nerfed to -10/-10. Orc Warlords were previously at 5/-5 Melee/Ranged Defense and are now also at -10/-10 (massive melee defense nerf!). As sell prices of Orc weapons have also increased drastically, this makes the Orcs more attractive targets than before.