Man O' War: Orc Hulk assembly

Blood and Thunder!

After playing Man O’ War at UnionCon, we decided to start building an orc fleet. For the first ship, we decided to assemble the iconic Orc hulk, a cyclopean ship with all the chaotic energy you would expect from the orcs, filled with design cues that are still being used in the orc miniature ranges to this day! While working on the model, I looked around online for other reference photos and found that there are very few (aside from the single photo from the box). Hopefully this post will provide useful references to other hobbyists looking to assemble an Orc Hulk!

The design of the Orc Hulk is quite odd. It resembles a wooden tugboat with a wizard’s tower at the front. I was excited to learn that the model was designed by the venerable Kevin Adams (and Norman Swales)!

The Orc Hulk’s silhouette is dominated by the Smash-hammer mounted to the front of the vessel. Adjacent to the hammer, are two Iron Claws perfect for grabbing enemy ships and pulling them closer for smashing! For the ship’s range capabilities, it is equipped with several Bigchukka catapults.

Aside from the plastic mast, the Hulk is composed of seven metal pieces. The two Iron Claws on the ship mix the two disparate parts of the classic orc aesthetic: humor and brutality. The catapults used on the model are the same ones used on the Bigchukka ships in the Orc fleet.

The mold lines on the Orc Hulk are not for the faint of heart. Most are seemingly placed in the worst location and there are often areas with excess metal obscuring details of the model. Some areas on the model needed to be resculpted after removing the mold lines. The skull icon at the front of the ship had a lot of extra metal that needed to be removed. This necessitated resculpting some of the wooden paneling.

For an old metal model, the Hulk actually fits together quite well. With a little trimming, the pieces fit snuggly without excess room to shift or move.

Most of the ships in Man O’ War come with a small plastic sprue with the masts and yards for the ships. Depending on the size of the ship, you need to cut down the size of the masts.

The majority of the old Man O’ War ships came with a sheet of paper banners. The Orc sheet has the banners for all of the different ship types and some blank banners to create your own! In addition to the banners the sheet also has simple instructions for adding the masts to the different ships in the fleet.

On the back of the sheet of banners, there are instructions for assembling the Orc Hulk.

I opted to create a sail for the Hulk using the foil from the top of a wine bottle. I decided this would be a little more resilient and still have a thickness similar to the traditional paper sails. I am also considering remaking the mast with brass tubing.

After looking over the options for an orc fleet, it is very apparent that my orc fleet will need multiple additional Hulks. Of the available orc ships, they are far up and above the most capable and reliable. Since it is unlikely that I will be able to easily get more copies of the model, I think we will try and make a mold for all pieces of the Hulk. Then I can more easily convert a few more!

-Adam Wier