Allies of Orc's

[Rothgar Ironmit]

Hey guys could someone help me out with some fluff, I need to know all the monster races that ally with Orc's

[GodEnigma]

It's sort of setting dependent to be fair but common ones I've seen are Goblins, Ogres, and Trolls. Then sometimes giants, and even dragons if it suits their ends. I've even seen Orcs paired with drow, or dark elves if you prefer, normally as pawns mind you but allies all the same.

There is the beast route where Orcs might have wolves, wargs, manticores, and other magical or mundane beasts.

You could also go the route of having a slave labor/army if the orcs of the setting are conquers and actually a dominant species rather than low level fodder.

In the end I think it’s best to look at what orcs do well in your setting who they oppose, and then who would fill gaps the orcs need filled in skill sets and be inclined to side with orcs over say humans or elves.

[Zaydos]

Depends upon setting and edition?

LotR: Wargs, trolls, dragons, wraiths.

2e: Other goblinoids (kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and ogres) other than scro who hate their orcish ancestors. Trolls.

3.x: Less clear. The always extent hobgoblin-orc religious feud got more focus compared to the fact that they often worked together anyway getting downplayed. Still I'd say kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and ogres. I've used minotaurs with them a fair bit too but I don't know of canon sources for it.

That said if you are counting things that use orcs as minions: Giants, drow, and dragons are big ones. But those are less allies and more bosses.

[Blake Hannon]

Gnomes. Little bastards.

[VoxRationis]

Greengrocer's, apparently.

[Trask]

Some cool Orc "allies" might be captured slaves sent into battle with simple weapons. Kind of like Classical Greek Polis society, Orcs are hoplites each with his own arms and armor and they have slave laborers/soldiers/meat that outnumbers them 7 to 1.

[Perch]

Ogres? Trolls? Pigmen?

[the_david]

Half-Orcs, Ogrillon and Tanarukk.

In extension of that, Humans, Ogres and Demons?

[VoxRationis]

Some cool Orc "allies" might be captured slaves sent into battle with simple weapons. Kind of like Classical Greek Polis society, Orcs are hoplites each with his own arms and armor and they have slave laborers/soldiers/meat that outnumbers them 7 to 1.

The classical Greeks were not fond of using slave soldiers; they generally considered them to be threats more than assets. Slaves frequently outnumbered citizens in classical Greece, but I can't think of any states that used slaves in combat except in extreme periods of duress. Slave-soldiers are more common in various states of the Middle East (although the most famous examples of such slaves were far from mere cannon fodder).

[thorr-kan]

The OD&D Rules Cyclopedia listed chances for allied creatures to be present. For orcs, it recommends to the following:
1/6 chance of an ogre, per 20 orcs in a tribe.
1/10 chance of a troll.

I'd second the recommendation for wargs, dire wolves, winter wolves, hellhounds, etc.

[MrZJunior]

Humans could be pretty good allies. Both races are warlike and fight in similar manners. Humans are more effective in the day and when night falls they can switch places with their orc allies, keeping pressure on their enemies around the clock. I don't think it will be some grand eternal alliance, but it would be an effective temporary measure.

Edit: oops, you specified monster races. I apologize for not being more careful.

[Tvtyrant]

I think most fantasy divides monster armies into crappy filler troops (goblins, orcs, trollocs, scranc, etc), some sort of line breaker that are much fewer but more dangerous than an individual human (giants, ogres, bashrags, myddraal) and some sort of super-special flying monster (dragons, fellbeasts, Dreadlords).

So if you are using Orcs for the filler you might have Ogres in the army to break enemy shield walls, and then dragons as super units to fight enemy heroes. Or maybe in the setting Orcs are really hardcore, so kobolds/goblins are the filler units and you have Orc shamans are the super-unit. I have never heard of Orcs being the super-unit, but maybe they are all werewolves or vampire Orcs and they hunt the heroes while the ogres and goblins fill the other roles.