X.I - Orks

I thought the easiest way to celebrate my ten years of blogging was to pick something from each of the years, starting back in 2008. This first year I actually started the blog in June, so there's less to choose from, but I still managed to find three contenders.

I painted a Norse team for Blood Bowl and a few regiments for my Warhammer Orcs and Goblins army, but my pick of the (half) year would be these ork shootas. They were the start of a new foray into this ruleset. I never quite got to grips with the 40K gameplay, I found it far more fiddly than the fantasy rules. In recent times I have enjoyed playing the orks using one-page-40K, but sadly these boyz have been in storage for the best part of the decade.

As a celebration, a ten year old snap is a little lacklustre, so I have dug out the boyz and persuaded them to pose for a few more photos. The whole force was painted in fits and starts over a couple of years, with many units left abandoned as grey plastic or still in the boxes. Shame really, as there are some really nice models here.

First up, the original mob of shootas, with a nob (boss) and the warlord in the background, persuading the boyz to get stuck in. The yellow was chosen as something I would not usually paint, and also as a less frequently seen ork clan the Bad Moons. According to the fluff, this meant more shootas than usual, hence this first unit.

The Bad Moons are the richest ork clan and thus have plenty of equipment. So I gave these ard boyz some serious amounts of armour. If memory serves, these are all converted from various plastic and metal bits, some fantasy parts in there too. They have a truck that is 90% painted, just waiting for the final touches.

Finally, my favourite unit of the force, both in gaming and painting terms. The warboss is a lovely model, seeing this figure was one of the main reasons I started collecting orks in the first place. And I just love the squigs, which I painted in a funky blue to contrast with the yellow. 

There's far more sat in storage waiting to be loved again - nobz, deffkoptas, burna boyz, grots, lots of standard boyz, a few meks, kans.........maybe in the next ten years they will get finished.

Ork Nobs WIP

I am gearing up for some serious painting sessions. These ork nobs were born from the couple of drubbings I have recently suffered in games of one-page-40K (battle reports here and here). I am hoping they will give me some options on the battelfield. There's ten here, from the Stormclaw and Black Reach boxsets, plus a few leftover resin bits from commission work. The bases are (I think) from Malifaux, the official bases were far too small for these hulking bruisers. Along with the recently built dwarf slayers, this gives me plenty of brushwork to get through in the next few weeks.

Another game of one-page-40k

After battling through the desert wastes (see previous report), the orks have reached the outskirts of a bombed settlement. Chaos cultists have dug into the ruins, but even worse a huge defiler is roaming the craters for prey. The orks will have to remove these defenders if they are to continue their advance.

As the defender the cultists grabbed the centre of the table and the ruins, the orks then had to deploy at least 12 inches away from their enemy. The objective was to wipe out 75% of the enemy, within just 4 turns. A tall order, especially as I deployed the orcs at the far end of the table with no transport! I think I was trying to make the most of the cover, but it meant I had to travel down the length of the board, with the defiler sat right in the middle.

As in the last game, the orks struggled to make a dent in their well armoured foe, the weaker cultists wisely staying in the cover of the ruins, out of range of the slow moving mobs. The kans managed to get halfway up the board but were immobilised. The boys tried to make a run for it past the defiler, but predictably they were easy meat out in the open. Eventually a lone orc made a suicide charge into the defiler and amazingly he, er, committed suicide. After shooting everything in my army at the beast for much of the game, it had took not one wound. The orks definitely struggle against armour - and they probably need more mobility. Still, it was good to game in the new improved terrain.

The crazed cultists proved to be very sensible really, they kept their heads down in the ruins and suffered just one casualty the whole game, though probably a disapproving tut from Khorne. Poor deployment and lack of mobility from the orks made it too easy for the chaos forces.

I think perhaps a trukk would be a good idea to give the boyz some options. Maybe the addition of some nobs to give them a little more combat prowess. Or perhaps a squad of koptas would be the best bet. Something needs to change, before this becomes the World's Worst Waaaaaaaargh.

One Page 40K

Having painted up the killa kans I was keen to put them into action. I have played a few games of 40K over the past decade, but I never got to grips with the system, always found it a bit cumbersome. I looked at alternatives but they all seemed just as complex. I wanted a Lasers Rampant kind of game - simple rules, easy to play without spending too much time nose in rulebook. I remembered a cut down version called "40K in 40 minutes" but when I googled I came up with one-page-rules. This is a stripped down version of the original game, the rules really are summarised on one page - though with a very small font! Still, it was worth a shot, so I gathered together all my painted troops and my meagre terrain collection and pitched them against a mate's Chaos Marines.

The game was pretty good. It was 40K-esque but much streamlined. Play proceeds by alternate units, so the orks activated one unit, then Chaos, then back to the orks, etc. An activation is either hold, walk, run, or assault. Each troop type has a quality, roll this or higher to hit in shooting or combat, to save a hit, to pass a morale test. It sounds bland, but there were quite a few different weapons types, walkers, vehicles, monsters and the like. Just enough flavour to make the orcs expendable and the Daemon Prince unstoppable! Our first game lasted about 90 minutes, I think after a couple more games this could easily be trimmed to an hour. As you can see in the photo, it was doable on my dining table, though more terrain is needed. The orks took a real beating from Chaos, though both kans survived the whole game so a minor victory there. It also gave me a couple of ideas what to paint next. Well worth downloading and taking a look.

Killa Kans

These kans were really easy to paint. I started with black primer, then painted them a chainmail/boltgun colour. I let this dry overnight. The models were then washed with a combination of black and chestnut for a murky brown, with matte medium added to help it settle into the crevices. When that was dry I added some more browns in a fairly random fashion, though aiming for the bits that would be most rusty. Finally I added some MIG rust pigments for extra rusty bits. Then I drybrushed with the base metal colour, to bring the metal back a little. When all that was dry I applied a coat of matte varnish and left them to dry overnight.

The next stage I sprayed the models with some cheap hairspray. As soon as it was tacky dry I painted the panels and armour casings in yellow and black, a few white bits too. Then I used a scruffy old brush dipped in water to scrub and pick at the paint. The water lifts off some of the hairspray, leaving a chipped paint effect behind. Some very worn bits I might touch up again - it depends on how the scratches turn out, it is quite a random technique. I then used a diluted army painter strong tone to give some contrast and depth, a sort of blacklining for cheats. Finally for this step I glued them on the bases then gave them a coat of matte varnish to remove the shine from the hairspray.

The final stage involves painting any extra details, mostly pipes, plus more shading and lining where needed. I also added black brown on the exhaust pipes, gun muzzles and thinned it to make an oily wash to apply around rivets, leaking from random points. Finally I painted up the simple bases, the usual drybrushing on the rocks and a bit of washing with paints and pigments on the sand. Job done, ready for gaming, let's hope they don't get blown up in turn one.

You Kan Not Be Serious!

It's been a good long while since I did anything orky. Eighteen months ago I touched up some tankbustas, prior to that it was six years since I painted a warboss. Six years! Blimey, keeping a blog can sure make you feel old.

I lost interest in the game a long time ago, it was always a background project and I just could not be bothered to keep up with the constant rules and codex revisions. Shifting the game focus from squad-based to anything goes killed it for me too, so I stashed away the orks in a case. A couple of times I even thought about selling them. But now I am breaking them out again to have a go at a rule set called one-page 40k. Simplified, streamlined, easy rules are essential when you swap from one game system to another every couple of weeks.

While totting up points for a trial game, I realised that there's not much fun in my ork army. It's all infantry. Probably at the time my intention was to get through the core stuff before moving on to the more diverse and wacky selections. So partly to fill this gap, but mostly because I like the models, I have built these kans. Just two to start with, there are some restrictions in the rules (which we could easily ignore I suppose), but I am happy to start small and add more if we get on with the game. I seem to have acquired an extra flamer arm, probably from a commission leftover, which suits me fine as I am hoping to get these into combat and roasting marines as quick as their stompy little legs can carry them.

Ork Tankbustas

Da Tankbustas mob

Fixed! The solution was simple, I changed all the rokkits to yellow and black, while keeping the grenades the original red. I am happier with the unit now, it's far less confusing. A few models also got some stripes or wavey lines on their kit, the boss especially likes to grab da best rokkits.

Da Boss n squigs

It's strange picking up models after a long gap. I know that some painters stick with tried and tested methods forever and would just carry on where they left off. I continually try new techniques, new paints, new mediums, so I was a bit surprised at the finish of these figures. It seems a bit clumsy in parts. I guess that means I have made progress along the way, even if it's gradual and miniscule. In the old days I would base coat, wash, then re-highlight. These days I am far more likely to start with a light tone and use glazes and washes to add shades. It's quicker and gives a better result - in my eyes at least.

Da plastik konvershuns 

Truth be told, I have always been baffled by the adoration heaped on the game. The aesthetic has never quite grabbed me in the way it does others, but I do think that the orks were first in the greenskin line when the GW designers handed out charisma. My fantasy orcs pale by comparison - although I reckon a few goblins could give them a run for their money. You probably either love them or hate them, but there's no denying they have a certain something, a slightly ridiculous over the top comic ferocity in a slightly ridiculous over the top universe. Carrying rockets in mouths, bomb squigs, rocket hammers, it's all very silly and jars a little with the usual grimdark solemnity, which is probably why they are my only 40k army.

Da fishul metal uns 

Pesky Orks

I am having problems with these orks. Firstly, I should not be painting them at all - I have not played 40k since 5th edition, it's a game that is just not on my radar. Seeing the recent releases made me dig out my old collection and I couldn't resist putting the finishing touches to a mob of tankbustas.

The main problem is the colour scheme. Green skin plus yellow armour is a potent combination, adding red rockets into the mix was probably one vibrant colour too many. I need to change something, probably make the red a more de-saturated colour, or just black, maybe a few touches of red here and there.

The final problem is what to do with them. The logical thing would be to sell them and put the money earned to my current gaming needs. But, I'm not sure I can let them go. They have such character in the sculpts. Silly? Yes. Over the top? Yes. But how could you not like these chaps? Even if they do have a jarring palette?

Ork Warboss reboot

Just a quick update. Most of my painting time at the moment is going into the elf army, but I did recently finish the ork warboss and took some decent photos. There are still a few rough bits here but he will probably stay in this form for a good while. Of course, just as he was finished I discovered the benefits of using a Big Mek so he's not actually seen action yet!

Even more gubbinz

"Err boss, I fink I we is goin da wrong way." That's what the little grot is probably shouting.

After playing for about a year with basically a chimera minus the turret, I got my act together and bashed together this looted wagon. My original idea was to make it magnetised, allowing me to swap options, but as it took me this long to get this far I decided to just glue it all together and hope for the best. It's got a nice mix of ramshackle and solid, slightly more robust than a trukk.

The skorcha is something that I haven't really used much, but I just love the little grot in the turret so decided it was a must. The passengers will usually be burna boyz, so there's going to be some serious pyrotechnics involved.

More ork gubbinz

After the recent game I realised that I had a few holes in my army, due to re-arming units and never really finishing the burna boyz squad. So over the weekend I decided to get together some big shootas.

The two in the centre are meks, they will travel in a looted wagon with the burna boyz. Each has on oiler grot strapped to his back, though this is a bit hard to see in the photo. One has a mega blaster, one has a big shoota, hopefully that will give me an option or two when the burnas are out of range.

The other two boyz are armed with big shootas. The one on the right will probably be seconded into the 'ard boyz squad, while the one on the left is destined for the slugga boyz squad - he is well 'ard, toting his big shoota with just one hand, maybe I should rethink which squads they belong to! I did toy with the idea of him resting his barrel on an unfortunate grot's head, but it didn't really come together.

I have been having more thoughts on the composition of the army, the main problem being that every time I browse the book I think virtually every choice would make a nice painting project and/or add an amusing/useful option to the army. And that's before the new ork releases in the spring. It's little wonder that GW give so much love to the greenskins if I think like a typical ork gamer, they must sell figures by the wagon load.

First game for the tankbustas

I didn't have high hopes for the tankbustas' first game, for two reasons. The main reason (and this is obviously the one that's the most scientific) is that newly painted troops always seem to die a horrible death in their first outing. The tankbustas are currently half painted, but still I was nervous. The second reason I doubted was that 99% of commentary by ork players on various forums is that they are sub-standard and should be lootas instead.

So how did their first game progress? They started the game in a looted wagon, 10 of them, with a big mek along for the ride. His kustom force field deflected a few shots but by the end of the first turn the wagon was immobilised. The tankbustas jumped out, the big mek stayed in the wagon, muttering to himself as he whacked a few pipes with his uge spanna. The bustas ran up a hill, hoping to get line of sight on either of the 2 Tau vehicles floating around. The big Hammerhead seemed a very tempting prospect. But their chance for glory was foiled by a pair of deffkoptas, which zipped out from behind a rocky outcrop and, with a very lucky shot, destroyed the hammerhead! All the boyz cheered, except the bustas of course, they made a mental note to target practise on the koptas when they got back to camp (if mental notes are possible in those thick green heads).

In a way it was a blessing, there was now less thinking to be done, there was only one possible target to aim at. The devilfish was side on too, even the bustas could hit that! Well, 2 out of 9 managed a hit, and a cheer went up as the thing exploded and klunked down on to the ground. The tankbustas had their first kill!

As for the rest of the game, they were free to target at will. A pair of broadside suits were next in their sights, and two turns later they had been destroyed. As the game came to a finish, they turned their attention to the Tau general, again in a battlesuit. Obviously the shooting practise throughout the game had paid off, as 4 out of 8 rockets slammed home, blowing the Tau commander away.

A very satisfying debut for the bustas, quite possibly the best first game ever for a newly painted unit. Though, as they are only half painted, maybe it doesn't count. I did feel a bit sorry for the bomb squigs, deprived of any targets very early in the game. Perhaps next game, they will see some action. And I have grave doubts about how celebrations back at camp will turn out, those kopta pilots are in for a rough ride!

Ork Warboss

I have had this character in a partly painted state for about a year, so I was quite glad to finish him off. I am still amazed by the detail of the sculpt, for a starter set figure it takes some beating! I turned the head to look along the power klaw rather than straight ahead, and I added a little trophy rack.

The painting standard is similar to my mobs, though I spent a little bit more time on highlighting and touching up details, adding check patterns, etc.

I have been thinking about the ork army recently and finally have a better idea in my mind about how I want it to pan out. The tankbustas squad are part painted and will be the next major addition, after that I will probably add a squad of little runty grots. A unit of burna boyz are also assembled, they are just waiting for a looted wagon to be cobbled together so they can ride round flaming stuff. And I should really get round to painting the koptas.......

Tankbustas

Finally managed to get a game over the weekend, after a long break over the Christmas holiday. I dug out my orks to face their most hated enemies, the Tau - they hate them because they don't fight proppa, hidin and shootin and runnin away. It was a good game and it forced me to dig out my ork box. This is full of bits and half-started (and half-hearted) projects just crying out to be finished, which is exactly what I did. I now have a unit of tankbustas to add to my army, that should give those Tau vehicles something else to worry about.

The squad is based around the metal figures, with some additions from plastic troops. The plastics are handy because they can easily be made into more active poses, the metal figures tend to be walking and carrying their rokkit launchas. I just need a boss pole for the nob, because I can't imagine them escaping considerable fire power from the enemy, especially if they get lucky early in the game and take out a hammerhead. Now that would be a debut to remember.

End of another year

It's that time of year again. Switch on the TV and you will get news review of the year, hits of the year, gossip of the year, etc. So time for a not-very-original review of the year.

Dwarfs

I started in January by making three main resolutions. The first was to play a game with a fully painted 2000 point dwarf army. This one I managed to achieve, just about, the banners are still blank, but otherwise it's fully painted. It's not the 2000 point army I would prefer, so there's still plenty of work to be done. I have 2 or 3 units I would like to add to it, banners to finish, plus some character models I would like to get my brush on. Overall though, I would give myself a B+ for progress this year.

Chaos Warriors

My second resolution was to make a good start on the chaos warrior army, I was hoping to paint 1000 points. I made a good start, painting a unit of marauders, chaos warriors and hounds, a spawn and a couple of sorcerors. But then I got distracted by a new project and have not touched the chaos army since. A good start that ran out of steam. I think a C+ (could do better) is a fair assessment of that effort.

Orks

My third resolution was to paint the ork models bought in 2008, which included a trukk, tankbustas and other bits. Not only did I fail to do this, but I added more unpainted units to the army. A definite grade F (fail) for that army.

Elves

This was the reason for the slow progress on the chaos army. I suddenly discovered that I wanted to play elves again, after them sitting in my cabinet for several years. Not one to make things easy for myself, I decided to start a completely new army that could, in part, double as both Wood Elves and High Elves. Progress has been quite rapid, both armies are about 500 points each and I think the Wood Elves will expand very quickly.

For early 2010, I intend to concentrate on the Wood Elves, hopefully having a complete 2000 point army painted by Easter. After that, I will take stock, possibly continuing with the High Elves or maybe switching to the Chaos Warriors. There are also possibly some new ork models to be released, so maybe I will even switch back to them. Only time will tell.

Some old friends return

One of the busiest hobby weekends for a long time. On Friday night my orks played the marines, on Saturday afternoon my dwarfs took on the Orcs, and on Sunday I built a little unit to place into the painting pending pile.

The game on Friday was a good one, with 3 objectives to battle over. My orks managed to wrestle one from the marines, just a handful of ard boyz emerging from the wreck of an exploding trukk to beat some nearby assault marines into a pulp. With the help of burna boyz, they managed to clear the marines and hold the objective. One squad of boyz was obliterated in bolter fire, but the warboss and a lone deffkopta remained to contest a second objective. The third objective was held by a small unit of gretchin, a late landspeeder dash to contest it was foiled by a lucky big shoota bullet sending it spiralling into the dirt.

The Saturday afternoon game was a historic one for me - the first use of my new gameboard. I managed to get a couple of half-painted models finished in the morning, so it was a fully painted 2000 point dwarf army I was fielding. I felt bad placing four pieces of artillery on the board, but my opponent did the same and more. His army contained four magic users which completely overwhelmed my single runesmith. The dwarfs suffered a lot of casualties to magic and artillery, the rock lobba being particularly accurate and accounting for many an ironbreaker. In contrast, my own artillery had one decent turn, then misfired or missed. In turn 2 I misfired the cannon, rerolled for the rune of forging, which misfired again, then rolled a 2, taking the cannon out of action for two turns. The flame cannon then misfired and I rolled a 1 - boom went my freshly painted model! Things looked grim for the bearded folk. But when combat was eventually joined the dwarfs weathered the charge, as they so often do, then beat the orcs in the next turn and chased them away. The longbeard unit managed to flank charge a unit of savage orcs (which had been lured out of position by a depleted but brave unit of thunderers). They ran them down, but then braced themselves for a charge from a unit of boarboys. The greenskins failed their animosity test and the longbeards were able to get a second charge in, a very rare occurrence for me as a dwarf player. Not only that, they beat them, and then managed to run them down too! I think that's a first for my dwarfs, catching a fleeing unit of cavalry. The captured banners swung the game my way and I was able to record a minor victory in this historic encounter.

I was so fired up by the return of the beards that the very next day I unearthed my dwarf collection and cobbled together some rangers. I have always wanted to include the metal ranger champion model, one of my favourite dwarf models of all time. I really wanted to make a unit of grizzled veterans in the same vein, but I can't find enough models for that, so I have settled on the plastics as shown in the photo. There's a couple of the older style dwarfs in the regiment, with the newer hands they look quite reasonable. I have no idea when I will get my first game with the rangers, let alone paint them, but I just had the itch and had to scratch it.

'Ard Boyz

A mob of 12 'ard boyz just about painted before the end of Orktober. I will probably have to re-shoot the pictures as they seem a bit over-exposed.

I'm afraid it all turned out to be a bit of a damp squib in the end, this Orktober lark. I have made a start on the warboss, but the trukk remains un-primed. The lure of chaos proved too strong and my mind is back on fantasy for a while. So 40k will be on the back burner for a few weeks, but I'm hoping to get the bug again soon.

Let's Paint Some Ork - part 5

The rust on the guns and armour is a wash using MIG pigments, heavily diluted with water. I have used an earth colour and standard rust. The yellow paint starts as Coat D'arms leather brown stippled on with an old brush - despite the name this is actually more of a yellow colour. Then a second stippling with some horse roan added, finally scratches picked out quite carefully with boltgun metal. The whole area is then washed with Citadel washes, sepia and mud.

Pick out any remaining details that you feel are necessary. The teeth and nails are a good candidate for a quick highlight with horse roan. Similarly, tidy up any areas of fur with a quick highlight with horse roan.

Shoota mob done

Here's a picture of the shoota mob fully painted. The final section of the painting guide will be posted in the next few days.

Let's Paint Some Ork - part 4

In the last section I applied the basic colours and a wash, resulting in a useable but murky figure. In this stage I bring back some colour and detail. It's a simple stage, simply highlight any areas that need it! The most obvious area is the skin, so it is highlighted with Coat D'arms (CDA) Olive, with a little yellow added for the final highlight. The lips and nose get a quick highlight with CDA Beige Brown. The clothing is also re-highlighted with the appropriate base colour - tunic with CDA Field Grey, trousers with CDA Green Grey, etc. The straps are also worth touching up in this way. Dot in the eye with a red and yellow highlight and the figure is ready for the final stage.