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.

Wood Elf Spellsinger

My painting has suffered a little recently as the midwinter break seemed to sap my enthusiasm. So my efforts on the elf army has reduced considerably, the result being that I have painted just one elf spellsinger in the past few weeks. In the picture she is accompanied by the high elf mage I painted a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure what I will paint in the army next. I'm just hoping that as the temperature warms my efforts will similarly increase!