Rokkit Launcha

Many models on the painting table at the moment in various stages of development. This morning I painted up the first of the new rokkit launcha models. I have a hunch that this guy will have some luck and become a bit of a character do I gave him some eyes. Always helps to have eyes if you are going to find the target :-)

The Painting Bug

Well I have been bitten again and find myself painting. This tends to happen in fits and starts. I have a number of ork characters and a few ork squads that are in need of a little love and attention. I like to play with painted models so I have 2 stages that I take models through: -

1. Build, base and undercoat the models. Then I apply the green skin in layers and washes, and a basic brown to the clothing. I black the metal and dry brush with bolt gun metal and then apply a wash. At this stage the models can be used in battle. But they are not really painted.

2. Paint the models, pick out the detail and pay some attention to the look of the model.

I have been looking forward to painting these guys for a while and they are coming along nicely. They still need tidying up but they are really cool models.

Same goes for this bad boy. You got to love a Big Mek!! Areal pleasure to paint.

A little 'Panic!!!" in the ranks

Creating a little panic in the first round or two can be great fun. In a lot of games the first couple of rounds are tactical with armies jousting for position. My Speed Freaks adopt a swarming tactic pushing forward in great numbers, presenting multiple targets and making it difficult for the enemy to decide what to shoot at. In response the enemy often wants to adopt a defensive stance and bunch up.

Enter the Basilisk. Placing this big gun at the back of the line up and dropping template shots on the enemy can create real panic.

What to do? What to do? They want to shoot at all the targets presenting themselves but they also want to take down the big fellow at the back. They want to bunch together to keep away from the advancing Speed Freaks and allow themselves to counter the hand to hand combat that they know is coming but in doing so they are presenting a wonderful opportunity for the Basilisk. Shall they break ranks and send a unit to deal with the big gun? Will one unit be enough to get through the advancing Orks? So many things to think about.......

And all the time the Boyz advance. With Orks it is nearly always boils down to the Boyz and their Choppas. In truth, lots of shiny targets are a distraction to get the Boyz into range for the Waagh!

Adopting these tactics is a real joy to play. You can really get into Ork character and dish out the damage. Its all about slaughtering the enemy to the last man and having bragging rights for the next couple of weeks!!!

And in true Ork style if you are going to go down, go down fighting. In my experience the choppa is a wonderful weapon and can deliver the perfect side parting for any haircut ;-)

Ork Buggies

Every Speed Freak army needs a few buggies. I like to play mine with Rokkits so I substituted the Bigshootas. I think I ordered the arms of the killa kans to get the look. They are great for roaming around the battle field, swooping down the sides to get behind vehicles. The key here is to give the opposing force a huge variety of targets and get amongst 'em early. Its a full on attack attack attack mentality and when the Boyz land make sure it is in numbers and wipe the unit they hit before moving on. The impact of swarming all over the enemy like this is to force them to close ranks .... and there is a tactic to handle this behaviour, more later on that.

I had a particularly spectacular encounter with Tyranids  and obviously one of the Boyz couldn't resist taking a few trophies ;-)

A little speed - Freak!!!

So a few years back I had a tournament coming up and decided to field a Speed Freak army. Had some great fun testing the various options one of which was a squad of Nobs on bikes. I was imagining the carnage and thought a little converting was in order.

I kept the legs of the usual biker but replaced the torso with the standard Ork body and then repositioned arms etc to get the effect I was after. I really wanted to have one of the Orks leaning off the bike with a Choppa slicing its way through any unfortunate individuals who found themselves in the way. The results are below.

A little 'green stuff' goes a long way. I gotta tell you that these bad boyz paid for themselves and then some!

Warphead - old school

Quick pic of the Warphead for you. You know looking back on some of these models I am beginning to see that there may be a future for some of them in my force.

I am thinking that a repaint and rebase may actually work out quite well in some cases. Note to self - "I must give this some more thought / attention".

From little acorns do mighty Ork armies grow

We all start somewhere. I spent some time in the garage this morning and dug out some of my first 40k models. Nazdreg and my Bad Moon Orks. Seems such a long time ago now but the fun was there from the start.

I played with lots of unpainted models in the beginning and had no clue how to base the models either. Plenty of examples of that lack of knowledge on show here. 

White Dwarf played a fine role in educating me and slowly my painting skills improved.

This is my first Dread 'Ba Basha'. He was always a lucky model for me and the trend has continued down the years. If its bolted together by the Big Mek and walks on two legs I seem to be able to roll the right dice.

This was always my favourite model. You fired a load of grots that materialised inside a vehicle and shredded the occupants, unless it went badly wrong, those fickle dice gods Gork and Mork. How very Orky!!

Flying High

I have added a bit more paint and Da Flya Boyz are starting to look like they belong in the army :-)

Da Flyer

Ha ha, at last I have gotten my hands on the new Ork flying machine. Fun to build and no doubt will be great to paint. I have just thrown some paint on at this stage. Lots of detail to still pick out and colour to introduce. I have built the dakka dakka dakka choice but the others look interesting as well. I like that there are three very different looking options to build and that I have lots of left over bits for the 'bitz box'

It will be interesting to see how it plays. I am thinking that I will need to add some markings for the numbers of 'kills' or something. Also it has a big base and I am not sure what to do with it? Any suggestions welcome?

Diorama, Blood Angel theme

Well now, after some games against the Blood Angels I thought it fitting to contemplate life beyond the battle. It seemed to me that any decent Ork would spend time dismantling after a spell of 'plant the choppa in the side parting'. I came up with this little piece of fun.

You just got to take those Rhinos apart piece by piece ;-)

This became an objective in the next battle. Orks steal valuable data, Blood Angels attempt to get it back (in vain obviously). Life is for living and Orks are for having fun fun fun !

Picking through the battlefield

To give the army its own particular feel I like to 'mock' the armies that I play, in a good way. To this end my guys will pick their way through the dead bodies and acquire bits and pieces. After a number of battles against Space Wolves Da Boyz acquired a new look.