Orc Champion

I’ve no idea what the origin of this old Orc is. He’s been knocking around in my collection, started but not finished, for a good decade at least, possibly longer. The aesthetic of him reminds me very much of the models produced by Rackham for the – sadly defunct and much missed – game Confrontation. However I’m pretty familiar with that range and I’m fairly certain he’s not one of them. Any readers who happen to know where he came from please shout out in the comments.

Anyway, needless to say he’s been neglected for a long, long time – but he was never forgotten, which means he’s perfect for the Neglected But Not Forgotten challenge being run by Ann’s Immaterium.

He didn’t actually take me that long to get him from his half-finished state to completed, maybe an hour or so, which goes to show I could have done it any time in the last ten years or so. Still, he’s done now and I’m pleased with how he’s turned out. Big thanks to Ann for running the challenge, I’m fairly sure he’d still be gathering dust without it!

The Mean Green Geezers – Part 5

Well, I spent a lot longer talking about painting them than I did actually painting them, which goes to show these projects are a lot more achievable if you just crack on with them. Yes, that’s right, my Blood Bowl Orc team are ready to take to the pitch at last (minus their troll who’ll come later – possibly much later…). 

There’s quite a lot of stuff to cover in this post, covering as it does all the odds and ends needed to complete the team. First of all we’ve got the final two orc players.

Add them to the ones I’ve already painted and we’ve got six linemen ready to do whatever it is they do (anyone coming here for in-depth tactical advice must be feeling sorely disappointed right now eh!).

Now one thing I do know is that if you want to play Blood Bowl you need some balls. Who wants to see an Orc’s balls? You do? Ok then!

Then we have some re-roll tokens. I tried to make these look like artefacts which belonged in the setting partly because this made them easier to paint and partly because I thought it would look cool. As well as the two for the Orc team I painted the pair for the Human team at the same time.

We also have these which I believe are turn markers. They proved to be tricky to photograph, mostly because they keep falling over, so I’m wondering about sticking them on bases for a bit of extra stability. Is this a normal solution or does it have any game play implications? As usual, if there are any more experienced Blood Bowl fans reading this who want to share their thoughts I’m all ears. If there’s no major reason not to they’re going on bases ASAP, all this falling over every time I look at them is bloody annoying, and only likely to be more so mid-game.

Lastly, what we’ve all been waiting for, the whole team ready to give any opposing players a kicking.

Of course for that to happen I’ll need to find some opposing players for them to kick, and the easiest way will probably be to paint my own. I’ve been working away on kitbashing my human team and I quite like the look of most/all of the other teams as well. Life is looking quite busy over the next few weeks however so it might not be for a little while yet. Oh and at some point I need to roll up my sleeves and paint that damn troll…  

The Mean Green Geezers – Part 4

It’s been a busy old week but I’ve managed to fit in a bit more time to chip away at the Blood Bowl orcs. Let’s take a look at the latest recruits. First of all we have the team’s second Thrower (or as I imagine the orc describe him behind his back “Tosser”).

Next in line, another Blitzer…

… and finally another Big ‘Un Blocker (who used to be called “Black Orc Blockers” in the previous edition, before the Black orc’s got a team of their own).

Each of these models has been tweaked a bit, the boxset being made up of 2 sets of duplicate miniatures – and as I’m not a fan of the idea of fielding a team of twins that’s something I needed to fix. In the main I just used headswaps, I wanted to keep it nice and clear which models represented which positions (something I’m undoubtedly going to find tricky enough to keep track of), and stuck with using spares from the savage orcs kit. For reference, here’s each pair with the original model on the right and the converted version on the left.

With these done I’ve just got two more orcs to do (plus the troll, which I’ll get around to eventually…) and various tokens, re-roll markers etc, which I’ll aim to finish up over the weekend.

The Mean Green Geezers – Part 3

As promised I’ve been working on more Blood Bowl orcs over the weekend and now have a couple of additional linemen ready to join the ranks.

Not only that but I’ve also painted up a couple of goblins (you knew I’d sneak some of the little gits in somewhere right?). At some stage I plan to add a troll who can then throw these smaller team-mates around the pitch, although that won’t be happening for a while as the troll is proving to be a real nightmare to assemble. It’s a large and, for plastic, relatively heavy miniature with all of its weight resting on a fairly slim ankle and as a result it keeps breaking and falling over. I think my next move will be to pin it, surely a first for a plastic model; either way he won’t be joining the team for a little while yet. In the meantime these goblins will just have to run around under their own steam.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted that the second goblin had a headswap with one of the old Night Goblin fanatics. I do have a full team of goblins tucked under the desk so at some stage I’ll get around to painting them as well, whenever the battle against the backlog allows me.

The Mean Green Geezers – Part 2

Blood Bowl is all the rage right now, with the launch of the most recent edition, and it’s past time I cracked on with my Orc team. I got the first two painted about a month ago and now I’m ready to go full steam ahead with the rest of the team. To set the ball rolling as it were, here’s three more, starting with a blitzer…

…and two linemen (lineorcs?). The blitzer was built and painted exactly as per the instructions, but both of these linemen have been tweaked a bit to avoid ending up with any duplicate models in the finished team.

Add them to the two from last month and it starts to look as though the team is in business at last.

Of course there’s still plenty more needed to complete the team so expect to see a lot more of these over the next couple of weeks. If you don’t want to see any more sporting orcs look away now!

The Mean Green Geezers – Part 1

What with it being Orktober I had a grand plan to spend the month painting loads of greenskins. I’ve got all kinds of things I’d like to add to my 40k Ork army, and a few more brutes for my Ironjaws Warcry warband (and speaking of Warcry I reckon that as I have the other three Destruction factions represented by warbands now it’d be fun to put together some Savage Orcs as well). Most pressingly I’ve been claiming that I’ll work on my Orc Blood Bowl team “soon” for far longer than the word “soon” is generally taken to represent (except, possibly, by geologists). After all it was one of my key goals for 2019 so, as we hurtle towards the end of a turbulent 2020, I’m starting work on them right on time!

However… That was before I came up with my scheme to play some undead vs undead Warcry around Halloween. With ghosts and ghouls to be concentrating on over the next week or so the poor old greenskins have been popped once again onto the backburner – although I promise I’ll get to work on them properly in November.

By way of showing willing however, and putting my brushes where my mouth is when it comes to Orctober, I have made a start by painting up two of the boys. Here’s a thrower…

… and here’s a black orc blocker (that being a heavily armoured thug who enjoys hitting people and has only a rudimentary grasp of sport – a normal orc in other words!). I reckon that for orcs the easier a number is to count to the better it is (a finger you’re using to count on being a finger that would be better used clenched into a fist and smashed into some git’s teeth after all) so the flashy, show-off thrower is number three, the highest number he could claim without getting a kicking from the black orcs, who’ve used their brute strength to claim the “best” two numbers available. 

After building up a large 40k greenskin army over the last decade I’m hopeful that the rest of the team should be fairly straightforward for me to paint, plus as one of the races in the (soon to be replaced) starter set alongside humans I presume they are relatively forgiving for a newcomer to the sport to play as well. Expect to see more of these as soon as the dead guys are dealt with, and nag me to get on with it if you don’t.

Gonna Smash ’em – Part 2

Roight! How about some more of dem orcs eh! After painting my first dwarf in years I naturally had to balance the scales by with a couple of the big green lads. First of all here’s a brute boss with a suitably wicked looking jagged claw.

These orcs will be joining my Warcry warband which already has a perfectly suitable leader in the form of “not Gurzag Ironskull”, my personalised version of the Orc boss from Warhammer Underworlds (and if you need a reminder of how he looks here he is!)

That said I’m all in favour of having plenty of options so an alternative boss seemed like a good move. Inevitably I’ll now have to paint an even bigger and badder orc to keep the two of them in line, otherwise they’ll be sure to turn on one another in a brutal battle for dominance. In the meantime however, here’s all the brutes I’ve painted so far.

Speaking of options I also thought that an ‘ardboy with a shield would make for a nice addition to the crew. I used to really like these models but they’re definitely showing their age now, especially in comparison to the far more detailed and textured Brutes. I still have a soft-spot for them though so I may well do a few more at some point.

That’s all the orcs for today but I’ve still got a hunger for the forces of destruction, I won’t eat up any more of your time by making a meal of things just now but expect to see another brutish warband lumbering over the horizon in the not-too-distant future…

Dat Der Iz Da Dokk!

Remember the Bonesplitters WardokkI built just a couple of weeks or so ago? In startling turn of speed (bolstered by my enthusiasm for all things greenskinned and a surge of Waaagh! energy racing through my paintbrush) I’ve only gone and painted him up.

I’ve been promising myself that I’m going to tackle my Cawdor gang for Necromunda for a loooong time so I’m going to take a stab at them next but I’ve really enjoyed this little excursion into fantasy greenskins so expect to see some more in the near-ish future.

Gonna Smash ’em – Part 1

Ever since I painted up Ironskull’s Boyz last month I’ve had an itch to paint some more greenskins. I’ve also been thinking about doing more with Warcry. I’m already chipping away at the terrain required for more varied games but it occurred to me that, with the addition of a few new recruits, Ironskull’s Boyz could themselves be the basis for another little warband.

With that in mind I had a look around for some more orcs with which to bolster the ranks. First to come to hand was this Black Orc, nowadays known as an Ardboy. Incidentally I still find Ardboyz a bit confusing because when I were a lad Ardboyz were in 40k and now they no longer appear in the Ork codex and instead the same name has been used for the heavily armoured rank and file of the Ironjaws. As for the models themselves the old Black Orcs kit was one of my favourites in the WHFB Orcs and Goblins range so I’m glad that they survived into the Age of Sigmar, even though there’s very little aesthetically to link them to the bulkier, cruder looking Brutes (more on them below). A unit that shared aesthetic elements with both Ardboys and Brutes would be a fine addition to the Ironjaws range I feel. That said I’m always amused that the Black Orcs, which used to be the biggest and ‘ardest boyz around, now look so little and desperate to please next to the lumbering Brutes.

Anyway here he is, massive axe in hand and ready to join his clanmates as they enter the Bloodwind Spoil in search of a propa scrap.

He’s something of a rescue job, I’ve had him for a long time and he’s been battered around a lot over the years, part painted on several occasions, used – briefly – in the conversion of a 40k Ardboy, and now returned to his fantasy roots. All this means that getting him to look good took a fair amount of effort, and the results are not what I like to think they would have been if I’d just started with a freshly assembled and completely unpainted model, but I’m happy enough with the way he’s turned out in the end and he holds up fairly well next to his buddy from Ironskull’s Boyz.

As if this wasn’t enough muscle I decided to throw in even more in the form of two Brutes. Back when the Brutes were released I gave them a fairly lukewarm review but time has softened my heart and nowadays they rank amongst my favourite AoS models, so including a couple of them in the warband was an opportunity not to be missed. For sheer brutality you can’t beat the imaginatively titled jagged gore-hacka so that was my first port of call.

Next allow me to swiftly retract my previous statement, it turns out there is something even more vicious and over-the-top looking than even the gore-hacka, the gore-choppa. This weapon alone would have been enough to sell me on the brutes kit and there was never the slightest possibility that I would fail to include one.

With both models I left off some of the chest armour and used greenstuff to cover over the resultant gaps. That allowed me to replace their heads with suitably mean looking alternatives, the one on the left comes from the (now sadly out of production) Boarboyz, the one on the right from the Flash Gitz.

Combine these three newcomers with the orcs from Ironskulls Boyz  and the warband is complete and ready to spread mayhem and destruction wherever they go. Chaos warriors beware!

Scattered around the painting desk are a few more brutes which I’m yet to build, plus some Ardboys and other Orc-y characters (hence the “Part 1” in the title) so I’ll aim to tackle some more green lads soon.

Iz Dat Da Dokk?

Let’s be honest, some miniatures are just a bit duff. Take the Bonesplitters Wardokk for instance (which used to be a Savage Orc shaman of some description). Let’s not beat about the bush, it’s past its best. In fact, it’s hard to say exactly when it’s best was…

For those unfamiliar the Wardokk is essentially an assistant shaman amongst the Bonesplitters. This faction of Orcs are lead by cabals of savage mystics, with a Wurrgog Prophet (the model for which, confusingly, used to be the special character Wurrzag, Da Great Green Prophet – something I still find takes a little getting used to). Each Wurrgog Prophet has a few acolytes around to assist in imposing his orders (however mad they may sound) on the recalcitrant boyz, to whip the clan up ready for battle and to perform the secret dances by which they channel the power of the greenskin god. One of these so-called Wardokks will go on to become the Wurrgog’s successor, to quote the army book, “should the Prophet fall in battle or accidentally blow himself up”.

At first I found myself wondering why GW continue to give the Wardokk miniature a place in the ranks of the Orc (or should I say Orruk) Warclans range. There’s no denying it’s letting the side down a little, when compared with some of the brilliant models that march alongside it. However after giving it some thought I came to realise that actually they made a smart move here. Keeping the Wardokk around adds another option to the range, and kitbashing your own version from the Bonesplitters set, plus a few odds and ends, is actually pretty straightforward and a lot of fun.

The key elements to capture were the skull mask (taken from the Ironjaws Brutes), the dancing pose and the bone-fetish rattle (made from bits and bobs in the savage orcs kit, rather than wire wool as the original appears to have been). The army book describes how the Wardokk will do whatever is required to get the boys in a fighting mood (surely not that hard) including, but not limited to, a quick punch in the face – something I thought the clenched fist on his free hand conveyed rather well. I might raise him up on something to make him stand out a little amongst any future boyz but otherwise I’m pretty pleased with him (although as ever I’m open to any and all feedback). In fact he was so straightforward to build that I’m now feeling tempted to make a couple more – the book does describe multiple Wardokks in each clan after all. Not sure when I’ll get around to painting him but he was great fun to make, and he’s certainly given me the itch to tackle some more green boys soon.