Epic Orks: Complete! (Mostly...)

[This was my eleventh entry for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, reposted here for folks not following that blog.]

And with this entry, my Epic40K Orks (and, by extension, by Epic40K project) is more or less finished. I say "more or less" because I've still got a unit of Freebooterz and a squadron of Fighta-Bommas to do, but the order for those figures is taking forever to arrive, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get them done in time for the conclusion of the Challenge. So we'll call this good enough for rock 'n' roll!

The final clan in my army is a "Wildboyz Horde". This is a clan similar to the Snakebites, but even more primitive - no guns whatsoever in the basic clan army! Purely melee, which suits my preferences just fine. At the very least, they'll prove an effective meat shield for the other two clans...

Figures are from MicroWorld's 6mm Fantasy range. A set of their "Orc Command" worked perfectly for the Wildboyz Nobs.

And here's the horde itself:

All set to hack, slash, and get gunned down...

Supplementing the horde are a trio of Squiggoths, massive hairy behemoths outfitted with armored howdahs bristling with smoothbore cannons and...mechanized extendo-grabby claws? Because those giant horns aren't scary enough, I guess...

And, of course, it couldn't be a "primitive" Ork horde without some Boarboyz. Obviously, these fellows have been outfitted with their own assault rifles courtesy of Da Blue Baron and are ready to cause some trouble.

My original Epic40K Ork army had some of these Boarboyz and they almost always proved surprisingly effective. Can't wait to see what sort of trouble they get up to in forthcoming games.

Little piggy snouts!

For the remainder of the Challenge, I'm planning on hitting a few odds and ends sufficient to get me up over my points goal. Getting my Epic forces complete was my primary goal for this Challenge, and it's still sinking in that I got there!

And because I've gotten a few requests, I'll leave off with some shots of the Ork Waagh! as it currently stands - an almost 6,000-point NetEpic army!

That's a Zuzzy "Wounded City" mat, which is scaled for 28mm but does the job well enough for now for Epic scale.

I threw in a classic Space Marine-era cardstock building to provide a sense of scale.

The whole lot (sans the two missing units...).

Epic Orks: "Special Forces" and Gargants

[This was my tenth entry for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, reposted here for folks not following that blog.]

My Epic40K project rolls on...


The Epic 40K Ork project cannot be stopped! Waaagh!

First up, the support units for my Blood Axes clan. As befits the clan's much more organized, militarized ethos, these are primarily what you might call the "special forces" of the Orky military: Stormboyz and Kommandos.

Stormboyz are essentially Ork copies of Assault Marines:

Of course, being Orks, the jetpacks have to be ludicrously oversized. But hey, that's part of the charm, right?

(After posting this entry on the Painting Challenge blog, Challenge organizer Curt gave me the idea of having some or all of these guys launching off their stands, complete with little cottony puffs of dust! Totally going to do that one of these days...)

Can't even see the actual figures from behind...

Kommandos are, as the name suggests, troops specializing in infiltration and, well, commando operations. Accordingly, I painted them up in stealthy colors that will hopefully still pop on the tabletop.

Although the thought of somehow "losing" my Kommandos on the tabletop does make me chuckle.

Lastly, a "free" unit for the Blood Axes; there are certain units in the Ork lists that cost no points because they constitute just as much a liability as they do an asset. And these fellas have "liability" written all over them: Madboyz.

I just had to take these guys because their capacity for causing unmitigated mayhem is unmatched by probably any other unit I've ever seen in any system. I'll never forget the game where my Madboyz, literally in the middle of the field, started up a Weirdboy chant despite the fact that I had no Weirdboyz in my army. The resulting buildup of psychic energy, having nowhere to safely disperse, finally exploded in a massive conflagration that left a huge gaping hole in the center of both armies. My opponent and I had to call a draw because we didn't have enough units left to effectively fight each other!

I decided to give these Madboyz "prison fatigues" - I figure they're a bunch of hardened, bloodthirsty desperadoes who were busted out of their cells on an Imperial prison planet by Da Blue Baron, who gave them a bunch of guns and now hopes for the best. (No doubt he's regretting his decision a bit these days...)

There's still one more support unit for the Blood Axes, but it's currently in transit from the seller and I'm not sure if we'll see it before the Challenge ends. But as for now, it's on to what is undoubtedly the centerpiece of my army: the Gargant Mob!

Gargants are, of course, the Ork version of Titans, and are giant, ramshackle monstrosities. They actually remind me quite a bit of Hiyao Miyazaki's vision of Howl's Moving Castle, imagery that didn't exist back when I first painted these guys 25 years ago.

Yes, these are the only "vintage" sculpts in my whole collection. I purchased them during my first venture into Epic, and held onto them even when I sold off everything else. They were painted in Bad Moon colors, though, so into the Dip they went! They are now Death Skulls Gargants, thank you very much.

That's two Slasha Gargants and one Great Gargant. I followed color schemes similar to the Stompas I submitted last week.

The Mekboy in the little crow's nest on the Great Gargant gives some sense of their scale. The Slashas are about 50mm tall (not counting the base) and the Great Gargant is over 60mm!

The Great Gargant is easily one of my favorite Epic models ever. The amount of small details on this thing were a real joy to discover and paint. All those little cannons poking out of hatches...

The casting was a bit spotty in places, and I had to take my Dremel (thanks Seth!) to some stubborn mold lines that I hadn't caught as a young lad too impatient to deal with such matters.

The Great Gargant's "back end" has some of my favorite bits, including a random little wooden shack built out from the beast's back. The Mekboy's tool shed, maybe? It even has it's own little stovepipe chimney...

Next to the Great Gargant, the Slashas lose a bit of their luster, but they're still great models in their own right.

Like the Great Gargant, they've got fantastic detailing on their backs.

I'm really happy with the "used up" aesthetic I've been hitting with these vehicles and mechs: the chipped paint, the rust, the soot, the grime.

Finally, some size comparisons to last week's entries:

Next week I'll be finishing up the Ork horde (and my Epic40K project overall) with my Wildboyz mob and a couple random sundries (assuming they get here in time...), and I'll be sure to include a big group shot of the whole Waagh!

More Epic Orks: The Death Skulls

[This was my ninth entry for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, reposted here for folks not following that blog.]

My Epic40K project rolls on.

This week, we have the Death Skulls clan, which I consider the "core" of my army in the bit of background I've worked up:

On the planet inhabited by House Beaumaris (my friend's Imperial Knights army), tech levels remain medieval outside the centers of civilization. In addition to primitive humans, there is a feral Ork population that still wields axes and spears, rides around on giant boars, and breeds massive Squiggoths to perform manual labor. Recently, however, a mysterious Death Skull warboss known only as "Da Blue Baron" has arrived planetside. Inspired by the Knights and Titans of House Beaumaris, he has started building Stompas and Gargants in imitation. (Indeed, it is rumored that he even stole his exalted title from Baron Beaumaris.) As the Waagh waxes strong within Da Blue Baron (who previously was content simply to steal stuff from his fellow Orks while they were off doing the fighting - as evidenced by the presence of Goff Gutrippas and Evil Sunz Scorchas in his army - then leg it to another system before anyone noticed), he has contracted with some stinking Blood Axe mercenaries to bulk up his forces. The rising Waagh has also attracted the local Savage Ork population, who have flocked to Da Baron's banner (and his idol-like Great Gargant, which they worship openly as a god), forming a Wildboyz horde (like Snakebites, only more primitive).

And so here we have the Death Skulls and Da Baron, along with his escort of Stompas, plus the looted tanks referenced above. (Once again, my lightbox proved too small to get everyone in a single shot, but this is everyone sans Stompas...)

Like the Blood Axes, the Death Skulls are usually something of a second-tier force, but I liked the idea of being able to take other clans' special units as my own, and the idea of making these guys my "core" had a certain perverse appeal that led directly to the whole Blue Baron background.

(Plus, mechanically, I love the fact that when a Death Skulls unit is out of command, its default action is to drop everything and start looting--so Orky!)

Death Skulls often don blue and white face paint, so I gave about half of the figures that treatment, which was an interesting exercise in such a small scale!

Da Baron himself, along with his Nobz, a Painboy in blood-spattered smock, and a Mekboy wielding a Shokk Attack Gun, probably my favorite bit of Orky tech.

You just cant go wrong with a gun that teleports a gaggle of Snotlings (dumped into the machine through a funnel, no less) through the Warp and into the delicate workings of tanks and Titans!

The looted Goff Gutrippas. I considered giving them a Goff paintjob with blue stripes slapped on, but I decided in the end that the Death Skulls would have sandblasted the Goff paintjob away and applied their own slapdash colors, similar to what we see with photos of captured enemy tanks in WWII.

I was quite intent on giving the tanks a real "lived-in" look, with plenty of rust streaks and chipped paint, and I'm happy with the results.

And here are the looted Evil Sunz Skorchas.

There's something quintessentially Orky about a massive flamethrower spigot located directly above the exposed driver...

And finally, the Stompa mob.

I got these off of eBay, and the original owner had done a fun little conversion to indicate the commander of the mob. Da Blue Baron's second-in-command, no doubt...

One of the things I absolutely love about the Stompa models is their little slate-roofed shacks on the back. It's strangely homey in a way.

Last, and certainly least, a Gretchin mob to act as a meat shield for the clan...

And we'll leave off on that anti-climactic note. Next week: some odds and sods plus...the Gargants.

Epic Orks: Blood Axes

[This was my seventh entry for the Fifth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, reposted here for folks not following that blog.]

The Epic project rolls on. Having finished my Titan Legion last week, I turn now to their green-skinned foes. My Ork army consists of three clans, all of which are a bit on the...B-list as far as popularity goes. But what can I say? I like my Orks weird. So first up we've got the Blood Axes...

About half the clan...I'll have to figure out a way to shoot larger groupings of troops...

For those unfamiliar with Orky backstory, the Blood Axes are a clan of Orks that "trade openly with the worlds of the Imperium, parley with the foe, and will even consider retreating from battle if faced with insurmountable odds." Of course, every other Ork clan hates them for this distinctly un-Orky behavior.

Half the infantry and their Rhinos.

In the background I've worked up for my army, this clan is a mercenary company that's hired on with the warboss (who will hopefully be showing up in the next update). Due to the fact that they're mounted in Rhinos, I've dubbed them "Panzork-Grenadiers" and have given them an appropriate palette - dunkelgelb for the armored bits and the heavy weapons, feldgrau for the fabric bits (which are only visible here and there in these pics).

And the other half.

I gave every stand a missile launcher and all the Nobz stands feature a ludicrously oversized autocannon - I figured all the extra heavy weaponry emphasizes this clan's role as seasoned mercs. Likewise, I went heavy on the weathering for the vehicles. These are hard-bitten campaigners who move from war to war, fighting for the highest bidder. They don't have time to keep their kit parade-ground clean!

And the Nobz.

Given the prevalence of those humie Rhinos, I had to attach a section of black-market Land Raiders as well. These old plastic sculpts aren't the best, but they're totally iconic for me, as they were part of those 1st and 2nd edition Space Marine boxed sets that so many of us hold fond memories of.

This clan also sports a couple support units, and they'll be showing up in next week's Epic update, along with the second clan of the army.

Reaver and Warhound Titans - Better Late Than Never!

In the course of posting my Titan Defense Company, I realized I'd never gotten around to posting pics of my completed Reaver and Warhound Titans as promised last April. Along with my four Warlord Titans, these comprise the entirety of my Iron Skulls (Legio Metalica) force. I actually finished painting them last summer, but I got distracted by a rather large home redecorating project that followed immediately after...so here they are, better late than never!

These Reavers were picked up along with my plastic Warlords in that initial eBay auction that got me back into this whole Epic jag. I was particularly excited about landing these guys, as I never had any of my own back in the day and they are quite possibly my favorite Titan design, bar none.

They painted up quite nicely; the Legio Metalica color scheme is particularly well-suited to this class of Titan. I slapped a spare purity seal on one of them, and I designed some banners but have yet to go through with the process of painting and mounting them because, frankly, I kind of like how the Reavers are looking without any further adornment. We'll see if I feel like adding them in the future.

And here are the Warhounds, another model of Titan I didn't actually own in my original Epic days.

When I was younger, I didn't particularly care for these guys design-wise, but nowadays I'm finding I like them a lot more. They fit on the same size of base that I'm using to mount my tanks, they're that small!

I'd love to run a Heresy-era list that used all four of these guys as my sole Titan complement against, say, one or two Warlords - it would make for an interesting cat-and-mouse scenario.

And here's the lot:

I'll have to set up a photoshoot soon with the entire Titan Legion on display...