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10 DAYZ TA GO!!!
A few tweaks and the Baneblade is now pretty much complete, all it needs is a small autocannon turret on top of the main gun and it will be good to go. Other details such as crew and the helicopter which will be getting a few changes will depend on what time I have left. I was surprised at how well the Zaap guns practically slotted into place on the lascannon turrets.



Now all that left is to get it tidied up and painted within 9 days!

Good luck with that, I really hope you make it in time!

I know it's a bit late to suggest an alternative, given you've already started on the sooper grot tank, but perhaps for next time, if they object to the Orks because they look like your Guard that are Orks, maybe you could make Orks that are Guard, like Aliens powersuits or Ogryn-ish Ogre Kingdoms Nobz?

That said, this army was the inspiration for my own foray into both 40k and mass conversion. I stuck with the Ork codex because everyone in my area plays Guard, but the roots remain the same. Thanks man, keep on keepin' on.

Viva la revolucion!

Just read all this from start to finish and I actually got quite mad when you announced that your kickass nob bikers wouldn't be allowed. Don't let that discourage you, anyone I know (or even any actual players at the tournament you are going to, im sure) wouldn't have a problem with facing these, I mean they are probably the fluffiest allies out there! you will get other chances to use them. But yea id be miffed to if I had my list complete then had to build something under pressure...

On the plus side now we get to watch you put together a grot infested land ship baneblade. Best of luck.

7 DAYZ TO GO!!!
Working hard to the point it's feeling less like a hobby and more like a job, anyway I'm grateful for being taught the sponging technique as it has really sped up the repainting of the old vehicles and looks great, going to sponge the Battle Bruiser tomorrow. Sadly I'll likely won't have time to upload any quality pictures till after Throne Of Skulls.

GIVE UZ SUM FEEDBACK
Been working on the Doom-vees and would like some feedback on the new wheels, keep in mind they'll be a lot more dirty when their finished and the black strip on the hull will have a chequered pattern. Not sure if the front rounded wheels look right and thinking of just using the more bulky ones at the back?

Anyway back to painting!

Very cute!

Very nice hope you do it in time

DA KUMBUSTCHUN ENGINE!
Well got the army completed in time for Throne Of Skulls, and while the Battle Bruiser needs a bit more work and both the Leman Russ and Vendetta need some glyphs and chequered patterns the Doom-vees will be uploaded tomorrow.

By the way my Battle Bruiser (Hellhammer Baneblade variant) got blown up every game and as a result I didn't win any of them and it was later nicknamed the combustion engine. As a guard player it would have been depressing but as a Grot player it was funny and enjoyable. Some funny moments included a single gretchin charging at Lysander out of desperation or a leman russ getting immobilised on the defence line wall in front of it on turn 1 which we decided was due to the grot being unable to reach the pedal lol.



Got nominated for best army but the overall winner was a truly stunning Tyranid army with organic fortifications including a landing pad that looked just stunning, you can see his work here: http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/

But... did you have FUN??

DA DOOM-VEE MKII
Well here are some photos of the new and improved Grot Doom-Vee Transports that represent my chimeras, completed at about midnight before Throne Of Skulls!
Thanks to a fellow hobbyist teaching me the sponging technique I was able to build up on the previous paint job rather than completely repaint the model, which given my time restrictions I was very grateful for!



Basically I went over the old paint job with a 50/50 wash of Nuln Oil and Lanmian Medium in the creases before sponging over 2 layers of red with part of a washing up sponge, followed by some fiery orange edge highlighting using a leftover piece of pluck foam.
Battle damage was done using a similar method for the dark brown then painting the metal on. The chequered pattern on the side really adds to the vehcile, I also added Ork glyphs on the side rather than actual english which can be read as 'Love loot' since this is the transport for the Boota Huntaz hence the chest. As I mentioned before I choose to to use the ork Battlewagons wheels because the previous rubber wheels were likely to be difficult to paint to a standard to match the rest of the vehicle, it also makes the conversion's width more accurate to the actual model for armour facings. As you can see from the image below it is a vast improvement on the previous version...



Similar to the squads the chimera conversions were made to a tad bit different from each other with one getting six wheels, it did have a dozer blade but the model is too far down for it to connect at the right angle.



I'm excited for the new guard battlewagon and will likely be getting at least one to convert, someone also suggested I make the heavy bolters removable and consider using the Doom-vees to represent the new guard transports but I'll wait till I have the codex in hand first.



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Double post, instead watch the gretchin squad dance!




Also...

 Gitsplitta wrote:
But... did you have FUN??

Yes, like I said to a Guard commander 5 loses might have been upsetting but it being a gretchin army it was just fun. My last opponent said he was going to paint teeth marks on lysander's left leg where my last grot charged him on the last turn lol.

Looking good mate, Love the freehand designs, weathering and the checker stripes along the sides are really well executed too. Looking forward to more!

Also, glad you had fun despite your losses and the whole Lysander thing with your opponent sounds awesome.

ROLLIN IN DA BATTLE TANKZ
Like the other tanks the Leman Russ was painted over using the sponge technique to really add some colour that the previous version lacked, it also helps a great deal when adding battle damage.
After Throne Of Skulls I decided to add some more details to it inspired by the looted tanks from Dawn Of War, so I painted on some chequers and angler patterns plus instead of using english I painted words in Ork Glyphs. The turret reads “Rebel!” while the one at the back says “Mork”.



Now to paint some details on to the vendetta, paint the Battle Bruiser crew and work on some objective markers before the new guard codex comes out. Which leads me to the next topic...

CYGROTZ OR MEGAGROTZ?
Reading what is effectively the new stormtrooper rules in White Dwarf, I fancy taking at least squad of these bad boys in the new transport which I'm going to really enjoy converting.
But that means it's to the drawing board on how to convert suitable Storm trooper proxies that represent the carapace armour and weapons very well.
So here are my ideas...

Cygrotz
The simple of the two ideas; convert Cyborg Gretchin using necron and other bitz, if I take a command squad have it being lead by a grot mekboy.

Megagrotz
An idea that I've had for a while was to put a gretchin in a suit of exo armour with a claw on the left and the hot shot lasgun on the right, using a terminator torso with robotic arms and use squashed balls of green stuff to create old style robot legs. Sadly the grot heads don't fit very well into the terminator torso, but they do fit the grey knight terminator torso very well.

Using images from Bitzbox I've thrown together a little rough image of the idea. The grey Knight torso will be green stuffed and altered, problem is I'm unsure how to model the legs?
The classic robot legs won't work and I don't want to make them looked to armoured by using space marine legs, so far my best idea has been to use shorten cadian legs and add armoured boots at the bottom.

So what are your thoughts on the two ideas, do you'll feel the Grot Exo suits look to armoured to represent stormtroopers? Plus an ideas on how to convert the legs?


.

I like the idea, but feel termie armour may be a tad too much, a standard power armour torso with unarmoured legs is probably a better fit.

Having said that, the termie armour might lend itself better to a small monowheel leg, in a similar vein to your bikers.....although then you're probably making it look even more armoured......hmmm..ponders.....

 monkeytroll wrote:
I like the idea, but feel termie armour may be a tad too much, a standard power armour torso with unarmoured legs is probably a better fit.

You mean like these chaps on the far left and right?

Yeah, thought you'd already used them somewhere....just seems a better fit for carapace armour compared to the termie....but you do want them to stand out from the regular troops a tad more.....

I'll continue to sit on the fence and not give much useful feedback for a while longer........

NEW CODEX NEW IDEAS
Well been looking over the new codex and had a few ideas on possible units.

Wyverns
A pair of tanks are a must and I'll be converting the main armament to mount on my old hydra and griffon mortar to represent them.



New Manticore
The Wyvern's tank hull will be used to convert a new base that can be used for either a Manticore or a Medusa (using forgeworld rules). Originally the Manicore had a radar dish and the idea was it was calling in squadrons of grot bombs but out of all my tanks that was the one opponents could never guess. So I'm going to use an idea from a ork looted guard army and have ton of rockets and missiles mounted on it's back.

Doom-Vee - Chimera Or Taurox
Several people told me this weekend that my Doom-vee transport would make excellent Tauroxes. But I prefer Chimeras at the moment however I can make the heavy bolter on the hull removable and make an alternative twin autocannon turret so I could have the option to use both (just not mixed).



Ratlings
I'll be converting some standard gretchin models and taking a unit of ratlings.



Ork Bot Bullgryns
Just an idea as I might not take a unit but convert some ork bots to represent Ogryns.

Overall Sneaky Gitz Rule
With the points drop for camo cloaks I'm thinking of giving all my grot units (even mounted squads) camo cloaks to represent their sneakiness.

Primaris Psyker
Definitely will be painting up my weirdgrot model in the near future.



Carapace Armour
I brainstormed ideas for carapace armoured grots and this conversion was the result, the boltgun was to be replaced with a hot-shot lasgun converted from a gauss weapon. But I'm unlikely to be fielding scions so I might build a veteran squad with carapace armour.

The Battle Bruiser will finally be completed and uploaded later this week, just needed a break after the mad rush up to Throne Of Skulls.

DA BATTLE BRUISER: WAAAAGH KRUSHA!
I loved the idea of turning a Baneblade into a mobile HQ or flagship for the grot rebels but it wasn't till the Escalation rules came out that I considered it. It was going to be done later on but it became a priority when I needed something to replace 500pts of Ork allies.
But even thou it was completed to a tournament just in time for Throne Of Skulls last month it still needed some work such as the crew, glyphs and other smaller details. But after burning myself out getting the army done I needed a break from the hobby.
Finally the centrepiece for my Grot Rebelz is complete! Too bad it has a tendency to blow up on me in games.



With luck I'll have a full army photograph of the (current) army to post tomorrow

That... is a thing of beauty!

That...is insane. In the BEST possible way. Awesome work on Da Grotz Proiteus, can't wait to see what's still to come

I love that baneblade it's so cool. Shame about the ork bots, but then GW will be GW, they would have looked so good with the rest of it. Looking forward to seeing the next project, especially the new manticore and wyvern.

Young Logan

KAPIN SQUIGSCREAM IZ ERE!
Alongside the Battle Bruiser's crew I also painted up Kapin Squigscream to act as either a commissar or an alternative commander to Grotskull. I wanted to make him look fearsome since it's his job to keep all this gretchin warbands in line.
Previously he had a large squig that served as the expendable veteran in the command squad but this time I've added a small squig to his base as well as bulked out his cybork arm.

Awesome stuff man Da battle bruiser turned out really well, and i love Kapin Squigscream too. Looking forward to more.

NEWS FROM DA BIG MEK!
Been working on some tank conversion ideas and concepts and I'm eager to hear your feedback on them...

A Rokkit Trukk
I finally brought a Wyvern today and was looking at the bitz and brainstorming ideas, now originally the plan was to use the mount the turret on one of my grot artillery tanks and use the Wyvern tank as a base for my Manticore. But after seeing the base for the Wyvern turret I had a better idea! See for my Manticore weapon I plan to use the Whirlwind turret but with tons of different missile attached to it (like this looted manticore conversion), but instead of mounting it on a tank I'm going to mount it on the forgeworld enclosed trukk below with some modifications.



What to do with the Dakka Tanks?
For my Hydra tanks in the last codex I converted these small support tanks adding a carriage at the back to keep the armour facing correct, I had planned to use them for my Wyverns but I fear their size could be a problem. See the Hydras never benefited from their small size as they were always in line of sight so they could have a wide range of targets, the wyvern being a barrage tank will often be behind terrain so I fear it's size may become an unfair advantage.



So now I'm wondering what to do with my 3 small tanks because I really don't want to ditch them cause they look awesome, so far my only options are to ditch the trailers and use them as either armoured sentinels or FW immobile weapon platforms?

GROTSKULL'S YARD SALE
With a new codex I find myself not needing half of my chimeras or a 2nd osprey vendetta anymore so I'm now looking to sell them plus the hydra and griffon mortar turrets, the cash would be helpful in this project so if your an ork or guard player check out the thread posted on the forum HERE!

SUPA LOBBA!
Just finished up my Wyvern turret, the design was inspired by the large ork turret that you force round on the ork ship in the first level of the Space Marine game. Now all I need to do is get the Enclosed Trukk from Forgeworld to mount it on.

.

That Wyvern turret is awesome, good weapon of choice to blast their former Ork master into dust too.

I really wanna fight against this army

GOBSMASHAS SIGHTED!
I've always wanted to field Gobsmashas in my grot guard army using the FW Laser Tank Destroyer rules, only whilst the body is easily converted from a Leman Russ body the large armoured wheels are the troublesome part as my old rubber wheels won't cut it. Fortunately the chap over at Blood & Skulls Industry has agreed to build some for me, which is fantastic news as his other vehicle components and alternative tracks are top notch. So expect to see Gobsmasha tanks joining the Grot rebel's arsenal in the near future.



DA LOBBA TRUKK!
Well finally got my enclosed cab trukk from forgeworld to convert up for my Wyvern, only problem is due to an error in casting the main 2 parts won't go together without a good amount of work fortunately Forgeworld customer service is top notch and their sending me a replacement part.

So till that arrives I'm going to have to work on the ork trukk plastic components and gretchin crew, speaking of which I was lucky in finding that commander arm as it makes the driver look bored which is only natural since an artillery tank rarely moves lol.
Of course the front will be a lot more armoured when completed, but to better represent the front armour value of 12 I'm also going to be adding a small ram to the front as well.

Here's a photo of it in progress, what do you think?

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Looks good... and with those short barrels it would never hit anything! . Perfect choice!

The new additions to da cause are looking fantastic. I like the Komizars cyborg upgrades and Kan turret is sweet. I'm excited to see the weird grot all painted up. It's such a great use of bits.