Thanks guys!

@skyfi: I love your idea! I've been struggling with a way to make the Nob bikes for this army. I do have several of the old Cyboars, maybe I can do something with them.

There will be a lot of entertaining stuff coming with my orks this year... keep your eyes peeled, this is only the beginning!



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OK... more work on Ghazzy... I just can't let him go.

Worked on his mouth which is now looking much better. Also added checks to his gun, which help over there quite a bit with a bit of color and interest. Probably be one more update before I can finally put it down for good. We'll see.



I also finished re-painting 4 of the six bikes. Just two more to go and I can start on the three new ones.

Teeth are looking good! Just the bionic eye left I guess, or is it just the angle that makes it look like it's plain black?

That's just the angle of the shot, the lens is fully painted. I think what remains to be added is some kind of bad moon symbol (if I can find my decals) and a boss pole of some sort. He just doesn't feel right without one.

OH, and here's a pic of the first four finished bikes. Again, not too fancy a paint job but I did go over them fairly carefully and added a lot of detail that wasn't originally there, cleaned up some sloppy bits, etc. I even noticed that the bikes have license plates so you know I couldn't resist that...



As today is my day off, I'm hoping to get the final two touched up and at least get the main colors on the three new bikes. It's very exciting to think that I'll be "done" with this unit when I finish those last three!

Oh man those number plates are killer. Very clever of you Mr Gits.

Good Job Mr Splitta. Nice little details.

That's just the angle of the shot, the lens is fully painted. I think what remains to be added is some kind of bad moon symbol (if I can find my decals) and a boss pole of some sort. He just doesn't feel right without one.

Figures . He should have a mantis warrior on his bosspole

Loving the classic minis btw, they have tons of character!

Thanks guys! Finished the last two re-paints. On to the final group!

They are looking so good mate they've dragged me out of hibernation. The blue really pops and brings the whole thing together.

Thanks graven, good to have you stop by!

So, I got the last three grot bikes primed and ready for painting and realized that after doing six of them I was a little bored. So, I thought it would be good to do a quick little project of something different to pique my interest before going back to the bikes. While doing Ghazzy, I came apon a method of doing kind of a reddish bronze that I really liked that utilized some of the new GW metallics. I thought this would be an excellent starting point for a grot tank, so I pulled out the bits I'd collected and got to work. While I think this has a lovely result, it's a slow process with 4 different layers of paint and 2 washes, so it takes a while. I've got the main hull done (as far as the bronze is concerned). Thought I'd show you so you can see where I'm going with this.

That is really nice indeed. What's the method then?

Prime black
GW Tin Bitz
GW Brass Scorpion (heavy dry brush)
GW Screaming Bell (medium to light dry brush)
Vallejo Model Air Copper (very light dry brush)
GW Reikland Fleshade wash
GW Biel-Tan Green wash (slightly diluted)

Nice metal. Saved that recipe in my painting tips file for future reference.

Final touch I think would be a little bit of carefully applied dilute Hawk Turquoise here and there to simulate verdigris. I wouldn't overdo it though.

Ta. Just had to scour the internet to translate those paints to colours I understand as none of my current paint to paint conversion tables had most, if not all, of them. Found pictures of each, but lets see if I have them right;
Black is Black
Tin Bitz = Very dark brass (Metallic)?
Brass Scorpion = Medium brown brass (Met)?
Screaming Bell = Orange-y brass (Met)?
Vallejo Model Air Copper = Actually got a conversion for this. Copper
Reikland Fleshade wash = Red-ish (I assume from the name) flesh?
Biel-Tan Green wash = Bright leafy green?
Hawk Turquoise = Deep blue-turquoise?

Grot tank number four is promising Git!

Love the bikez.

Sweet looking old school bikers.

That's it Dr. H, Brass Scorpion and Screaming bell have a decidedly reddish hue. The copper is very light, mostly silver just just a slight pinkish tinge.

@Selv & grrr: Thanks!



Basics are done here. Still a lot to come to bring the tank to life, but this will serve nicely as the background colors.

Cool. Thanks Gits. Looks good on the tank.

The one thing I didn't mention about that metal color is that really it's three different colors in one process. If you want it bright, you give a super light but thorough dry brushing of the copper and no washes. If you want it very red, you quit after the fleshwash, if you want it to have green overtones you add the green wash. Not a bad little trick.

Yeah, that's nice. It's good to have a technique that can be adapted from one model to another or even one part of a model to another. Very cool.

Love the ank, Gits. That's a great color you've achieved there.

That's very cool indeed. Thanks for the breakdown; anything that's a drybrush and wash method works for me!

Wow, the green and red washes on the copper are just brilliant looking, and the vertical and diagonal streaking is working it goood.

I've never really gotten a good size comparison of the Grot tanks -- but $30 a piece doesn't seem too bad. Seems like you can even fit them on an adorable little 60mm dread base

Yes, they're quite small... makes you swallow *really hard* when you look at the price. But then you start to work on them and realize how much character they have... and the financial pain lessens somewhat. They're bout equivalent to kans is size. A little shorter and a little stockier... but you could easily fit one on a dread base and if you attached a tech marine mech arm to it, you'd have a plausible kan proxy (if you were trying for an all-tank army feel).

I made some more progress today. Added a little bit of color to the back. When I come back from an evening out with the family I'll post my progress (if someone will post after this so I can make a fresh post).

I post because I want to see

Thanks for the little tut You gave on the base colors of this grot beauty Git, much appreciated

Thank you!

So today, I noodled around with adding some color to the rear end. A fuel tank or catalytic converter or something... and some other exhaust pipes. The careful eye will see a bright red shiny button. What does it do? Does it start the engine? Does it open the hatch??

Nope, it's the self-destruct. This tank was made by a very paranoid grotmek who didn't want anyone stealing his mechanical secrets. Of course HE wouldn't be caught dead in this contraption... so to be on the safe side, he had the button put on the outside where he could easily get at it. Grot ingenuity at it's best!

Love the old bikes. To bad they don't have autocanons anymore, haha

Loving that copper look, I may have to try this myself...

And the self destruct button is a fun idea, suitably grotty

Awesome dude, awesome. Love it all.

@Goresaw: Too true. However, they can still be useful. I was in a tournament last weekend and there was no doubt that my bikes were the star of the show!

@CK: You should... there are so many tweaks you can do to get different color variations with basically the same paints and washes... very fun.

@Camkierhi: Thank you very much! Please stop by again... there will be plenty more as the summer goes on.


More progress!

Tank is really starting to come together now. Added a much wider variety of metals across the body, and the exhausts of course which you've seen already. Added a side door with an enticing red switch... A switch to open the door? A doorbell perhaps? Or is it a second self-destruct switch because the grotmek couldn't remember where he put the first one and he was REALLY paranoid? Oh, the lower rokkit launcher (magnetized of course... added a human skull for good measure), a "bad moon" emblem on the other side and began work on the turret. The tank commander's there waving his "banner". What's that you say? He's waving a white flag you say? Is he surrendering you say??





Work is progressing nicely on the main gun. Once that's done, I'll turn my attention to adding a bit more Bad Moon-like frippery to the vehicle.

Looking great. Really good freehand writing.
and lol.

Getting close. Just decoration and weathering left.

Hi-Larious.

Gits, are there keyholes on the padlocks on the back of the ork/grot bikes? If so, I can't really make them out...if not...add some!

I think there is... I'll go back and accentuate or add them. Thanks for commenting Brian, been kind of a slow day on Dakka & it's nice to have your input again.

Waiting for the final touches.
This coloration is the best You did yet on the grot tanks IMHO.
You should paint that flag in an other color and add a glyph that say something like "shoot" or "forward"

I've been tres' busy, iRL!

I love that grot tank so much, I have to take a shot at making some of these myself someday.

Are those check patterns on the turret in relief? If so, how did you do that/where did you get them?

@A Kvlt Ghost: They're part of the turret. I just washed the area black and then carefully added white to the raised areas. Simple.


Well, I think I outfoxed myself... I wanted to add dilute turquoise to the mix in the seams to give it a verdigris look and it didn't turn out like verdigris... more like a ghostly blue glow seeping out. I'm going to fool with it and see if I cant mellow things out a bit. No guts, no glory right? Sometimes... you just f up.



Keep in mind, the tank on your screen is what... 6-8" tall? The one in front of me is 2" tall and the blue is no where near as obnoxious IRL. Still, I'll try to fix it.

Edit:
O.K., daddy fix. (really, the fix worked out fantastically well) More tomorrow night. I've got 3 or 4 more spots to "decorate", then it's on to the weathering!

Can't wait to see the finished product! Great job all round.

Well, the fix worked so well that I might add it to my permanent bag of tricks. I'm really scratching my head over the final set of decorations. I need to make it a bit more Bad Moon like, then perhaps some more checks (though I thought the bit in the wheel was inspired), a glyph or two and finally some grot-ffiti.

And.... I don't want to overdo it so I lose the character of the base color.

Modest, aren't you? I meant to say how much I liked the checks. I would consider not adding much more to it - it could cause eyeballs to explode.

Yes we'll, that's the boggle. I'm thinking a glyph on the front, something on the opposite side and one thing from the top view... I think that would make it interesting without overdoing it.

And yes, I'm an egomaniac... but then you knew that already.

I blame the internet.

I blame myself!...










.... and the internet!

I wanted to suggest a couple of places for a glyph, but You are way ahead.
And I blame the internet as well for that

Holy Crap Gits! That's got to be the best grot tank I've ever seen! Excellent work man!

Thanks guys, really appreciate the support, especially those of you who are shifting the blame away from me!

I think the grot tanks are my favorite 40k models... period. So I dote on them. They make me smile and lift my spirits. I paint them with that in mind. One or two more nights and she'll be done.

That's an awesome looking tank mate

I got to make some of these. That looks just soo amazing. Gods I would love to drive something like that. LOL.

Grot tank is done with the exception of the weathering. I really put a lot of thought as to where I would put the "decorations" and what they'd be. It was tricky from my perspective... wanting to add humor, color and interest without completely overwhelming the basic color of the tank. I left the turret plain for that reason, the curve of the turret shows off the base color to wonderful effect. The wheels turned out to be a good place to add color as they don't really conflict with the paint job all too much and the track areas were very dark to begin with. All-in-all I'm pretty happy with her. A little bit of chipping and mud and she'll be good to go!

Yep, brilliant. Love all the little details (especially the little rocket sign on the front).
Good job on the checks and dags and all the freehand.

So, what was this brilliant fix for the green?

Strangely adorable and now I want a toy one.

It's looking fabolus Git!
The checkered wheel inside the trak is proper geniality.

The "fix" was simple, a wash with "Athonian Camoshade". Kind of a muted, grassy green that toned down the blue nicely without killing it.

The little rokkit glyph is actually a Forge World decal. Usually I prefer the look of hand painted adornments, but small glyphs are nearly impossible to make and the little decals do the trick nicely. I add a little bit of my own paint on them to make the color match the rest of the tank, add a quick wash of sepia and they're good to go.

There's actually a checkered wheel on the other side of the tank too, but it's a small wheel and doesn't show well in the photos.

I see that and I'm on my phone.
At soon I'm home I'll check It properly.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
The "fix" was simple, a wash with "Athonian Camoshade". Kind of a muted, grassy green that toned down the blue nicely without killing it.

Cool.

The little rokkit glyph is actually a Forge World decal. Usually I prefer the look of hand painted adornments, but small glyphs are nearly impossible to make and the little decals do the trick nicely. I add a little bit of my own paint on them to make the color match the rest of the tank, add a quick wash of sepia and they're good to go.

Yeah, the right decal in the right place can make all the difference.
To be fair, the rest of your freehand is good enough to be mistaken for decals, I wouldn't have been surprised that you had done it...

There's actually a checkered wheel on the other side of the tank too, but it's a small wheel and doesn't show well in the photos.

Those wheels were probably an interesting challenge to the usual checker-ing technique?

Naah. My checkering technique is stupid simple. You can to it anywhere. (see link in sig) I just make the guidelines freehand and the rest is paint-by-numbers.

Ah yes, I've even read that before
Not had much cause to do checks so far. Something else to keep in mind (and actually remember) for the future.
Good tutorials. Like the rust/chipping one and have actually used that.

Seen It with zoom now
And It's not done yet...

I thought I'd point out a couple of details of things that I did that might not be readily apparent or were outside of my usual standard practices.

Normally, these grot tanks come with a wide variety of weapon options... flamers, big shootas, grotzookas and of course missile launchers. As far as the actual IA stats for the tanks go, it doesn't really matter much what you give them (i.e. I think the shooting stats for the tank are pretty standard... but I'm not sure). The reason I'm not sure is that none of the gaming stores in this area run tournaments that allow IA rules. There are a number of reasons given for this, but I suspect the real reason is that the stores cant sell the Forge World figures (reliably or profitably anyway) so there's no benefit to promoting something they can't profit from. I get that.

So, if I want to use any of the FW figures I have, I have to come up with a reasonable proxy for them out of a normal codex. In this case... rokkit buggies. Now because the original rokkits that come with the tanks are tiny (see the lower rokkit launcher sticking out of the front of the hull), I decided the main gun needed to be more substantial. It's also supposed to be twin linked, so I wanted to represent more than one rokkit.

My approach was to discombobulate a regular, plastic ork rikkit launcher and use it as the basis for the main gun (used this same technique on all 4 tanks so far). I carefully trim off the grasping hand and extranious bits until all that's left is the main shaft and the rokkit at the end. Unfortunately I gakked up this one and had to replace the shaft with a brass tube, no biggie. I then take a section of tubing the right size to fit in the turret recess, drill a hole in each side, one for a magnet, the other for the shaft of the gun (I have pics of this somewhere). I fill the tube with green stuff, push a magnet in one side and the gun shaft in the other. Put a matching magnet in the turret and viola... magnetized gun mount. I then scratch build a couple of extra rokkits to give the gun some beef and add them to the end of the gun.

The rokkits this time were an experiment. I am looking for this kind of rokkit for another ork project down the road and want to experiment with some prototypes. I made these by taking a bit of brass rod and sharpening one end to a point, then sliding a plastic sleeve over it and filing it down to make the "head" of the rokkit. Probably would have been easier to just use green stuff, but at least the rokkit heads are a uniform diameter this way. Then just took little slivers of plasticard to make the fins. Then I took a really thin strip of plasticard to use as the band to hold the three rokkits together.

The "ocifers klub" door was from a resin frame of doors, hatches & glyphs made by FW at some point. Looked good but was twice as thick as it needed to be, so believe it or not... I took my jewler's saw and cut it in half to the right thickness. (What a PITA.) The switch next to it was a remnant from the ML I used for the main gun. I used a little piece of "L" shaped plasticard for the step.

The skulls on both rokkit launchers are there because I screwed up the alignment of the magnets so that both guns were in the "happy to see you" pose. The skulls just hold them at the right angle.

Let's see... what else...
The bad moon elblem is just some bit I picked up somewhere, I think it's actually a fantasy bit. The glyph on top of the left tread cover is just made on a piece of platicard... took 3 tries to get the damn thing right.

I guess that's it. Just thought you might be wonding about some of the modifications. With the exception of the main gun, all minor... but all adding to the effect of the whole.

The next bit is actually the trickiest as I have a tendency to overdo the chipping and rust. Well, there won't be any "rust" on this one as the metal involved isn't ferrous... but you get my point. Light touch Gits... light touch.

I'm actually short one ork RL, so if anyone's got a spare... I can pay you or trade something for it.

Good job. It all looks as if it came like that and you just gave it a lick of paint. It's even cooler now I know what went into it.
I love little detailing jobs like that.

The little tank looks amazing Gits. Absolitely awesome work
I really gotta get back to the Ork stuff one of these days!

PM me your address and I can ship you a RL or two. I never use the things, so it'll be nice giving them to a good home!

One last detail before weathering... can you spot it??

Nice! That tank is absolutely fabulous, Gits. All of the little details, espeially the most recent, are fantastic.

(Though, it bothers me no end that you can produce something like this tank in the same time it takes me to paint one bloody terminator. )

And... done! Please vote if you like it.



The grot panzer corps so far...

Like AWESOME dude.


Voted.

Done. Very nice. Liking the added arm. Good job Gits.

 Yellowbeard wrote:
Nice! That tank is absolutely fabulous, Gits. All of the little details, espeially the most recent, are fantastic.

(Though, it bothers me no end that you can produce something like this tank in the same time it takes me to paint one bloody terminator. )

Years of practice my friend. That, and when I'm doing this I'm totally obsessed and ignoring all of my other domestic responsibilities... so it perhaps, not the best thing to admire. Now I'll take a day or two to help the Mrs. re-establish order around the house, beat the children, etc. Then back to the last of the grot bikes I think.

@Camkierhi & Dr H: Thanks mates! I think a project well done.

really enjoyed to see this coming to an end... and what a final product

The four together look awesome, such a ramshackle of vehicles that only a proper Ork army could have

And, of course, I voted

Good looking mob.

Only one suggestion...put some perferations on the white flag. like it is a TP roll. since no grot would ever have a white flag! No way!

Are you kidding?? Vehicles in MY grot army are equipped with white flag dispensers!

Very cool amigo. Still need an Ork RL? Pm me.

Thanks graven, I think I'm covered, Ramos is helping me out. I did do something with this model I've NEVER done before. I bought a whole box of models just for one bit (the grot arm). But, since I've decided I'm in the market for accumulating gretchin... I guess it wasn't totally wasted.



So, did everyone think the step-by-step was helpful or was it just too much information? I can cut back to only 1 or 2 WIPs or even just the final photo if all of the updates are too distracting for everyone.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
So, did everyone think the step-by-step was helpful or was it just too much information? I can cut back to only 1 or 2 WIPs or even just the final photo if all of the updates are too distracting for everyone.

Personally, I like the step-by-step quite a bit. It's great to see a project develop, and I find it useful to see the changes you make at every step.

Well, I like the step-by-step because it gets me feedback while there's still a chance to do something about it... but I wasn't sure if the readers liked it as well or if was just kind of a pain. Thanks for chiming in YB.

Yep, I like to see builds come together step-by-step. You get to see what was done, how it was done and any mistakes and fixes along the way.

I agree, step-by-step is much better.
So much to steal/loot from that

Started working on the last three bikes, should have pics tonight of the progress.

I think I'm going to do another grot tank rather quickly. Have an idea for the paint job that I'm looking forward to giving a shot. I've also decided to farm out my ork flyers which is something my army could really use. That'll free me up to keep making progress on some other important orky projects.

Promised you a pic... the bikes are close to done, just some detail work to do. Now for the orks/grots!

Really love that blue - works like a treat. Great job!

awesome work gits!

tanks look great - they relaly capture that salvaged look orks are famous for.

the bike poses look very dynamic. looking forawrd to seeing them with riders!

top work.

san

A 200 pt. Mek Boy gang I put together for a Kill Team charity event on Saturday. My challenge was to make something that looked like an army and had a theme with the extreme point and FOC limitation (0-1 troop, 0-1 elite & 0-1 heavy). Mek Boy Kurbstompa needs to be repainted before this weekend, but other than that I'm pretty darn happy with the way it all looks together.



Oh, and since taking the pic I've replaced 6 of the normal grots with 6 grots holding mech tools of some sort... spanners, hammers or oiler squigs.

OIL SQUIGS.

Sorry, oil squigs... the grots are the oilers.

Thanks for the correction Brian, and don't worry... your comment wasn't anal retentive at all.

Actually, I wasn't correcting you.

I was just shouting GROT OILLERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRS!

AAhhhhhh... got it!

Well, as far as painting goes... Kurbstompa is in the midst of a major painting upgrade. Still quick n dirty as such things go but he'll be a good match for the army when I'm done.

I continue to make progress on the bikes (well, riders I guess) but their kind of at the middling stage where it's not all that interesting a picture as there's enough undone on each of them that they just look like kind of a mess. I'm hoping everything will be done by tomorrow night.

So many grots to kick around...
Loving It.

Funny to put a Grot army for a Kill Team tough ahahah

Well, it's not typical kill team scenario. Your main goal is to get across the table as the world collapses around you (no deep strikers or dedicated transports allowed). You can fight with each other but not until turn 3, and the world will throw both obstacles and bonuses at you as you go. So I bubble-wrap the burnas in grots and the kan in burnas and the whole thing dashes forward, shooting as they go! Should be a pretty low priority target as targets go when compared to some of the other figs on the table, so hopefully more survivable in the long run.

The unexpected bonus is that I'm having a ball repainting the mek boy. Something I never would have done otherwise. He's really looking great too! I'll give him a bit of special basing as befits his status and he'll be good to go.

I am only painting for the fun of it just now - directed, but for fun (like your contest). I think burnout is otherwise inevitable. Go mek!

That is going to be fun then!
Waiting for the new face of the Mek

Tonight's lesson...

"There is no such thing as a quick re-paint of a mek boy model."

Jeez... just a million details to attend to. I'd show you a pic tonight, but I'm so close that if I did post a WIP now... the final pic would be no big deal. Final tomorrow, promise.

Gits


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Mek Boy Kurbstompa is finished! Not half bad... looks like one of MY orks now rather than someone else's...

Good Job. Skin looks good. and I like the shading on the green electro-ball thing on his head. Lots of nice little details.

Yeah... I discovered a trick for that. Works pretty well.

Tell us, O mightly splitta of Gits, what is this trick?

Paint white. Then go over with green shade, while wet, take a clean, wet brush and thin the shade at the top of the "bulb" (whatever it is). Then put on slightly thinned Tamaya "clear green". However... just the shade over the white works pretty well if you don't want to mess with the last step. I'd probably follow it up with a layer of 'Aard Coat though.

Of course this has now forced me to dress up my mish-mosh of burna boyz (which are all rescues). Thought by-and-large I think I've figured out that if I just touch up a couple elements on each, they pull together rather nicely as a group.

It's also got me looking at putting together a couple of more mek boyz. I mean I've got them & their fluffy... so why not?

Ah yes, I did something similar to do some worn leather seats.

That's the beauty of Orks. They're all individuals, but those small elements tie them all together.

Do it, go on, you know you want to...

Very nice addition to the Army.. I love the gun!

Yeah, I'll have to do some more of these...

Next up, finish the bikes and touch up the rest of the burnas.

Hey Mr Gits!

I caved and couldn't wait any longer to read this blog. I really enjoyed it all but my favourites are mainly included in your recent updates.
The Thraka repaint, the kill team and the new Mek are my favourites so far. I also really liked the Grot Tanks and Cyber Gits though! The Kill Team sounds like a really fun change of pace for gaming.

Cracking work, keep up the Waaagh! bud!

That's cracking - I actually missed the pic through auto-append initially, or would've commented sooner! The blue checks are a nice touch

Casey's Law wrote:Hey Mr Gits!

I caved and couldn't wait any longer to read this blog. I really enjoyed it all but my favourites are mainly included in your recent updates.
The Thraka repaint, the kill team and the new Mek are my favourites so far. I also really liked the Grot Tanks and Cyber Gits though! The Kill Team sounds like a really fun change of pace for gaming.

Cracking work, keep up the Waaagh! bud!

Thanks for checking it out CL! No question my more recent work is the best. Keep in mind that my orks are inteneded to be, say... a "tabletop +" army, so I don't go to the extremes in painting them that I do with my marines. That being said... there are a lot of really nice pieces mixed in, a few of them even painted by me. The thing that keeps me from spending much time on most of them is that you don't paint them in fives and tens... you paint them in fifteens & thirties. It's just so many figures to have to deal with that it's rare that I put all that much effort into them. Mainly I save the special attention for things like the last kan and grot tanks.

inmygravenimage wrote:That's cracking - I actually missed the pic through auto-append initially, or would've commented sooner! The blue checks are a nice touch

Thanks graven! Actually, the little blue checks are left over from the first owner, but he was so good at it that I left them. With the exception of the grot bikes, anything you see in one of my ork armies that's blue was painted by the same guy. He did a battlewagon, a trukk, 3 bikes, 5 tank bustas and some characters that are just fantastic. His nobs weren't bad either, just rather plain. That's another unit I'd like to freshen up a bit... but it's OK for now and I have other priorities.

Which brings me to "Git's Gripe of the Day". The one thing that is very frustrating is that every time I paint an ork, it opens up a can of worms that necessitates the painting of a dozen more orks. Case-in-point; I re-paint the mek boy, which points out how sorry most of my "painted" burnas are, so then I have to clean up 9 of those... which reminds me that I've never finished the squad... which means painting another six... which leads to thinking that some more mek boys would be nice to mix in... etc... etc... OH, and since I finished the bikes, I should probably paint up a Wazdakka model so they can score...

All the while, the "big, fun projects" that I had slated for the summer languish, undone. (grot tanks, squiggoths, grot mega tank, mega dread) Problem is the stuff in the previous paragraph is... a) legal for tournament play and b) useful... so it's really hard to set it aside for "novelty" projecst that I'll never be able to play like the FW stuff.

Oy! I have such a headache!!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Thanks for checking it out CL! No question my more recent work is the best. Keep in mind that my orks are inteneded to be, say... a "tabletop +" army, so I don't go to the extremes in painting them that I do with my marines. That being said... there are a lot of really nice pieces mixed in, a few of them even painted by me. The thing that keeps me from spending much time on most of them is that you don't paint them in fives and tens... you paint them in fifteens & thirties. It's just so many figures to have to deal with that it's rare that I put all that much effort into them. Mainly I save the special attention for things like the last kan and grot tanks.

No worries man I love reading some quality blogging, I'm just sorry it took me so long to get to. There might be a lot of them but you have done a great job with the painting, I don't know if I could bring myself to paint all of those miniatures to that level of quality.

 Gitsplitta wrote:

All the while, the "big, fun projects" that I had slated for the summer languish, undone. (grot tanks, squiggoths, grot mega tank, mega dread) Problem is the stuff mentioned above is a) legal for tournament play and b) useful... so it's really hard to set it aside for "novelty" projecst that I'll never be able to play like the FW stuff.

This, right here, is the core $#*$#()*$-up-ed-ness of today's 40K.

You should be able to play whatever the you want! You should be driving Grotty Sturmwhackers into he very STEM of the Asparagus fields of Farmicon Six, in order to plow over the remains of the once-glorious Farkus Campaign, a motley crew of Imperial Guard remnants, backed up by some hot-dropped Space Marines from their Deaths' Head sky crane!

Tournament legal! Take back 40K!



*ahem*

Sorry.

Actually, I just had two marvelously "animated discussions" about this at my FLGS. (Amazingly fun and without malice.)

I think some of the opposing arguments are red herrings, but some were not and deserved careful consideration.

I am curious as to both the red herrings and the bon mots.

In short, the red herrings involve access and abuse. The legit points involve logistics and, for a FLGS... lack of sales opportunities.

That right there is why I don't game. That and I got no one to play with. But mainly, because the rules are too limiting. The universe is pretty big, and there are bound to be massive amounts of variety, especially in armies of Orks and Grots.

Your Mek is awesome BTW. But it does remind me I have a Burner crew and Lootas that need sorting just like this.

Excellent work.

Finished re-conditioning the burnas. Don't be too harsh on these. Every one was originally painted by someone else (and not too badly I might add). I just made them a bit more uniform by adding some consistent bronze elements throughout and working to bring the skin tones closer together. There are 6 more I have to paint from scratch. But for now, these will do.

Mek Kurbstompa & his burna boyz:

Your ork (and especially grot) stuff is fantastic. It really brings out the anarchy and humour, of which the grot tanks are a prime example. So many great little details.

Burn'em all!

Great squad, so orky

It looks like You gonna have an hot game tomorrow

More eye-candy for you... finally finished my grot bike mob. Wow, those last 3 bikes took a lot of work for something that was supposed to be a quick and dirty paint job. But... I like the way they turned out. Not fancy, but they match the rest of the group well.



The whole grot bike mob together... zooming off to the next battle! (or is it zooming away... they are grots after all!)



Not the world's greatest pic... but OK if you zoom in on it over the in the gallery, especially the bottom pic which was taken at a higher resolution.

Very cool, love the old bikes!

Me too!

Theoretically, I could use 5 more of these. If any of you run into someone who's got any of these old bikes but isn't asking collector's prices for them... please point them in my direction. Painting doesn't matter, as long as the bikes are in-tact I can handle them. I'm not in a big rush or anything... just keep your eyes open eh?

My eyes are bleeding with love...

Amazing bikers.

Blu ones don't go fasta, but they look gud!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
In short, the red herrings involve access and abuse. The legit points involve logistics and, for a FLGS... lack of sales opportunities.

The sales point is also a bit of a red herring. You'd have to assume they were playing armies made 100% of FW items, which could be done in a non IA way anyways (DKoK, Elysians, Red Scorpions, etc). Care to expand on the logistics part?

The sales point is legit because stores can't sell FW stuff, so there is no profit to be made by promoting it... and lets face it... stores are in it to make a profit and sponsoring tournaments is a good way to promote the hobby, which generates income for the store in model sales among other things. Adding FW doesn't promote the hobby any more than running a tournament without it, but it does divert customer dollars to a different retailer.

Unfortunately, I can't really go into the logistics issues because they're very complex... but in talking with two different TO's who I really respect, I think they raise legitimate concerns about how difficult it would be to integrate FW units into the current tournament structure (from a "tournament manager" perspective). A lot of the logistics issues could be easily solved if GW & FW would get their collective heads out of their asses... but you and I both know that'll never happen.


I'd rather not turn this thread into a debate over the viability of FW in tournaments if you don't mind. There are plenty of threads already raging on dakka for that. Not that I mind either Brian or you bringing up your points... but it's a highly contentious issue and I'd like to keep this thread focused on the glory that are my orks.

The bikes have come up really nice Gits. Love the number plates!! Can't believe how fast you paint....

Well hurry up with some of those FW-non-cheesehead-tourney-friendly distractions already!

Only beef with the bikes is they are to uniform for orks. Would have liked to have seen some more modifications outside of the riders (which are nice).

This thread has really made me miss my orks. Its lovely that you are going full out with FW units

Thanks guys!

@WM: Good point, but more work than I want to put into these guys. They'll have to stand pat I'm afraid.

Don't get me wrong... I've love to be able to play my FW units... I just don't think it's in the cards. At least not here. My compromise is that I try to take FW figs that make reasonable proxies for codex units... that way I get to see the figures I love on the table without the whole IA rule debate.



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I think I mentioned that I wasn't quite done with my Bad Moon variant of Ghazzy... he needed a banner or boss pole or something. Well, now I'm done.

I thought Ghaz needed a bit of bling... so scrounged up this old banner from my bits box and decorated it up for him. I thought about making it more complex... checkerboards and the like... but I wasn't confident I could account for the irregularity in the banner surface appropriately so I kept it simple. The bad moon symbol is a FW decal so I can't take credit for that... though I do think I did a decent job on the banner itself. I can always go back later and add more to the banner if I wish.

Looks good. I don't normally like banners, but Ghaz needs one to make him seem bigger imo.

Stompy, 'ard and with a Banna, what do You want more?

That's a perfect addition, I was never much a fan of the big skull boss pole but that's perfect!

Thanks guys. He just seemed like he needed something a little extra. As he was a used purchase, he didn't come with any kind of a banner or nob pole, so I had to make due with what I had laying around.


I just had one of the most delightful gaming experiences of my 40k life. Screw-ball kill zone game (2 actually) at my FLGS to raise money for a chap needing a prosthetic who can't afford one. They raised $1,000 for him and the whole place was rocking with the most amazing games (of all sorts) all day.

My completely nonsensical mek boy 200 pt. "army" won the day, and a legend was born. But more on that later... lots of writing and some painting to do first! Oh, and I did take pics!

Congratulations, having fun for a good cause is about as good as it gets!

Nice ghaz. Here's mine. Wish I could say I painted him myself but its my brothers work

Excellent work mr gits! You just can't stop fiddling with your ghaz can you ? many congrats on the victory. In the end, madness always wins.

Great result for the charity and the win Git, Grots for the win

Waiting for the pics

@tomcat: Very nice Ghaz, much more traditional than mine. It did give me an idea though...

@graven: No, as this post will attest to...

@Selv: You bet! I hope I get organized enough to do the writing and show the pics... I had quite a good "narrative" going!



Well, like graven said... I just can't stop fiddling.



This is it... save for that one black spot on the nose of the skull I have to fix... blast.

Keeps getting better and better. I'll vote on it and then you'll have to stop fiddling with it and can move on...
But yeah, great job.

Thanks Dr H. I think I am actually done now. I had those checkers on the side of the banner in my head from the beginning, I'd just convinced myself they'd be too tricky. Then I talked myself out of it & I was fine. I have fixed up a few things on the banner to tighten it up, but nothing worth another picture. So... you can safely vote on this one without worrying that tomorrow I"ll post another version.

Really lovely job. I would have said to leave it as is but I'm glad you did a little more, very nice.

I'm loving this blog for inspiration since I'm working on a Warboss for panda's competition and just happen to be plundering Ghaz for bits. I'm getting loads of ideas here, I hope you don't mind!

Not at all Casey. I always feel greatly honored when people get inspiration from my work or borrow my ideas. I'm sure as hell not doing all of this for just my own enjoyment!

Haha, good point. I won't lift anything directly but general feelings and themes may find there way across. Any advice is welcome too, I'm an Ork virgin.

The story of Gobrobba the Grot

Gobrobba was a grot. A normal grot with a normal grot’s life. He belonged to Mek Boy Kurbstompa’s mek mob in the thrall of Boss Gitsplitta. Now, being a grot in the Big Boss’ mob wasn’t too bad a deal over-all. Gitsplitta’d come to rely on his diminutive kindred as part of his war machine. There were grot artillery, kans, grot mobs, grot tanks and even a grot war-bike unit. Rumors had even begun to surface of special grot battle wagons and mega-grots. Still… Gobrobba was a grot, so life could only get so good. He’d tried of course… to improve his lot. Not having the mechanical acumen of some of his kindred, it was unlikely that he’d make it into the crew of a kan or tank, much less ride one of the bikes. He was clever and sneaky though… and had done quite well for himself by sneaking up on his sleeping kindred, braining them and then nicking their teef before they woke up. Eventually though, everyone figured out who was responsible (perhaps he should have pulled some of his own teef too, but robbin’ his own teef didn’t make any sense at the time) and their reprisal was not something Gobrobba was likely to forget or would like to see repeated.

So, he took to scavenging late at night while the rest of the mob was asleep. It’s amazing what a clever, sneaky grot can find out in the wilderness in the middle of the night. One night, while creeping about some low, rocky hills west of the camp, Gobrobba came across the skeletal remains of an oddly shaped oomie. He went for the teef first of course. Normally oomie teef were small and not worth very much… but there were some real ‘butes on this one… long and pointy, they’d be worth quite a bit. It had horns too, quite unusual for an oomie. Gobrobba tried to pull those too but they were firmly attached to the skull. Near-by he could see a chain-choppa and a slugga of oomie design with pretty arrows and such worked into their designs. Both would be valuable in trade or perhaps he’d keep them. Ork chain choppas were much too heavy for Gobrobba to wield effectively, but these small oomie choppas were much closer to grot sized. As he was picking through the bones, a glint of blue and gold caught his eye. A beautiful ring glinted in the moonlight on one of the bony hands. While not as universally valuable as teef, decorations such as this were still highly valued, especially by his ork masters. Slipping something like this to one of the runtherds could save him from beatings and even earn him some favor within the mob. To keep it safe… he slipped it on his finger. A massive shock pulsed through Gobrobba’s small frame, knocking him clear off his feet and sending him flying. Then everything went black.
…

When Gobrobba awoke, the first thing he noticed was that he was no longer a proper green color. He was red…. bright red. “Great!” thought Gobrobba… “Red ones go fasta!” and he proceeded to run as fast as he could through the darkness. Unfortunately, in the darkness he failed to see the 30’ drop-off before him and launched himself off the edge. Gobrobba was struck with severe sense of disappointment. Not that we was falling to his death so much… but that he didn’t really have seemed to go any faster than he normally would. “What’s the point of being red if you can’t go fasta??” he pondered. A moment later, his fragile little grot form landed with a sickening thud on the rocky ground. There was a very brief, intense flash of pain… followed by a flash of warmth. Amazingly, Gobrobba was alive… not just alive but apparently unharmed!

Gobrobba slowly worked his way around the cliff and back up to the skeleton. As he did he had time to think and remember. He wasn’t very good at either of these things but as he’d nothing better to do but it did help pass the time. He scratched his head as he pondered, discovered to his great surprise that he now had horns just like the oomie skeleton! This was all so very confusing. As he thought about events since he found the skeleton… a few memories did manage to find their way forward and as he focused things became more clear. He remembered putting on the ring, the shock & the blackness. He remembered waking up in a whirl of color, and the voice of someone called “Zeech”. Zeech had used lots of big words he didn’t rightly understand… but he’d gotten the idea that he was supposed to go out into the world and tell others about how wonderful Zeech was. A teacher of sorts... a “Zeech Teach” or “Zeecher” for short! In return, Zeech would grant him “boons”. Gobrobba had no idea what a boon was but he got the impression they were things that were supposed to protect him while he was doing his Zeechin’.

By this time, Gobrobba the Zeecher had found his way back to the corpse. He retrieved the oomie sword and pistol and started to head back to camp. It was clear to him now what he had to do… a feeling which was quite un-grot like and kind of scary, but his life had a purpose now. It was time to get to it!

--- Finis ---

The above came out of my preparation for a 200 pt. Kill Team charity game at my FLGS last weekend. I’d come up with an army based on a mek mob (mek & burnas as elites, kan as heavy and grots as troops). For 200 points I had quite a good number of figures. Anyway, we were allowed to give 3 USRs to 3 figures in the army. So my eldest son (Thing 1) and I sat down to discuss it. We settled on “large blast” for the grotzooka on the killa kan and gave the mek’s gun “torrent”. For the third, I wanted to do something entertaining with a grot. There are a variety of USRs involving invul saves, but there are a couple that give not only the invul but another power as well. One of those, is the “deamon” USR, which also confers “fear”. We thought it would be hilarious to have a “deamon grot”… so the decision was made. As I still had an hour before I had to leave the house for the game, I ran up to my studio and started tearing into bits. An hour later, I had a converted and fully painted deamon gretchin. Gobrobba, lesser deamon of tzeench. My idea (as described in the story) is that gobrobba was scavenging and found a magic ring. The ring instantly turns any who wears it into a priest/lesser daemon of tzeench.

So, here's the game in a nutshell.

Huge table... 6 times the size of a normal table. 4 "good guy" players, 2 chaos players and the GM. Chaos world is against us. We need to run around checking the white markers. Random things happen when you contact them, some good, some bad, sometimes nothing. When we check 10 objectives, the exit point (Storm Raven) is revealed. Only one infantry figure can make it out as the world falls apart around us.



This photo is actually from the second game, in which I was one of the chaos players. In my ork game, I was close on the left, there was a GK player on my right, an ork and nid (wyomingfox) were on the far end of the table.


The very first objective I check generates Abbadon in the middle of my army!



I proceed to feed him gretchin for the rest of the game, keeping everything else I care about carefully screened off. Defiantly, a group of gretchin even put a wound on him with their blastas!



Mek Boy Kurbstompa leads his mek mob forward toward the egress point.



Caught between some chaos hounds and Abbadon... things are not looking cheery for Kurbstompa's gang!



The surviving mob... minus a LOT of gretchin, make a dash for the Storm Raven! (sorry for the pic quality... phone camera isn't always reliable on the focus)



Amazingly... Zeentcher Gobrobba turns out to be the closest ork to the storm raven and makes his escape. Tzeench promised to take care of him... guess the Lord of Change kept his word!



On the way to victory, Kurbstompa's mob fought their way through chaos cultists, berzerkers, flamers, some hounds & a juggernaut. They arrived at the extraction point largely in-tact, having lost only 1 burna and a bunch of grechin, in spite of being dogged by Abbadon the entire game. The only other player figure on the table at the end was wyomingfox's Doom of Malanti (which would have been off to the left on the second-to-last photo)... which had a million wounds (brilliant choice for the game) but who wasn't able to get close enough to Gobrobba to force an LD test. He did force one of the runt herds to make a test... but he passed!

The GK player looked like he was going to win, but at the last minute for no reason anyone could figure out... his final marine touched a chaos objective and (after some dice rolling) turned to goo. Such are the whims of chaos. Surely Tzeench had a hand in making sure his new apostle was able to leave the planet alive!

Funny. Again, the way 40K was meant to be played. I do not mean 'using forge world', I mean 'playing narrative games', and being able to bring whatever you want to the table. Anyways.

Another great story from Gitslandia, population: Awesome.

--B.

Gobrobba is my new favorite Grot

I couldn't agree more Brian. Amazingly fun use of the 40k universe. It's stupifying that this game isn't more popular.

I've updated the story a bit. It needs 2 more pictures I think but that'll have to wait until I get home in a few hours.

Gobrobba is getting a major painting and basing upgrade, at which point I'll give you guys some good pics. My thought is to use him as a focal point for a chaos marine allied force for my orks. Gobrobba and his grot followers as cultists, a Hell Drake because really... the rest is just an excuse to field a hell drake... and something else maybe. Some kind of appropriate HQ (unless I can find something good that I can use Gobrobba to proxy as).

Might I make a suggestion on your Chaos-y heldrake?



I used the Dakkajet/Burna Bomber kit as the basis for my heldrake, it's been okayed the tournament I played it in, as well as within my local play group. I think you could do something with the cockpit pieces using Grots, and do such a conversion better than I could . AND it's cheaper than the Heldrake.

Edit: You could always take a Wyrdboy and chaos him up a bit as a counts as Chaos Sorcerer, perhaps give him Ahriman's helmet or something like that (with the horns). Or perhaps a Dark Apostle/runt herder.

Agree completely, that is the game I remember most fondly. Free flowing and narratives to fire the imagination, not just toe to toe annihilation. Looks awesome and great that it was for a good cause.

Ghazz looks amazing.

@Alf: good suggestion, but I already have three ork planes, not sure I want a fourth.

@Cam: So true! Now my eldest wants me to run a game for him. He's not really into the competitive thing, but this seems right up his alley.

Thanks for the comment on Ghaz, please vote if you like him. Something's got to eventually replace Brian's awesome cosplay figure on the gallery front page!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
@Alf: good suggestion, but I already have three ork planes, not sure I want a fourth.

Of course you don't want just a fourth, you want a 6th

I'd love to see you work your magic on any flyer to be honest, just thought I'd help ya keep the 40k budget in check, and obviously these first 3 planes haven't been painted correct?

Nope, and they'd never get done if I had to do it. I'm engaging a professional to shepherd them along.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Nope, and they'd never get done if I had to do it. I'm engaging a professional to shepherd them along.

I quite liked painting my jet, I'm sure that the professional does a far better job than I could, but the main bits of mine didn't take me more than an afternoon, but then again I'm finding it difficult to paint atm :-\ Nothing seems to want to work in the blasted summer heat

Gits as someone that uses an airbrush often, where did you grab your airbrush medium from? I'm looking at airbrushing my IG vehicles, but my "Flames of War" paint is far thicker than my airbrush paints atm and I'd worry about clogging up my brush D:

I just went to an art store here in madison and picked up a bottle of airbrushing medium. Depending on your paint, you might be able to use ethanol or even water.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Nope, and they'd never get done if I had to do it. I'm engaging a professional to shepherd them along.

Who are you using?

One of my Adepticon team mates... Ramos Azura.

Loved that blog entry mate! Nice one!

Mental as always. BTW, I have a spare Ahriman helm you can have gratis. Just sayin'

Great game and story.
Loved It a lot, give us MOAR!

Huh, I hadn't noticed she was still up there OR her score. Keen. Thanks, folks.

inmygravenimage wrote:Mental as always. BTW, I have a spare Ahriman helm you can have gratis. Just sayin'

Oh, is that cool! I'm sure I can find something to do with that as I build my little "allied" chaos marine warband! Thanks!

SelvaggioSaky wrote:Great game and story.
Loved It a lot, give us MOAR!

Well, they're tough to do and take a long time as you might imagine... but as I am inspired, I'll do my best to write them up.

Briancj wrote:Huh, I hadn't noticed she was still up there OR her score. Keen. Thanks, folks.

Something that awesome on a blog as good as yours can camp out on the front page for a very long time Brian. Good thing too, that's way cool and an excellent example of what dakka's all about.



OH, I updated the battle report so that it makes a bit more sense now. Two new pics and captions to fill in the gaps.

Have quite a flurry of painting coming up in the next couple of weeks due to an upcoming tournament. (Ain't that always the way of it?)

- Have this bad boy to paint up as a mega-armored warboss for my grot army.


- 10 grot "zeech cultists" to convert and paint and I need to tweak gobrobba's figure and base so he is more convincing as a runt-herd.
- Need to turn 10 boys into 'Aard Boyz (including re-painting). I'd really like to use say... black orcs for the basis of my 'Aard boys, but they're shockingly expensive so I think I'll pass.

That should keep me busy.

Do you use discount retailers? looking at the black orcs on say dice bucket they are $8 less than the GW price and with all the bits you can probably stretch them out to 20-30 ard boys with kitbashing.

Hmmm.... I'll have to think about that.

If it wasnt coming up so soon, I know a guy you could use...

I have a favor to ask...

If any of you have an imperial landing platform, would you mind giving me 2 measurements? I have a MAJOR scrtach-building project on the horizon for my orks/grots and I'm going to need practice. I thought the platform would be a nice starting point. All I need is the measurement of the platform from one of the points (not the flats) from one side to the other, and the height from ground to the top of the platform. You can just PM me.

Should begin work on the grotbot tonight... though probably just getting rid of mold lines and such...

Thanks - Gits

Check out this thread on Warseer.

Thats.... a really confusing description. But better than nothing.

Basic answer is 12" x 12". You can figure out the octogon bit with some badic geometry. The 2nd and 3rd pics on this page

http://www.apocprod.com/2013/02/18/40k-tactica-review-skyshield-landing-pad/

Might help, too.

That does help... thanks YB!


So, here's the build on the Runt Bot. Not done yet obviously. The grot controller is supposed to go on the shoulder to the right. I might do that, or I might build him some kind of chair in-between the shoulders. Kind of an unorthodox pose... looks like he's trying to step on something. What might that be?

Need to rig some kind of gun to one of the arms, then I think we're in business!

Very nice mini, I just know it's going to look great when you're through with it.

You hear that noise? That's my WAAAGH rallying to follow Gobrobba. Awesome fluff for a great idea.

That's fantastic, Gits!

Might be a while before you see the whole thing together as it'll be much easier to paint without the shoulders and grot controller attached. But I get to add a couple of my own touches.... namely a gun and a boss pole of some sort. Oh, and whatever he's squishing. I'd like it to be a guardsman but I don't have any figs. Prolly a space marine, something that can't ally (conveniently) with orks.

Why not a bug?
just saying

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Might be a while before you see the whole thing together as it'll be much easier to paint without the shoulders and grot controller attached. But I get to add a couple of my own touches.... namely a gun and a boss pole of some sort. Oh, and whatever he's squishing. I'd like it to be a guardsman but I don't have any figs. Prolly a space marine, something that can't ally (conveniently) with orks.

Do you need guardsmen? I literally have a drawer full of them...

Well, trick is I'd need the bits to model him in some convincing way. Either on his back, maybe firing a pistol or crouching/cowering... something like that.



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 SelvaggioSaky wrote:
Why not a bug?
just saying

I could use a Necron scarab... That would be fairly amusing.

 Gitsplitta wrote:

Given the expression on his face, it looks more like he accidently stepped on a land mine or a Mawloc just popped out under the ground and is about to swallow his foot.

Actually, maybe I should GS a mouse!!

Hows about this?



Reaper bones has a mouse (technically a rat)

They're a little larger than it probably should be, but what Grot wouldn't be afraid of a mouse/rat that's almost as big as he is?

Hmmm... I wonder how big they are?

I think a tiny mouse sitting on top of a rock would be hilarious. It's not that the grot would be afraid of it, it's that the bot's auto-senses were surprised by it suddenly appearing & perhaps squeaking as it was about to be stepped on. The bot reacts by automatically trying to avoid the unknown object.

Either that or the big, bad, grot bot is actually afraid of mice!

Nice grot bot, nice game style. Poor GK turning to ooz.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Hmmm... I wonder how big they are?

I think a tiny mouse sitting on top of a rock would be hilarious. It's not that the grot would be afraid of it, it's that the bot's auto-senses were surprised by it suddenly appearing & perhaps squeaking as it was about to be stepped on. The bot reacts by automatically trying to avoid the unknown object.

Either that or the big, bad, grot bot is actually afraid of mice!

Size is difficult to say... they're tiny though, like... grot sized tiny...

How about either the screaming villager from the whfb giant or it being grot controlled they love to crush stuff bigger than them make it an ork?

A runt herd, that would be a good choice too!

Sadly, my Reaper Bones order has not shipped, else I could let you know how large the rat is.

Also:

The Skyshield Landing Pad is a clipped octagon with these dimensions:

Primary width across: 12"
Length of the primary (NSEW) edges: 6"
Length of the secondary (diagonal) edges: 4"
Height from ground to top of the pad: 3 3/8"

Height of the pylons: 3 1/4"
Max width of the pylons: 3 3/4"
Max thickness of the pylons: 1 1/4"

Height of the 'shield' pieces: 1 5/8"
Height of the solid portion of the shield pieces: 3/4"
Width at the top of the crenelation: 7/8"
Width at the bottom of the crenelation: 1 5/8"
Space between crenelations: 5/8"

Fun facts:
The landing pad is a quarter inch thick, give or take, and there is NO supporting structure. It just sits on the four pylons. The center invariably sags.
There are ladders built into the pylons, which lead to access hatches on the pad. These ladders are on the inside, and are frequently ignored in the 'how do I gain access to the top of a skyshield WMDC 'discussions'.
There are 28 skulls on the product.

Outstanding Brian! I have been mentally engineering my pad for a while now and I can assure you it will not sag! Actually, I should be able to put my mega dread or both squiggoths on it with no problem. Platform will be fully braced and supported.




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I can officially say that you guys who do the complicated scratch building stuff are completely out of you minds. And when I say minds I mean insert the most vile string of curses before he word "minds" and then restate the sentence in a loud, shrill voice!

Took me over two hours to scratch build the barrels and cobble together the rest of the stupid twin-liked shoota that is the ONLY weapon a mega armored war boss is allowed. Two freakin' hours!! ... and it's CRAP!

My ideas about scratch-building an ork landing platform and helldrake just got flushed down the toilet. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

It should be a mecha-mouse, then you have a whole Gruffalo thing going on (has this spread the US?)

Might have... but you know. I"m old. I wouldn't know such things.

I think stepping on a runt herd would be a great scene, but I think an ork would be much too large and detract from the model. A mouse is at least properly diminutive.

How about a squig then?

Possible... still big but I'll think about it.

Worked on the gun some more this morning... it's not done, but is slightly less sucky now. He needs a Bad Moon symbol somewhere and a Nob Pole... which I might interpret as a grot prod lying next to the controller grot.

Fair enough. I just remembered Ifalna complaining about how small they were. It's all relative I suppose.

Just on a whim, I actually placed a runt-herd body on the base... I think with some modifications I can make that work. I'll need to thin him out a bit so he sits flatter on the base, maybe I'll GS around him a bit so he looks like he's fallen back into mud or something (so isn't fully exposed above the level of the base.

There were some tiny squigs that Iffy had painted, and then there was that really tiny squig she painted that was about the size of a dime.

That would work, just don't know where to find it. I think I've got a good idea for the runt herd, if that doesn't work out, I'll look at other options.

Totally sorry for this.



Just an idea for you to perfect with the runtherd. If you are clever you can do it with out actually ruining a whole runtherd, just use spare head and arms. Maybe you have a couple feet around. I am sure yours will be soooo much better than mine though.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
That would work, just don't know where to find it. I think I've got a good idea for the runt herd, if that doesn't work out, I'll look at other options.

The rat is funnier. I actually have a small plastic rat that came with a skaven box.

I think the runtherd is funnier and more in with the whole grot army idea.

Remember, when scratchbuilding, smaller is actually harder. When you're doing large scale stuff, you can get some mistakes and not have them matter. With something tiny, each little scratch, each micrometer of waver in the straightness of the cut can be seen.

OK guys, build is done... including the base. Problem is I'm going to have to paint it in 5 different pieces, so no pic right away. I'll have some time over the long holiday weekend. As soon as there's something discernible to show you, I'll post a pic. I like the way it looks, we'll see if my paint job can do it justice.


@Anvildude: Good point. I'll keep that in mind.

I'll be nice and just wait like a good grot for this.
Sure that It will be great

P.s.: happy 4th of July

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans out there!

And to all my UK friends....


Have been working on the runt bot... just a touch. Bot's dynamically primed and work is progressing on the grot and herder. I'll keep pounding away at it over the next few days so keep your eyes peeled!

I love where you're going with this pose-wise!

DItto... absolutely love the pose, will be awesome with some paint.

Looking forward to seeing him painted Git's, if you need a rat let me know as I may have one from the Corpse Cart kit.

OK guys, here's where he stands. The grot controller and the runt herd are finished (with the exception of the cinematic effects). The boss pole is done too, it's just not much to show on it's own. I haven't started on the bot yet as I'm still a little unsure how I'm going to handle him. Better to paint up the associated elements first rather than force it.





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Well, there's a first. I went to put some clear coat on the runt herd to protect him... and grabbed a can of white primer instead. Just destroyed 3 days worth of work that I'll NOT have to time to get back before the tournament.

Guess it's back to the mouse idea.



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I'm not sure what's more depressing... hosing down a model with white primer that it took me 3 days to paint... or the fact that I quick-painted it as close as makes no difference in 3 hours. Second paint job is no where near as nice as the first... but it'll do. Hope to start on the bot itself tomorrow.

oh wow Im sorry to hear that. you did an amazing job on him for the first job though

Oh man that is a total nightmare.

I feel your pain Git, so much effort thrown away...

Surly with the amazing paintjob You'll gonna do on the Bot, that will disappear (the pain and the difference )

yeah,
I just read the GobRobba fluff and it's amazing.
I Loved it and it was great that he escaped during your game too!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
... tweak gobrobba's figure and base so he is more convincing as a runt-herd....

He needs a mini disc of Zeech!

Panic...

Oo dear, that sucks man.

The posing of the whole model/dio' is really good though. Nice muzzle flash as well.

Get the robot thing done and then see if you have spare time to finish touching up the runtherd, you may still have time.

Micro-update. Combined the glyphs for "grot" and "gargant" to indicate a "giant grot robot"... which sums things up rather nicely.

Nice little touch in the nice little update

OK folks, had a crazy, nutty, fun tank battle at one of my FLGSs today. Everyone gets one tank up to 300 pts. Depending on how cheap your tank was, you got rolls on a "special abilities" chart too. I convinced them to let me run my grot tanks as actual grot tanks (which I've never done)... with some modifications. You get points for damaging and destroying your neighbors & can re-spawn infinitely. I took 3 tanks armed with RLs. Each tank had 1 hull point so the aggregate had 3 HP like a normal tank. They had to stay in 2"' cohesion and had to fire at the same unit. A full group of 3 was twin linked, but a smaller group just hand normal shots. I want to apologize in advance for the rubbish pics. The color processor and auto-focus on my phone camera are crap.

Here's the set-up. Sorry for the rubbish pic, I was holding my phone above my head and had to guess at where the table was. There were 12 of us. Random turn order each round, which was hugely important. We played on a double table with a fair amount of sight blocking terrain. The ruins were NOT area terrain as it could give certain vehicles too huge of an advantage.


Here's my deployment. I deployed first, with my two neighbors both deciding that deploying next to me (first the Vyper, than the organ grinder) would be a good way to get some early points.


And this is where I was when it *finally* came to be my turn to act. I was a fire magnet boy-o as that last little tank was worth 3 kill points.

I made a horrendous number of invuls though... all of them by rolling sixes!

My little tank zooms over behind an immolator and scores my first victory point (1 pt. for a glance).

I stayed in this same spot for Turn 2, trying to finish off the tank (which was stunned), unfortunately, my rocket failed to hit. I was then summarily dispatched by someone else.

In turn 3 I rolled on and tried to take out the rear armor on a Soul Grinder. I completely whiffed again! Unfortunately, I was in easy range for the grinder to take it's revenge.


By Turn 4 I'd decided to come in as far away from the SG as possible. A nice, jucy dark eldar vehicle with a rear armor of 10 was waiting for me, and I scored another glance and another point!

Later that turn, a land raider rolled up behind me and opened up with nearly everything he had. He only scored one hit and my invul took care of that. *whew*

In Turn 5, my surprisingly in-tact unit swung around the ruins to seek cover from the LR. Shooting at the DE buggy proved ineffective.


But, it was a good chance for a bit of eye-candy.


Turn 6 I cruised over to take some pot shots at a purple wave serpent, the only tank that had never been destroyed. Unforunately, though I hit and penned twice, he made both his invuls. The blue WS came in later and also failed to do anything.


More eye-candy.


End result... I finish dead-last with only 2 VPs. I did however, tie for 1st in the painting comp.

We had an absolute blast! What a fun way to spend a few hours on a Saturday!

I envy you a flgs that does this sort of madness. And great to see your painting skills vindicated! What did you tie with?

I'm not sure to be honest. There were two facets to the judging, a "judged" facet and a popular score facet. I won the judged facet but there was only 1/2 point separating each of the top 4 entries. Apparently the popular score really mixed things up. I voted for that blue eldar tank there. There was a very nicely painted sisters tank and a couple of nicely pained soul grinders too. No sure which I tied with.

You didnt happen to get any more pics of said Eldar tank, did you? Looks like the scheme mine are going to have, always nice to see good examples.

Ask, and you shall receive...

Looks pretty nice, other than the sticky tacked extra guns

Yes, well... there was a lot of making due with what you had on Saturday. Heck, we invented rules for my grot tanks so they'd fit into the scenario! Still a fun game though... no one was worrying about the small stuff.

I did get the base coats (several airbrush layers & washes) on the runtbot. I can post a pic later (when it dries) if anyone's interested.



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Here's that pic I promised you. I know this looks really screwy right now with the splashes of green and yellow. Please trust me, it'll even out well enough 'err it's done.

Looking great Gits, I see you recovered the herder. nice one.

Congrats on your 1st place tie.

Very nice runt bot pose.. Tells a good story!

Nice job so far Gits. Liking the muzzle flash/bullet even more now.

I guess this will be great, is the same basecoat procedure that You used on the Grotz Tank?

No, this started off air brushed then received multiple layers of washes and dry brushes. I just fiddled with it until it was done.

I spent at least 3 hours painting the Runt Bot last night and you can't really tell that I did anything. I could be playing 40k 20 years from now (in my dotage) and I'd STILL be painting this model! Sheesh! I got about half of the boltgun metal bits painted and washed... oh, and finished painting the shoulder plates. I think my original hope of having him done by Wednesday was wildly optomistic. I think if I can get the boltgun metal, the yellow and a few important details here and there... it'll be good enough to use, then I can fiddle with him as I like. He seems to be coming out nicely though. I'll post a pic from my i-phone tonight IF I can figure out how exactly to do that... don't get your hopes up. Cutting and pasting are still an undiscovered country as far as I'm concerned.

Use the photobucket app to upload to that from your iphone, very easy to cut and past to dakka from that.

Seriously... my computer is about to die... so I'll do my best to update but no promises.

Runt Bot to date: Still pretty WIP but slowly coming together. I moved the grot from the shoulder (which is where he's designed to be) to the arm so he can be looking at the runt herd. I'll give him little eyeballs looking down so it's obvious where he's looking.

Love the metallics on this guy, Gits.

Lovely armor. I am sure you will finish gits.

The painting is looking great but are you going to reposition the runt herders arm? It looked better when he was aiming at the grot.

I can move him around as needed. The point of the scene however... is NOT to have the herder look like he's going to kill the grot... defeats the whole purpose don't 'cha know. He is BS 2 after all...

Man I love that model.
Kick ass job thus far, Gits. The combo of the gorgeous metallics and your yellow really do an awesome model justice!

I love that model, In fact you've inspired me to dust off my Ork horde

Looking good so far Gits

But seriously, it keep getting better and better, good job.
I like the grot on the arm, gives the impression that he's very much in control and can walk all over the robot.

Thanks Dr. H.

One way or the other it'll get done tonight. I'll focus on the face, a few details and the base. It won't be "finished" finished... but it'll look complete enough to be a decent addition to the army.

I can then revisit it later.

A great model in the hand of a great modeller/painter can only turn out awesome!

Looking great there Git's, love the Bad Moon flames.

Done. Well... done enough. Added a size comparison shot at the bottom for giggles.



Don't forget to vote and/or comment if you like him! (or even if you don't)

Best nerf herder EVER.

That's great gits - I really identify with the grot. I am imagining myself as the grot and the runtherd is my new boss (a strict disciplinarian). Stomp on his head, problem solved.

You did a really good job.

I think that the family photo really makes it Outstanding work, it's an incredibly busy figure but you manage to make it look uncluttered.

Great work Gits. Nice face work on the 'bot.
and lol at "nob nipper".

Thanks guys. He's still very busy & kind of chaotic... but that's the way the model is. I tried to stick to consistent themes throughout so it wasn't too painful to look at.

Yea that turned out awesome as always. I love non standard warbosses, and you pulled it off

That is awesome looking Gits

He looks great Gits. I love the green head. I think the green blends very subtly with the dirty metal workings of the bot while making the yellows pop more. It's a nice balance... it also balances the two greenskins on the model. The name of the one PK makes me giggle... nob nipper The cine-effect gun burst is cool too, makes it a lot more animated... or at least brings it home.

Thanks guys.

It's still a *really busy* scene and hard to sort out visually. But, I like the little story going on so I'll live with the chaos.

He needs a bit of weathering and chipping yet... but I may let him sit for a little bit so I can approach the job with a clear mind. I'm a little worried about it because it'll only confuse the image more... but he's kinda odd without it.

True he could use a bit but not terribly much with all the bare metal he already has on him.

Love the updates, man. The fun little battle scenario sounds like a great laugh and the tanks look great on the table. Your grot-boss-mega-robot-death-machine-thingimy is awesome too! I wish I could paint like that!

@Foolish H: Yes, I was thinking along the same lines. Just enough to make the busy areas like the PKs look like they'd been used should do the trick.

@Casey: Thanks, it was indeed a lot of fun! There isn't much in the way of "advanced technique" on the Runt Bot... just stubbornness in trying to paint the detail that was molded. You can do that just fine.

Haha, maybe, Dakka hasn't seen my painting attempts yet! I think I'd have to resort to drybrushing most of the details up.

Hey Git just wanted to say that Grot Bot looks dead killy. Oh the sweet taste of vengance that grot is savering...

Some times ya got to take a step back and clear your head and take your time.

That being said, keep up the great work, can't wait to see it all weathered and finished.

Thank you Denua, I appreciate the support! I'll get 'im fixed up right proper for ya!


In the mean time, I did some more work on that demon grot... I wanted to beef him up a bit on his stand so he could be used as a runt herd or perhaps in an allied chaos cultist list. He's probably not done yet... I'd like to add some detail to his weapons and work on his mouth which is kinda screwy... but for the nonce it's another step forward. I may even build a 40mm base that his 20mm base can sit on and Tzeench it out so I can run him as a wierd boy if I want to. (for the story behind this, see earlier posts)

Lovely^^

It's actually the head of the grot I used on Buldoza, he one in the back

Very cool, and I love the chaos-ised bad moon of tzeentch!

Very nice Gits. He brings a smile to ones face.

Very cool, mate. I'm loving me some Chaos Greenskins right now.

Red wunz go fasta. This applies to red gobbos.

I think this about the final version of Gobrobba on the 25mm base.

Very inventive Gits. I also like how you incorporated a chain weapon to further define his allegiance to Khorne .

Yeah well... he's a grot. He's a bit confused by the whole thing.

Derp

...? What cha talking about willis?

RED, RED, no can't be right. OH ok got it now. Fair enough. Now back to the green. Right now......

Grot Bot simply amazing, (voted a while back.) It is in the competition right????

What competition??

Oh man, I thought you where entering in ComradePanda's Tank/Monstrous Creature comp with this thing, would be a winner I recon. Think the deadline is today mind.

Hey Cam, thanks for the prompting... I did make it in. Boy, some of the other entries are out-of-this-world though.

If anyone wants to check it out, here's the link to the final entries post. Comrade and Ruglud's Round 5 :Tank Round:

Glad You enter this mini, 13 is the unlucky number... is It?

You said It to me already, contest are the way to get better, 'cause You're trying harde

Too true Selv... too true!

 SelvaggioSaky wrote:
Glad You enter this mini, 13 is the unlucky number... is It?

Not according to the Norse!


ok.. now it's time for .....Squigothhhhhhhhh!........................not really a Mega or a Dread... no pressure!

Yeah... something like that. I'm working my way through a Mk-1 LR that has proven to be quite all-consuming time-wise and kinda vexing to boot. I did start to clean up one of my squiggoths a while ago... I should probably dig it out and start working on it. It'll give me a nice break from that blasted vehicle...

The really exciting news is that I sent three... yes three... ork planes off to Ramos Asura for building and painting. He's figured out a way to build them so I can configure them as needed (dakka, bomba, skorcha). I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to actually have these for my orks... I'm just buzzing with excitement!

Waaaaaagh!

Stop me if you've already figured this one out but I was looking in the ork codex and for the Big Mek he gives up his slugga for mega armor, which leaves him with the choppa that he can trade for a second power klaw. soo long story short you can play the runt bot wysiwyg with the dual klaws and a TL Shoota.

Which is cool... hadn't thought of that actually.

However, since the second PK does absolutely nothing for me... I don't think I'll pay the extra 25 pts for it.




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I was cleaning around my painting desk today and noticed this guy sitting neglected on a shelf. Thing 1 had started to build him... actually pretty much finished with him as one of the tons of slugga boyz that the kids have built me (I have a ton of AoBR slugga bits, no shoota bits). What I'd really like are shootas (but again... no bits). However, the clever lad had affixed a grenade to the end of the pistol like an extended barrel. I, clever lad that *I* am... had an idea. I found a clip in my ork bits box and attached it to the pistol. Drilled a hole in the barrel & attached a mucking big knife to the bottom and viola! A shoota boy! I figure the pistol side arm works with the shoota concept and he's even got another one on his back. Unfortunately he was glued in such a way that he was staring straight down... so I concocted a little scene where he was tripping backwards over a rock, allowing me to get him facing properly forward.

I'm now hunting for bits so I can convert my sluggas into shootas! I can manufacture the barrels... and might be able to scavenge marine clips and such for the guns.

Necessity is the mother of invention they say.

well it does give him another attack but i agree its not really worth that many points.

Well yes, but the choppa already does that... and it's free!

actually you loose that because the klaw is a specialist weapon and you only get the +1 if both ccw are specialist weapons

Son-of-a-gun you're right... never notice that before!

Army builder does take that into account, so I haven't been playing it wrong... but I wasn't getting the gist of the rule, that's for sure.

Thanks FH!

Not a problem. also quick question im trying to convert my AOBR warboss into a big mek. he has a burna on the right hand but dont know what to do with the left.

Hmmm.... well, I don't know how reliable it is, but in Army Builder... if you take a burna the only weapon options it allows you are all other guns, which you wouldn't be able to shoot along with the burna. You'd have a slugga/burna combo. Thought that does give you a power weapon on the charge and an extra attack (when compared to any of the other options). The standard Big Meks come with a giant wrench thing that really has no stats... kind of like a boss pole I guess.

The only other pairing I can think of that makes sense would be a shoota/skorcha combiweapon and PK. Gets you a single ramped up flamer shot and the PK in assault. It's only 10 points more. I imagine you could tack a shoota barrel on your burna without much of a problem.

Ive always imagined the wrench as a choppa. You know, good for fixin' things and krumpin' stuff!

 Ramos Asura wrote:
Ive always imagined the wrench as a choppa. You know, good for fixin' things and krumpin' stuff!

Same here

Agreed... but apparently it's not.

Is 50 pages still worth marking as a milestone, even under the shadow of The Beast, Mr Gits? If so congratulations!

 Casey's Law wrote:
Is 50 pages still worth marking as a milestone, even under the shadow of The Beast, Mr Gits? If so congratulations!

Didn't notice

Congratulation, a well deserved milestone for Da Ladz

Yea congrats. Specially considering it's just Orks

Wow, didn't even notice. Thanks guys. OK, will definitely celebrate with a squiggoth!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Wow, didn't even notice. Thanks guys. OK, will definitely celebrate with a squiggoth!

Happy Dance...

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Wow, didn't even notice. Thanks guys. OK, will definitely celebrate with a squiggoth!

I where your head is at.

Congrats on 50 pages of awesomeness.

I agree, I always felt like a spanner that big around the chops and you don't get up!!!! It's a weapon. If pointy sticks can kill storm trooper's, I am bloomin sure an eight foot muscle bound warrior with 50lbs of steel in his hand can smash a skull or two.

Anyways more models please.

Hmmm.... well, let's see... it's 50 pages... and in 7 days I turn 50. So between now and then I'll try to finish the squiggoth. No promises... have a lot of mundane things going on this week, but I'll do my best.

Congratulations on 50. Two for one there, how convenient.

Look forward to a Gitsplitta Squiggoth.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Hmmm.... well, let's see... it's 50 pages... and in 7 days I turn 50. So between now and then I'll try to finish the squiggoth. No promises... have a lot of mundane things going on this week, but I'll do my best.

What an awesome way to mark both occasions! Good luck!

Spent quite a bit of time working on the squiggoth today. Got the legs on... which involved a lot of grinding and GSing... not my talent. Figured out how I'm going to fiddle with the iron gob and will add steering chains once I can get to a dollar store or some such and pick something up.

It's interesting that the squiggoth minus the howdah is nearly the same dimensions in length, width and height as an ork trukk. That makes the proxy decision quite simple. I'll just make sure the howdah is magnetized or pegged and easily removable, then when we're playing, all sighting (either by me or my opponent) will be to the actual body of the squggoth. No "modeling for advantage" claims and I still get to play my nifty model.

I'll be honest... I'm not sure this will get done by next Saturday. It's really big and will take a lot of fiddling... but I'll do my best. It'll be my only ork project until it's finished.

My hat's off to you Git,

I would like to add a few Squiggoth's to my hoard as well as a gargantuan squiggoth. But don't really like the desing of the saddle on the gargantuan's...nor can I justify the cash required to get one... maybe one day

I'm sure this one will be top notch.

Gits...your figures are amazing. so many different details and yet, as the "family pic" showed they all tie in really well.

loved the demon grot as well.

many kudos to you sir!

Grats on the big 5-0... both of them! Also, from my own experience, it is a mistake to hold your squiggoth upside-down.

Denua wrote:My hat's off to you Git,

I would like to add a few Squiggoth's to my hoard as well as a gargantuan squiggoth. But don't really like the desing of the saddle on the gargantuan's...nor can I justify the cash required to get one... maybe one day

I'm sure this one will be top notch.

Yeah, they're a hard pill to swallow financially... but I've *always* wanted one and I'm pretty sure it'll make a credible trukk proxy but with TONS more style. Not very Bad Moon-like but frankly I don't care... squiggoths are just cool.

San76 wrote:Gits...your figures are amazing. so many different details and yet, as the "family pic" showed they all tie in really well. loved the demon grot as well.
many kudos to you sir!

Thank you San, really appreciate the comment and support. The Runt Bot actually took third (well, to be honest it tied with Selv) in cormandapanda & Rugluds' tank competition.

Here's the final post. You can see the quality of the models I was up against!

 cormadepanda wrote:
A third emergency judge......................................................................................... and then a fourth was called in.
So the results are in.. Slev, Gits.. you guys are awesome and made my job hard. Everyone did make my job hard. The scores were excellent on everything. Your votes mattered the most. Thank you all. round six is coming if you feel sore!





Hit play! yay confetti!

Spoiler:

First Place Goes to....

ashotninja!


Second Place Goes to....

Camkierhi



Third Place Goes to....

Gitsplitta

Congratz. All you should get a prize for completing, better yet I hope you play with your models on the table and get some lovely comments. Show them off! they are awesome works of art.

And here's a pic of SelvaggioSaky's outstanding, completely scratch-built deff dread which my model was apparently tied with. Took a tripple tie-breaker to sort it out. Really, I didn't belong in the same class with it either. Must have been a mercy vote...

inmygravenimage wrote:Grats on the big 5-0... both of them! Also, from my own experience, it is a mistake to hold your squiggoth upside-down.

That won't happen. I'll be magnetizing the howdah so it can be removed for counts-as trukk purposes.


Well, I'm afraid there won't be much progress on the squiggoth. Have two family birthdays this week and two SEPARATE overnight visits from my parents and step siblings... and a dirty house without suitable guest bedrooms for 3 separate groups of people. So any minute not spent with family will be trying to clean up this mess that we live in. I promise to get you some kind of photo of the squiggoth by Saturday. That's about the best I can do.

Take your time Gits and enjoy the week!

And here's a pic of SelvaggioSaky's outstanding, completely scratch-built deff dread which my model was apparently tied with. Took a tripple tie-breaker to sort it out. Really, I didn't belong in the same class with it either. Must have been a mercy vote...

Thank You for the high praises Git!
This is a very nice gesture from You, really appreciated!

I wouldn't say that your entry was different from mine, the scene You set up on the base, the change of position, the atmosphere of It all is just amazing and You deserved the podium

On the Squiggot side, don't worry and enjoy the family my friend

I promised you guys a pic by today. Got the airbrushing done. All of my squigs are red so I didn't see the point in changing that just because this is a really big squig.

Once I finish the armor/howdah and bits I think the skin tone will jump nicely. The howdah and iron gob are likewise painted (without the shading, just dark red primer) but not worth a pic. They'll actually be a completely different color... but red/brown primer is as good a color as any.

Love the colour.

Really glad to a "not green" squiggoth! Always wondered why people painted squigs a multitude of colors, but squiggoths always managed to come out green.

Kudos for not following in such footsteps!

Whoa, that is awesome!

That is a squig and a half sir!

Some progress to show. Two layers of wash, some careful highlighting and starting some details like the claws and gums. I'm carefully avoiding the armor at this stage as exactly how I'm going to approach it is still under consideration. I've got two different approaches in mind... I'm not sure if I'll do one, the other or a combination of both. He's much more of a darker red now. I do have a second one that I'll probably push more towards the orange... but I like where this one's going in the deep reds. It feels more natural and less cartoony.

The skin on that is looking very real. Love the variation in tone and the shading.