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This thread was originally posted in the DCM section, to keep things somewhat under wraps before the event. Now that it's over, I thought it might be nice to share it on the general Blog board for anyone interested.
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Because, you know, you can always be just that little bit busier...


So, here in Brisbane there's a big (hopefully, it's their first time) con going by the name of Auscon coming up at the end of April, which is promising to be pretty huge and a lot of fun. Tournaments, demo games, painting comp, seminars... it's all happening.

I was asked if I was interested in running a modelling seminar, and because I have issues with time management I agreed... So I'll be going along to run a couple of tutorials on building Space Marine Quad Bikes. Along the way, I'm also hoping to get together a couple of entries for the Wizards of Oz painting comp, and am looking to enter the 40K tournament... which will be my first tournament in nearly 15 years.

In the hope of keeping myself motivated enough to actually get everything done that I need to get done, I thought I might start a blog-ish thing to detail my progress... if anyone is actually interested enough to read it, that's probably good too



So, kicked things off yesterday by dusting off my Orks and jotting down a rough army list, to see if I actually have enough stuff sitting there to make a halfway viable army. Turns out that with a little tweaking I have some sort of army... how viable it is I have no idea, since mathammer was never my thing. Army list to follow later, (when I get home and have the time to write it up properly) so people can point out to me just how rubbish it is, if they feel so inclined.


Along the way, I also need to do a couple of test-builds on my Quads, to find the easiest and quickest way to get them built, and then design a tutorial that I can present in some sort of fashion that people can follow well enough to build their own quads on the day while I show them how.

And, of course, make a start on some painting comp entries... I have a couple of ideas brewing away, one of which should help resolve a commonly griped about Space Marine 'issue'...

More later.

I have my practical exams for general practice on the weekend after Auscon.

I will not be attending. :(

Good luck on the tutorial. The quad bikes are excellent.

Waaagh! Biglug 1750 points

HQ
Waaaghboss Biglug
(counts as Ghazghkull).. 225


Big Mek
Shokk Attack Gun
Ammo Runt
eavy Armour ................103


Elites
Nobz Mob - 5 Nobz
Painboy
Orderly
Cybork Bodies
2 x Powerklaw .............210


Troops
Nobz Mob (Ghaz counts as Troops) -6 Nobz
Painboy
Orderly
5 x 'eavy Armour
Stikkbommz
1 x Big Choppa
2 x powerklaw
1 x Twin Shoota
1 x CombiSkorcha
1 x Waaagh! Banner
1 x Bosspole...........................276

Trukk
Reinforced Ram
Armour Plates..........................50


Boyz Mob - 11 Boyz
Big Shoota
Nob
Bosspole.................................80


Boyz Mob - 11 Boyz
Big Shoota
Nob
Bosspole.................................80


Grot Mob - 19 Grots
Runtherd................................67


Fast Attack
Warbikes - 5 Bikes.....................125


Warbuggies- 3 Buggies
1 x Twin-linked Rokkits
2 x Twin-linked Big Shoota.........95


Stormboyz - 10 Boyz
Nob
1 x Powerklaw .........................155


Heavy Support
Dreddnought
Rokkit Launcher
Megablaster
Armour Plates ...........................110


Killa Kanz - 2 Kanz
1 x Big Shoota
1 x MegaBlaster ..........................95


Big Gunz
3 Kannons
3 x Ammo Runtz
Runtherd...................................79


Total
1750 points
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I fully realise that it's a bit of a dog's breakfast... The groups I've gamed with over the years have generally gone for the 'throw in whatever you feel like' approach to army building, so my armies have never been built with competitive gaming in mind. I don't have a lot of time for widespread changes, but if anyone has any useful feedback, it would be appreciated.

Buckling on down, and juggling multiple projects at once...

I went out and stocked back up on plastic tubing on the weekend, so started plotting out the quad bike conversion for my tutorial session.


This will be a little different to the previous quads I have built. That's not too unusual, since pretty much every quad I have built has been different from those that came before, as I tweak the design a little to improve them each time. This one, though, is also being built with the idea that it needs to be a little quicker and easier to do, so that I can realistically get potential conversion newbies to do it in a single session.


Also started on this:



And started rebasing my Orks. They had originally been based on snow, which I was not entirely happy with due to it being done over a period of several years, using a couple of different techniques and paints... so never really looked consistent. So I'm going from the snow to an arid base, (which I had already started with my SAG Mek and Kannon crew) thusly:


With that in mind, I started stripping the 'snow' off of the rest of the army, ready for new texturing and paint. The two slugga mobs first...

A little bit of plastic work:



And the NewQuad prototype coming together:

Its just painful to see those two units of Nobs walking around on foot.

You desperately need to scrap together a Battlewagon of some sort and slap a Deff Rolla on it.

Then put one squad of Nobs in the Battlewagon (with Ghaz included) and the other into the Trukk.

Then combine the other two Boyz squad together into a mob of 20.

Finally, if there's some way you can swap out the Shokk Attack Gun Mek for a KFF Mek (maybe just make the SAG 'count as' a KFF?) you'd be in much better shape overall.

The army would still a hodge-podge, but at least it wouldn't be a crazy disaster.

yakface wrote:Its just painful to see those two units of Nobs walking around on foot.

You desperately need to scrap together a Battlewagon of some sort and slap a Deff Rolla on it.

Then put one squad of Nobs in the Battlewagon (with Ghaz included) and the other into the Trukk.

The Troops mob is already in the trukk. The lack of a battlewagon was largely just down to the fact that I hadn't got around to building one yet. Having said that, I think I do still have most of a Land Raider sitting down in the shed...

Then combine the other two Boyz squad together into a mob of 20.

I had considered that, but figured it was better to have the extra scoring unit, since they all tend to die fairly quickly.

Finally, if there's some way you can swap out the Shokk Attack Gun Mek for a KFF Mek (maybe just make the SAG 'count as' a KFF?) you'd be in much better shape overall.

That would probably be smart. I had the SAG in there because I have the model, and there's a whole lot of nostalgia going on there from my original 2nd edition Ork army... Which probably isn't the best reasoning, tactically

The army would still a hodge-podge, but at least it wouldn't be a crazy disaster.

Well, that's honest Thanks for the feedback.

That landraider sounds like it desperately wants to become a battlewagon before the end of April .

I would have travelled a long way to attend a modelling seminar by you! Any chance of having someone video it and upload it to Youtube, for those of us on the other side of the globe?

Also, Auscon is one sweet name for an event!

As it happens, there's a very good chance that a video may wind up online. The Auscon guys are organising to video tape all of the seminars.

insaniak wrote:
I had considered that, but figured it was better to have the extra scoring unit, since they all tend to die fairly quickly.

The only time two smaller units of boys are better than one big one is when mounted in a Trukk (because you have to). Otherwise the Mob Rule makes taking one bigger squad much more effective. With two mobs of 10 each, all it takes is for 3 Orks to die from shooting (not hard to do) and you're having to take a morale check on Ld7. Even with the bosspole re-roll that's not something you really want to have to deal with.

So since they're footslogging, you definitely want to go with one big mob over two.

That would probably be smart. I had the SAG in there because I have the model, and there's a whole lot of nostalgia going on there from my original 2nd edition Ork army... Which probably isn't the best reasoning, tactically

The thing about the KFF is that he can ride in the Battlewagon and since you measure the range from the BW's hull you get a big bubble to protect your Trukk, Buggies, Kans and Dread...not to mention your walking Boyz mob (although they can be screened by the Grots as well...although the grots are probably better used to screen the Kannons if you don't have cover to deploy them in).

You do have a fair amount of vehicles, so having that one KFF model will generally make most of your army 50% more durable! And the Mek can fix damage to the Battlewagon without even getting out of it!


So if you can get a Battlewagon scrounged up and play the Mek as a KFF you'd be much, much better off. You're still going to run into problems if you face mech armies (which it seems most armies are nowadays) because you don't have any Lootas to pop transports. You do have the Kannons, but they sure ain't Lootas! The other problem you have is that you have mixed weapons on your vehicles (2 buggies with Big Shootas and 1 with Rokkits all in the same squadron, same with the Kans and also the Dread), so you kind of have they 'jack of all trades master of none' syndrome going on.

The positive you have is a LOT of powerklaws: Warboss, 4 in the Nobs squad, 1 in the boyz (assuming you combine them together), 1 in the Stormboyz, 2 Kans and the Dread...which is why it is so important that you get more of your army mounted up and across the table quicker. Having your killy Nobs walking is just going to give your opponents ample time to pick them off at their leisure.

With a Battlewagon and KFF you'd move the Battlewagon forward 13" on the first turn (red paint job) with the Trukk hidden behind it and have the Dread & Kans run to keep up. Turn 2, whatever survives between the Trukk and the Battlewagon then surges forward to hit the enemy (which is much more likely to happen with the KFF in the army) along with the Stormboyz (and maybe the bikes), with the Kans, Dread & walking boyz potentially running again to keep the pressure on. Turn 3 you should have the Kans, Dread and Boyz (and the bikes if you didn't assault with them) really near the enemy and ready to do some damage along with the battlewagon still running around Deff Rolla-ing stuff.

Having the Battlewagon will basically totally change the complexion of your army in a good way.

Without it, the opponent will take out the Trukk with their first shots and once that's done they can focus on the Bikes and Stormboyz. Once they're finished killing those two units they'll then turn back to the Nobs, Dread, Kans and boyz...all likely before any of it gets near the enemy.

Did someone say Battlewagon?




Thanks for the run-down, Yak. Definitely some food for thought...

Awesome start on the 'Wagon! And really looking forward to seeing the video.

Revised list, to fit the Battlewagon in...

Short version: Consolidated the Nobz mobs, switched the Mek's SAG for a KFF, switched the trukk for a Looted Wagon, dropped a buggy and shifted to both buggies with Rokkits, switched the Kanz to Grotzookas, Consolidated the Boyz, switched out the Dread's Megablasta for another rokkit, and dropped the Runtherd from the Kannons... although I'm debating dropping a couple of Grots from the Grot mob so I can put him back in to make the Kannons that little bit less prone to running away.

insaniak wrote:Revised list, to fit the Battlewagon in...

Short version: Consolidated the Nobz mobs, switched the Mek's SAG for a KFF, switched the trukk for a Looted Wagon, dropped a buggy and shifted to both buggies with Rokkits, switched the Kanz to Grotzookas, Consolidated the Boyz, switched out the Dread's Megablasta for another rokkit, and dropped the Runtherd from the Kannons... although I'm debating dropping a couple of Grots from the Grot mob so I can put him back in to make the Kannons that little bit less prone to running away.

I definitely like the weapon swaps...you don't really need the mega-blasta shots anyway because you have enough Powerklaws to deal with well armored infantry (which is what the KMB would want to shoot at). Now you've got a bunch more Rokkits to pop open the enemy transports allowing everything else to get in there and squish 'em.

Although consolidating the Nobs into one squad and dropping the Trukk means you've now got all your eggs in one basket. I kind of liked the other approach since it meant that if the enemy immobilized or destroyed either the Trukk or the Battlewagon you'd still have the other unit still threatening. The lone Battlewagon can work, you're just relying on it to soak ALL the enemy AT firepower, which certainly can happen with AV14 front and a KFF 4+ save...but its just still not something I'd personally want to do.

And Looted Wagons...well, they're a lot of points for something with extremely low armor and with the 'ability' to freak out on any given turn. I think they're pretty bad, but again that's just me!


And I agree with you that if you're going to take Big Gunz you need to get a Runtherd in there with them otherwise its pretty much an automatic rout. Although using his Squighound becomes really painful if you're not taking any additional Grots in the unit (as the D3 the squighound eats for the re-roll will invariably mean you lose the ability to fire at least one gun).

If you're looking for a few spare points, the KFF Mek definitely doesn't need to have extra armor. If the Battlewagon survives to drop the Nobs off he can simply stay in the vehicle providing the KFF bubble 6" around it, or if he does get out with the Nobs then the wound allocation rules mean you'll be able to choose how many/what types of wounds go on him and you'll always have the 5+ save from the KFF he provides himself as well.

Battlewagon looking awesome!

I agree 100% with everything Yak's posted about the army list, FWIW.

While Maria spent the afternoon stripping snow off the rest of the army's bases, I got a little more done on the 'wagon.





Still a load of detailing to go, but it's shaping up nicely, I think

It looks like an Orky combine harvester!

That 'wagon conversion is sweeeeeeet.

On the army list...

I initially went with the Looted Wagon based on the 'less work required' approach to get some more firepower in there, but did have reservations myself on just how much use it would be.

So, a few more tweaks... Short version: Killed the Looted Wagon, added a mob of 6 Tankbustas, switched the Buggies to Big Shootas (partly for a little more anti-infantry cover, partly to avoid being pegged on Comp for rokkit spam), removed the Mek's 'Eavy Armour, added the Big Gunz Runtherd back in, and added Armour Plates and Riggers to the Wagon to increase its survivability.

I'm debating whether to try and squeeze a bosspole in there for the Tankbustas' Nob.

Looted wagons are useless, take it from me. I ran one for a good while when it came out and it rarely survived or did anything.
I think bosspoles are almost always worth it on small mobs, but 6 dudes is verging on throw-away so you might want to keep the unit bare bones cheap. (I mean, with 6 dudes, you run a serious risk of having 5 vaped by shooting and the bosspole being useless for the morale check anyway because the nob has no one to nut!)
Also, how tight it aussie comp? I would never ding anyone for rokkit spam!

Da Boss wrote:Also, how tight it aussie comp? I would never ding anyone for rokkit spam!

I have no idea, to be honest. From what I've heard, it varies a lot from event to event, but the last tournament I participated in was before comp really got started over here I've been in exactly two tournaments in my gaming 'career'... both in 2nd edition, and neither with comp. And to complicate things further, the guys running the tournie at Auscon are still finalising the rules. They just decided a couple of days ago to switch from peer-based comp to having the judges do it, but beyond that there's no real details out there yet on just what they're basing it on, so I'm trying to play it safe.

I think your list is really varied and "soft", I wouldn't expect a harsh comp score (from what I'm used to, anyway!)
I used to get compliments on my orks for comp, and they had like...12-15 rokkits?

It just occured to me that with the Mek riding in the wagon, I really don't need the Grot Riggers... so I'll drop them out and add the bosspole for the Tankbusta Nob.

I love the deff rolla on that wagon- Wow!

Moving right along...

Maria's cleaning up some Black Reach Boyz for me to turn into Tankbustaz. In the meantime, I finished off the construction of the Battlewagon.









The Deffrolla is magnetised, for easier transport and so I can run it without if I feel so inclined down the track.

Painting will hopefully start through the week sometime. Time to go finish of a bottle of Sauv Blanc with Maria and give my back a rest...

I didn't realize how big it was until the comparison shot at the end! The raised front makes it look even more like a combine. My only suggestion was that it might be nice to have rails along the outer edge of the flat top of the treads in back, in case an ork wanted to stand there and to make it feel like there is a nice side to it. But it may be that it's just hard to tell what it will look like now as it's unpainted, and there it seems to be a small railing along the inside edge already.

Arrr the front tires are too thin for that monster I would use monster truck tires for better scale.

Started work on the Tankbustaz. I'm basically just assembling these guys from Black Reach Boyz with assorted missile launchers butchered and slapped on.



I'm exceedingly happy with the rokkit-krossbow, though

Looks great, can't wait to see them with a lick 'o paint!