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Ahh I had a few of those head hunters call but none of it panned out and I never ended up with the proper job to match my degree. Thusly I have quite a bit of retail experience The problem is that the unemployment insurance I'd be due is as much as or more than probably 30 hours a week at a retail store making minwage, and you usually don't even get that much as seasonal help.

It would be nice if I had something on the side to fill in the off-time, but none of my skills/hobbies are profitable enough

Even the head-hunters were third party though, right? Didn't you still have to do the interviews and convince them to hire you? The only part you're missing is the actual searching.

No I was head hunted directly to fill a position (so maybe head hunting was the wrong term?). No interview past a meet and greet no application. Seems my reputation as a dissident and troublemaker were enough to swing their decisions.

But this time I quite liked the work I was doing (maybe not so much those I was doing it with) so rejected any advance I received so that avenue went a little quiet.

Ahh well that was easy mode

Well yeah why quit doing what you like/are good at.

My last update as an employed man (well at least for the near future). This time around I have stuck with the foot sloggers of the army (those Deff Dreads are awfully tempting though) and finished off my unit of regular Nobz. I really loved the level of detail on these guys, I definitely prefer the metal ones to the newer plastics, but they blend together fairly well. The gaming plan will this mob will accompany the Warboss in one of the Trukks to hopefully put some hurt on the enemy. They will work side by side with the Meganobz (who are next on the painting table) who will also ride in one of the Trukks. I figure the third empty trukk will just race ahead acting as a bit of mobile cover taking the odd pot shot with its Rokkit Launcha and you never know the opponent may ignore it and I might just get lucky.....on to some pictures.


The Mob is 9 strong (would have loved to have the points to boost it, but the fact I already had access to 9 models was a sure sign to me it was meant to be).


Just a different angle of the previous photo, I feel these models really do capture the effect that the older an Ork gets the more gnarled and crusty they become.


What I did with 4 of the Nobz is paint one with the same colors as the 4 Boyz mobs I already did (as you can see Red, Blue, Yellow and White) with the little back story that these guys have managed to not only become Nobz of there Mob, but then be promoted into the Warbosses personal retinue leaving their boyz behind forever. As you can see one of them even sports an impressive Boss Pole....


The story behind the remaining Nobz is they are originals from the Warbosses own Mob as he made his climb up the ranks and still follow him around from one scrap to another. Hence why they are somewhat better equipped or sport serious bionik repair.....


The final member of the Mob has the dangerous duty of lugging around the WAAGH! banner and as you can see it is quite an effort. Unfortunately I should not have picked a plastic model to carry the banner as I have had to seriously weight his base done to make it even remotely possible for him to stand up.


Left and right side views of the Banner. As regulars may have guessed I have a bit of an obsession with huge ostentatious and completely inappropriate banners on models (just look at my Iron Hands...) but I love this banner and wouldn't change it at all. Plus the benefit is I really was able with all the heads to practice a few different color schemes and painting techniques for future armies.


The final shot of the update has Grimskraga himself out in front of the Nobz ready to put the hurt on anyone dumb enough to let them get close.

So that is what I have been up to since the last update. Next up are the Meganobz as previously stated and I will be continuing the red, blue, yellow and white plan with them as well. Oh and one of the Meganobz is ably played by the Ghazghkul Model. But I have tried to trim his bulk down a little so he doesn't look too out of place.

Thanks for reading and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Looking great

I have managed a little more progress on the Orks so I am posting a cheeky update in time for Christmas. Although to be honest these guys were done a couple of weeks ago and I wasn't able to post the photos up as I took the opportunity of not having a job to drive the thousand km's to visit my family in Sunny Queensland (especially my ailing Grandmother). I even allowed my Mum to tag along. Would much rather have taken my wife but she was off with her High School's Band on an end of year music tour although we did cross paths in Hastings Point which was nice (on a side note the Band successfully auditioned for the Montreaux Fesitval in Switzerland next year leaving me to my own devices for three weeks...)

But that is enough of my life so back to the hobby that I am supposed to be writing about. I did manage to take a couple of models up to Queensland with me so I continued the progress on the Ork horde, but it still won't be enough to get the little Green monsters finished before Christmas and I doubt I will manage it before the end of 2014, I have been given a to do list by the Wife which is going to take a lot of my possible modelling time up. But to keep my spirits up and the interest from the public without further adieu I present to you the latest in my Ork Army:


My MegaNobz! These are the old school metal ones and I can't speak for the new plastics, but these guys have an enormous amount of detail on them (which is seeming to be a running theme on these Ork Models) and very much came close to overwhelming me as I found it hard to get them done. I think as the last of the " infantry" of the army I just wanted them done. But I am really happy with the results and as with their less armored Nob Brothers I took the opportunity to paint one in the same colors of each of the Boyz Mobs. You may see a camo of one Ghazzy model who is standing in as a MegaNob as I wasn't about to try and get one Mega Nob model when I had him lying around. He will never make it to the field as his named Lord of War self, but hopefully he isn't too large for the rest of the mob.


Here is the Boss Nob (who is the Red one) along with the White Nob and Blue Nob. I could have used the Ghazghkul as a Boss Nob, but I wanted to make him as small and humble as possible so this guy got the job.


The back view of the same models, just so many wires hanging out they are as interesting to look at from behind as they are the front. I feel I really got the colors right on these guys, the White Nob isn't too white and the blue came together better than I expected.


This is the Yellow Nob (and I am dreading if I ever do an Imperial Fist Army as Yellow is a hideous color to paint, was worse as I went over a black undercoat, stupid, stupid, stupid), and the two generic Nobs or as I tell myself the oldest ones as their original Mob color has worn off their armor. Ghazz really is a huge Ork and a little out of place, but I wasn't going to let him go to waste.


The rear view, I have the plan to run these guys in one of the Trukks with the other Nobz and Warboss in another. But I am beginning to think if I should split them into two units of 3 (if I can do that, haven't checked the minimum units size in the latest codex because the thought only recently occurred to me and I am lazy) and fill two trukks with Mega Nobz and Big Mek or Warboss and the third trukk gets the Nobs as planned. Maybe I will decide on that depending on what opponent I come up against? At least that way I am increasing the number of targets the opponent has to contend with. Ah well, too many options to be thinking of before I actually get the army to the table.

So there is where I stand with the Orks just before Christmas. I have 2 Deff dreads, 6 Killa Kans and one converted Trukk outstanding. The Deff Dreads both have their base colors on and the Trukk is perhaps half done. The Killa Kanz are only undercoated but I was thinking of doing three of them with the base color of one Deff Dread and the other three like the other so its sort of two groups? Any thought on the matter?

I will leave this here as I need to cook some risotto. I hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe Christmas and if I don't get on here before the New Year have a great New Year's celebration and I will catch everyone in the New Year. Keep up the hobby work and I hope whatever dreams you have come true.

Thanks for reading this year and I am looking forward to a great and productive 2015.

Happy Holidays to yourself as well

Meganobz look cool, good work! Looking forward to seeing more as next year unfolds.

Well it seems I told a little bit of a fib and have managed a little more work on the Ork Deff Dreads (to the point they are done to my standards). This probably came about as my lovely wife encouraged me to pack some painting stuff for our trip north and I found a little time to paint at the various hotels and motels I found myself in whilst away. I am very happy with the color scheme although I personally prefer the orange one as he is a little more out there and the contrast works a lot better with the metal parts. Although I do prefer the face of the red one. But without further chat and just in time to see out 2014 here are my two Ork Deff Dreads.....


As you can see they are both armed with Big Shootas and Power Klaws. I figure they will more than likely just be blown away before getting anywhere (much like my Iron Hands Dreadnoughts do) so I wanted to keep them fairly cheap, and simple, plus the sheer number of shots from the Big Shootas should help them do something at range.


I did my level best to make them as different from each other as possible to add more interest and Orkiness to the Dreads. Therefore I turned the engines upside down and used as many of the different components as I could. They are really nice kits and I certainly feel they embody the Ork feel really well.


I am a firm believer in what you see is what you get so when I decided that all the vehicles would get the Grot Riggers upgrade I just had to have a few of the little green blighters hanging around. In the end I also realised they make a fantastic counterpoint to the rest of the model and help to break up the solid colors of the Vehicles.


As with all of the other Vehicles thus far and Characters prominent trophy poles are on the dreads too. Like the Grotz they add an area of interest that otherwise wouldn't be there as well as give me an opportunity to practice different colr schemes for future armies or at least painting techniques.


My preferred color scheme with his attemdant Grotz. I really love the sheer character of the new plastic Grot models and I am glad I managed to squeeze a few of them into the army even if I couldn't squeeze in an actual mob of them.


The final photo for this update and probably one of my favourite ones thus far. I am really happy with the trophy pole here. This may be the best Imperial Guard head I have ever painted and I really like the color scheme for the Tau Firewarrior.

Well that is where I have managed to get to by the end of the year. It has been a fairly disrupted year with a lot of learning and new experiences. But I have managed to finish the year with a hobby flourish and one cannot ask for more than that. Thanks for reading and the encouraging comments over 2014 and I look forward to an inspiring and eventful 2015.

I'm getting no photos for the first five and the last image you linked. Photobucket says it was moved or deleted?

The one I *can* see though? With the goggled goblin? Looks awesome I'm guessing it's the Deff Dread?

Thanks for the catch Grim, I did indeed move them on photobucket and it didn't even occur to me I needed to update the locations....my bad.

Happy New Year to everyone by the way.

Oh well those are damn fancy, great work!

Happy new year

The Dreads are beautifully done!

I especially like the little grots.

Great work!

Happy New Year!

Those Dreads are great. I really like how you did the eye lenses. Thats a pretty cool effect.

I like the darker red one on the right better, though thats a matter of personal taste.

Yeah just about everyone seems to prefer the Red one (including my wife) although I am sticking to my guns and preferring the garish orange.

I have starting putting paint onto the Killa Kans and I have decided to do two different colors for the mob. 3 will be a dark green and 3 will be a much more radioactive green. This is mainly a feeling that the Grotz would be trying to appear big and green so they would paint their walkers green and in smaller point games I plan to run 2 mobs of 3 so I want to make it so they can be easily picked apart on the battlefield. They will however, copy the Deff Dreads with the metallic bits ontop of the green.

I can see why they like the red, but Orange is pretty suave too, gets my vote.

Ten days into the new year and I feel I am getting some good progress in finishing off the Ork army. With this update (which is the final "Trukk") leaves me the 6 Killa Kanz of which I have base coated all of them and have almost finished the metal bits. So I am really hoping that I can get the Orks finished by the end of the month and get a good run into the Ogre Kingdoms. Plus I would really love to give the Orks a run at the first club meeting of the year which is in February....

So onto the photos. I have to admit I was finding it really hard to motivate myself to get this Trukk finished off. I am not sure why as once I had the base colors done and started on the detail I really began to enjoy it and am very happy with the finished result. The Grotz add an amazing level of detail and character and thanks to a fellow member of the gaming club that gave them to me. (I believe they are a forgeworld model).


The Trukk began life as an Imperial Bombard I think and I now have a giant artillery gun lying around that used to be in the tray. The Ork Gunner is a complete hack job to get it all to fit together.


I think the Banner came out really well. I tried a little bit of wet blending to bring the yellow to red together a bit. For a seat of my pants and a last minute decision I think it worked pretty well. Will definitely be doing it more and more into other models.


I added a little more battle damage to this Trukk than previous ones and even hope to demonstrate that some of it has happened since the Orks repurposed the vehicle by having the bullet holes going over the Ork Glyph.


After removing the Bombard cannon there was a little bit of a tray in the back, but not enough to hold the boyz so I used a bit of spare card to extend the tray further (which conveniently allowed me to make it as close to the size of the official Ork Trukk kit as I could). It also gave me a good spot to position the Gretchen standing on the crates.


The crowning achievement of this update, the sculpt is amazing and has really added an extra dimension of Orkiness to the model. The words are a litle nod to the fiction that I wrote for this army which for a brief synopsis is the new Warboss and Big Mek of the warband are trying to refit and rearm the Boyz, for a bargain price obviously. I kind of feel this Trukk is the Big Meks personal vehicle and he uses it as a mobile shop.

So there is the last of my fleet of Trukks and I am glad it is done. It was a real battle to get it finished which is disappointing as I am really happy by the finished model.

I am having a "play date" with a mate of mine tonight as I try to help him with his motivation for his burgeoning Space Wolves. Therefore, I hope to get a good painting session on the Killa Kanz which will give me a great chance to actually achieve my end of the month deadline.

Thanks for reading.

I like it, the gobbo with the sign is a nice touch

That truck is awesome. I mean, I hate to see a glorious imperial vehicle disgraced like that, but its super orky! Nice work!

Thanks for the comments guys. I also had a pretty productive painting session with my mate last night. But he kind of got distracted from his assembly of some grey hunters when he opened the long overdue Christmas gift that I failed miserably to get to him before Christmas. Since he is collecting Bjorn Stormwolf's great company it was only fitting to give him his first Vindicator.

Since I have been having a prolific time of hobbying (probably due to the lack of job to go to......but that is a story for a different forum) I am almost finished the Killa Kanz. In fact three are done and just need their bases completed, but of course I will finish the other three first. BUT this update has nothing to do with the Killa Kanz, in fact it has nothing to do with the Ork army at all. It does actually have to do with my much ignored army transport cases. You may remember the one I had a while back for the Imperial Guard, sorry Astra Militarum Army, that I already finished. But this time it is a smaller case to transport the Empire Knightly Order I competed as the last army.


It is almost exactly half the size of the previous case and I am set on the design now so will forge ahead and finish one off for the Iron Hands that have their foam trays finished but just need the box.


As I have noticed with many Warhammer Fantasy armies compared to 40k armies is they are usually much smaller. The Empire Knights all fit in a single stack of 6 Trays (each tray is two foam pieces thick).


After having finished the first box I added strips of the foam around the base so when the top is on it squashes into it forming a much tighter seal. I thought this important as since I currently am forced to store the completed armies in our under floor storage units (while I get my act together and build a proper man shed) which are potentially not insect proof I thought it necessary. I am happy to say though that having now stored the Astra Militarum army there for many months and there has not been an issue at all.

So a nice short update, but I am very glad to be back on the horse in making these storage/transport boxes.

Thanks for reading.

Keep on keepin on, as they say. Case is interesting. I tend to store my minis in a modified pistol case. You know. 'Cause American

Those storage cases look pretty neat. Are they very heavy?

When I get to the shops and buy some replacement batteries for the bathroom scales and I will give you an accurate weight.

But I would guesstimate that the small case with army and foam inserts weighs maybe 7.5kg. The Larger one would be maybe 15kg.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well I am posting yet again which makes me feel like I am being very productive. This is a special update as it means I have finished off the Killa Kanz which of course can mean only one thing now.....I have finished off the Orks! Yay me. So without delay here are the final 6 models for the army:


The photography for this update is going to be absolutely shocking as I took the photo's on our dining table rather than my normal place in front of the fish tank which has far better lighting......but here is the Killa Kan mob in all their glory. I figured that in Ork society Green is better so the Grotz would be encouraged to paint their little walkers green to show how powerful and Orky they are (plus I had run out of ideas as to what color to paint them. I did a slight variation as to three of them are a lighter more sickly green and the other three are a much darker green. I mainly did this so that in smaller than 2,000 point games I may run them in two mobs of 3 instead of the large mob.


I have dumped a close up of eah of the Kanz here for closer scrutiny. Like their big brothers the Deff Dreads I really am impressed by the detail. Really enjoyed painting these guys, although I must confess I was more interested in painting the Grotz and Trophy poles than I was the rest of the model.......


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So to carry on from my previous post here I present the finished Ork army, it certainly was a long slog and I am not eager to dive into a horde army again anytime soon (although the Ogre's do tend to move around with a gaggle of Gnoblars......) again, the photos are a little disappointing, but I had little choice in finding somewhere to fit the entire army in one shot.

Again, I won't bore you with lots of words, but will just post some pictures:


And here is the entire army in all its green glory. It was an interesting trip and I certainly found most of them more entertaining than the Iron Hands army as Space Marines are just dull.


This is more of an aerial shot and a much better photo to boot.


The HQ of the army, a Warboss (Grimskraga to you Oomies) and Big Mek


An APPALLING photo of the Elites of the Horde, Nobz and Mega Nobz. The plan with these guys is they will be loaded into the Trukks and flung headlong at the enemy as a frightening distraction. Whether the Warboss rides with them or not will depend on what threats the enemy has.


The Heart and Soul of any Ork Horde (or it should be) 2 Mobs of Shootas and 2 Mobs of Sluggas.


The Trukks fill out the Fast Attack slots of the army as I can in the new Codex and rules and since they aren't dedicated vehicles I have a little more freedom for their battlefieldrole and who they can carry.


And rounding out the horde is the big hitters and probably the biggest targets of the lot. The Deff Dreads and Killa Kanz. But with the Grot Riggers and a Big Mek nearby I am hoping they will soak up a lot more fire than they otherwise should.

Well there you go. I have finished the 4th army off my planned list (although the list is missing a few additions that I have made to make the plan even crazier, but I will leave them off until I finish off a few more armies). I hope the viewers out there enjoyed the ride and were at least mildly entertained. Stay tuned for the Ogre Kingdoms that will begin to appear in the next post......

Thanks for reading.

I can't even take in the killa kan details because it's too much fun to look at the goblins on top Awesome army though, and in pretty short order too!

Excellent work, can't wait to see what you come up with next

Well there is no time like the present to keep forging ahead with the project and as I have been alluding to for quite a while it will be the Ogre Kingdoms that get my attention next. I took a long while to come around to the army and I really couldn't settle on a theme that I was really happy with. That is until the new Army Book and it was settled for me. I really like the details behind Ogre Maneaters, setting off to fill the wanderlust, collecting experience and equipment as they sell their services all over the world. Therefore, with the new book allowing me to take more of them I decided on 3 groups of 3 (plus since GW does 6 official models it leaves me room to do a few conversions) I was set. I decided that since they were wanderers there was no place for a Butcher so my magic will come from a Firebelly which fits really well as they are meant to learn their craft in the far off Cathay.

I was planning on converting the Tyrant to lead the army. But couldn't go past using the model for Golfalg Maneater as he just had the right stuff. But I have changed his model a little to make him into my own (and to give him more appropriate weapons for his load out). Below is the army list I plan on using for this update. Please note that I have still to get one Maneater, both the Scrap Launchers and all of the Gnoblars. SO if any Ogre players out there have some input into changes to those models before I buy them feel free. But please remember the theme and I am pretty happy with what I have come up with. No idea if it has any chance on the tabletop, but who cares as long as its fun hey?

2,000 Point Warhammer Fantasy Ogre Kingdoms Army - The Wondrous Caravan of the Traveler and his Maneaters

Tyrant Morgnubul, the Traveller - Fencers Blades, Glittering Scales, Ogre Pistol

Bruiser Grobgut the Signalman - Battle Standard Bearer, Dragon Helm, Heavy Armour
Conflag the Firebelly - Level 2, Great Weapon

Wanderlust Beginners - Crusher Bort, Musician, Standard Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar, 3 Ogres Bulls, all have Ironfists
Servants of the Traveller - Groinbiter Cabbage, Musician, Standard Bearer, 32 Gnoblars, Gnoblar Trappers
Emergency Rations - Groinbiter Phlegm, Musician, Standard Bearer, 32 Gnoblars, Gnoblar Trappers

The Travellers Lads - 3 Man Eaters with additional Hand Weapons
The Gold Seekers - 3 Man Eaters with Great Weapons
The Experienced - 3 Man Eaters with Braces of Ogre Pistols
The Travellers Brother - Gorger

Greenskin Ingenuity - Gnoblar Scrap Launcher
Trophy Rack of the Caravan - Gnoblar Scrap Launcher

I am not sure how I will play this army, so many small, hard hitting units with some absolute garbage in the Gnoblars thrown in for fun. I will need to try and charge the same target with multiple groups to try and make the most use of the Ogre Charge and to ensire the small units don't get overrun. Maybe I will load the characters into the Bulls unit and have the 3 Maneater units run with them for additional support?

So enough talking for now.....the above is the direction I am heading on the next leg of my journey, although I do plan to make time to do the foam trays for the Orks and transport boxes for the Iron Hands and Orks as well.

Thanks for reading.

I cant wait to see the Ogres all painted up!

Looking forward to it.

'This gonna be gud' meme here

very cool sounding list...look forward to it archer.

Wow, I miss a few weeks and you finish half an army and have already moved on to the next!

Great work man. Those orks look stunning together. I like how bright the army looks when it is displayed. I would be pretty intimidated seeing that across for me.

No helpful suggestions for the OK. Looking forward to seeing how you start though. You taking on 4 armies and starting a 5th is really making me look at my own shoddy work desk and feel the urge to paint. Maybe I'll finally get some work done on my brets...

Would love to see your Bretonnian Work. I would jump at doing my take on a couple of Bretonnian variations but I just can't do it until the new Army Book is released to see the changes and if I can still do my desired Peasant army.....


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Time for another update. Gee I think I may be getting sick of my own typing and that is hard for me to do considering how much I like to talk......but I have been progressing nicely, not entirely on the Ogre front, but getting some of the other modelling tasks out of the way. I have now finished 3 of the 4 required storage/transport boxes and the last one (for the Orks) is well on its way to being finished. So a quick photo update of the three finished boxes for perusal.....


Here are the three boxes stacked on top of each other. I completely forgot to write the outside dimensions of them down, but if someone is interested I will do that in my next post. However, I was asked about the weight of the boxes and I finally got around to putting a new battery in the scales so the weights are as follows (my original estimates were WAY out).
The smallest box (for the Empire Knightly Order) weighs: 3.7kg for the box only and 6.2kg when the foam trays and army are inside.
The middle box (which has the Iron Hands and interestingly the Ork army is exactly the same size...) weighs: 4.9kg for the box and 8.5kg with army and foam included
Finally the biggest box for the Astra Militarum (so many tanks) weighs: 5.2kg for the box and 10.2kg with all the stuff loaded inside.

I am getting pretty quick at putting them together now and they are very secure. I am happy with the design and the next step will be to paint them and add an army specific design to identify which army is in which box.

Onto the next photo which is the first update in the Ogre Kingdoms progress.....I present the first of my armies Maneaters, the Ninja!


He is a very simple paint job as a lot of the Ogre Models have a lot of large flat areas. It doesn't show up well in the photo (isn't that always the excuse?) but hsi leather tunic and pants has a purple sheen to it which I feel works quite well.


I feel he is a good start and I feel apart from the legions of Gnoblars I will quite enjoy painting this army.

It is a short update, but its a start for my next army.

Thanks for reading and comments are most welcome.