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Welcome!

It's been a while since I've been in the world of mini painting and I'm painting up some orks to reacquaint myself with my brushes. I've collected a few ork armies over the years, but this is the first with any real inspiration other than "these are bad moons and they like to kill stuff".



I missed the days of Rogue Trader (I started in 2nd), but I've always loved the imagery compared to today's 40k universe. I found this as a nice alternative to the standard bad moon black/yellow.



Here's the scheme applied to some models. I'm using the same scheme, but without the flames on the arms.

Morbog's household boys were the bad moon unit from Ghazghkull's waaagh. From the fluff, a household generally provides one unit for the army. So, it looks like Morbog is leading his own waaagh now.

The list I created is still pretty rough. I tried to base it off of typical bad moon fluff.

At 1k pts:
1 Mega-Armoured Warboss
1 Big Mek w/ KFF
4x Mega-Nobz + Trukk
9x Lootas + Mekboy
11x Choppa Boys + PK Nob + Trukk
19x Shoota Boys + Nob
3 Kanz w/ Grotzooka

Further down the road, I plan to add scratch-built tanks designed from epic scale models. A stompa will most likely make the cut as well as a unit or two of flash gitz purely for painting/modeling satisfaction. The SAG mek will get painted up for sure, since it is a fun model. Oh, and the FW kommandos...



I like seeing other people's workspaces, so here's mine.



Here's the two test models I did. They're the first models I've painted in about a year, and I really half-assed them. I overworked or reworked some parts too much and the colors got muddied.

The idea was for the skin to be a bright green as a nod to the early days of technicolor orks. The pants are a boring blue, but I plan to tweak it a little to make it look more like denim. I originally left out the red dags on the pants, but the more I look at them, the more I like them. The yellow tunic is desaturated and dirty while the yellow on the metals is a little more vibrant, but not much so. I love bad moons, but the really bright yellow color scheme is kind of tired. Black for the straps to keep the scheme simple.

I need to pick up some sponges to do the weathering on the metals more effectively. I may get some pigment powders to experiment with. I think soot on the gun barrels and dust on their feet will add what I need to correctly bridge a gap between the clean colorful look of the past and the dark desaturated and realistic look that's much more popular now.



Here's the skin after I settled on how I would paint them. The highlights aren't as smooth as I would want, but I think it looks fine considering I have countless other ork boyz to paint.



Here's some conversions I made from some WHFB orc sprues (I think they're from the old starter box). I didn't really plan on having a weirdboy until I saw the banner in the first image in this thread. I think he's simple and effective, and overall, I am happy with him.



Using the same body, I also made a cheap warboss so I can get some small games in soon without having to use a mega-armoured boss or buying a different one. I think he looks a little weedy to be a boss, but he is a bit taller than regular boyz.

The two of them still need some greenstuffing to smooth any gaps. I still may add some bits to them, but I need a day or two before I head back to them.

The purpose of this log is to keep track of my progress as well as motivation to keep going, so any comments, suggestions, or questions are appreciated.

Thanks for looking.

Some lovely paintwork here, the painted weapons especially look good.

Your warboss is indeed too small, but he'd make a good nob to lead a squad.

I really like the glowy ork skin.

Uh, its not really glowy, its highlights and shading I am pretty sure.

Great start... and I really like what you've done with the weapons... really different. May have to steal some of that.

Very eye-catching work on the weapons there, a squad of those will look fantastic.
You could maybe put the dags on the legs of nobz and characters if you're unsure about doing them all.

Very nicely painted, and the conversions on your HQ are quite effective. I like the start, and I'm be watching as this waaarg grows.

monkeytroll wrote:Very eye-catching work on the weapons there, a squad of those will look fantastic.
You could maybe put the dags on the legs of nobz and characters if you're unsure about doing them all.

That would have been the smarter choice, I think. I've already started painting them on the first boys mob and I am happy with the effect, but I think I may put a bullet through my skull if I do it on all the shoota boyz I have planned.



Here's a WIP since it's been a few days. I've been stuck at work the last few days, so nothing much. The shirts and pants are done on the mob and dags are all blocked in. They still need highlights, the black (on the dags) cleaned up, and highlight that. That'll be done tomorrow and I'll have them finished by the end of the week, I hope.

I need to setup a better photo area as well. These just dont look right. I fiddled with them in photoshop to match the colors as accurate as possible. I guess I'll work on that tomorrow as well.

Awful.

Terrible.

/JK

Please paint my Army????? And yeah, the weapons 'pop'. Well done!

Spacebase wrote:

Whoosh, the weapons are awesome!!! I really like the smooth white underlining, it shows out really well!!

Also love the Weirdboy, the WHFB Archer's hand is nice for a "psyker"!!

Any updates as of now?

I would love to see more.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Real life comes first. I'm planning a move half-way across the country, so lots is going on now. My girlfriend will be in Europe for two weeks, so I'll have a lot of painting time.



I'm way behind on where I hoped to be with this unit. I still have the metallics, small red bits, and other details to finish. The sponge technique for the chipped paint is significantly better than my previous attempt.

I'm torn about the bases. I assume the ashwaste type of base on my finished models is a better idea fluff-wise, but I really want to put resin urban bases on them.

Thanks for looking.

The use of yellows in highlighting orc skin makes for a much livelier model, and i'm glad we share the same golden-age aesthetic in our approach to painting. Subscribed.

I wish I had the patience to paint that well. great job man!!!

I finally got my camera back, so here's an update. I need to find a day with agreeable humidity so I can varnish them and finish off the bases with a touch of static grass. Still, the photos are no good, so I'll continue to work on that. I think the camera may be the problem, unfortunately.

Next up is the nob for this unit, some lootas, and maybe converting meganobz.

Spacebase wrote:
I need to pick up some sponges to do the weathering on the metals more effectively. I may get some pigment powders to experiment with. I think soot on the gun barrels and dust on their feet will add what I need to correctly bridge a gap between the clean colorful look of the past and the dark desaturated and realistic look that's much more popular now.

The chipping looks good on both versions, but the sponged pics look great. Good work! Love the dags on the pants and the overall old-school look. As for making the old look and the new meet somewhere in the middle: that's the great thing about your army. It's yours! Paint 'em how you like!

love em dude. keep it up.

also, i found one of those old ass orks in your first post at a nearby shop, alongside a bunch of other oop models. i'll be snatching them up, i think. maybe we could work out a trade ala great marine swap?

let me know!

hungryp wrote:The chipping looks good on both versions, but the sponged pics look great. Good work! Love the dags on the pants and the overall old-school look. As for making the old look and the new meet somewhere in the middle: that's the great thing about your army. It's yours! Paint 'em how you like!

Thanks for the comments. If I painted them how I wanted them, I don't think I'd ever finish.

I still want to mess with some pigment powders, add a little more freehand to make each ork look a little less "cookie-cutter", and I forgot they have no bad moon insignia. Oops.

There's always something new to add.

hemingway wrote:love em dude. keep it up.

also, i found one of those old ass orks in your first post at a nearby shop, alongside a bunch of other oop models. i'll be snatching them up, i think. maybe we could work out a trade ala great marine swap?

let me know!

For sure. I happen to have a single SoB model that I've always wanted to paint up, but I've never really had any inspiration for. I'd love to paint her up in your sister's colors.

As if this log wasn't slow enough, it's on a brief hiatus while I move to Portland, Oregon. I'll have my workspace up in the first week of November, so everything will resume then.

I finally have my studio back up and I've slowly been getting back into the process of modelling regularly. Things are going to progress pretty quickly now that I have a lot of things staring me down.

First up is a finalized list for 1500pt games.

Warboss w/ PK, Kombi-Scorcha, Cybork body

Big Mek w/ KFF

3 Nobs and Painboy w/ PK, 2 big choppa, Kombi-Scorcha, Waaagh Banner

Battlewagon w/ Deffrolla, big shoota

10 Lootas

14 Shoota Boyz and Nob w/ PK, bosspole, 1 big shoota

14 Shoota Boyz and Nob w/ PK, bosspole, 1 big shoota

10 Grots and Runtherd

9 Flashgitz and Painboy w/ more dakka,

3 Killa kans w/ grotzooka

Battlewagon w/ reinforced ram, kannon, big shoota (flashgitz ride)

I feel it's the best mix of fluff and playability (on paper, atleast).

As far as models go, I've got a lot more going on than previously.

20 boys, 5 Nobs, and a warboss are in simple green.
10 of the boys in simple green are getting new shootas.
10 boys are waiting to be based and primed.
4 Burnas to be assembled.
4 Lootas to be assembled.
3 Killa Kans to be assembled.
10 Grots and Runtherd to be assembled.
1 Nob is partially painted.
9 Boys need finishing touches.
1 Weirdboy needs gap filling, basing, and priming.
3 Deffcoptas need stripping and converting
A handful of other orks in various stages of contruction.
Scratchbuild some vehicles!

I'll gladly take suggestions for what vehicles to make to use as battlewagons. I plan on making a Gobsmasha for fun at some point. Would a lungbursta work for the battlewagon with the cannon and bonecruncha for the one with the deffrolla?

I also picked up some vallejo pigment carbon black and dark red ocher. I'll try to not go overboard with it, but I feel it will help tone down the cartoony-ness.

It's been a long time since I've done enough to warrant an update. The nobs are done but there are 3 with kombi weapons not pictured since they don't have arms attached.




Big Mek




Painboy




Waaagh Banner









Various Nobs



One of my first orks way back from the 2nd ed box. Found him floating around in a random bitz box.

Stuff done so far...
Warboss is in pieces and still waiting for inspiration
Weirdboy is primed, but needs some touchups
12 boys assembles and waiting for primer
16 or so boys need shoota arms attached
1 kan magnetized and assembled and 2 more on sprue
10 grots and runtherd are primed but need touchups
9 boys need finishing
10 boys still on sprue
4 lootas still on sprue
4 burnas scrapped to be converted to lootas
3 deffkoptas still in line for something
Templates for scratchbuilt battlewagons started

Color me interested!