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I'm Skabfang, an Ork player through and through... well, so I thought! Story first.

I started my Ork army about 18 months ago with Assault on Black Reach. All was great until my holiday to asia around christmas; I found a bargain in the Jakarta GW store, they were selling a Space Marine Megeforce a lot cheaper than my local price, couple that with an extremely favourable exchange rate and leftover Marine models from the starter set, and you have the beginnings of my new army!

I returned home and 'acquired' a large pre-made Templars army, they had an odd green paint scheme that has never really grown on me. A few online auctions later and I also acquired a bunch of bikes, attack bikes, drop pods and a landspeeder. all of this needs stripping which I am not really looking forward to (but I am jumping ahead of myself).

Initially I wanted to build a pre-heresy Imperial Fists army, but a couple of test models later I realised that I can't paint yellow to save my llfe. There I am, boxes upon boxes of untouched sprues that I don't know what to do with. I was suffering from a complete lack of inspiration. I asked my woman's opinion and she told me that she liked a blue/white scheme, in exchange for going for the colours she liked, she promised to motivvate me. Deal! There was yet another dilemma, I like the Templar iconography, and I want to incorporate that into my new army.

What is an enterprising Ork Warlord with a fetish for power armour to do? Why, make his own chapter of course!

I haven't decided on a name for my chapter yet, but the general gist of it is that they are a small space based chapter, searching the fringe systems of (I have no idea where yet) looking for their Marshall who has been captured by Chaos loyallists. There will be more fluff once I have put more thought into it.

Time for my first test model, really want some opinions on the scheme (don't be too harsh, I'm not a very good painter):

WIP Dreadnaught, this was chosen because it was my only undercoated model at the time. Weapons will be painted when I get the chance.

My initial thought is for the armour to be majority blue, and the higher the individual's rank, the more bone is on their armour. Opinions on my chosen colour scheme?

Enough of that.

"Rite yoo gitz, all 'andz on dek, get bildin!!"

I'm not a big fan of multiple boring models in an army, that's probably the reason i love Orks so much. I digress. I already have two Drop Pods, many will agree that they are one of the most blah units in the game, closely behind Rhinos and Grots. Well, I wanted to do something a little different with my third. Ever thought about what would happen when a large missle detonates inside a sealed and pressurised pod just as it lands? I wanted to explore that.

Drop Pod catastrophic failure - WIP

First I started with the entry point:
[

I imagine some frag missiles in the Warhammer universe operate similar to the way that Bolter rounds are described in the books. Small entry wound, massive explosion tearing the target apart from within. Much like depleted uranium rounds used these days.

The entry point is just to the right of this door, I am attempting to model it in such a way that the concussion has blown it open, the same with the next one. You might be able to see the marine who is still strapped to his harness inside. The harness is still attached to the central pillar mount thing at the bottom:


The marine still in his harness has been modelled missing half of his body (left), this cannot be easily seen as I am planning to bring this out with painting. I am attempting to model the interior in such a way as to show that the missile has detonated on the central pillar beside his head/shoulder on the left. The shrapnel and concussiion has then torn him apart before the pressure has removed one side from the drop pod.

I have put it together in such a way as to ensure that it can still close for the most part to enable me to still use it for gaming.

Here you can see the worst of the damage where the entirety of one side has been obilterated. There are some strewn body parts and another armless Marine lying face down dead on one of the doors.


As I said before, I am not a good painter, and this small project is going to require some skill with painting scorches and gore. Any hints and tips? Anything further I should be doign inside? I don't want to make it too busy, but I am planning to glue in more minor wreckage like harness and the like. One upright portion of the pod hasn't yet been glued into place to facilitate ease of painting down the track.

Welcoming all C&C.

( In closing, once this army is completed, there will be some good old fashioned looting being done of the leftovers, looted Land Raider Crusader anyone? )

Wow, I think you're kind of crazy chopping up your drop pod like that, but I can't deny that it looks cool! Don't sell your painting skills short, it's all nice and neat on the dread so far and the white looks great- really smooth and solid.
The only advice I could give you about painting the scorches and stuff, is to experiment with different techniques or colours and use more than one on the model. After all, if all the blood and all the explosion damage looks exactly the same all over it might not be as realistic. Just my 2c

master of asgard wrote:Wow, I think you're kind of crazy chopping up your drop pod like that, but I can't deny that it looks cool!

What can I say? Ork player at heart

I like at least some of my models to tell a story. My first ever Marine kit was a Battle Force, the kit was missing a wheel for one of the bikes. I mangled it, lay it on it's side, and modelled the rider using it as cover after he ditched. I modelled the assault squad with one of the marines torn apart by some sort of weapon, and everyone else in mid flight trying to avoid the explosion.

master of asgard wrote:Don't sell your painting skills short, it's all nice and neat on the dread so far and the white looks great- really smooth and solid.
The only advice I could give you about painting the scorches and stuff, is to experiment with different techniques or colours and use more than one on the model. After all, if all the blood and all the explosion damage looks exactly the same all over it might not be as realistic. Just my 2c

Guess sometimes you just don't see your painting yourself. I hear lots about blending and wet palettes and the like. I definitely have a lot to learn. I injured my right side collarbone/shoulder/wrist a couple of years ago and I wouldn't have what you would call a steady hand. Thanks for the words about my painting, it's very encouraging.

I'll take the advice onboard as well, definitely want to make my miniatures dynamic.

This isn't really an update, more of a "look at all of the junk I need to strip"

Shot of everything that I have so far.

You may also notice in the middle of the shot a group of Eldar models. For friendly games I will use these as Scouts. Since the chapter are on fringe systems they may need to rely on a little outside help from time to time. We all know how Harlequins feel about the forces of Chaos

HQ's

Random HQ models. L to R, Halbrecht (I think), Lysander (the first realisation I cannot paint yellow), and the AOBR Captain ripe for conversion.


Captain on bike, bolters mounted to front guard are the bike's weapons, the bolter and flamer count as Captains combi flamer. Very much WIP.


Chaplain Grimaldus with retinue (again, I think).


Elites

The Terminators with the "green I don't really like" colour scheme. Matching LR Redeemer.


Previously posted Dread wikth his pod. This guy always dies, but with Drop Pod Assault he is always landing close to enemy armour on first turn. Has only once failed to destroy his initial target upon arrival.

I really can't rate the vanilla dreadnaught highly enough, fantastic value for money/points.

Some more Terminators, from AOBR, will use these for conversions.

Unfortunately I no longer have a full squad of these, they have been used as "decoration" for my Deff Dread

Troops

WIP Marine, unsure if these will be troops, more likely veterans. Uses Warriors of Chaos bits. Saw this done on another thread, taking no credit for the idea.


AOBR Tactical Squad with pod. Will be replacing the flamer and missile launcher troops with a Melta Gun and Multi Melta respectively. The Sergeant will eventually have a Combi Melta.


Wrecked pod, this will be assigned to one of the two Tactical Squads that I am yet to build. Will be Plasma Gun, Plasma Cannon, and Combi Plasma.

Third and final Tactical squad will be of the same designation but with a Rhino to accompany the LR and bikes etc.

Various WIP's and leftover troops that don't currently have a home.


Fast Attack

Landspeeder with Heavy Flamer and Multi Melta.

This thing causes literally -10% confidence rating in some of my regular opponents. They can never seem to kill it.

7 Bikes, need another perhaps to round out the squad. I don't usually use these though, unless it is a large game.


3x Attack Bikes. These are a staple in my force, the 3x Heavy Bolters are invaluable.


Heavy

2x Lascannon + 2x Missile Launcher Devestator Squad. Will be adding 5 more marines to this squad as well.


To build

Here is my pile of sprues. Contained here are a couple of Templar upgrade sprues, a Devestator Squad, the Chaos Warrior box, and of course the Mega Force.

All I have built so far from the Mega Force is the wrecked drop pod.

Plans now are to build the two Tactical Squads, and the Scouts for when people won't let me field the Harlequins.

That leaves me with a mountain of Command Squad bits and the Captain model to use for conversions.

Then of course there are the LR Crusader, Venerable Dreadnaught, and Landspeeder Storm that I may or may not simply loot for my Ork army

Now, to figure out how the hell I am going to strip all of those models haha!