Kaptin Fiddy Teef and Mr Scuttle
Yo ho ho me buckos, its time fer da Kaptin of Da Dirty Doubloon to take to the poop deck, an’ no mistake! Etc.
Timbers duly shivvered.
Along with Mr Killgore, Kaptin Fiddy sums up the absurdity of alien space pirates that somehow lean towards 17th century nautical fashions and say “Aaaargh!” a lot. The concept makes very little sense, but as an excuse to get some fun miniatures on the table and talk a load of arse, space ork pirates are hard to beat.
Fiddy and Notorious G.I.T.
Fiddy here was named as a result of some discussion about Notorious G.I.T. a few months ago. Fiddy Teef isnt even as “clever” a play on rapper names as Giddy was, but 1) the model has definitively huge chompers, 2) the whole ork teef = currency thing is particularly pertinent in the case of pirates and their unending quest for treasure and 3) it is easy to remember, which is one of the most important things when naming toy soldiers as far as I am concerned.
Kaptin Fiddy and Mister Killgore
The yellow and black striped trousers motif thats running through the Skallywags was repeated here, but its difficult to see the pattern due to the voluminous coat. I have repeated the hazard line pattern on the backplates of the handful of Skallywags that feature them (backplates didnt come into the ork 40k imagery until the Ere We Go era), including Fiddy, but I have yet to take a photo that happens to include them.
The surprisingly vibrant cover of the first Ork Codex, an ongoing inspiration for my own orks. Note the little green squighound, a direct influence on Mr Scuttle.
Mister Scuttle is the ships cat-squig/ships gyrinx/power behind the Poop Cabin (delete as applicable). The model is from the sadly now filed under I-definitely-do-not-recommend-that-you-order-from-them Black Cat Bases.
The kitty is a production variant of this cat model, but with some scurvy accoutrements added. My casting of the model wasnt great and the left eye was pretty indistinct (it may have been supposed to be an eyepatch, but it was hard to tell) so I added a bionic eye with green stuff and styrene. Why? Why not?
The hat is quite soft looking, but considering the minor role that I expect Mr Scuttle to play in my games, its more than good enough. Cats – even space cats – are not known for exotic head wear anyway
Now ghost cats on the other hand have an established fondness of the milliners craft.
That cat is a peculiar design, very cartoony, more like a cat out of Fraggle Rock than a Terran feline. I rushed the painting on the little guy a bit too much, so I may go back this evening for the ten minutes that it will take to add the couple of things that I think the paintjob needs.
All the Skallywags to date…
… and all the scallywags sans Mister Scuttle, for all you ailurophobes.
The Skallywags gretchin contingent next.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2014, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Cat, Familiar, Freebooters, Gyrinx, Orks, Pirate, Sci-fi, Skabsquigs Skallywags |
sho3box 
Really lovely work matey!
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Thanks Johnny. These guys are extra ridiculous, but entertaining and fun to paint all the same 🙂
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I ususally thank god for letting me immune to the charm of greenskins in general.
However, once in a while, i get this very disturbing feeling that I could very well be tempted and eventually addicted to such models. Your work is one of those who make me feel this way.
After resisting orcs and orks for 2.5 decades, I could very well start getting one or 2 yo know… just to “try”…
This is very dangerous stuff Paul. Your painting leaves no place for doubt. The models are good and the paintjob shows they can even look better.
I should curse you for shaking my foundations but I’ll just congratulate you for such splendid models.
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Eloquently put Asslessman.
Although I did paint a large Epic ork army in the early nineties, other than a single squad and a Blood Bowl team I avoided the greenskins in 28mm until 2011. I painted a number of modern plastic orks plus few more bits and pieces back then and have added to them on and off since. All of the Skallywags shown so far were acquired about six months ago via trades and an occasional purchase.
Back in 2011 I spent a fair bit of time and resources watching Youtube videos and trying out different cork colour schemes and techniques. As I knew that I wanted to be able to rapidly add to the force fairly regularly the goal was to find a way to get the models to a finish above a certain baseline standard that I could be happy with, but without being huge time sinks. That is in addition to the usual aesthetic requirements for any colour scheme.
Although the procedure for painting these guys has developed a bit over time (I find that is inevitable over a long period painting similar models) I can honestly say that painting the orks in such a deliberate way generally increased my speed of output and developed and refined my painting methods for everything, not just orks. Painting the orks over the last few years has probably been one of the the most important projects that I have ever been involved in in terms of painting development (the other being my Sin-Eaters Chaos Marines back at the turn of the century).
So, in summation, as well as preparing some fun miniatures to game with, painting orks has made me better and faster at painting. I recommend it.
Thanks for the feedback JB 🙂
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You just got to make a ship of some sort and put them all in 🙂
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I have plans for a dedicated Skallywags lander/dropship, but I imagine that “Da Dirty Doubloon” doesnt have atmospheric capabilities.
The Skallywag dropship wont really look like a boat either, but it will likely have a Jolly Ork or two on it. I think that a crows nest or and anchor etc might be a step too far 🙂
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Oh, man, I’m just in love with your Orks. You are a continous inspiration. Haha, you are even tempting Asslessman! Arrrr! Dat’s grreat!!
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Im glad that you like them Suber. Many more to come 🙂
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Space Pirate Orcs? Awesome sauce! As always beautiful brushwork and I love how you painted that bionic Orc cat. Your work is always an inspiration.
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The cat was a bit of a rush job, but its acceptable all the same. I am pleased with how this contingent is turning out. They tread the line between “stupidly ridiculous” and “enjoyably ridiculous” in a way that pleases me.
Thanks for the feedback.
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ork freebooterz are amongst my favourite things 🙂
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Orks take to mashups well, but 17th century orks in space works better than most.
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[…] life prepping miniature space cats for my imaginary life, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here and here. A photo of the first one that I worked on, the imaginatively named […]
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