A Yoof, an Armoured Boy/Cybork and another Yoof
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2011, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Bigdogz, Gorkamorka, Orks, Sci-fi | 2 Comments »
Da Bigdogz – Gorkamorka Mob #3: Motive Cyborks
Posted on 18/05/2011 by sho3box
Deluxe Kickin Legs and Traks
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2011, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Bigdogz, Gorkamorka, Orks, Sci-fi | 7 Comments »
Da Bigdogz – Gorkamorka Mob #2: Frankenork, Boyz & Yoof
Posted on 16/05/2011 by sho3box
Continuing coverage of my Gorkamorka project, here are some more ork boyz.
The guy on the right in the shot above is quite amusing to me. For some variety in painting I decided to make a Frankensteins Monster ork. Continue reading
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2011, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Bigdogz, Gorkamorka, Orks, Sci-fi | 4 Comments »
Post Apocalyptic Vehicles
Posted on 12/05/2011 by sho3box
Some post apocalyptic wheels today. As two of these sat around with just a black spray coat on them for the last year or so, I got a kick out of getting them finished last weekend 🙂
Whilst painted to be suitable for use by any of my PA figures, these resin models from Ramshackle Games are primarily going to be used as the vehicles for my “Bigdogz” ork mob in the post-apocalyptic Gorkamorka setting.
The vehicles were each painted in straightforward single colour schemes. Largely this was to minimise confusion in game terms by aiding easy identification.
I was tempted to add some more rusty areas but I as I wanted the vehicles to look battered but serviceable, rather than disintegrating, I held back a bit.
As I wanted to use the vehicles for non-ork-centric games as well as GoMo, I avoided too much obviously ork styling, even going so far as to add some more traditional sci-fi trappings like bar-code licence plates. I like the implication that while these vehicles are obviously pretty rugged and heavily abused, that they exist in an environment that still has some more advanced tech, somewhere.
The weapons mounted on the vehicles are interchangeable mini turrets, attached by magnets. I made them from various gun parts that I had access to. Each weapon is mounted on a plastic disc which is glued to a washer. The washer then sticks to countersunk magnets on the vehicles. Simple but effective and convenient.
No. 7 above is a cute design I think. It looks rugged and reliable. Nothing fancy but able to take a pounding. If I were stuck in a mehcanised post apocalyptic wasteland I think that of the three vehicles here, this is the one that I would choose as most likely to extend my lifespan. The enclosed cab would help with radstorms, mutie marauders, ripperjack swarms and the like.
No 4 is a peculiar beast. Its a fun looking vehicle I think, but I think that I need to add “something” to the paint job: it is lacking a focal point. Its perfectly adequate for use as it is but there is something missing and I cant put my finger on what that missing thing is.
No 3 is my favourite of the three. Not as reliable as No 7, but streets ahead in terms of cool. Of these three vehicles, this is definitely the road warriors choice I reckon.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2011, 40K Skirmish, Gorkamorka, Orks, Post Apocalyptic, Sci-fi, Vehicle | 5 Comments »
Da Bigdogz – Gorkamorka Mob #1: A Nob, a Yoof & two Boyz
Posted on 11/05/2011 by sho3box
My main project in production (rather than in the research and resource acquirement phase) is a mob of orks primarily intended for use in Gorkamorka.
Gorkamorka is a Mad Max-esque post-apocalyptic bumper-car fest where everyone is an ork and therefore largely immune to incoming bullets. The plan is that this premise will provide much hilarity. Heres hoping 🙂
To that end I have bought some orks and added them to the other ork figures that I already had in storage. They are currently all in various states of WIP but the end results will look a lot like like the Bigdogz shown here.
A Nob and a Yoof
I spent some time working out a colour scheme and painting plan for these guys that would be both effective and easy to reproduce quickly. Details of that process can be found here and here.
Suffice to say that a look that was reminiscent of Mad Max II was at the forefront of the process.
Wez
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2011, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Bigdogz, Gorkamorka, Orks, Post Apocalyptic, Sci-fi | 4 Comments »
20+ Years of Painting Orks
Posted on 13/04/2011 by sho3box
I have recently been painting orks again, primarily for use in a Gorkamorka weekend planned for the summer. I spent a bit of time deciding how to paint this new batch, trying to find a balance between speed and quality that suits me. I also wanted to make sure that the finished figures looked as I imagine them to look: inevitably slightly comical but mostly brutal and savage.
With all of this paint scheme and concept development going around in my head I thought that it would be a good time to take a look at the other ork/orc figures that I have painted over the years, starting with my first mob from the late eighties. If you can imagine Jason Donovan and Jive Bunny being in the charts then you will get a feel for the era. It may also make you suddenly need to go to the toilet.
40k Orks -1989
The Evil Sunz boyz above are from the first GW plastic ork kit. Quite primitive by todays standards, it was still a big deal back in those days. The ork Klans were a big part of the background then and each had their own dominant colour and look. Obviously the Evil Sunz chosen colour was red.
I painted the Evil Sunz mob in the same colour scheme as my 6mm Epic orks. As I had all the klans painted for use in Epic I had made some decisions regarding secondary colours for each of them at that point (extra important at that scale to distinguish the units). Thats why these guys have a lot of white in their outfits.
I went with quite a dark skin tone compared to the standards of the day. As everything that I painted back then had GW Goblin Green bases (I rebased the above guys recently, although I cant even remember doing it…) I thought that it would be better to use a darker colour for the base flesh tone.
Blood Bowl Orcs -1994
Five years later Chaka Demus and Pliers were oozing from the speakers in the shopping centre when I picked up a copy of Blood Bowl 3rd Edition. On a whim I decided to paint the orc team supplied, rather than the older BB figures that I still had knocking around unpainted. All of the models in the shot above are plastics from that box, with the exception of the metal goblin on the pogo stick.
I spent ages on these guys. I dont know if it is apparent from the photo above but I put many, many layers of wet blending into the skin tones (although the darker recesses do still look a bit “inky”).
At the time I was seeing if I could paint up a showcase project that displayed the highest level of painting that I was currently capable of. I think the fact that that particular team is still unfinished says a lot really: I dont have the patience to paint a lot of models in that way.
Ignoring the technically dodgier areas (the red in particular is poor) I dont think that the figures look that much better than if I had approached painting them in a faster and dirtier way anyway. As gaming pieces they could do with heavier contrasts that are visible at a few feet away (at a gaming distance, if you know what I mean). Generally I feel that that sort of contrast serves a gaming miniature better than carefully graduated highlighting.
The uniform chosen is particularly un-orky. Thats largely because I wanted to ensure that the figures looked like football players, rather than scruffy Warhammer Fantasy figures. Its still too clean and antiseptic looking though. I would approach painting an orc team very differently these days.
Gorkamorka/40k test figures - 2011
It would be a staggering seventeen years before this fatter, crankier and jaded painter sat down to paint another ork/orc. Thankfully I havent a notion about what music is in the charts (or even if there are charts) anymore, so the intervening years havent been all bad.
The figures above were an attempt to rationalise my ork painting process again. If the interim between orks has taught me anything its to Keep It Simple, Stupid.
So I did some research on quick ways to paint orks. The video tutorial below proved to be quite cool, although the finished product wasnt at a standard that I was happy with when I tried it. Its a pretty great way to get an army painted though, and I found that some of the techniques used inspired me to try some new things. Its worth a look if you have ten minutes.
So taking some elements from the above tutorial I sprayed the above batch white, washed the whole lot with the ubiquitous Devlan Mud and applied the base skin colour as a mix of paint and ink. This translucent layer let the shading from the Devlan show through it, although it did mean that the base flesh colour was a bit patchy. This generally got easily camouflaged with the simple one stage Game Color Off White highlight though.
The final result is ok. The skin is quite pasty, somewhat reminiscent of my Patient Zombies, which isnt to everyones taste for orks, but I dont mind it. Two things made me decide to abandon this colour scheme and painting technique though: 1) it was a little more time consuming and fiddly than I was hoping it to be and 2) the orks didnt look as gritty, threatening or Mad Max II for my liking.
Gorkamorka/40k Orks - 2011
So I tried a completely new approach again and got a look that I am happy with.
If you will excuse the brief lapse into GW Orkspeak “Da Bigdogz” above came out to a level that pleases me, but without taking so much time that I will never get the project finished. I worked up from a black undercoat with mainly drybrushed base coats followed by one layered highlight. The metal areas got a few washes too as I like the way that it makes the metal areas appropriately dull.
These guys are a few from amongst the first that I have finished. I have thirteen sitting complete in the miniatures cabinet at the time of writing which at least means that I am able to get through them reasonably quickly. Thats a good thing too as I have another thirty or so figures that I want to paint before I finish up with the orks.
The paint scheme has the high contrast that I favour with gaming figures these days. Although close inspection will reveal errors and hasty shortcuts the payoff of the quick turnover is worth it to me. The Bigdogz also look sufficiently Mad Max for my current tastes so I regard the project as quite successful so far. There will be more Bigdogz going up in more detail here over the next while.
Thats my potted history of ork painting done. Over twenty-five years condensed into one page, and at no extra cost to you the reader either.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 1989, 1994, 2011, 40K, Blood Bowl, Gorkamorka, Orks, Rogue Trader | 8 Comments »
Da Krusher – Forty Shades of Green
Posted on 17/03/2011 by sho3box
Krusher
I finished this figure while tipsy in front of the TV last night. I am currently experimenting with different ways to paint ork flesh, hence the forty shades of green thing. How that for a tenuous link to St Patricks day?
The figure is Gorillagon from Ramshackle Games. I bought it to serve as a “Da Krusher”, a special character from Gorkamorka who has had so much bionik work done to him that nobody knows who he really is anymore, least of all Da Krusher. This of course leads to a number of screwy rules relating to the models effectiveness in-game. Hopefully much hilarity will ensue.
I modified the model slightly during assembly. I added a slightly smaller gun barrel into the soup-can calibre weapon in his right arm. I also added a top mounted magazine from another ork weapon, as it looked a little too much like some oddball energy weapon without it. I didnt do very much work to the gun though. In-game it isnt that special (Krusher is a close combat type mainly) and I didnt want the gun to be misleading.
+BEEP+ +BEEP+ THIS ORK IS REVERSING +BEEP+ +BEEP+
As befits the characters solo status I didnt tie its colour scheme to any faction of orks that I am currently painting. I did however try to paint the largely metallic looking model from a white undercoat. Generally I would approach a model like this by spraying it black and drybrushing it with metallic paints. This time I sprayed it white and alternated drybrushing of metallics with ink washes. I did this in the hope that I would end up with defined looking metallic areas but that the figure would not look too dark overall.
Also worth noting is that I didnt bother even to highlight some of the cabling and other detail, all in the interests of getting the figure finished so that I can get working on some more stuff. I will let you be the judge of whether I got the balance right or not.
As regular readers may know I am currently experimenting with quick ways to paint ork flesh. I tried another approach with this figure. I like some of how the green areas worked out, but as usual other elements of it irritate me. This is compounded somewhat by the fact that the organic areas of the figure are not brilliantly sculpted, so that the huge arms look a little like green tree bark or something now. On the plus side, I do think that it will look much better on models with better sculpted physiques (like the plastic ork figures). So I will go in that direction with my next batch or orks.
Finally here is a picture of da Krusher standing alongside a gretchin, a human and an ork, just so that you can see that he really is a pretty big monstrosity. He also looks sort of sad I think, like he really just wants be friends, like in a sappy Disney movie.
Right, I am off to shatter a national stereotype by spending the day drinking cheap Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon instead of stout. “An bhfuil tú ar meisce fós?” and all that “top o’ the mornin” jazz.
EDIT 21/03/11: I forgot to note in the the post that Da Krusher is supposed to have a pair of Steel Horns. In game terms these make him more effective when charging into combat. I considered adding a pair to the model during assembly, but I thought that they would spoil the brutal, rounded shape of the figure, so I scrapped that idea. Presumably the incarnation of Da Krusher above charges teeth first into his opponents, with much the same effect as a pair of horns. Just in case that sort of thing bothers you.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2011, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Gorkamorka, Orks | 5 Comments »
Gorkamorka Project
Posted on 10/03/2011 by sho3box
Gorkamorka is a skirmish game system that GW brought out in 1997. It has very similar mechanics to Necromunda but with the notable addition of vehicle rules that involve a little bit of risk management and a lot of shouting “Yahtzee!”
The game is strongly influenced by Mad Max II: The Road Warrior, except that instead of featuring Mel Gibson, actors from A Country Practice and pervert biker rapists it features orks.
Gorkamorka occurred during an awkward adolescence for orkoid development in 40K. As a concept they had lost their way at some point before Gorkamorka was released, becoming gaudy buffoons rather than a proper barbaric menace.
Although Gorkamorka definitely didnt wipe that image out (I mean the game is called Gorkamorka for crying out loud), it certainly laid the groundwork for the single-minded, homicidal galactic plague that they became in 40k the 2000s (and which they seem to be moving away from again these days). A lot of that was simply due to the top class miniatures sculpted by Brian Nelson for the GoMo range which took them from comical to monstrous.
As a GW fanboy I bought GoMo (as it seems to be called online these days) when it came out. It sounded like fun and I had enjoyed Necromunda, which was largely an identical system.
Unfortunately at the time I didnt have many opponents willing to get into GoMo so it didnt get much table time, just an afternoon or two. I bought some of the GoMo miniatures back then but they stayed in storage, until I sold on all of the orks to pay for a weekend boozing and clubbing in 2000. It was the right decision at the time. At least I kept the Mutie figures.
Zip forward a decade and MT, SOS and I have a weekend of GoMo planned for June. I dont play 40K any more, MT plays a teeny, weeny bit and SOS is getting back on the 40K scene having played in a weekend long tournament in January, which included painting even more Orks for his already vast, epoch spanning greenskin collection.
We all have a lot of 40k (and other games) under our belts and we are all pretty familiar with the basics of the GoMo system. SOS already has enough miniatures assembled and painted to field numerous mobs. I have existing suitable terrain and the enthusiasm to make some more (like the ongoing Fort Grayskull and the recent Foam Rocks). I am also looking forward to painting some of the nice ork figures that have come out in the last twelve years or so.
Somewhat uncharacteristically, MT is a bit of a wild card this time. Often he is more reliable when it comes to getting a project finished for a deadline than SOS. This time SOS has more than enough models ready to go before he starts and MT is in a something of a painting slump (a familiar thing to most figure painters I think).
Even if MT doesnt get his mob painted (it looks like even odds to me right now) he will still be able to use SOS spare figs so it looks like the project will materialise fully. Hopefully MT will get to play with figures that he has done himself though. He has had a Space Marine Land Speeder with wheels added to it knocking around for nearly a decade. That really should get its time in the sun and if not now then when?
The GoMo rules system is familiar and will be quicker to play than Necromunda (its less fiddly for a few reasons). We have also agreed on a handful of very straightforward streamlining house rules. They should hopefully help us to get enough games in to watch our mobs gain skills and the like and for us to experience the over the top and hopefully entertaining intra-game Gorkamorka elements (visiting dodgy car mechanics and over enthusiastic doctors with a penchant for amputation).
All of this means that many of the hurdles often encountered when we try to get some gaming off the ground have already been passed. Hopefully that means that we can concentrate on having fun rather than on rules intricacies or other tedious slog and just have a few giggles.
That in turn means that barring something serious that some GoMo will definitely be played this summer. So I will be putting my progress on it up here for the foreseeable future, starting with the as yet unnamed ork and his gretchin buddies above. Here is a picture of one of the grots standing in the mine entrance part of the Fort Grayskull project next to a Copplestone figure (Dr Leghorn), for scale.
In the interests of getting the project finished in a reasonable timeframe the ork and gretchin were painted quickly, with some areas getting simply a base coat and a wash. Not too bad as a prototype models I think, but I have decided to try a different approach overall. More on that at a later date.
Comments and criticisms welcomed as ever 🙂
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2011, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Gorkamorka, MT, Orks, SOS | 13 Comments »
sho3box 