Finished - Ork Warboss

I have a couple of these AoBR Warbosses laying around so I decided to bang one out. I am unsure as to how I wanted to paint him in terms of what Ork Clan he belongs or does not belong in. I painted him in a very generic color scheme. All or most of the metal areas are in a silver or bronze color scheme. I used a little red and an accent color but tried to keep it to a minimum so that he could fit in with any Clan. 

I feel like this mini turned out. The metals are understated but well done. I could have put more detail into it but that would have made it take much longer to paint. Three things that turned out well are the skin, the conversion and the weathering. 

I think I have a pretty good system for painting Ork skin and it is unique as far as I know. It starts with a base of Hormagaunt Purple. I can hear the gasps now. Using purple as a the base for green skin gives kind of a contrast and makes the recesses look black without being black. After that you climb the typical green ladder. Snot Green to Goblin Green, wash Thraka Green and touch up with Goblin Green.

The conversions on this mini are the three S's: small, simple and subtle. The best conversions does not look like a conversion at all. I trimmed the barrel off the bottom of the Twin-linked Big Shoota and glued what I think is a Heavy Flamer from an Astra Militarum (IG) infantry box. I could not find a good fuel tank bit as many of my minis and bits are packed for the big move. I did have an extra fuel tank for a Multi-melta from the Devastator box. Ork don't care. Fuel tank is a fuel tank to them so I threw it on there. 

The other conversions are so small and subtle that you probably did not register them. I mounted the right arm at an angle so that it looks more natural. Then to cover up the gap created by my creative angling, I used a pauldron from a Warrior of Chaos Knights. The last minor conversion is tilting the head to the left to make a more aggressive and less static pose. 

Last up in terms of awesomeness is the weathering. I used the Simple Rust technique from the Nurgle Daemon Prince, the Nihilakh Oxide and broken hard edge highlighting to achieve a worn, rested, corroded and used metal look. I think it is a good mix of quick and effective techniques. 

There are only a couple of things that I do not like about this mini and they are kind of the same thing. I dislike how plane the mini turned out and I know I could have done better. The idea I had at the start of the mini was to make a generic Warboss and paint him as quickly as possible but in the end I am not super happy with the results. I think I would be happier taking a little bit more time to finish the mini and painting him with more character. 

In terms of what this mini is worth, it goes on eBay for $8-$15 which is fair considering that it is only just now out of print. The mini is likely to go up in value but never likely to be worth more than $15 ever on its own. The bits for conversion are likely only worth $1-$3 on their own. The paint job is a 6 of 10 for me and therefore only worth about $20. Total for this mini would be about $25 if I was going to sell it but I think that in trade it would be worth a small kit of about $35. My plan was to try and trade it for something new to paint on Bartertown, but with the move coming up so soon, I am likely just going to pack it and base it later. 

Further plans for Orks and Warbosses in general are to finish at least two more. I saw this conversions of a Warboss with a 'Uge Choppa converted from an AoBR Warboss and some Black Orc bits and it inspired me. The Power Klaw is a great option for Orks but also expensive at 25 points. I want a mini that can stand in for a very very cheap Warboss if I need a dirt-cheap HQ. 

On the flip side, I am also looking to do a tricked-out conversion of a Warboss in Mega armor. This will be made easy with the new plastic kit but I am also looking to do a cliche conversion of a Warboss wearing a Dreadnought as armor. This can be done (and has been done) by just gluing some Ork bits to the outside of a a Dreadnought, but that does not make for a very good end result. What I prefer is to make the mini look like a Warboss hollowed out a Dreadnought and put it on as armor and the best way to do that is to actually do that with minis. My plan is to take the top and front plates of a dreadnought and mount it over another AoBR Warboss that I have. I may even be able to magnetize it so that if I remove the Dread armor, he could function as a Warboss with 'Eavy Armor.