Finished - Feral Ork Shootaboys

Stick a fork in them because they are done. 

It took almost exactly two weeks, but they are done and I can't stop singing Deniece Williams "Let's Hear It for the Boy" but I sing it more like," Ut's ere it fer da Boyz." Try and unhear that. 

This fits with my hipster ironic Orks in that Feral Orks would not be using Shootas and painting them as Bad Moons (the richest of all the Ork Klans) belies being penniless, feral, savages. 

I tried to make each of these Boyz unique in their own way. I can't say that each has a conversion, because they are pretty much stock pieces from the Savage Orc kit. The exception are the Shootas that I had to cannibalize. For the most part, I chose to use Shootas with hands already attached rather than use the hands that came with the kit. There is no real reason for this. 

My favorite is the Big Shoota Boy. I talked about how I got the idea for him in my last post. I ended up adding a little spikey bit to the end to make it a more deadly close combat weapon and really bring hom that this guy is a moron. I plundered the Big Shoota bit from a Trukk or Battlewagon sprue and added the links of bullets from the Big Shoota Boy on the Orc Boy sprue. I wanted to add two but one did the job.

The only unconvincing part of this mini is the lack of thumbs (not visible in any picture). The Orcs carrying the log-spear have hands that just slot into the log and you never see or think about the thumbs. If you are hanging onto a .50 cal machine gun, you might want to get some thumbs under it. I skipped converting fingers on this mini for time sake. 

Also a little conversion is the "musician." 

I loved the giant dino skull and wanted to include it. It would look a little silly for an Ork to carry around a giant skull and beat it with a gun so I incorporated the gun into the skull. Not a conversion that took a lot of thought but still fun. 

I regret including a spear in this unit. I know that I wanted a mix of weapons, but this mini looks a little off with it. I could have used the spear elsewhere and given this guy a hand weapon. Initially, I wanted the spear to have a shoota tied onto the end, but as none of the Orcs have 

I also added in close combat attachments to a few of the Shootas to represent the dummy Orcs not knowing which end is the shooty end. I really wanted one holding a Shoota backwards, but the conversion proved too hard to pull off convincingly. 

I gave one Ork (right) the whole Shoota arm from and Ork Boy and covered the gaps with an armor plate. I wanted to have at least one Ork with a Shoota pointed forward and not up. 

The WFB Savage Orcs are massively out of scale for 40k Orks. Everyone knows that the scale for 40k has been creeping. This is especially evident when you look at Rogue Trader, 2nd Ed or Gorka Morka Orks next to modern Orks. Modern Orks are sill based on a kit from the 90s. Apparently WFB has continued the creep at a pace that outstrips 40k. I tired to do a head swap on a few of the boys but 40k Boys heads are out of scale for these minis. Even the arm swap I did look out of place if you really look. I covered most of the errors with the armor plate but I'll still know they are there. 

Last up is the Yosemite Sam Ork. While not quite RAW, I figure two pistols equals a rifle in my book. 

I really wanted a Savage Orc Bid Boss to be the Nob for this unit, but as I do nto see a need to put a Nob in this unit, that Idea is on the back burna (punk intended). 

Retail price for the kit is $30. I really went all out in painting them and value the painting job at at least $40, the small conversions and extra bit are valued at $20 for a total replacement cost of $90 for this unit. The trade value is significantly higher though as this unit took two times longer than it should because of the conversions and detailed painting and that I do not want to go through it again. I don't think I would trade them for less than $120. 

Up next is the Necron Flyer. After that, my painting table is clear. I have no long term or short term projects left to do. I do have a bunch of bins full of projects that I have started and not finished that I should bang out but grinding sucks all the joy out of painting. I need side projects to entertain me while I am waiting for things to dry or when I get bored but I also find that setting goals on this blod keeps me on track. 

I think that while I am work on the Necron flyer, I will finish the metal Iron Warriors heavy weapon Marines that I have languishing in purgatory. There is a Heavy Bolter, Las Cannon and Auto Cannon primed and ready to go. 

I am hesitant to set another long term goal, because I do not know what I'll be in the mood to paint later or even next. The Ork Flakka Dakka gun that I got from Yoymart would complete the Ork Wrecker/Flakka Dakka Trukk set so I think I should set my sights there.