Finished - Big Mek with Burna

I have never in my life see or even heard of someone taking a Big Mek with a Burna as an HQ choice. Really, all I have ever seen are Warbosses and Meks with Shokk Attack Guns. I didn't even know you could do this until I started looking for a cheap HQ.

On the table now - Ork Wrecker

My idea for the Ork army currently under construction is to have each unit painted in different Clan colors but to use them ironically. For instance, most folks paint their Bikers as Speed Freaks because they like to go fast. So many folks do this, in fact, that it has become cliche. My plan is to pair the units and Clans in ways that you would not expect. I know that I have talked about this before, but this is the first example of an ironic unit. 

I bought this mini on eBay for about $25 which brings it in $10+ under a GW Trukk even with shipping. it is 1:32 scale which puts it a little big for 40k vehicles. The tires are just about the same size as Trukk tires so this should work fine. The plan is to combine this kit with some Ork bits and turn it into the Wrecker for my Speed Freak Lootas. The only real challenge I can see will be mounting the crane in such a way that will make it interchangeable with other turrets. 

On the table now - 20 Grots and Wulfen

 

The good thing about Grots is that they are cheep. The bad thing is that there are lots of them. 

Also, hiding the back are three Wolfen that I picked up for a pretty good price. I am going to use them as minis with Mark of the Wulfen in the SW army. 

Finished - ORKS ORKS ORKS ORKS!

I have not been posting much because I have been painting up a storm. Here are the 12 boys that ride in that sexy Trukk I posted about before. I could have posed them a little better, but time is up the essence here. They will get a photo shoot when I have more of an army to show off.

I would have preferred to have my Bad Moons be 'Arh Boys or Shoota Boyz but I needed to get my Ork painting down. There is nothing to say that I can not do them like that later. Also, if anything, Bad Moons as just Boyz is in keeping with the ironic Clans vs units theme that I am going for. I still tried to keep thrie ride and the unit as kitted out as I can by adding in all the upgrades.

I don't have time to do an epic post but there are a few little conversions that I want to show off:

Finished - Tau Darkstrider

Took a quick break from all those damn Orks to paint up Darkstrider. I decided that I was going to paint all of the Tau special characters in unique colors rather than the ice blue color scheme the rest of the army has. I knew that with a name like Darkstrider, I was going to pick a dark color pallet. I went with black jumpsuit and dark blue armor. I took a leaf out of the Dark Eldar book and tried to use the "black as a color" scheme. I did not start with black on the gun and armor but did start with a very dark blue then wash it black. After a little touch up, I did some hard edge highlight with a bright blue (I think Regal Blue).

I am happy with how he turned out. I thought that the mini turned out overall too dark so I tried to make the base darker than the mini. It did not work as well as I thought I would but turned out ok. He certainly stands out next to the rest of the army. 

Finished - Ork Trukk

 I have many armies. I am not bragging here, but one of my buddies says that playing me is like playing an entire local gaming club. I have about 4k in Blood Angles, 2k in Grey Knights, 3k in CSM, 2k in Space Wolves, 2k in Necrons, 2k in Tau in addition to a Baneblade and  Warhound Titan. All of that is painted and based. If I were a little bit more of a shut in, I would just play Apocalypse games in the living room against the cat.

Add to that long list Orks. At the start of 2012, I told myself that I would start painting new armies. Since then I have started Space Wolves and grown that army a lot. I have also rehab-ed a lot of my Tau. Now it is starting my (counts) 7th army!

This Trukk I bought off of Bartertown and it was mostly painted. The guy I bought it from was not really happy with what it looked like but all it needed was some highlighting and shading and it was ready for the table. I was not aware that it was missing so many parts when I bought it. It is missing a bar that goes over the top of the back bed and a boarding plank. The guy did magnetize the boarding plank in an ingenious way.

The plan for the Orks is to make a bunch of different clans but in unusual combination with the units. For instance, most people make their Bikers as Evil Suns (Speed Freaks). But I am going to make my Lootas as Speed Freaks with a Trukk. The Idea is that these Orks shoot up an tank or bikes, then drive up and strip them. I think I am going to try and convert their Trukk to a wrecker for those purposes.

I started with some Boyz because I had to. The Trukk was already painted in Bad Moon colors, so I painted my first squad that way too. More on them later!

Finished - Tau Flyer

I kinda wanted the theme from Air Wolf to play when the post opened, but I have no desire to be that annoying. 

I bought this mini 3 weeks ago off eBay for $45 including shipping. I assembled most of it in a week and painted it in two. I am still working on some of the bits like the turrets, but they are minor things. The real challenge was getting the its to line up so I could make both of the two kits.