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Hello Fraters! Having lurked and occasionally posted over the last few months I have decided to create a WIP log to document my re-entry to the hobby. This was going to be a Raven Guard-based log as I have a Strikeforce to build but I have already paused that plan, bought Kill Team Octarius and started some terrain painting. This is very much WIP as I test out washes and contrast paints and basically learn to paint. I only painted a few minis when I was at school, I think it must have been around 1989/1990. Edit: title updated to reflect that I have now bought two KT boxes and have been painting Genestealers to refresh my v.1 Space Hulk game.

I've decided to build an Ork Army. My self imposed rulez The Army will be built using second hand modelz The Army size Approx 2000 points plus characters The Army will be a balanced army, so should be a medium level of competitiveness for a number of editionz. Once the Army passed 2000 points (excluding characters) +/- 10% the army will be finished So far I have bought - Updated 25/04/25 Running total spent £535.69 : RRP Total £977.50 Running Pointz 2575 (Excluding Characters 1880) For £37 posted 20 Boyz Built/unpainted (new style) and 1 Trukk BNIB For £55 Posted 5 Stormboyz (built unpainted) 1x Battlewagon Undercoated For £20 Posted 10 beast Snaggaz (built unpainted) For £20 Posted Warboss in Mega Armour (undercoated) 10 Grots and Runt Herder (Built unpainted) for £16 Posted OoP Warboss with Choppa and Shoota (built) For £20 Posted 1 Ork Trukk - (Built unpainted) For £15 posted 1 Beastboss - Built undercoated For £60 Posted Combat Patrol BNIB 20 Beast Snaggas 4 Squighog boyz 1 Beast Boss For £19.69 (lolz)Posted All Built and Undercoated 1 Warboss with Power Claw (Assault and black reach) 4 Loots with DeffGunz and 1 Spanner with Kustom Mega Blaster 1 Bunner boy (IDK) For £50 Posted 6 Mega Nobz (Built Unpainted) 1 Big Mek in Mega Armour (Built Unpainted) For £30 Posted Warboss Grukk NOS 5 Nobz Built/Unpainted 5 Nobz BNIB For £25 Posted 5 Flash Gitz (BNIB) Codex £22 posted Vanity Herd Squigs £17 posted For £45 posted 10 Flash Gitz Part assembled. For £70 Posted 1 Trukk (Built Unpainted) 5 Stromboyz (Built Unpainted) 10 Kommandos (Built Unpainted) 2x Sets of Transfers For £20 Posted BeastBoss on Squigosaur (Built Undercoated) Watch this space....

I was on the hunt for eggs this morning at Tesco when a copy of White Dwarf caught my eye. I haven’t bought one of them since I was about 15 (a while ago) and then my eyes fell upon Combat Patrol. Now I’m not entirely sure how good these are usually but I just snagged 2 Deafkoptas (minus bases) for £10 so I think I’m going to keep my eye out for them, at least the next few which seem Orky. As Orks for an important part of my Luna Wolves’ company’s history it is appropriate that I have a little detachment of Orks to squash. I replaced the front wing bits to male them a bit bigger and give space for this laser looking weapon (it’s from the genestealer cult quadbike) and I hooked up a weird looking gantry for a machine gun using a bent bit of sprue for the other. Turns out I can’t just build models, I have to convert something somewhere. anyway this is my offering and if anyone has any good advice on the magazine please let me know!

It's been a long time away, but I have been lurking for years. I semi-officially "retired" from the hobby back in 2015, deciding to put my free time into video games as they were simpler and I could stay in touch with friends scattered across the US. The bug never left though, even through the myriad of sell-offs I undertook. I couldn't part with the massive SM collection I had amassed or my beloved Orks. I did part with my entire CSM Bits collection (a whopping 10 pounds worth) which I still regret. Ah well, the new CSM sculpts are light years better than the previous ones. I've been reacquainting myself with my hobby tools, paints, brushes etc. Tossing out old paints that are no good, etc. My kids bought me an airbrush package a couple of Christmases ago, so I've broken that out and started that (steep) learning curve as well. As an exercise, I pulled out a 3 man set of Primaris Intercessors and spent a couple of weeks with them. The first one I painted to "completion", not worrying about clean blends and niggling details, just the joy of painting again. It's always been my zen place. The place where I have lost thousands of hours over the last three decades. Also the first steps towards cementing a scheme for my massive army that I've never painted. The airbrush gives me hope. Pics are all from my iPhone. My light booth and camera setup are all still stuffed away, so it might be some time before I can get better images. This is all brush work, using P3 paints exclusively as I know exactly what they can and cannot do. It felt good to not only paint a model for the first time in 4 years, but actually allow myself to call it good enough. No worries about smooth blends and clean lines, just exploring the sculpt with the brush. I'm my own worst critic (as are many hobbyists) and I'm trying to put that aside in favor of enjoyment. Painting & converting at the professional levels sucked all of the joy away from the hobby which led in large part to my retirement. With the first model wrapped up I mulled it over for a few days and went on to the second. I went for a lighter gray base color, wanting more of a "cool" white. A bit neater this time, playing more with the hard edges and recesses. The first one used green on the lenses, so I went with blue on this one to see the difference. I didn't bother finishing the base as these are not the bases the army will be standing on. A bit closer now, much smoother. Muscle memory starting to come back to me. The third I focused entirely on the white, ignoring pretty much everything else. I'm not going to have any bare heads in the army, so no point in working on the head. Still working out whether or not to add a dark red to the helmets for sergeants. I've added a skull to the backpack of the sergeant to indicate rank and to make them easier to ID on sight. (Not that I play or anything.) The lighting in the pic almost makes it look unpainted, but the white is indeed painted and the smoothest white I've done in years. Trouble is, it was with the brush and if I want to finish the army some time in the next decade I will need to focus on the airbrush for the majority of the work. Fortunately power armor lends itself very well to that.

Hit the throttle on the Wreckas last week. I've been painting pretty slowly this year all things considered, decided to change that with this project. Finished up free-hand on a few items, got the squigs painted up, did the bases and oil washes last week resulting in a final project I'm pretty happy with! I dug out some of the leftover terrain bits I had from the sector imperialis/Chalnath terrain. I put a fine terrain paste around those bits and then put in some sand to act as larger rocks/rubble. I was moving pretty quickly with these and might have done things differently in retrospect, but I'm happy enough with the final result. Oil wash on the armor knocked down some brightness and added a ton of depth. If I was going to spend more time on it I would have done a few other washes on various parts, to build up the volume in the skin and leather, but the clock was ticking and I'm happy with the final look I'm happy to have a new team to play regularly, and these boyz are a fun one. I broke my normal "rule" about only painting finished models and brought them to my weekly KT night while they were still a WiP. Unlike my last team (ratlings) this one is WAYYYY more my style to play. They have a ton of problems at the top-competitive level, but they get to roll tons of dice and blasting rockets left and right before charging in to knock some heads feels perfectly orky.

+++ INTRODUCTION +++ The Defence of Dakota Minor was a series of conflicts in 884M41, that saw the Imperium defending the Matteus Subsector’s primary food provider against invaders. With only a token battlefleet and planetary defence force to protect it, Dakota Minor was expected to fall to the invaders in less than three months. Fortunately, intervention by local Astra Militarum regiments and the Adeptus Astartes saw the invasion quelled and the planet secured for the Imperium. The first theatre of conflict was the defence of the city Dakota Primus, against the opportunistic and nimble Ork Waaagh! ChoppaTide. Imperial forces counter-assault a rabble of Orks after they breached the outer defences of Dakota Primus. +++ ORK INVASION OF DAKOTA MINOR +++ It is unknown why Waaagh! ChoppaTide showed such interest in the fecund world of Dakota Minor. As a minor civilised world with significant foodstuff production (albeit far lower than a true Agri-World), it is suspected they were simply enthusiastic about the food supplies on the planet, as well as seeing a good opportunity to engage in the “sport” of war. An Ork Stormboy charges head-on into a squad of DMDC guardsmen. The Warning: Day minus 13 Local astropathic choirs intercepted the Ork psychic missives detailing an intent to “pillage a food-stuffed world”. The planet's Lord-Governor, Hastings Freeman, was convinced of the threat and ordered a Sector-wide astropathic alarm calling for assistance. The Navis Imperialis forces were the first to arrive in orbit ten days later. The Matteus Delta Battlegroup (a detachment of Battlefleet Agripinna) formed a defensive perimeter in anticipation of Ork arrivals from the expected Mandeville points. Meanwhile, the Asokan Rifles and Sartorian Rangers regiments of the Astra Militarum declared their intent to aid in the defence, but would take several weeks to arrive. For now, the only surface defenders were the Dakota Minor Defence Corps (DMDC). The Incursion: Day Zero The Ork scrap-fleet of Waaagh! ChoppaTide approached Dakota Minor from the blind side of the parent gas giant, triggering the planet’s orbital alarms. The Matteus Delta Battlegroup were forced to quickly redeploy their battleships in attempt to intercept the Ork fleet. Physical map of Dakota Primus and surrounding regions, with force deployments and movements in the first few days of the Ork invasion (884M41). The Orks seized the advantage and charged past the meagre Imperial defences, making planetfall via their Roks. Landing in the Adatok Wastelands, they assembled their tribes and scrap columns, and advanced on the human settlements. A small contingent of Orks marched north-east towards the hydroponic hive 2-Xi, but would be promptly interdicted by the stationed DMDC regiments. The bulk of the Ork Waaagh! headed south towards Dakota Primus. The remaining Ork kroozers and gunboats continued to engage the Imperials in orbit. Despite preparing for a head-on engagement, the Imperial fleet were instead drawn into a series of hit-and-run maneouvres that lasted eighty days before a victor was determined. The Amassing: Day 2 to 8 The bulk of the Orks rallied for eight days in the Adatok Wastelands, just at the outskirts of Dakota Primus. Their leader, Warboss Gruzka Koptadrilla, was intent on building their strength before committing to an all-out assault on the hive. Imperial forces, equally unconfident, prepared their defences in anticipation of an assault. Many skirmishes, artillery barrages and air raids occured between the armies in the interim, but were inconsequential. An Ork fighter-bomber begins a strafing run on the outer defences of Dakota Primus It was on the eighth day that the Lord-Governor’s astropathic pleas were responded to by an unexpected ally: the Salamanders chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. The DMDC high command were excited by this development, and could not help but spread the word: the Emperor's Angels were coming. +++ SIEGE OF DAKOTA PRIMUS BEGINS +++ Lookie there at all da grub deez ‘umies have for us! Mount up, lads! Da mighty feast awaits us! - Warboss Gruzka Koptadrilla, addressing his tribes before setting out to Dakota Primus. Aboard his "kustom deff-kopta", Warboss Gruzka Koptadrilla warcry marked the start of the Dakota Primus siege. Squadrons of rotorcraft, scrap-vehicles, and jetpack-equipped warriors hurled themselves at the scrambling Imperial defences. Siege of the North Wall: Day 9 to 12 The Ork assault began on the north defensive wall of Dakota Primus. As Ork artillery pummeled the wall sections and emplacements, a combination of hit-and-run attacks by skimmers and foot-slogging warriors wittled away at the defenders. The DMDC forces did their best to hold them off for three days, but were eventually overwhelmed. The lack of experience and armaments made it impossible for the Imperials to hold back the tenacious invaders. The North Wall Breached: Day 12 to 15 The northern gate was breached on the twelfth day, giving the Orks free access to the city centre via St Celestine's Highway. Having exposed the weakness in the Imperial’s defences, Warboss Koptadrilla convoyed his forces through the highway and deeper into the hive. The invading forces of Waaagh! ChoppaTide charge forward into the hive of Dakota Primus along St Celestine’s Highway With the promise of "His Angels' intervention" yet to come to fruition, morale amongst the DMDC was shattered. Commanders struggle to rally their forces, resulting in disordered fighting withdrawals deeper into the hive. Strategic estimates were re-evaluated to five days until Dakota Primus fell to the Orks. Unbeknownst to the people of Dakota Minor, divine intervention was not far away… +++ ARTICLE CONTINUES IN PART II +++

Starting a thread for it since it's still a new release Da Big Dakka - Mike Brooks (Audiobook) Brooks' third ork book, and his second Ufthak Blackhawk book, is here. Released to much fandom excitement and much fandom ire because it was basically the only pushed release for this year's Black Library celebration. I don't think either is super fair to it; like most works by Brooks it's a very solid "good." The orky bits in particular are more refined than ever. This time, we have Dark Eldar as our foil POVs. While they're still perfectly entertaining, I think it's a bit of a step down from Brutal Kunnin'. That book, to me, read like half of an actual Mechanicus novel that also had Ork chapters. I know that didn't work for many people, but I thought it created a uniquely entertaining read that showed exactly why Orks are such a fun faction. These Dark Eldar, by contrast, read like Dark Eldar in an Ork novel; it's all much more obviously tongue in cheek and they don't seem to have much reverence for their own culture, which is odd because of their supremacist views. The book is more evenly humorous because of this approach, but I think it takes away some of the charm and dilutes any really funny bits. The orky stuff, as mentioned, is the best from Brooks so far, even with the plot failing to meaningfully endanger Ufthak at any point. Brooks' writing isn't the most refined in the stable, but he has a unique talent for making fight scenes engaging. Better authors than Brooks have still managed to deliver complete snoozefests because their fight scenes ended up being poetically rendered filler. Brooks' style of giving us a play-by-play of everyone's decisions as the fight progresses means keeps every moment of this book's very frequent battles enjoyable. This is especially fun for Ork POVs, who doesn't love some good Ork logic? Ufthak describing humans as essentially Orks who are bad at being Orks was a personal favourite. I will say I noticed how often he lent into the "it was believed that X, but of course Y was true" style of exposition a bit too often, I hope he reins that in a bit next time. As expected, Snaggi is back as well. Despite my problems with the Dark Eldar here, I still found this book was back to the balance of opposing POVs that I thought made Brutal Kunnin' so much better than Warboss, so by extension I preferred this book's Snaggi content. At times, he reads like the only POV with legitimate stakes. Also, big shoutout to Harry Myers' narration. He's got a great range to his performance and I quite liked his Dark Eldar, despite his "unrefined" accent. That man can go deep and menacing when he wants to. Overall, super fun book that never had me bored. Probably what you want out of a running Ork series, eh? 7.5/10 To Taste because it's Brooks. The man's becoming to me what Guy Haley seems to be to other people: workhorse author with a strong respect for continuity, who also never fails to deliver something worse than "good." Now somebody crack the whip on a sequel to his Alpha Legion work.

Make it Orky.