toaae presents: WAAAAGH! Tortoof

[toaae]

Brakgcrel Nag Krot Tortoof, the eventual self-proclaimed Mega-Tyrant of Sterik, began his life on the greenskin-infested world of Krot, which Imperial records name as Kurotus III, lost during the wars of the Beast.

 

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WAAAAGH!!! and hello!

 

I'm toaae* and I've got an addiction to Orks! This thread has been a long time coming, and I'm excited to share my greenskins with this fine board. I use to have a blog here on the B&C when we had an actual blog system, and I found it hugely helpful in maintaining motivation and helping encourage my own creative thoughts. I hope to use this thread to serve the same purpose.

 

I’ve been in 40k since 2003, and I’ve been collecting Orks since 2012. I’ve not managed to complete a lot in that time, as I was in and out of the hobby a lot, but with 8th being a smashing hit in my book, I’m all in for the first time since 5th edition. I’ve recently wrapped up my new Blood Angels project, and have even cut it short so I could get back to painting ORKS!!

 

First off, some pictures of my orks. I’ve completed 51 models, I think, and I have more in various states of progress. From my display cabinet:

 

 

That is 10 grots, 37 shoota boyz, 2 nobz, pictured here:

 

 

3 Big shoot boyz, here:

 

 

and a rokkit boy, who will be the rookie of an upcoming tankbustas mob:

 

Some pictures of random boyz and the grots:

 

Orks are my magnum opus, and I plan to explore and grow in painting them to the best of my ability.

 

So, what to expect? Well, I've got this new airbrush I've only just started using, so I'm going to be re-learning how to paint orks using that. I'm working on the fluff of my Warboss, which is turning out to also encapsulate future SoB, Mechanicus, IG, and Necron armies. And I cannot wait to start working on kitbashing hoards of vehicles. I wanna share my love for this hobby and this faction, and this thread will be the nexus of that. Without further adieu, the first post:

 

ETL 6 is upon us, and this is my vow:

 

 

I, toaae, will conquer the challenge of E TENEBRAE LUX on the side of da Orks forum and will complete a Warboss with Power Klaw and Kustom Shoota, a Weirdboy, ten (shoota) boyz and nob with power klaw, and a mek gun with a bubble-chucka and grot gunners for a total value of 264 points on or before August 1st, 2018. Victory will bring me spoils of loot and teef, but failure will doom me in da eyes of Gork and Mork to wear the Badge of the Oathbreaker until the year-end.

 

 

 

The Boyz

 

The Warboss

 

 

The Mek Gun

 

The Weirdboy (now, 100% more stripped paint!)

 

Before I start that, I have 5 AoBR boyz to test the airbrush on. I hope to have those done tomorrow or Wednesday, to get a feel of what I can expect to accomplish with that tool for this vow.

 

 

 

 

 

*=The Only Allies Are Enemies, a screen name I took from the back of the Starcraft CD case in 1998 for my battle.net username, and have used since.

Edited May 22, 2018 by toaae

[toaae]

<Reserved>

[Brother Casman]

Very nice, I'm looking forward to seeing more!

[Warhead01]

As am I!
 

[Krakendoomcool]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the airbrush. Nice healthy horde you have there.

[toaae]

Thanks folks! The airbrush is a brand new tool to me, and beyond using it to basecoat one Intercessors unit, this whole thing is a fresh experience. But experimentation is fun! As mentioed, I prepped five AoBR boys to use as my test subjects! First off, skin. I came away with a few observations.

 

First, if I want to achieve the same result as my previous, all-hand painted Orks, I'm better off not using the airbrush. For reference, a previous boy:

(he is missing an arm because everytime I paint more orks, I lose an arm; my boyz have some kind of "pay-it-forward" thing going on with arms)

 

As I've said in a previous thread, I took this style of painting from 

on youtube. It's effective, isn't difficult, and I like the result. The stark contrast from that bottom green to the top is great. But from my first several hours with the airbrush, it's clear I cannot expect to have the level of control to do anything more than the basecoat for this style. Considering that that is the easiest stage, I don't think I'd gain any time or effect from the airbrush, once set-up and maintenance are taken into account.

 

But, if I can achieve a similar effect, if not the same result, that allows me to use the airbrush for all the layers, then I think we're cooking with gas. The first and second highlight on the Catattafish style take serious time (for me; I'm slow), but using the airbrush for zenithal (I think I'm using that word right) highlights is super quick, and would shave off loads of time per mob even if that's all I use the airbrush for. In addition, I feel it would make doing different shades of Ork skin easy as well. Simply switch colors and keep moving on. I think in the time it would take me to hand paint 3 boys, I could do 10 with 3 different skin colors.

 

Now, the example. Here are two test boyz and the one-armed boy from earlier. The one in the middle is painted with the same colors as the one armed boy, while the other is using entirely different paints:

 

The two test models flip-flopped, for easier comparing with the old boy:

 

In addition, both of those test boys have Athonian Camoshade on one arm. I think it was the darker's right arm, the lighters left arm. Both were painted all over the skin with Agrax Earthshade first.

Ok, so what's my verdict? I think I have something going here. The same colors could use another, lighter highlight, but overall, I'm happy with both how it compares and contrasts to the previous boy. The lighter one would probably be better without the Agrax Earthshade; just the Athonian camo I think would have worked. In the end, I think these two are proofs-of-concept:

 

• I can achieve a result I like
• The airbrush would improve my painting speed
• Mixing in different skin colors would work.

Up next, a test model. This will serve two purposes, see the airbrush in action on something I actually want a finished result of, and a test to make sure I still remember how to paint my Orks (it's been 6 months). If you've got suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them!

[Warhead01]

WAAAAAGH! 

I've felt your pain. I have had difficulty airbrushing skin as well. I have been airbushing for maybe 8 years now and it's a skill that you will improve on as you continue to use it. 
 Don't be discouraged right now, as you have said, it may not be the tool for the job.  I base coat and then zenith, usually just power armour and things like that armoured "one color model"
You can do a lot with it. Awesome paint jobs (APJ-Less) Has lots of tutorials. One technique that I like but have hardly used is primer black. then zenith grey but bring it down more around the model then another zenith of just white. Keeping that at high noon. This is like a bit of pre shading so you can wash your colors on. I'll have to look for those videos. 
 

Sorry, don't want to over load you with information/things to distract you. 

 

MY own problem with airbrushing skin is the over spray so I tend to just base coat them models, sloppily, the skin color and paint the rest by hand. Mostly due to my own mass assembly painting .  I try to get a lot moved from one step to the next in volume so I can quickly push a project along. *

 

The base coat a zenith highlight and a wash is super quick. (practice, practice, practice )

 

* you can spray your base coat color then layer pain the highlight color, if that's going to be productive for you. It will also get you using your airbrush. (Bushcrafters call it dirt time.)

 

I'm excited to see what you do next.

[toaae]

I'm excited to see what you do next.

 

Thank you!

 

The experiment is finished, and I've come to a decision for now. The test model:

 

 

Yes, that is one ugly boy. I used bits I knew I wasn't going to be using (I hate that torso), which resulted in that fresh, I'm-dislocating-my-shoulder-so-I-can-get-this-stikkbomb-throw-just-right look. Here's him next to one of my previous boys:

 

 

 

Anyways, while I think that he looks fine, paint-wise, but I don't know if I like it better. Actually, I'm really torn. The old boy has that great contrast that really comes through in the face well, while the airbrush boy is reliant on Agrax Earthshade in the recesses to have decent contrast. But the airbrush boy is clean, even layers, while the old boy is a bit messy (can't really tell from photos, but it's there). And, of course, the airbrush boy's skin was much quicker.

 

For now, I'm going to start work on the Mek Gun for my ETL vow while I stew on this conundrum. Feedback appreciated.

Edited May 26, 2018 by toaae

[Warhead01]

Looks really good! 

 

 

 

 I'm-dislocating-my-shoulder-so-I-can-get-this-stikkbomb-throw-just-right look

Haha! I always think of my own Orks as in motion. Looks good to me anyway. 

Keep up the good work!

[toaae]

I'm still torn on whether or not to go with the airbrushed skin. My gaming group was of no help, being fairly torn between the two. Slightly more support for the airbrush, but I'm not yet swayed.

 

Got a game in against a returning player. I had wanted to make a battle report of it, but it went 100% my way early and often. He made some mistakes, but largely, my dice were warm and his were ice cold. The biggest, meaningful takeaway I have is that small units of Boyz in trukks may not be as bad as I had originally thought. I'm not too stoked by 10 boys with a Klaw coming out of a transport that costs more than they do, but it does provide more target saturation of vehicles, and gives me a unit that can react easily to small units, like those super prevalent 5-man squads we see.

 

On the hobby front, I finished my week-long project of transferring my Citadel paints to dropper bottles, and I plan to start work on the first Mek Gun tomorrow!

[toaae]

A quick hitter update: Work has begun on the Mek Gun. Almost all non-metallic colors are complete, so tomorrow will begin touching up everthing that will be silver and getting the copper colors down. Hopefully on Thursday, I can weather and detail this bad boy for completion.

 

 

 

I've also been assembling the rest of the ETL vow. Have to get the heads and arms of the boyz on tooth picks, as well as repair the Weirdboy's staff, and then I can prime the rest of the vow and be ready to get started on it when the artillery and crew is finished.

[toaae]

I ended up not getting much down the last three days. Relaxed a bit, since this is the first time in four months I haven't had to have something finished by the end of the month. It was nice not being behind schedule and feeling an obligation to paint everyday.

 

But I imagine I'll feel that itch to get stuff done soon enough. My favorite part of painting is that last couple of hours before I finish something, seeing it so close to completion. Next is taking it upstairs from my office/garage to the display cabinet.

 

As an actual update, I think I've settled on the airbrushed skin thing: Grots and Boyz will be painted with the airbrush, nobz and up will be painted in my old style. I decided this upon looking at some WiP nobz I have and loving how their skin looks. This will accomplish a couple of things: Boyz will be faster to paint, while Nobz and characters will stand out, largely thanks to that deep contrast the hand painted method provides.

[Magos Takatus]

That sounds like a good compromise to paint the skin that way. It's good to get that feeling that a model is going to turn out okay. I often worry at the start of a project that it won't look right when I'm done.

[toaae]

That sounds like a good compromise to paint the skin that way. It's good to get that feeling that a model is going to turn out okay. I often worry at the start of a project that it won't look right when I'm done.

 

Overtime, I'll get better with the airbrush, so I think this is the best answer, long-term as well. And thankfully, in a sea of boyz, I'll be hardpressed to instantly pick out the different kinds of painting techniques.

 

 

Progress is slow, but that's been mostly down to me choosing to play video games over painting. The Mek gun is close to completion, and boy oh boy, do I love this kit. I have two other ones, and I will be including them in my next vow, as it is just a pleasure to paint them. I also assembled most of a Deff Dread, another great kit, and will probably knock out another vehicle or two. My next vow will be more substantial in points, just on the basis of having vehicles.

 

Some pictures! These will be the last WiP of the Mek Gun. Next time I take shots of it, it will be a finished product with the grot gunners. Just doing weathering now, and then touch ups before that Munitorum Varnish finish.

 

 

[toaae]

Quick update: In my eagerness, I forgot I'm going out of town this weekend. So there won't be any further progress till next week. But the gun is done! And boy, am I proud of how it turned out.

[Machine God]

Nice models and screen name.

[toaae]

Nice models and screen name.

 

Thank you!

 

 

I have returned, and even after driving with an infant for nearly 9 hours, I couldn't wait to put paint to model, so after the little one went to bed, I started work on the grot gunners. I only got a little bit done, but boy, does it feel good to be painting greenskins again!

[Smoke Frog]

Those are some great looking boys! That one ork with the stikk bomb has a really loooong arm!

[toaae]

Those are some great looking boys! That one ork with the stikk bomb has a really loooong arm!

 

Thank you! That guy has certainly developed a genetic trait for sikk-bomb throwing!

 

 

Progress is coming along on the grot gunners. I don't have much to report, just to say that I hope to have them done before Saturday. I also realized my wife will be out of town next week, and then so will I that weekend, so I'm not anticipating finishing my vow before July. If I get a chance at a second vow, it's just going to be a few vehicles.

 

[toaae]

First ETL6 unit complete! Also, the first completed unit of this blog. The gun itself was done two weeks ago, but the baby didnt give me much time to paint since then. That said, the 5 gunners probably took me more time than the gun itself. I'm looking forward to painting more vehicles.

 

 

 

I'm going out of town tomorrow morning, so I plan to start the next unit Tuesday. Thinking the Warboss.

[toaae]

Krot had been a feudal planet before the Imperium re-settled it, and by the time the Orks had arrived, it had become a productive Agri- and Hiveworld. Great numbers of produce were grown in the fertile regions on the equator and in massive sea complexes. The populations had inhabited planned cities on the coasts further north and south, mostly working in factories that worked the raw foodstuff into nutrient-rich products to feed the sub-sector.

This was thousands of years before Tortoof’s rise. By the 41st millennia, nothing was recognizable of Kurotus III as having once been a prosperous, effective planet of the Imperium. Long gone were the hives, turned into scrap walkers and junk tanks for wars ages past. The great sea-farms had sunk, the oceans dead and dirty from hundreds of generations of orks polluting them. The equatorial super-farms were now a sick xenos mockery of their past glory, as the same fertile soil that had borne crops for humanity now nurtured the fungus farms of the greenskins.

Tortoof was born into this world as Brak, a boy in the tribe of Grelgcrel. As all Ork worlds are before the coming of a great warboss, Krot, as it was known now by the locals, was a place of constant war, as different tribes formed around big bosses. Always eager for a fight, boyz would follow whoever was the strongest Ork around, until that one either died, or one of his boyz decided he was probably stronger. Krot hadn’t produced a WAAAGH!!! in half the age of the Imperium, and the various greenskings were content to battle over what little scrap remained useable, not yet grinded to dust by centuries of infighting.

Some more of the fluff I'm working on.

 

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Got back a day early, so I was able to get started on the next part of the vow. I've decided to go with the Weirdboy, because in some ways he's harder than the warboss and in some ways easier. After the psyker, I'll knock out the AoBR warboss and then the 10 shoota boys, who are going to be a testing ground of sorts. I've planned 5 different skin shades to try on them, and I plan on painting their clothes different. All to see what I can easily do to help diversify my Orks. Probably not the soundest ETL6 strategy there is, but hey, I'll definitely complete this vow.

 

So, the weirdboy. Got the skin done on the Ork and his two grot handlers (don't know where the 3rd one is; this is a second hand model). For the brain area, I went with progressively whiter and whiter shades of green (mixing pale fleshtones with green) to try and give it a "glow" look, though I don't plan on doing any OSL.

 

Edited June 25, 2018 by toaae

[toaae]

Something different: a mini-BatRep!

Saturday I got my first game in over a month played, and it was a doozy! It was 1700 points vs. Death Guard, against a guy new to our group. I took a list with some fun stuff like a Shokk Attack Gun and two Deff Dredds, while my opponent ran a big squad of Plague Marines, two small units of Poxwalkers, two units of terminators, a Plagueburst Crawler, a few drones and a helbrute, as well as a few death guard characters.

We rolled up Targets of Opportunity from Chapter Approved, a Maelstrom mission that only gives  you one battle round to complete objectives. We also played hammer and anvil, which meant I got to stuff 120+ models into a deeper, but thinner zone. I raced out to an early lead, getting 5 victory points on my first turn! I advanced up the field, Jumping 40 boyz (Mob up!) and getting that first turn assault into his lines. That mob would spend the rest of the game getting slowly melted, but tying up his backfield. Eventually, a combat that featured 61 models ended with a lone nob walking out.

 

Fun moments:

• One of my dreds and his helbrute eyed each other and decided that they didn't much like each other. Surely, a confrontation would arise between these two. It did, but he got the charge, and my poor dred never got to swing.
  
• After losing their trukk to a freak, trukk-killing plague drone, 10 boyz and a warboss found themselves charged by a Lord of Contagion and some termies. However, my opponents dice wouldn't be willed to victory, and a few turns of slap fighting ended when a lone terminator walked out of the crater the battle was in, having finished the Warboss while he was gloating over smashing the Lord of Contagion to death.
  
• After losing both Mek Guns, I sent a squad of grot gunners after the helbrute, who had one wound left? Did they accomplish their glorious, heroic task, changing the opinions of the Orkz present about the mettle of grots? No, they unceremoniously died, having accomplished nothing.
  
• The other grot gunner unit was sent to their deaths, forced towards the lone terminator from my right flank, because he was near an objective I drew. They scored the point, and then died like you would expect.
  
• His helbrute was a monster, taking out a dredd, a warboss, two weirdboyz, that poor grot gunner unit, and tanking shots from KMKs and the SAG. In the end, only the end game dice roll could stop his rampage.
  

 

In the end, I won, 13-11. My good luck from my first turn quickly tapered out, and I only managed to scrounge enough points together in turn 6. If the game had ended in turn 5, he would have won, and if it had gone on to 7, I might have been tabled. My opponent is a welcome addition to our group, and he quickly learned that just cause you're outnumbered 4-to-1 doesn't mean you can't kill enough. 6+ save doesn't get me far.

 

 

Some pictures:

WiP trukk that has been moved to the back-burner until after ETL. My wife thought it looked like it was popping a wheely, so she wanted to snag a photo:

 

Warboss pushing the lads up the middle of the board. NOTE: This warboss is part of a second-hand lot I picked up a few years ago. I use parts of it to fill out my army for games while I'm working on painting. Some day, that warboss will get stripped and painted, like the weirdboy I'm currently working on!

 

Finished Mek Gun next to one ready for priming. I really do love how that kit builds and paints.

 

A unit of Gretchin sent to grab an objective, photo'd moments before they would murderized.

 

Da gross humies' hero helbrute, looking for his next snack.

 

Grot gunners, who have already lost their gun, sent to die to claim the same objective marker their brethren died on earlier in the game.

 

After 4 turns and mounds of bodies, one nob walked out of the combat that absorbed his backfield, seeking something new to punch. He found a target, but sadly, he was a little winded from the melee, and didn't do much more than making that thing not shoot. However, he did tank a d6 damage overwatch shot. Thankfully, my opponent was out of command points when he rolled that 1 for the damage.

[toaae]

Progress is coming along. Finished the skin today on the boyz, so I'll probably be going back to finishing the Weirdboy.

[Warhead01]

 

 

 Eventually, a combat that featured 61 models ended with a lone nob walking out.

"Ya Kan't Kill Me! WAAAAAGH!!!!!!! " He bellowed at the sky. His Gods, who also love a good skrap, would help him find another fight. 

[toaae]

Got back to the weirdboy today. Unfortunately, we had a crazy heat spike today (106° F/ 41° C), and I just didn't have the energy to do much more than sweat. But it's been a hot minute since I last shared pictures, so here is one:

 

 

Hopefully, the forecast stays true, and today was just a one day spike. I'd love to finish him this weekend. I have another roadtrip next week.