Orks: A Return

So during my August holidays, I decided to field my ork forces again. It's something I've been mulling over for a while. I have a decidedly non-trivial boneyard of ork models, so many in fact that I donated a bunch to charity in an attempt to be less of a hoarder. I use the term boneyard quite deliberately there, as while I had lots, not much was table ready. Codex creep and damages meant that it was gonna be a lot of busy work to get the stuff ready, and the 10th ed codex hadn't made me rush out and play. Nor did the Dakka Detachment Debacle. However as time passed, the need for a change increased, as did free time for busy work. My guard forces aren't going anywhere, and I have two things on order even, at time of writing, but I needed something else to do for a bit.

 

I spent a couple of hours auditing what I had, and forming a basic 1000 point list. It  didn't take too long as I first thought of doing this back in March. This was followed by about 7 hours of repairs and rebasing. Word to the wise, bicarbonate of soda is not advisable for texture paint as it separates over time. I also found some wall filler basing experiments that aged poorly. Most of these were made as creative exercises post-Covid, which is a fair time ago I admit, but not long enough for this to be necessary. This problem was/will-be addressed mainly by mixing new texture paints with sand and dabbing in top of the offending bits, and then dry brushing Zendri Dust for consistent finish. I also should have pinned the metal nobz as these did not like storage and liked travelling even less. I might have to do something about that.
Anyway, here's the list. 

Warboss with Power Klaw and Follow Me Ladz
10 Nobz with Big Choppas – escort for the Warboss
3 Squads of 10 Boyz, with a Rokkit Launcher and BC Nob each
4 Trukks - to carry the above.
3 Killa Kanz, one with Kan Shoota, two with Rokkit Launchers

Did this work? Well, this was fielded in a slightly non-standard 3-way battle, using White Dwarf rules, and the "High Octane" rule from the new mission pack. This was a less than ideal test sample, and the results there are not likely to be representative. That said, I did win, and it's difficult to actually feel bad about an army you won with. The battle was against Blood Angels and Necrons, beating the former through violence, and the latter on points. I lost a trukk on the way in, but I managed to pull off a textbook WAAAAAGGGGGHHH, mullering the Angels, and setting myself up for a trio of held objectives. Things went less well against the Necrons, a unit of Skorpekh Destroyers being a consistent problem, but by the time I was able to give the Tin 'eads proper attention, I was leading on points. I actually had five of six objectives held before we called it. All in all, it felt good to have the lads back on the table. I got rather lucky with that WAAAAAGGGGGHHH, and my foes hadn't really seen Orks before, so I don't wish to get over-confident. But, after too many years of not wanting to play Orks, it's good to be back. I've played two other games since to lesser success, but still success. Trukks seem to great for objective play and secondaries.

 

As to where things go from here, I'm less sure. There's numerous little repairs and modifications my models need, which may not be blog material. But we will be seeing new models in the future....

Gunpla: The MSA-003 Nemo (HG)

 

In my apparent quest to revisit every Zeta Gundam design, I now present the Nemo. In my defence, this was not a conscious choice, and seems to be a reflection of what Bandai ships to my part of the world. 

The Nemo is a relatively obscure mobile suit, despite being only the second/third "good guy" grunt in the franchise. Technically. Kinda. Speaking in narrative terms, if not absolute terms. Depending on how you feel about the Rick Dias and such. Zeta was the first proper Gundam sequel, and the franchise tropes hadn't quite solidified yet. Functionally, it was an off-brand GM, built to outperform the contemporary Hizack and GM II. As such, the Nemo gets the basics right. Its the classical sword & board style of a Federation mobile suit; no stupid gimmicks, just solid design with newer tech. Its origins are possibly more interesting than the suit itself. It was made by Anaheim Electronics for the painfully named Anti Earth Union Group, AEUG, the protagonist faction of Zeta. Shady arms dealers amongst other things, Anaheim was a duplicitous conglomerate known for selling weapons to both sides in any given conflict. This was a habit that made the Universal Century tangibly worse, even if it was to be a net good in the Nemo's case. Said mobile suit is described as having various zeon-style design traits despite its appearance, a side-effect of Anaheim buying up expertise and arms companies after the One Year War ended. As well as other shady goings-on too messy to go into here. While performing well enough, and having a few spin-offs, the Nemo basically disappeared after Zeta. With the Titans gone, and AEUG absorbed back into the Federation, the Nemo was somewhat redundant. You don't need, really, a knock-off GM when you have the real thing. It effectively married back into the GM lineage, and wasn’t heard from again until Gundam Unicorn presented the act of prolonged fanwank that was the Torrington Base battle. Which prompted this kit.

 

My honest reaction when opening the box was a decidedly unfiltered "oh you mother-fucker". There is an utter indictment of a sticker sheet. Nothing I haven't seen before, or should be surprised by, but this is exactly the sort of thing that makes a gunpla unfun. The worst example are those shoulder vents which need five, I repeat, five (5) each. Either mould them in black, or just don't bother at that point. The leg thrusters need four each too. There is no red in this kit, that's all stickers. And why is there a yellow sticker for the head when we have a tiny sprue already in that colour? What budget cut or executive oversight mandated this? And its got a lot of polycaps too, should that be a deal-breaker.

So, the Barzam is looking pretty incredible right now. But does the Nemo do anything well? In fairness most things when not involving stickers. There's a frankly excessive 7 hands included with this kit, and the fundamentals are sound. The backpack thrusters are colour separated to an extent, and balljointed, for example. Stickers aside, its a decent kit for it's time, and compares well to more-modern grunts.  It's got a fairly involved construction too, not a full inner frame, but there's more going on than it looks. The sad thing is, while the Nemo would have been a fantastic candidate for the Leo/30MM style of construction, its not gonna get that treatment as this kit is good enough, even with the stickers. 

I gave this my standard weathering job, and used silver paint behind the visor. There's some interesting detail there. It turned out OK, but I think I’ll take a break from Zeta.

My Time at TFNation August 2025

So, I went to the big TFN again, once more helping out with the fandom institution that is Toy-Fu. As you may recall, I didn't enjoy last August as much as I would have liked, so I took steps to make things more pleasant this time. These largely worked. Overall, I'd say I'd enjoyed the event, and got some socialising in. What socialising I did however do was mainly getting to know existing friends and acquaintances better, rather than meet new people. I didn't feel isolated or alone, nor ill, this time, but I was in my comfort zone, and I would have liked to stretch my wings a little. Still, good to have friends, and Toy-Fu was doing good work. Lifetime donations to Mary's Meals exceeded £250,000 with this event. It's an honour to have been some small part of it.

As for the event itself? Well, TFNation suffered from the sudden cancellation of Scott McNeil on medical grounds. We all hope he's OK, but he was the headliner, and frankly there wasn’t anyone else grabbing me in the same way. Nor did the panels. The new wristbands are also a bit rubbish; I just wanted to work that in somewhere. My experience on the charity stall was a busy one, with Saturday being a total oven of a day. I'm forced to conclude that, were I not helping Toy-Fu, I would likely treat this as a one day shopping event, its getting too big and noisy for me. Still, friends. I had a good time seeing my friends. In terms of accommodation, I stayed at the nearby Arden this time, tagging along with Toy-Fu like some kind of Battersea rescue Labrador, which was nice enough. I got my buffet breakfast this time.

And now: the indulgences.

Fisitron & Carnivac: A release based on lesser-known comics characters, using some pretty good remoulds. I’m glad I got this one when I could.

Dr Wu Iron Fortress: I was so impressed by Energy Dragon, I got him a buddy. It's a more intricate/fiddly piece, but still an impressive one.

Web Diver Golmon: A fascinating piece from a series adjacent to Transformers. Probably a blog candidate, but research is needed.

MS Discovery GM (Shoulder Cannon / Missile Pod): It's a modern update of the GM, yay! Oh, the stickers?! Foreshadowing for next week...

Cordon: An impulse Toy-Fu purchase of a mould I've not handled previously. Seems nice, although the feet prompt questions.

A sticker by the talented Claude: Check him out, Claude is a friend.

A gifted model kit and assorted bits: made by a generous customiser whom eschews social media. Thanks buddy.

A lovely gifted badge by Jake. Thanks Jake, you do great badges.

Oh, and Gav was kindly handing out the rulers he recently reviewed. Thanks Gav.

Some, all, or none, of the above will feature in future articles. Expect the first of those September-ish, bye for now.

Transformers: Age of the Primes Autobot Red Alert is Something That Exists

 Hey, its TFNation weekend! Have a Transformer review.

 

The 2002 Transformers Armada Red Alert toy. 

 

While this isn't the first toy I’ve got for the new iteration of Generations, its the first one I feel like talking about. Although, I have kinda talked about this guy before. Last year, I did an article on Cannonball, a character I was convinced was fated to be Red Alert due to the repaint connection. The fact that Red Alert appears as a new mould voyager is a bit of a surprise, and makes Cannonball more special in retrospect. I understand why he's a voyager, its so he can better match the assorted Armada revamps we've had in Legacy. As to why he's in Age of the Primes? Well, because Generations continues to be a grabbag of often weak theme, and I suspect he got held up along the way. And they don’t even acknowledge the Armada connection on the box. Odd.

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The truck mode seems a bit boring at first, and I was ready to breeze past it as "good enough" until I considered it more closely. The back-end and hubcaps go unpainted, but there is a lot of paint where you would mostly look. Its front bumper/hood area receives a lot of attention as a focal point in both modes, the flanks aren't bad either, and the translucent red is used is well. In terms of play value, there's the welcome presence of pinned wheels for good rolling, an assortment of 5mm ports, and the flip-out gun gimmick from the original toy appears, if as a mainly decorative thing. Something I hadn't realised prior to having the toy in person, is that not only do the gunhands store easily, they also have 3mm peg functions so they can attach by the lightbar. There’s also a decorative mini-con post. So, more going on than I thought, it rolls well, and it looks good on the assumption you don't flip it over or stare at the arse end. But, you do you. The transformation meanwhile apes the original with a lot of big panels and unexpectedly stiff joints. Spoiler alert: this is the only aspect of the toy I dislike. Things are generally too tight and stiff, but its not bad.

The generally good truck mode is followed by a solid robot mode. Red Alert has the face of Robocop, the body plan of a classical carformer, a gunarm, and legs that go for miles. Its a distinctive look for what amounts to a supporting character. There is a favouring of the animation model, notably featuring a different shade of blue for the kneecaps, but omitting the brass/gold from the inside of the arm joints. I suppose someone could third-party that, but I find it to be a fairly skippable detail. In other news, we see a light piped visor, it has been a while. The looks are very much on point. Functionally, he has 4 accessories in total, plus a significant presence of 5mm ports, with both the flip out gun and the gunhands using that system. The position of one port on the chest makes me wonder if there's new a Longarm mould which was cut for the price point, but this toy would shine with a weaponizer or similar. Articulation meanwhile is Legacy standard, so generally good, but this is where those stiff joints and vehicle kibble interfere. Its knees like to lock in the standing position for transformation purposes, and if you want to use the waist joint you have to unplug the backpack. Its nothing you can't work around though, as its otherwise very comprehensive, he does have a wrist swivel for his one good hand for example. Definitely a robot that ticks all the boxes...

 
Red Alert is not the first character I think of when I come to think of Armada. He's probably not in the first ten either. He's a bit dull if I'm honest. As a toy, this looked to be maybe a bit dull too. It is cut from exactly the same cloth as the other Armada remakes, with the same design principles as applied to what was probably the most conventual toy of Armada wave 1, i.e the one that was a truckformer with a hood-chest. Priority is given to screen accuracy and articulation at the cost of mini-con functions. So while there is that element of faint disappointment again, a sense that Hasbro is missing the point, there is a compelling argument in this toy’s favour. It is simply good at what its choosing to do. If this is the last Armada remake we get for a while, its gone out on a high.

Although, that Flatline repaint does look rather nice...

 

Kitbash: Catachan Command Squad

Right, here we go: Scavengers part 2.

The Catachan Command Squad is an interesting one, and I'm honestly surprised it exists. Well, it exists technically. Its a direct order type of affair; its not something you can just get off the shelf. If/when GW gets around to revamping the Catachan range, I fully expect it to be pulled or otherwise rebuilt from the ground up. This is because said unit its not really "box-locked" as such, its datasheet being very flexible with respects to weapons and equipment, if not as flexible as the dearly-departed Infantry Command Squad. Context however is everything, as the basic Jungle Fighter squad has no real weapon options to speak of, and this is the way to get them. Plus a capital O order, the Assault keyword, and a Medpack. And maybe some other stuff. As I alluded to in a previous post, there's mixed views how best to equip them, and if they are strictly speaking necessary. I ended up splitting the difference between what I had spare and what I was likely to do tactically with them: hence a meltagun, plasmagun, sniper rifle, and finally the Medpack. The Officer got the usual fist & plasma combo, and hopefully he'll get use out of both. I imagined this unit as a plug-in for a squad of 20, fielded aggressively, but independently of the rest of my force.

These were mainly a scavenger sprue again, but with weaponry from the Grognards Command sprue and the Cannon Fodder sprue. Adapting the heavy weapons from the latter caused some problems due to how the upper handle connects, causing some late modifications. The paint scheme was basically the same as the other lads, if slightly more detailed to help them stand out by comparison. The mask lenses were done with GW Contrast Talassar Blue rather than my usual Soulstone method due to a paint spillage, although the effect is pretty close, so that worked out. My cheap wall filler paste had largely dried out, so I resorted to green stuff as a basing material. I must get a proper replacement.

Overall, I absolutely could have rolled this into the original Scavengers article, but this benefits from being its own thing. Turned out OK.