Plamo: Burna Boyz (GW)

 

OK, following my initial and successful fielding of my Orks in 10th edition, I had a slight issue. My metal Nob miniatures had simply not survived the process, and it wasn't looking to be a quick fix. More a paint stripper and drill job. This looked to be unfun, but then I had an idea. I'd been looking into Ork tactics, one that I'd come across was the idea of having a minimum size squad of Nobz with a minimum squad of Burna Boyz in the same trukk. One rummage in the boneyard later, and yes, I could do that.

Burna Boyz are a bit of an odd one, and they got on the wrong side of GW's "exactly what the kit allows" policy. They are a unit mainly equipped with flamethrowers that double as welding kits, which they happily use to dismantle things. Like people. This makes for a very short ranged but potentially very destructive unit, which largely requires a transport so they aren't immediately destroyed. They share a kit with the much longer ranged Lootas, whom historically have been a bit more popular, but under modern rules conventions, they now have the same issue. Both require, as of 10th, the presence of “Spanners”, apprentice meks with different weapons and thus some optimisation issues. The Spanners used to be able to repair things, but not now, and even then, nobody really fielded them before you had to. While still deeply annoying to anyone forced to modernise a mob, having to take a Spanner is perhaps less of a burden to Burna Boyz. You are at least doubling their effective range, and could combo a Kustom Megablaster with a Trukk.

As these came out of the bitzbox, this wasn't an especially complex project, but I was also trying to relearn my ork techniques, so things didn't need to be complex. The squad in general featured some minor green stuff and kitbash work, with the Spanner being more involved. That was an older 4th ed big shoota boy originally, the kind of model that ends up in a bitzbox because it's been suboptimal for a long-ass time, and I could have left it mostly as is. Fortunately, I had some oddments like the current Spanner head and backpack, so I took the extra step. The cog icon exists as I broke the boss pole. For painting, I checked my old notes, opting for browns and darker tones to contrast with ork skin and their clan colours. I got bit experimental here, stippling blue onto the fuel tanks and such. I even attempted a lit cigar, to mixed success. Otherwise, the colour palette was much the same as my recent Catachans, at least in so far as clothing and metals went. To make a sweeping generalisation, painting Orks can be a bit more involved than armydudesmen. The bodies are much larger, which helps, but Orks are much more individual. There are ways to optimise your painting time, and I did, but you can't just spray these in one colour and then pick out the details. Then again, no human skin tones.

While I was delayed by a heatwave, this was a fairly quick one overall, and a useful exercise. Not perfect, but I'm confident about my ability to paint Orks.