Now, I'm playing 40k with less regularity than I used to, as I am trying to do new things. When I have played however, my Orks have over-performed. I've done so well, that I'm worried about getting cocky. Taking a bunch of Boyz in trukks was a pragmatic choice given what was table-ready. I kinda thought that this was a basic bitch set-up that I got lucky with. But with subsequent additions I seem to have unconsciously gravitated to some of the more efficient units. Maybe playing guard so much taught me about objective play, I dunno. However, I didn't have a solid 2000 point list ready to go, I needed a project, and so here we are. A bunch of things that don't really justify an article by themselves.
I rummaged through the bitz box, and bodged together another mob of ten Boyz. Boyz seem to be good Battleline units, although compared to your average tourney list I seem to be taking a lot more than most. Maybe it's a holdover from earlier editions, but it feels somehow uncomfortable not to have as many Boyz as I can. I wanted another 10 so I might more easily scale up to 2000 points. There's few things to briefly mention, like I was trying a few new paints. The presence of stikkboms is a vestige from the 7th codex IIRC, where tankbusta boms where a distinct upgrade, foreshadowing 10th ed box locking. Speaking of Tankbustas, I'd initially planned to reuse one for this squad, but it broke, so I had to kitbash another lad with a rokkit launcha. I think I could easily make another squad of ten if I wished, but beyond that it's either paint stripper or new plastic... Anyway, these are fine. I always find that starting these is more difficult than finishing, but this was an OK thing to dip in and out of. I did however have issues with the gun barrels though.
Speaking of new plastic and paint stripper, I also sourced some "new" Black Reach era Nobz. I’ve used these a lot for conversions over the years, as their moulded weapons have never been viewed as optimal. I wanted a few more to replace some troublesome metal ones, while taking the opportunity to give them Power Klaws. While Nobz with big choppas is both effective and funny, Klaws hit an important breakpoint. These Klaws were mainly salvaged parts that had been Dettol-ed, although one was recut, and the biggest was a Ramshackle Games piece. This required pinning the joins, and concealing them with green stuff. There was also some modest head swapping and personalisation. You don't get much variety with these, but I wanted to get what I could. I did however have the same issues with the gun barrels though. Maybe I need a new drill bit. These were painted in the same optimised manner as the boys, but only after I decided to do something else for a bit.
Said thing was a Trukk. This was a more thorough salvage job, as it was an old kitbash that had not endured storage well. The wheelbase and flatbed was intact, but the frontend and weapons were a total loss. Rebuilding it as a closed cab style vehicle was the path of least resistance, requiring the hot glue gun and other scratchbuilding techniques. While paint brings it all together, I do acknowledge the slight mismatch between the scratch components and the GW ones. People seem to like it though.
Hmm, while a worthwhile distraction, I find myself at little introspective about all this. The most satisfying aspect of this was undoubtedly the trukk. Not only did I have the most fun making it, social media feedback suggests it was the better of the three, not that the other two are bad. None of these three mini-projects are especially clever, see the first paragraph, but the vehicle kitbashing seems to play to my strengths. So either need to find a way to make the actual orks in my orks more interesting, or I need to go heavy on the hulls. Something to think about.
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