Kitbash: Deathskull Ork Battlewagon. Yes, again.

 

I feel I am needlessly repeating myself a bit here. Battlewagons and such were a recurring theme of my "scratchbuild phase" and something I tended to do when I want to build something involved at minimal cost. Why do I keep doing this? Oh right, I hyper-fixated on something. And GW went and changed the unit definition again. Gunwagons are a thing once more, but Dethrollas seem to have vanished. Unless GW is quietly planning to do the Bonecrusha or something as DLC, my most recent of these is not remotely rules legal. Charming. Anyways as a unit, the Battlewagon now is exclusively a heavy transport with space for 22 Orks, and a firing deck for 12 of them. It's quite durable, with a rather useful OC5, surprisingly capable in melee, and has a related detachment. I can easily imagine one happily joining in, or just parking on an objective. 

I shouldn't really complain too much about the rules changes that much though. I can throw one of these together from a charity shop find, hoarded materials, and salvaged parts. With the Dethrolla conspicuous by its absence, the greatest technical challenge of such a project is gone. It's just a matter of finding a big enough hull, preparing it, and then orkifying the thing. The hull here is a firetruck from the Paw Patrol franchise, a children's series that's most notable for a meme of a film review. It's slightly smaller and shorter than an actual 'wagon, but that was probably to my benefit as it's very easy for these projects to end up too big. My basic idea here was to build up the front end, put a flatbed out back, and the weapons wherever they fit, feeling things out as a I went. The main difficulty here was the sticker stripe recessed into the flanks, the stickers leaving gluey residue and the trench breaking up the look of the vehicle. I ended up filling these areas will milliput and sanding them out, to some success. In happier news however, an old piece of KillTeam terrain could be attached as a Grabba Klaw almost unmodified. I didn’t even try to strip the old paint of it, it worked too well as is. Plus the recess ended up not mattering, as this became less of a build so much as a katamari of a kitbash, using a variety of materials to armour it up, but still leaving that distinctive front-end peaking out.  Maybe the flatbed got a bit lost in the process though.

 

The painting moved swiftly once I got the three million rivets on. This was a run of basic drybrush sponging, and washing techniques. This is the sort of thing I really enjoy about Orks now I think of it, the rustbucket, shitbox, kitbash vehicles. And I managed to get in done in time for Orktober too, so here we are. It came out OK.

Plamo: Ork Boyz (The Armageddon ones)

And now for another installment of Project Legs11. Codex in hand, I now take a swing at the Armageddon Boyz. And its also Orktober.

Now, as a basic build, the Armageddon Boyz are fine. Not dissimilar to the other fixed pose models I've built, but there's flexibility that been absent elsewhere. The Nob can be built in two different ways, with actual Boyz having two different builds per body, plus the ability to freely swap heads. It's a shame that there isn't more redundancy in the kit, but if you pay attention it's not hard to avoid duplicates. Visually, these Orks also seem to be a bit less armoured than I expected and one is barefoot, but OK. The real issue is the numerous weapon options that we now know are absent. The omission of weapon options for the Nob is forgivable in context, but the absence of the ammo runt, big shoota, rokkit launcha and burna isn't. I suppose there are situations where you could want regular shootas instead, reducing mental load for example, but as the bigger guns don't prevent choppas any more, each represents a straight upgrade. Similarly, there's no obvious reason why you wouldn't take a power klaw if you had the bits for one, which I did. That said, these are definitely useful if you have the resources to overcome these limitations, and you can easily use the 5 gretchin on the sprue to make ammo runts. You will have to work around proportional and stylistic differences with older Ork plastics though. And I probably need to get some new drill bits as gun barrels have gotten smaller…

So I approached the first mob of ten with a few basic kitbash techniques, choosing to trim down and then build up shootas into the desired guns by changing the business ends, and adding related bells or whistles. Green stuff was then used to conceal the joins, and such. I'm glossing over the specifics a bit, but they put the "make a shoota big by adding the barrel from another shoota" trick in the 3rd ed codex. It's a well-established technique, that transfers reasonably well to rokkits and burnas. The burna is perhaps the least convincing, but a resin oilcan and some wire does well enough. Where appropriate, I added sculpted backpacks, sacks and straps. Oh, and the ammo runt? Meanwhile, the Ammo Runt was done as part of an earlier batch. The second mob would feature a headswap for the Nob, but that unit is not complete at time of writing. Real life family issues have marked my schedule, so maybe we'll come back to those later, hopefully befitting from my experience here. There were a lot of little details I was feeling out, like those little squig bastards. Not my best work, but I think they do OK as gaming pieces.


 

Apropos of nothing, here's my rough guide to painting these Boyz
1) Undercoat: Colorforge Trench Brown.
2) Colour blocking. Working from dark to light, big areas to small, drybrush the major colours. That's a brown for the fabrics, a dark grey for boots and pouches, a gunmetal for metals, and Citadel Moot Green for the skin. We don't need to be perfect here, we just want to get the foundations done.
3) Then start focusing in on the finer details and the clan colour, in my case Vallejo Deep Sky Blue. Pick out the teeth and such with an off white, and I like to do tongues and squigs in a dark red.
4) Tidy it up, correcting mistakes, and adding contrasting metal tones were appropriate like pins on stikkboms or ammo belts. I like to stipple the blue onto metal components here, but leave any lenses for now.
5) The magic trick. Apply a brown ink wash, dab off any excess, and let it dry. This should shade the model and highlight details.
6) Having let it all dry, touch up any mistakes, and now attempt any lenses or googles you need to do. Doing this after the wash helps these look bright, but apply a touch of white to the area first to help that along. Soulstone Technical or Contrast paints followed by some Ardcoat are good to use here.
7) Do the bases.
8) Swear violently as you look at everything else you have to do.


Up next: The actual Orktober Project.

 

So What the Zog Happened to the Orktober Buggies?

I am apparently now so old that I am surprised by the linear passage of time. Case in point, the Orktober Buggies, a huge army refresh that reworked the long-neglected Ork vehicle pool. That happened eight years ago. And now two are bring retired with the 11th edition Ork Codex. Damn, that's hardly any time at all. But hey, at least that's older than the Confederacy.

Righty, so the loss of units with a new codex is, regrettably, painfully, routine at this point. Invariably this is a business decision, the charitable view being that GW can only support so much, and must eventually discontinue something that's unpopular. Less charitably, it's an attempt to drive players to buy more stuff. Both are true, and if I'm totally honest, Orks got off lighter than the Beakies did. That having been said, it's a bit of a surprise to see this happen to the buggies. Especially as aircraft still seem to limping on with own detachment and the bloody Bosshead Bunka still being a thing. The buggies were  by any margin a substantial investment, with six distinct vehicle kits. Now only two exist as independent units, two persisting in the same generic unit, and two having been removed as units, if mentioned in the proxy list. Of the two survivors, the Deathkilla Wartrike makes sense, to assist those new Warbikes, but the Rukkatrukk is less obvious. Maybe it just sold well enough? So, let's explore what might have happened here. What happened to the Orktober buggies?

Suspect 1: Conceptual Issues
The Orktober buggies as they were known, sought to replace a quartet of fairly conventional vehicles. The main three of these were the Warbuggy, Wartrakk, and Skorcha, light, two-ork vehicles with exposed crew. These were very much warbike-adjacent, being relatively small models initially done in metal, and differentiated mainly by weapon load-out. These received (mostly) plastic models in the 2nd edition/Gorkamorka period, and aged poorly, promoting a lot of kitbashed versions. The forth was the Warboss on Warbike, which did get a Forgeworld version, but otherwise was one of those odd, no-model units GW allowed in times past. It made sense to do one at the same time. The units that replaced these were not 1:1 updates, and were radically different in character. This is is not in itself a bad thing, these units are so massively Orky on the artistic level they'll turn your skin green. But they didn't fit cleanly into the same tactical roles their predecessors did. In all fairness, the Dethkilla Wartrike (first picture) did OK. It was a bike that got so big it became a full vehicle. But if you want a flamethrower vehicle? Well, that's kinda spread out between the Kustom Boosta-blasta and the Boomdakka Snazzwagon. That might be why those two became the new amalgamated unit. What is the Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy (picture 4) for? If it's anti-infantry, isn't that covered by the last two? OK, the Shokkjump Dragsta (below) is hyper mobile, I get that. Why is it also a precision anti-tank weapon? Meanwhile, the Megatrakk Scrapjet (above) is absolutely amazing, for a one-off special character. I mean, do Orks go through so many aircraft it's routine for them to be turned into tracked vehicles? And if they do, could we have alternative heads on the sprue? Do you see what I'm saying here? These replaced very simple units. These need whole sentences to explain. And all are so quirky that taking duplicates look odd. And speaking of sprues...

 

Suspect 2: Kit Economics
OK, here's were I admit that this entire article was inspired by passing comments made by the Poorhammer Podcast. Setting up a plastic mould is a non-trivial amount of money, so you want to mitigate that cost through volume. This why so many vehicle sets, historically, are dual build or modified from existing vehicles. It reduces costs, and hedges your bets against something being unpopular. Unfortunately, if the completed models were too individual, the sprues were too. The only parts these share are the bases. Was this a result of the Chapterhouse lawsuit? I don't know. But, in all fairness, how easily could some of these doubled-up? Say a common wheelbase, but with a body kit? Hell, the Rukkatrukk could have easily been a regular trukk too, you just have to clean out the flatbed and put new guns on it. Doing all of them as unique sprues must have been a big cost to slowly recoup.

Suspect 3: Game Balance
So you want as many people as possible to buy these models. One way to do that is make them good in game. With the buggies this has had mixed results, such as with the old Ramshackle rule circa 2021. Historically GW has struggled with balancing large numbers of light vehicles, and I don't want to go too deep into the specifics as these shifted with each edition, with unit sizes going up and down and such. But, taking a big picture view: adding six new light vehicles in one go presented an easy way for players to spam them, and a challenge for designers in making these both distinct and valid. Given the number of Leman Russ and Chimera variants, this is not impossible, but that's still not something that’s perfect. Or happened overnight. If the buggies were a problem in an edition, with six examples of them, they could really be a big problem.


Conclusion 
As I worked through these issues, I found myself coming to a somewhat troubling conclusion. I don't think GW was actually wrong in retiring some of the Orktober buggies. I don't think they did it well, there should definitely be legacy rules for the absent buggies. I don't pretend to understand how the Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy made the cut. Possibly vibes and LOLs. Or people were kitbashing them into Trukks?  But, if you told me why this whole thing happened was because the models were an expensive pain in the arse to maintain and they wanted to cut something? Yeah, that passes the Sniff Test. The question is: where do people go from here? Well, I don't think it's a good time to go investing heavily in any of these. They brought the old Wartrakk back! The survivors must be on borrowed time. If you see a cheap Snazzwagon, maybe. If you want to kitbash or 3d print something, maybe. Otherwise it sucks. Not the happiest note to start Orktober on, but here we are.

Maybe I should I just play this, in memorial?

Kitbash: Ork Boy Upgrades and Such & Such

And now for another installment of Project Legs11. Kinda. OK, funny story. I kinda wanted to talk about the Armageddon Boyz first. Those are the new hotness, or at least the lukewarm hotness. A marked-down sausage roll, if you will? However, I kinda wanted my existing Boyz modernised too, which would be a faster way of getting a rules legal force. So I did them first. But, due to unfortunate circumstances my regular opponent had to cancel, and I had real life issues too. So I didn't get to play or indeed finish them during my week off. But I didn't want to fall behind on the blog,  this has gone from a tangent to it's own article. Lucky you, dear reader.

 

As it stands, I'd imagine a lot of people with pre-existing Ork armies are currently doing busywork to make their Boyz match the new datasheet. For me, this means adding a burna, big shoota, and ammo runt to each mob, while also putting the nob on a bigger base. You may also need to give the Nob a kombi-weapon of some kind, as these now replace the sluggas they used to carry. As I tended to give my nobs big choppas, this is less of an issue for me, but I'm still gonna have one guy as a "counts as". However, with Burnaboyz now gone, and the Nob unit being totally redesigned, I had a few existing burnas and runts ready to go.

The new boyz with big shootas are mainly salvaged from an abandoned killteam project, one based around dakka. They feature four varieties of big gun, one kitbashed, and one metal piece. Meanwhile, the new Ammo Runts were older grot plastics bodged together with assorted stowage. You don't really need much more than a gretchin, a big sack, a some bullets to make an ammo runt. These were then painted in my usual manner, although I did try to mix up the colour choices.  The nobs were carefully re-based by trimming the lip from their 32mm base, placing them atop a 40mm, and filling the gap. This proved be an imprecise method, one with the first base fighting back, and one nob just coming off. It worked alright I suppose, although this did highlight the difference in proportions between old and new style Orks.  It will do.

Up next: batch painting?

Plamo: The Big Mek Dakkarig (Armageddon Release)

 

And now for another installment of Project Legs11. Today, we focus on the only actually new thing in the Armageddon box: the Big Mek Dakkarig.

 

Ordinarily, I'd like to place a model such as this in its proper, or proppa, context, but the Dakka Rig is so new as to almost lack one. It's simply, and obviously, a gatling gun on legs. It's all about the Dakka, it's in the name. Perhaps it will gain said context with the 11th edition codex. I don’t know, I didn’t get the book until this model was done, and its only had rules in general for a matter of mere weeks. It seems to be positioned as a de-facto HQ choice for Dreadbash and Mek-centric armies, as it's the personal conveyance of a Mekboy. Other than putting a lot of bullets into something, it also carries rokkits, but unlike ever other Ork walker, it's mêlée functions are kinda minor. More importantly though, this is very much within my hyper-fixations, which is why I put off doing it until now.

As a build, this is very much in the same fixed pose style as everything else in the Armageddon box, if maybe less irritating due to the larger size. This still is a case where you're gonna need sub assemblies, some gap-filling as it turned out late in the process, most notably with the Mek whom needed painting separately. In three different parts because he's grabbing the controls with both hands. In all fairness though, that's as annoying as any of it got, because a rusty scrap robot is so massively within my comfort zone that it's like a soft cushion. I added a few extra panels, greeblies, and roughed it up, before doing all the major colours in a lazy afternoon.  I find that doing metals is so much more immediately gratifying than infantry, and this project was a gentle confirmation of that. Then came the Mek, and assorted details, before washing and basing. I had wanted to use to a transfer on the banner, but realised too late that I didn’t have a suitable one. So I freehanded a rather-bad “Kan” gylph. That’s the symbol for ork walkers that sometimes looks like a robot doing the robot. It looks more like a cheeky gremlin thing, but its fine.  A bit of whimsy. I also tried using old, dried-out mud paint to make new mud paint, which produced some nice textures. The whole thing came out quite well. And eventually, I got the codex.

As I now have the codex, and it has been collectively discussed to death, how do I feel about it? Well, I'm not fond of how this codex and indeed 11th in general have been communicated. Those data cards I got in the Armageddon box? Aged like milk. The Ork codex looked, if anything, over-tuned, but then news broke of Marines experiencing an even more extreme rebuild, loosing a bunch of units into the bargain. It follows that every faction will receive a similar revamp, but as this is being done via a codex cycle, not the index method, it's gonna take a while. As a result, game balance will be unstable for a long time, not least because marines are half the game. Furthermore, there is a trend for the initial codexs of an edition to be cautious and maybe a little awkward as the designers feel things out. So however impressive Orks look now, it may well be a different story next year. I acknowledge that there is a strong "First World Problems" feel to the above comments, but this is still a very rough transition from 10th, as it's not a clean break. More like unpicking stitches from a wound. It makes me disinclined to any deep analysis until things settle. And they took a bunch of units away too, and faffed with the Battlewagon again. That said, let's talk some positives. I do like the modularity of the detachment system. I mostly play at 1k, so having the vast majority be 1DP is good for me. I like how the designers seem to have gone out of their way to make most weapon options valid, a topic I've had a lot to say about in the past. I don't think they got it 100% right, but it's a lot harder to dislike big shootas now. The presentation is pretty solid, as is the rules language. So, generally a good first impression.

Up next: Probably some Boyz.

Plamo: Primaris Intercessors (the Armageddon ones)

And now for another installment of Project Legs11. Here, I’m trying some beakies.

It is a self-evident truth that everyone involved in 40k, will have, at some point, painted a space marine. It's just a thing that happens, like playing Ryu in the latest Street Fighter game or buying white sliced bread. I'm not gonna say I have hard numbers, but when half the game, a majority of starter sets, and the entire Horus Heresy setting prominently feature marines, it's a thing that happens. Invariably, these form the basis of somebody's first army, and/or sold on to bulk out someone-else's force, and/or sold on to start the cycle anew. And just as invariably, those marines are the basic troops choice of the time, in this case, Intercessors. AKA the unpopular and "boring ones". Marine players always seem to have a bit of resentment towards their rank and file. I suspect part of it is, is that basic marines aren't great at killing other marines, which is most of the game. Although that may be changing soon. Or everyone just runs to the cool stuff that kills other stuff best. Good thing these are a modeling project first.

As I said way back when I started Project Legs11, I was concerned about pacing and burn out. At time of writing I had been working on the Armageddon box for about a month, and had done some of the more interesting Ork stuff, but the impending Ork releases gave me pause. I had time off for TFN, so marines instead. And just the Intercessors so I get a handle on the Crimson Fists colour scheme. I had some problems though with assembly. One leg somehow vanished, another had a breakage, so I opted for a squad of five rather than ten. Lest I loose my temper and undermine any therapeutic value in this. This largely proved to be a good call, at least until I managed to glue one to the table. And then the “big real life issue” hit and my  motivation basically evaporated, my progress becoming slow and irregular. So, as a mental health maintenance exercise, this was something of a washout. I'm not a fan of how these went together, and I'm not really looking forward to the Boyz.

 

Anyway, I eventually got over that. I'd done some research, and Crimson Fists looked to be a fairly no-fuss colour scheme, that might work with my preferred trench brown undercoat. I opted to overbrush Kantor Blue on the model, it's like dry brushing but less selective, before going in to pick out specifics like the undersuit and gun. The backpacks were kept separate until after the overbrush to simplify matters. Once the big colours were done, and some the fiddly bits, a Nuln Oil wash was applied, followed by a light drybrush of Macragge Blue, and basing. This worked well enough, I suppose. As a colour scheme test. In so far as getting a table-ready standard. When marines consist mainly as one block colour, as they do here, the main difficulties become getting that colour right, and the fiddly bits. I’m not totally happy with the blue, but its fine as first attempt. But the fiddly bits were just kind of annoying. That’s why I skipped transfers and squad markings at this stage, as in addition to the transfers being a limited resource, I didn’t want the hassle. My style is, perhaps, a bit sloppy for marines. That said, if I wanted hassle-free models in one block colour, I’d have probably chosen something from the Silver Drybrush Brigade. The point was to mix things up, after all, I can get better. I’ll hopefully come back to these at some point.

I wrapped this in mid-August, shortly after my decision to pause the blog. In between that and publication, the hype cycle for the new Ork Codex finally began, long after that leak. And then much of it leaked before the preorder. By the time this goes up, the codex will have been out for 24 hours, I got mine at closing time last night, and we’ll all have a solid idea of what’s happened, but its clear the Orks have been reworked from top to bottom. As have the marines. The implications of all this will be massive. I'll decline to comment more deeply than that just now, as I'm not able to match the news cycle, and I don't want to just parrot the opinions of other people. And I got sick of rewriting this bit. Commentary will follow once I've actually read it, but I do like what they've done with the Kans...

 

 

That said, about the modelling side. The Boyz unit got a lot more complicated, but thanks to that earlier leak I'd got a lot of the necessary gubbins together to update existing units, and expand the newer Armageddon Boyz. There is a grand kitbash tradition to draw on here. Big Shootas are pretty easy to do; if you don't have a whole Ork with one lying around, you just put a barrel extension on a regular Shoota. Rokkits are doable if you have a tube and/or suitable bead for the warhead. Think bazooka or panzer faust. For the Ammo Runts you need a grot and a sack or box of some kind. Burnas are a touch trickier, but if you have a humie flamer, some wire and an oilcan you are probably OK. Or you can just use Burnaboyz now they’ve been sadly removed. I will. What ultimately defied my bitzbox, and possibly everyone, was the Boss Nob. And indeed the dedicated Nob unit. Through a deeply curious oversight and/or suspicious marketing choice, these don't carry sluggas anymore. Only the assorted kombi-weapons and kustom shootas which had been unpopular in 10th ed because they blocked out all of the melee options. In terms of boss nobs, this would be an easy errata, or a modest inconvenience for what I already field. I tend to use boss nobs with two-handed big choppas, and that’s still a legal option. But Nobz Mobz got a complete rewrite, and so a complete rebuild there is obviously needed. I’ll do the boyz first.

 

 

Up next: The Dakka Rig, the codex, and probably some boyz.

Plamo: The Armageddon Kommand Krew (kinda)

And now for another installment of Project Legs11. After a vehicle, now for some HQ type guys.

OK, an explanation. This isn't the Kommand Krew just yet. But it will be. These models will be released separately from the Armageddon box, under that name. Which is great if you missed out, and it's a convenient way to get some character models. On the other hand, it does mean you're  locked into three specific models, with no equipment options, and you may not want all of them. Personally, these three were something I wanted, but there's one you'd obviously want over the others, the Painboy. If you're running a lot of Boyz, you probably will be wanting several of these to gain the desirable Feel No Pain rule. The other two are maybe more niche. Returning from Legends with a new name, the Bannernob seems to be competing with the Painboy for a support slot. He likewise significantly buffs the durability of the unit he joins, just differently, and has a lot of OC. The Bigboss meanwhile is something that's been missing for maybe 8 whole editions, possibly longer than many players have been alive, a lesser Warboss comparable to a Primaris Lieutenant. There used to be grades of Warboss, and this provides an inexpensive alternative.

Now, as models these are a mixed bag, if pretty. The fundamental downsides of fixed pose GW infantry are very much on show here. Admittedly nice to look at, the sculpts seem hostile to customisation, while  being so individual that fielding multiples would look odd. The Painboy was particularly irritating here, with that outlandish overarm pose, that delicate cable, and I managed to break the Grot Orderly. These all peg into the bases, and the force required caused me to snap his foot off at the ankle. I fixed this, and added a shoulder pad to the Painboy. He's kinda scrawny otherwise, with a peg leg and an ill-defined power klaw equivalent. He's the problem child of the set. The Bigboss was a touch more conventional, accepting a headswap and a new bosspole with minimal difficulty. The new head is off an old metal nob, and doesn't perfectly match the proportions or pose, but works well enough. He doesn't look flashy, and I i wonder if he's due more weapon options later, but he does look like a Warboss in waiting. Maybe he's born with it, maybe it's the tactical rock. The Bannernob almost got a headswap too, but the bandoleer complicated matters. I actually ended up removing details here instead, taking off the topknot and tassels for a simpler look. Sometimes less is more. He also has an even bigger tactical rock than the Bigboss, which would be problematic to replace as his toecaps are cast in the same piece. Also, due to a typo, my Bannernob is now called BannerBOB.

 

Painting was interrupted by real life issues and the resulting exhaustion, and was done in the same style as the rest of this project. I don't want to get into the specifics, but I've been very distracted. The main issue here was the banner, which would require either transfers or some serious free handing. There's a few glyphs sculpted in, but otherwise it's clan agnostic. That's good, otherwise I would probably discarded it, but it was a challenge requiring further research. I eventually settled for a white fabric for the purposes of contrast, where I lucked out with a pre-existing paint on the first try. It's a dirty off-white, not a good bright white, but works well enough for my style. I tend attempted a freehand logo, and some transfers, to mixed success on both. That said, all of these are fine as gaming pieces, really coming good towards the wash stage.

  

In other news, further details about the new Boyz kit came to light while I was working on these, prompting a rewrite of this paragraph. Things seem to have gone a bit kill team, with a lot more unit options, and special rules. In addition to the shoota thing, a Boyz mob will now routinely feature an ammo runt, and multiple ranged weapon upgrades, without sacrificing their choppas. This obviously makes the Armageddon Boyz less desirable, and notably increases the modernization work required for my existing units. As my bitzbox is huge, and my boneyard significant, so I'm pretty sure I've got this covered. But my concerns about dull, busy work have been more than justified. Gonna need to pace myself, especially with the real life situation being uncertain just now.

Up next: Maybe Intercessors as a change of pace? 

Plamo: Ork Wartrakk (the Armageddon one)

And now for another installment of Project Legs11. Having done some grots as a warm-up, I moved on to the Kult of Speed.

Possibly the most nostalgic thing in the very nostalgic Armageddon box, the Wartrakk goes right back to 1st edition,  the original being cast in lead. It's one of those units that existed, at least partially, due to technical limitations of the time. Plastic moulding wasn't quite there yet, and a two seater half-track was about as big a vehicle they could cast in metal. Eventually, they got done in plastic for Gorkamorka, although these aged like milk, and we were stuck with them for donkey's years. The Ork fondness for kitbashing was largely mandatory. These were retired in favour for the Orktober buggies, so it's a surprise to see the unit back. Ruleswise it's surprisingly simple too, much more minimalist than say a Megatrakk Scrapjet. Where it is like an Orktober buggy though is it's crew. Said crew don't have any alternative heads or such, so doing three of this would get boring real quick.

As a model it's a fairly basic thing, a single runner segmented into three, and its the simplest of the vehicles in the Armageddon box set.  This obviously means it goes together quickly, but probably you're best off painting it in segments before final assembly. The driver is very much an integral part of affairs, although the gunner/rokkits may be left unglued for ease of transport, but I would decide against that later on. The complication here is that the orks simply have a lot of detail that just has to be done prior to final assembly, otherwise you can’t get a brush in there. The modularity and pushfit nature of the kit bodes well for future conversions though; if you can replace the gunner you're golden. He’s built like a nob BTW, maybe that’s a nod to the original version? I opted to head-swap the driver, and trimmed some extraneous bits off the gunner, and gave him a jerry can, to personalise this a touch. I will admit that some of these charges will driven by glue mishaps or gaps beings revealed at spraypaint stage. I'm still getting used to the pushfit style and I dislike the absence of simple, standardised connections. Your mileage may vary on that one though. I'd also make the observation that the Wartrakk has a notably hollow chassis, and seems to rely on it's connections to it's base for structural purposes. Just maybe file those pegs a bit? As getting this onto the base was a bit of a struggle.

I then undercoated and painted the kit in four segments. Thinking about it, this sort of thing would have annoyed me so much more in the past. So either I am doing better, or this is just less annoying than the Kustom Boosta-blasta or the (current/old?) warbikes. That’s not to say it wasn’t without its challenges,  and I ended up gluing the gunner into place. Despite my best efforts, painting had shifted a few tolerances, but nothing insurmountable. A good little kit, mind you. I’m happy with how it all turned out.

Up next: some character guys, but maybe something else first...

Plamo: Ork Gretchin (the Armageddon ones)

And now for an installment of Project Legs Eleven. As I work my way through the Armageddon box, I start with the smallest models to ease into things.

Worked into the Boyz sprue around the edges, these feature 5 main bodies, and 6 head/weapon pieces to personalise them. Each body can take two different combinations, which as far as pushfit monopose models go is quite acceptable. One segment even features what looks likes the star of the Grot Rebellion, which pleased me immensely. I did however lightly kitbash them anyway for the sake if variety and pride. Assembly was largely stress free, although you do have to be mindful of tiny gaps occurring between pieces, which caught me in a few places. Trim the pegs, and use the special plastic glue to melt things together. Comparisons to the Gretchin kit I've written about previously are kinda of a wash. There's an obvious technological improvement, but we're comparing pushfit to a "proper" release so it adds up to a sidegrade. Painting was largely an exercise remembering how to do this, trying not to melt in the June Heatwave, and not feeling happy with them until the inkwash stage. The details can be a bit fine as well as being small, and my old eyes had to squint. I also tried out some, heh, Armageddon dust, for the bases, as I'd picked it in a painting set and wanted to give it a go. Things are rough around the edges, but as a warm up this was quite useful. I did manage to do the eyes on most of them. I wonder what's going on with the runtherd there though…

As these are fairly simple models that were done as a shakedown, to find out if any paints had ran out, I don't have much more to say. So I'm gonna pivot to talk about the Summer Preview that happened as I was working on them.  It seems the Codex might be sooner than I expected, and we're seeing something of a paradigm shift with how units are equipped. Boyz have received a glow up on in pretty much all fronts; better stats, more weapon choices, with instances of (limited) Lethal Hits and Cleave being plentiful. This makes them a lot more offensive, and makes me wonder about their eventual unit costs. That said, giving the Shoota family of guns Lethal Hits against squishy targets was probably the minimum to make them functional. Orks will consistently find their opponents in cover and thus hit on a 6, and the probabilities just get depressing from there; upwards of 1/36 odds to wound a beakie and you'd need to do it twice. Lethal Hits would at least mean it feels like you are doing something each time, skipping a dice roll. Rokkits meanwhile have been totally reworked, and kombi-weapons have distinct stats again. I will be very interested to know how all this is priced and what you can actually have in each mob.

In related news, despite my earlier statement that I likely wouldn't need to make any more Trukks, GW has remade the trukk too. It's got more guns and more melee stuff, looking more like a mini-battlewagon. I don't thing I urgently need to replace my existing trukks, the size is about the same and I can just say it's a "counts as". But if I did? Oh. Woe is me. I'll have to scratchbuild a bunch of Ork vehicles. I am forced to do one of my absolute favourite things. How sad.

 

Up next: summat bigger.

Warhammer 40K: Introducing Project Legs Eleven

So here's the thing, despite some reservations, I ordered one of those 11^th edition Armageddon boxes. I hope to have it today. I could easily blame the FOMO, (new previews and rules every day!) but truthfully I needed something to do. You might also argue that a loss leader starter box that will probably take me months to finish probably isn't a bad deal. There's a lot of new Orks in it, and I'm not opposed to having a paper rulebook either. That just leaves the marines, and I had considered just flogging these on eBay, I think I'll paint some of them too. As Crimson Fists.

You may not have heard of the Crimson Fists, because they are basically the snobbish hipster's beakie chapter. Turning up occasionally to please those in the know, they were on the cover of the very first WH40k rulebook, and featured in the very first scenarios, against Orks. It went badly for them, because they accidentally blew up their own fortress monastery with an air defense missile, trying to fend off an Orkish invasion. That was a tragic accident, apparently, and I will now allow the reader to take a leisurely 5 minutes to laugh about that one. 

We good? OK, let's continue.

As a result, the Crimson Fists are mainly known for being very few in number, and having an intense hatred of Orks. Oh, and having red hands. As an Ork player, such folks amuse me as foes. And they present a potentially interesting change of pace as a modeling project. I'll see how a few feel to paint, and if I don't vibe with it I'll move the rest on. The Ork angle meanwhile is more straightforward. Their presence in the starter box bodes well for rules support, although my existing army is quite complete. Unless the codex does something notably unexpected, the new stuff here is pretty much all I want. What I expect any new Ork codex to do is give me a lot of busy work as the Boyz, Grots, and Nobz kits get refreshed, likely reflecting the example set by this launch box. It has been stated that Rokkit Launchas etc for basic Boyz aren't going anywhere, but at time of writing, I strongly suspect that I'm gonna need to rebase a few things and such. This will be dull, so having marines as a palette cleanser won't hurt.

So, I'm gonna take my time here, and be a bit more relaxed about this as a project. I'm not forcing myself to do weekly updates, but it will likely be that if things go well. I’ve still got a  modest buffer of articles, so there’s no real reason to hurry. But I am planning on the following rough steps.

Stage 1: Gretchin and New Box Smell 
It's been a hot minute since I actually painted Orks, so a gentle warm-up won't hurt. If only to discover which paints need replacing. I'll probably dry-fit a few models too, as I'll probably want to play the game soonish. Does anyone know what's happening with runtherds BTW?

Stage 2: Shinys and Maintenance - Early July
Here I pick either one of the Ork vehicles, or one or two of the characters to work on. If anything is broken, I'll fix it then, as well as modernise my army lists etc.

Stage 3: Ongoing Alternations - July/August
Having got back into the groove, I putting the more basic marines into rotation, aiming for one unit at a time. I want to avoid burnout and take my time. I will most likely batchpaint the Boyz, but that's potentially a slog that my brain would rebel against, so I gotta pace myself. If something performs well on the table though, it's probably jumping the queue.

Stage 4: Blingy Beakies and the Book - September
Assuming things like the Intercessors went OK, I now move onto the more elaborate marines. These get quite fancy, and fancy it's not something I normally do, so I want to work up to that. Otherwise, if I didn't like the beakies? The Landspeeder might get looted, and the remaining bits go on sale. By this point the ork codex will likely be imminent and any rebasing or retooling etc that needs doing can be done at this stage.

Wish me luck.

WH40K: Why I’m not buying that new Armageddon book (yet)

Righty, a bonus article. Part blog update, part opinion piece. If you follow 40k news at all, you might have noticed that things seem a bit hype lately. We've had a few campaign books, with new units added, the most recent being the for Armageddon front, the famous orks versus guard meatgrinder. This one is almost perfectly tuned to interest me, but like the 10th ed Ork codex I'm not indulging. Why? Because 11th edition has been announced, and we've got maybe six weeks before it goes live. Yes, I probably could get some new models painted and get a couple of games in, but I'm not playing 40k regularly just now, and I have other commitments. It's an expensive and silly idea to even try. I need only to point to my Astra Militarum experiences as to why being an early adopter with FOMO is bad idea. Truthfully, my plans with respects to 40k are to wait for 11th edition, get a deal on a launch box, and paint it as a long-term project. It should be easier to find new sparring partners around then too, as everyone will want to learn the new game.  This Armageddon book will either be a flash in the pan, made obsolete before the end of the year, or an expense I can defer for a while. As the actual data sheets and detachments are free to download, it's not like it's urgent. Its not like the lore matters...

All that being said, I didn't want to let Armageddon pass without comment. And I currently have a suspiciously coincidental 6 week buffer on articles, so you get a bonus post, to help make it i vaguely topical. Presenting room temperature takes on the stuff that interests me.

 

Commissar Yarrick: Possibly the best single retcon in a setting made of retcons. So good to see this guy back, and I'm so glad he has interesting and powerful rules. As opposed to "anti-ork 2+" or some other targeted bonus, that kinda thing is deeply boring and can feel like a fuck-you. See the assorted Imperial Oddments factions for where this can go wrong. I dunno if his power in ordering infantry will last, nerfs are probable, but if I did indulge in named characters, it would be he. I'm looking forward to fighting him with my Orks, and he is supposedly amazing in Recon Element, where he would lead scores of hard-to-see infantry.

Commissar Graves: I don't think anyone was actually expecting a deranged lady commissar on a pimpmobile, but I think we're all happy she's here. It takes a lot of charisma and novelty not to be immediately overshadowed by Yarrick in this context, but I'd say yeah, she's doing OK. Who doesn't like an efficiently priced vehicle that does good support work and some melee? Definitely of interest in mechanised forces, although the on-foot version suffers from similar design issues to the generic commissar. I also expect fan art and memes, but I'm not gonna go looking...

The Centaur RSV: Yes, it's a fine Ork Trukk! I will be doing that eventually, as will about 100% of all Ork players. As a guard unit, it's definitely a welcome tool to have for objective play. It's current price is perhaps not ideal though, coming in at the same cost as the Chimera for a much less durable and less well-armed platform. What commentary I've read on this suggests that we'll see this unit as a ride for heavy weapon teams, Ogryns, or Kasrkin, which would be kinda boring, but ok. I'm not a huge fan of when Orks try that trick, trying to form a light tank or mobile bunker from a transport, and I don't think it fits the guard vibes either. Catachans and Combat Engineers probably have a nice new ride though. 

 

The Hippogriff AFV: And speaking of light tanks, we have this. I like the look of the Hippogriff. I like it's fire & fade rule. I also like how that new Armoured Infantry detachment plus this tank, means that guard can do more mobile styles of play, like mechanised but more agile. But I don't like the mislabeled weapons, and I don't like the price comparisons. For most things you want this tank for, you'd just take a Scout Sentinel, which is cheaper. Hellhounds and Chimeras are also potentially unfavourable contrasts, those being more established with the option for HK missiles. I do really want this unit to work though, and it looks to be a great board control piece. I suspect we won't have a good handle on this unit though for a while. Probably not until 11th is established and we know what is "optimal" weapon fit is. Is it all melta? Or does the cannon/stubber option have legs? We just don't know. 

Wazdakka Gutsmek: Yes, it's grand to see him with an actual model after all this time. And the model is incredibly extra.  Not my current vibe for Orks, and I'm not into Epic Heroes as mentioned, but I see the appeal. I would have liked more Orks in the Armageddon book, TBH, but if we're in the 11th edition starter box we're probably fine.

The Various New Detachments: Yeah, these look fun, especially the Superheavy Tank one. I'm not touching any of them until the meta settles though.

And to end on a sour note...

The Steel Legion Controversy: For heaven's sake, could we fucking not? I get it. I'm angry about the loss of the generic infantry squad too. And it makes sense that you'd want actual Armageddon troopers for an Armageddon campaign book. But Krieg started out as player 2 colours Steel Legion, just reverse the trick. Or look up Death Fields, maybe? I think the Catachans need the attention more.

 

Kitbash: Another Deathskull Looted Rhino

 

I will admit to being tempted by those new Red Corsairs. Sometimes... you just get bored, and space pirates are fun. Then that mutated into a more general interest in capital C Chaos, as a modeling project. I even got some models to test out a few paints, but it didn't quite come together. That might be for the best. At time of writing, mid-March, it's clear 11th edition is  approaching and it is therefore massively dumb to start anything 40k related, but I still needed to do something. Then I tried a freeform scratch build, and that didn't come together either. So, I went back to something I'd shelved.

 

You see, as much as I love Orks, I've basically done everything. Not beast snaggas admittedly, but near enough, and I dunno if 11th ed will change that. Although Yarrick is back, that's pretty cool. Really brightened a Monday. Anyway, that leaves either reclamation/modernisation projects like today's subject, or more modern and thus more expensive plastics. The former isn't that exciting, and it's hard to justify the latter. Especially as I'm not playing 40k regularly just now. So, the best thing I could find to do was rebuild an old predator/rhino hull into a "counts as" trukk. This would bring my count up to 6, which is likely to be as many as I'd ever need, and, you know, having a couple of rhinos makes sense for Deathskulls. As Warboss rides and such. Fortunately, this proved to be a fun little distraction of a project, that people seemed to like too.

 

As I'd already orkified this once, the main things I had to do here was expose the crew compartment and to add a wreckin' ball.  This makes it a less thorough rebuild than the last one, but truthfully less structural work was needed. This was then painted in my usual manner, if only to stay in practice. I mixed my own metal paints for the hull, and mud paint for the undersides. Perhaps the most significant thing I did was paint in the grilled(?) headlights with a tiny wee brush, which is the kind of detail I’d avoid in the past. I didn't do it that well, now I look at the photos, but paint mistakes are fine with orks, I suppose. I touched those up later on.

Job’s a good ‘un.