Plamo: The Orktober Terror Ship (Battlefleet Gothic)

 

Well, its the last Sunday of Orktober, so here's the finished model I started a few weeks back. I've not got a huge amount to say here, as the previous articles largely covered the creative process. Such as it was. I free-form stuff like this, a process both helped and hindered by a lack of materials and forgetfulness.

On the plus side: I feel that I can move onto more involved projects, as it does a good job of capturing a fundamental Orkyness, while obviously being a carrier ship of some kind. I have been told it resembles a ship from Star Fleet, which wasn't intended, but is flattering. On the minus side: I goofed with the Nuln Oil wash and ended up making this MUCH darker than I wanted. Things eventually got to the point where I decided to stop messing with it, for fear of compounding a mistake, which I have done before. That brings the painted fleet registry to 3 Kroozers, 25 Ramships, and 6 Onslaughts. It seems I'd forgotten that I had a functional fleet ready to go...

Future projects? Well, I have that incomplete Kroozer, and a 60% done Hammer class. Those are probably doable now that I've had a bits delivery, but I'm not feeling it. I may end up scrapping them both for parts, as I'm rolling in ship hulls and plastic gubbinz just now. Alternatively, I do have a “Gorbag's Revenge”. The more immediate project is however gonna be, probably, a trio of Onslaughts from the bag of cheapo ships...

 

 

Or another Gunpla.

Book Mini-Review: Brutal Kunnin by Mike Brooks

Like most multimedia empires, Games Workshop maintains its own publishing arm for tie-in books. There's hundreds of the damn things, of variable quality and bleakness. The problem in doing this is, I feel, is that Warhammer 40,000 and other GW settings are so relentlessly grim it presents a narrative barrier. Books written in universe, say as a military history, work out great, others I can take or leave. The main exception to this are the Commissar Cain novels, a slightly repetitive series of War memoirs that seeks to ask "what if 40K was also Blackadder the 4th?“. Brutal Kunnin happily joins it as a second exception.

 

Brutal Kunnin makes the rare choice of telling a story from the Ork perspective, something well-loved in rulebooks and short stories, but to the best of my knowledge not attempted in novel format before. It sees our protagonist Ufthak Blackhawk, a recently "elevated" Nob as his Waagh attacks a Forge World. Author Mike Brooks immediately and consistently nails the Ork approach to life as Ufthak faces the GRIMDARK with utter indifference, dumb luck, brute force, and sheer audacity. If Ufthak is on the page, you've usually got something laugh out loud funny, and always Orky. The novel never treats the Orks as simply comedic characters either; they don't know what they are doing is funny, so they don't act like they do. What they find funny is stuff like severed limbs sent flying from an exploding grenade, which the the writing does not gloss over. However, at this point, I must mention the main similarity to the aforementioned Cain series: the presence of alternate viewpoints written in a different style.

 

Narrative tasks like "exposition", "plot development", and "thinking for 5 minutes" are handled by a variety of non-Orks, mainly of the Adeptus Mechanicus. While these changing viewpoints were not advertised, quite the opposite, this makes a certain degree of sense. Orks are about as introspective as a stag-do, and stuffy/allegedly-logical Techpriests are good foils for them. I also liked the unexpectedly diverse selection of pronouns on display, Orks being the personifiication of toxic masculinity, although maybe I'm just showing my age on that front. At the very least, I didn't feel that the fundamental Orkyness of events was being upstaged by a bunch of umies, and those umies are quite well rounded given thier page count. The author also uses this as an excuse to have fun with chapter titles.

 

All in all: Brutal Kunnin is not a deep book, but it never would have been. Its just a good laugh.

Plamo: More Ork Terror Ships in progress (Battlefleet Gothic)

Well, here's that follow-up article I promised. Yes, and this time its with two more Terror ships, because what are diminishing returns?

 

 

Let's start with the most involved of the two. TBH, this little project was about reminding myself how to scratchbuild, and to assess what of my bits box remains useful. Its core component is an actual spaceship this time, one I acquired in a mixed bag of 35 for a tenner, so my expectations weren't high. The contents however proved to be pretty decent, and they accepted a stand without modification. Choosing what I think was a “lander”, see photos, I cut off the back half, and stripped the front engines, and set about bulking things out. It seems I may have cleared out some raw materials since I last did this, so the build was definitely more improvisational than I intended, hence the use of drinking straws and two types of off-brand lego. At the time of writing, I'm still awaiting new materials, but if you compare the unmodified toy to what it now resembles, I think its going OK. Its got ten engines and a face, which seems to be my signature style now.

 

 

Yes, yes. I know it has shiny gems on it. It will be fine with a brown undercoat. Its not done!

As I like to paint things in bulk, I decided to look into another Orky Capital Ship I had knocking about. This second Terror Ship started as an incomplete Kill Krooser I got in a mixed lot, which I started on back in the day and never finished. This demonstrates my distaste for the Kill Krooser at the time, and also how far I have to go before I can scratchbuild something in the same style. I added in launch tubes and more recently new engines in an attempt to balance the thing. I'm rather unhappy with it so far, I really need those new materials, and the damn thing doesn't like stands. Putting a big metal model on a thin plastic flight base, who would have thought that could be a problem?

 

All-in-all, I'm edging towards a functional fleet, as Orks max out at only six standard capital ships, and I've already got assorted Rams and Onslaughts. That leaves the more specialised escorts, and big projects like the Space Hulk. I'll move up to something more involved once these are done, I think.

Plamo: Scratchbuilt Ork Terror Ships (Battlefleet Gothic)

 

Way back in the before times of 2016/2017, I was blogging about model-making. The more things change, the more they stay the same. One project that stalled before completion was my attempt to build an Ork fleet for the long-dead spaceship game Battlefleet Gothic. I think it was the playing of Warhammer 40K proper that did that one in. However, I did not share on here anything of the 2^nd completed Terror Ship, and I'm slightly better with a camera these days, so here we go.

 

Its been a while, so maybe I'm misremembering, but my basic approach here was not to mimic the official models and just make it obviously Orky. I.e. ramshackle and loads of engines, while evoking Ork walkers like the Stompa. Part of that was simply a lack of skill, but also an influence from Gurren Lagann and its big faces motif. These are built a core of knock-off lego and misc plastic, and then dressed with bits, some naval in origin.

So,why am I bringing this up again? Well, I thought I'd tempt fate and try again. I've been in a BFG mood of late, and got lucky with some cheap ships as conversion fodder.

 

Either I'll have something new to show in coming weeks, or I'll never mention it again.

Gunpla: The PFF-X7/J5 Jupitive Gundam (HG BD:RR)

 

 

As previously stated, I was rather impressed with Build Divers Re:Rise. So much so that, yes, I got a version of the protagonist's customised gunpla. Making this model of it both 1/144 and 1/1 scale. And also the most modern gunpla I've attempted, and possibly my favourite. In terms of build quality, engineering, and the process of assembly, the kit was almost flawless. Bandai went all out with this one.

The "Jupitive Gundam" is the Space combat loadout for the otherwise tiny Core Gundam, a suit which prompted some confusion when revealed. Unlike the vast majority of Build, there was no clear inspiration for it, and wasn't obviously a retool in waiting. No, the Core Gundam is "based" on a 1/200 scale version of the old RX78-2, with a selection of planet themed equipment designed by a boy that wanted to be prepared for anything. I suppose I'd personally describe it as not a mere custom so much as a highly ambitious scratchbuild, and/or a toyetic concept Bandai had been itching to try again. This means I should probably break things down a bit. 

 

 

So, the "Core Gundam" is a small and compact mecha, perhaps a third smaller than most gunpla. You build it first, and while construction offers few surprises, it's a pleasant process. Stickers are used for eyes and sensors, but colour separation is otherwise ideal. Joints are a mix of plastic and polycaps, but everything feels fine. I used a grey gundam marker here, and I'm quite pleased with the results. There's limitations around the waist, but otherwise it moves well. The Core Gundam has slightly awkward proportions, like a teen mid-growth-spurt, but it's an entirely satisfactory project by itself. Minor complaint: you only get two hands which like to come apart, but you do get a stand, and small beam blades just for this form. There's an awful lot of beam effects, actually. Bandai must have wanted this to be a show-piece release. 

 

The Jupiter Armour is, as mentioned, rather toyetic. Its a storage rack crossed with a drone, and on those terms, it's OK. It has its own little stand, and the Core Gundam can happily ride it. It however pales in comparison to the Jupitive Gundam, which I did not attempt until after I'd finished photography for the other modes. The armour segments can be *carefully* removed and attached to the little guy, increasing its size/bulk, but with no real loss of mobility. The resulting creation is a space combat behemoth, evoking the RX-78GP01Fb, or perhaps something the Crossbone Vanguard made. There is just an appearance of lithe speed, while still carrying a notably large gun. It's also got its own spin on "bits" remote control drones, which are pretty cool given the beam effects, but you'll need additional stands for best results. 

 

 

This was almost too good.

Plamo: The 30 Minute Missions Cielnova (Dark Grey, + add-ons)

OK, you know how it is. You get money for your birthday, so you indulge in something you wanted without thinking too hard. Hence, a new 30 Minute Mission kit.

 

There's no getting around it, the Cielnova is unusual, or as one mutual commented “baggy trousers”. The top half and bottom half seem to come from different machines, and the accessories are a pistol and a radar disk. All conspire to make for a somewhat awkward look, and possibly my choice of colours don't help. The influence of the Portanova comes mainly in the legs, these taking "interlocking plates" motif to greater extremes. The arms by comparison are long and thin, with offset elbows. It's head and torso are also simpler and proportionally smaller than the Portanova. It's still an easy a build as 30MM kits are, although I found myself having minor issues with polycaps that hold things together. That said, a good pose comes very easily to this thing, as the arms are quite unrestricted, so you can do the James Bond pistol thing. The armour sets for these both add and detract from the unusual proportions. These bulk out the upper body, but add a really big hand for asymmetry. That's both more and less conventional than the Rabiot. I went for the "defensive operations" set as it has a knightly motif going on, with an opening visor. Beyond that, I didn't I have a plan for that beyond complementing colours.

What I ended up doing was more-or-less the same approach I took with my first Alto, using black paint to smooth the differences between parts. I realised that it was possible to bodge some adapter pegs from sprue leftovers, thus allowing me to stow the pistol on the lower leg. After playing around for a bit, I decided to dump the pronged section of the shoulders, and glued the sensor gubbins in their place. Feeling that dakka was needed, I applied a spare weapon from the Loto kit. Detailing was then applied with grey and sepia markers. I seem to have inadvertently created Gundam Seltsam in monochrome, but that's got some style. If something is strange, you lean into it. You don't try and make it normal.

WIP pictures for reference

 

Gunpla: The O Gundam Type A.C.D (Gundam 00)

For the most part, I can take or leave Gundam anime. Sometimes it because the anime is pants, but others it's just me. Gundam 00 hit when I was preoccupied with other stuff, and was neither interesting nor terrible enough to hold my attention. In so far as I have gathered, 00 sounds a fair bit like the core concept of Gundam Wing, except they swapped out the romanticism for real politik, and brought back some of the Genetic Engineering stuff from Seed. That said, I could be wrong, and I'm mainly here for the robots. And the 0 Gundam is that robot, something I got for purely superficial reasons, only to find there was an in-joke at play. Also: photography was a pain in the arse.

The 0 Gundam is noted for being the first of its kind in its universe, and serves as a callback to the original RX78-2 Gundam. This wasn't immediately obvious with its original colour scheme, a rather boring all grey job, but a refit and change of pilot saw it sport parade colours and it became inescapable. This makes it an interesting mix of styles, the overall form evoking the simplicity of the 1979 version, but you also have 00 elements like the chest, and the optional GN drive. There's also a chunk of GM in there too, given its weapon loadout. To hammer the effect home, the 0 Gundam is most famously piloted by a character actually voiced by Tōru Furuya, aka the original Gundam pilot. As that character is the the main antagonist of the show, and uses it in the finale, its hard not to see it all as a meta joke or subversion. This is the sort of trivia that fascinates me. 

 

As kits go, the O Gundam is quite satisfactory but perhaps flimsy. I finished primary construction in an afternoon, and was pleasantly surprised by the joint design, which I felt was better than it needed to be. I do like how some armour segments are cast as one piece, sliding around joint assemblies. The separation of colours is generally good too, with only a modest sticker sheet. There's several places where you'll need to go in with grey or black to offset the sea of white, which I attempted to mixed success, but nothing was really a nuisance. I was actually trying out a new type of marker with this one a “0.05 Unipin Fineline”, which makes a reasonable stand-in for Gundam Marker, but I think I should try it on a less white gunpla. Meanwhile, those long limbs have a good range of motion, and the plastic colours pop. However, the skinny portions and relative simplicity of things mean that the model feels light, with the gun being loose enough in the hand to prompt some irritation. Also, and I mention this as a curiosity, not a criticism, there's two different ports for a flight stand. One actual criticism easily made is that the kit has relatively few accessories for what amounts to a final boss. This is true to the source, but some dynamic hands wouldn't have hurt.

 

In many ways, I didn't appreciate what the O Gundam was. I mean, I got visuals, but I didn't get the history, and I didn't get Bandai was going for with the kit. Its essentially a no-nonsense kit for beginners, where they went simple, but not cheap. The colour separation and engineering is too good to have been phoned in. As such, I can honestly recommend it on those terms. I kinda want to build another as a custom project...