Wednesday 18 October 2017

More Orks for Orktober

Less than a fortnight ago, I painted up the first 40k Space Orc and Space Goblin. You might have picked up on the fact that in about 28 years of gaming, I'd never had the slightest interest in playing with anything orky. But painting that pair of figures sparked something. I rooted around in my boxes and unearthed enough ork figures to make a small warband.

This looks like a suitable Inquisimunda or Shadow Wars starting gang to me!


So it was straight into the stripper with the painted figures, and some final prep for the others. I decided to start off with a second grot and the converted 'heavy'.


The grot is a duplicate of one of the ones I converted an age ago into one of my feral ratlings. I like the contrast between this semi-naked grot, armed with a basic blunderbuss, and the militarily-equipped grot I first painted.

The ork with the heavy weapon (probably a heavy bolter / big shoota, depending on the game I'm playing) is converted from a fantasy crossbow orc. The conversion was actually originally intended as a mutie for my chaos cultists, but I never got round to doing the head swap I planned. Happily, he works pretty nicely as an ork with old school fashion taste!

The heavy was originally intended to hang out with my Slanneshi cultists like Moktafi. 

The conversion simply places a Necromunda heavy stubber and backpack on the orc. I added a plastic grip to the heavy stubber, and made some minor modifications to his left hand. The shoulder pad was a late addition from a plastic Space Marine Scout.



Painting wise, this pair got the same colours as the previous two orks. I was conscious that the heavy weapon ork didn't have much armour, so I tried to pick out some hard metal areas to paint yellow (gun casing and the backpack frame).


I added the glyph transfer on the pad and the dags on the hood to try and break up the flat colour areas a little.

I think they look pretty nice as a group.


Typically, I've already started looking out for more orks to add to the group and bring it up to around 12-15 members. Maybe I do like orks after all!

32 comments:

  1. Great looking conversion. Caught my eye immediately.

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    1. Thanks Riot! It's fun to see that the line is pretty thin between some of the fantasy and 40k orc/orks. Stuff like the loincloths, foot wraps and fur is common across the board, making the conversions pretty easy.

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  2. The pose on the ork is tops!

    ENCORE!

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    1. Thanks cheetor! I really quite like the way he's hunched over and caressing his big gun :)

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  3. I love the way the yellow turned out!

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    1. It's one of my favourite yellows, I can't help from using it a lot at the moment. GW call it Balor Brown, but it's a nice dull yellow in my opinion :)

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  4. Great use of the Van Saar heavy stubber.

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    1. Thanks! I tried a couple of different options, but the heavy stubber worked the best.

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  5. Heavy stubber guy is a winner for sure... well, that and a shot magnet. Somehow the yellow looks better on him, possibly because there is less of it, and more skin to contrast with.

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    1. Thanks. It's a fine line balancing colours I think. Funnily enough I prefer more yellow rather than less ;)

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    2. I'm glad someone is using yellow, because I really don't at all unless its an accent!

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    3. I didn't paint yellow for years because yellow paints were awful and weak. Now they're great, with lovely strong tone. It's a good time to paint yellow!

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  6. We had to wait to see your Orks, but it's totally worth of it! :O

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  7. Are you starting to come around to the greenskin charm? ^^

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  8. Caution squire...Orks travel in packs. Once you've done one...

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    1. They're massing on my desk even as we speak!

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  9. These are great! Love the conversion of the crossbow orc. That sculpt is featured in my mordheim gang and am fond of it. A nice, sinister grin on him.

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    1. Thanks. I don't really do fantasy and he had no crossbow, so it was inevitable he was going to be press ganged into some sci-fi faction or another.

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  10. Looks like the rot has already set in Jon. Once you've painted up a few of these filthy greenskins there seems to be no turning back :D

    Great stuff mate :)

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    1. I reckon a group of 10-12 will satisfy any urges. But you never know :)

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  11. It's OK to like orks you know, and you do love them right !

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    1. Thanks JB. I needed to be reassured it's OK :D

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  12. Yessss! Absolutely love the Ork Heavy conversion. Both are a top quality contribution to Orktoberfest! Looking forward to seeing the warband grow! :D

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    1. Thanks! It will be slow organic growth, possibly a micro variety ;)

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  13. The ork look like excellent sculpts. Nothing at all like the stiff-looking ones in the Assault on Black Reach set. Nice work man!

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    1. Thanks! The old orks still retain their charm I think. I like the gangly ape look rather than the muscle-bound hulks of modern times.

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  14. I really really like what you've done with the crossbow Orc.

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    1. Thanks Curis! I'm pleased with how he turned out.

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