40k again. Orks
Recommendations: 11
About the Project
A friend made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He sold me the Ork half of the Armageddon 11th edition launch box. The new models had been catching my eye, but I would never of started a new army if it hadn't been for the bargain price. Looking forward to building up an 1000pts force to play smallish games with friends. I hate feeling ripped off, so have already found ways to make my hobby spend on the project stretch as far as possible.
Related Game: Warhammer 40,000
Related Company: Games Workshop
Related Genre: Science Fiction
This Project is Active
Blood Axes - learning and collecting
Blood Axes. I like the sound of the less ‘head long charge’ type of Orks and being a bit sneakier. I will see if I can find any audio books on this clan. I know I want the character Snikrot and some Kommandos. Beyond that any list building will work around them and the Armageddon box contents.
I didn't want to pay the full price for the Ork character Snikrot so I found a 3d model very close to it instead. Is this IP theft? I don't know. It's very close in look and posing to the original GW model, but it's half the price, not a recast and it's the only way I will start to collect the force I want.
The Mantic Games Ork Marauder Commandos are a cheaper alternative to the regular 40K Kommandos, but they are missing some of the character of the GW models. I wanted two squads of Kommandos, but the Killteam is out of print and expensive and the regular box is out of stock in most places. I bought a box of Mantic Commandos...
...and picked up a box on eBay I was happy with price wise of the Kill Team Kommandos. I saw from unboxings that there are some spare and alternative parts that will allow me to upgrade my Commandos. The two boxes should allow me to make all the specialists and poses that I want without worrying about the price I have paid.
I was looking at some of my Of Oil and Iron left over parts and realised that my Kitbashed rigs are not that dissimilar to Killa Kans. Being new to this army I didn't realise this until I spotted them on a shelf in a GW store.
This isn't orky enough obviously, but the use of the legs and other component parts gave me enough food for thought to consider some Killa Kans as a fun kitbash project. Some of the bigger rigs in Of Oil and Iron have nice big gun options that would be appropriate even when actually designed at 15mm scale. I also have a glut of left over Chaos Wardog bits that will help flesh out the kitbash. The body might have to be something like a Kinder Surprise pot or something like that.First painted minis.
Typical butterfly hobbyist Doug. What do I paint first from my brand new bargain half box army?... Two kitbashed half Gretchen in barrels. Lol.
In 40k when paying for units on lists, I wasn't sure whether during list building if you pay by the model. Meaning if I field a 12 man unit do I have to pay for a 12, 15 or 20 man unit? If making extra minis in this way doesn't actually help in-game, I might use these as markers to say is the Trukk full or empty?Ork Trukk - Paint
The overall looks a bit too grim and not enough comic Ork, but this will maybe set a tone for the force that I might like in the end.
The paint job helped me select the clan I am likely to fight as. I listened to some YouTube Ork lore videos as I painted. 
The idea of camouflage being used, but not understood by the Blood Axes clan appealed to me. Camouflage patterns without the concept that the colours you should use and the environment it's meant to tie you too sounds fun.
There's a rule for spiky wheels that gives the trukk a melee bonus, so painted the claws (from a chaos wardog hand) nice and bloody to stress the point.
Went with a shiny makeshift gun to help me remember to shoot with it, to make it standout from the weathered metal around it.Ork Trukk - Build
I have seen that lots of Ork players scratch build vehicles. I remembered that I had a British WW2 Quad truck as a 1/35 kit that was never going to get built. It was an abandoned project of my Dad's that I didn't have any plans to make.
I used a chunky sprue (The one that comes with the Blood Bowl rulers) to give me a chassis for the rest of the truck. Granny grating over Wardog spare weapon halves gave me a flooring. I wanted the weapon halves to give me a look of something mechanical going on under the Trukk.. 
I think the number of minis that can fit in the Trukk doesn't matter but I can get quite a few in there.
The sides were made from a bits box contribution from a friend. I primed it all Leadbelcher and got it with a Dirty Down spray.
I snuck a steering wheel in the cab, but I think I made.this as so strictly a gaming piece that I don't think it could possibly turn even if it wanted to. (Given how tightly the wheels are set to the chassis.)
Slapped two Wardog machine guns together and found a small Mechanicum piece as a sight. It's meant to be a no trigger gun, because it's popped on top of a Wardog and meant to aim and fire remotely... But once two are slapped together and the right silhouette I'm not sure I need to bother kitbashing anything to account for that. The Orks wish things into working anyway. No idea.
I began to build the minis indecsrimently. Thankfully the minis are monopose and press fit, so it takes all decision making away from me.
I built a load of Gretchen from the biggest sprue. It turns out that there are spare torso options that have no bodies. I didn't want to lose these parts as potential models so with a fun conversion peaking out of barrels these will figure in my force.I have friends that play 40k and a club with keen players, but I haven’t played 40k since Dark Imperium. I will be learning to play 11th edition as a novice, because I never truly learnt the rules when I played before and list building and min-maxing is a massive gaming turn off for me. Playing with what’s in a box plus a couple of selective additions suits me better building an army wise, rather than trying to start from scratch.
As these look fun and were the least expensive option on the shelf... And for no other army building sensible reason... These became my first purchase beyond the box.
Some minis have more painting appeal than others. I kinda want to find a crossover piece from AoS Orks. I always thought that some of the AoS Orks looked a bit out of place compared to other GW orcs, but this might make them more compatible in 40k aesthetically.
As soon as I built this fella I wanted to buy another one. Dakkarigs are cool. The people chopping up the Armageddon box minis on eBay are currently competing with each other quite fiercely on price. I was able to pick one up for £20 delivered. I think this will be set at a far less attractive price when the mini comes out separately later.
