The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion


Aug
2007
116:45
pm

Team effort

Well, here I am with a bit of an update on this whole project.

A couple of months ago, I bought a warboss from my good buddy Gizmo that was a considerable size. He apparently sculpted the whole thing from scratch, which I found pretty impressive, and it was a really good model. I mentioned it on the main blog a while back.

spike5

I was impressed enough with his sculpting abilities that I figured I'd ask about him helping me out on this Bigboss project. It seemed to make a fair bit of sense, as I wasn't too comfortable with picking sculpting up again. So, off my warboss (Now named "Gargrim "'Uge" Mungus", as you might glean from my slowly developing army backstory) went to bonny Scotland where Gizmo began work. I get a few new pics from him on what seem to be a daily basis, which is nice, as I can give him a fair bit of feedback about things.

We've chopped both his hands off, and for good reason! I was inspired by this little bit of artwork...

righteous-bt

I found that juicy piece of artwork at this site, and I thought it might be worth taking the boss in something of that direction. Or at least the power fist! So, off both hands went, chopped at the wrists. Gizmo's going to completely sculpt a new left hand for the boss to hold a choppa in, and when he sends the model back I'm going to plasticard up a power klaw of similar design to what you see in that image above and fit it over the stump on the right arm.

Gizmo, in the mean time, has been working on the legs. He capped off the toe of the unfinished boot and has been putting the foundations for pants onto the model's other side.

More folds, patchwork, and stitching will go overtop of this, and the boot's going to be capped off with the square chunky teeth like on the illustration. We're also going to remodel the cloth around his waist to sit a lot higher, and maybe cinch it with a belt.

Aug
2007
94:54
am

Shades of Grey

Introducing my Grey Knight brother-captain...

gkbrocap1

He's a fun model. Here's an inventory of the bits he's currently wearing:

  • Iron Warriors Head
  • Marneus Calgar Legs
  • Marneus Calgar Torso
  • Grey Knight Terminator Psycannon Arm
  • Nemesis Force Halberd (2nd Edition)
  • Staff arm from a Librarian in Terminator Armor

The idea for this fellow was actually lifted from Agis Miniatures, where an enterprising soul had already made something similar using Calgar's body as a base. The head is a nice touch, but it looks a little out of place on Calgar's torso, so I decided to go with something a little different. Take a look:

He was actually using a Grey Knight Terminator sword arm until I managed to get my hands on the Librarian arm - I felt that his weapon should really be a focus on the model, and that new Librarian certainly has an impressive force weapon, so on it went. The book on the shoulder fits the Grey Knight iconography really well, too, so I can't argue with it.

I took a quick photo of the force weapon so you guys could get a gist of how it went together. It is an outstandingly simple cut and swap, but I think it looks worthy of a Brother Captain or Grand Master.

gkbrocap6

It's pinned, as is everything else I make, simply out of a neurotic prediction of one day dropping the model. You really can't argue with the extra stability, too, though it's a bit stressful to pin something just slightly larger than the drill bit itself.

There's a couple things to be done on this model before he's up for painting - namely, covering up the remaining Ultramarine iconography on the torso and legs, and filling in the gaps between the shoulder and body. Both of those should be pretty simple jobs, though. The thought to put an SMT LED inside that head of his has occured to me, but the eyes are so narrow that I don't think I could effectively hollow them out to begin with, so I think I'll have to forego it on this mini.

Aug
2007
47:42
am

The Holy Hand Grenade (launcher)

Every so often the mood strikes me that I should field an Inquisitor in my Daemonhunter army as more than an excuse to bring an assassin into play. I did a bit of research, and figured out my ideal setup - two heavy bolter 'servitors', one plasma cannon 'servitor', two 'sages', one 'familiar', and the Inquisitor himself armed with a Psycannon. It's a wonderfully shooty setup that I think plays to the Inquisitor retinue's strengths - the Sages allow one reroll per turn, so I usually reserve it for the Plasma Cannon guy in the event of an unlucky roll, and they also boost the Inquisitor's BS up a point, so that Psycannon becomes even more dangerous. The familiar is there to basically eat a wound, as I almost never use psychic powers.

In a Grey Knight army, with such nice models, I really am loathe to use those silly-looking servitor models. It just didn't seem to fit my Inquisitor's style - they're supposed to hang around with elite and hardened guys, not fleshy meatbags with gears and guns attached. Add onto that the fact that they're considerably difficult in obtaining, and I quickly found myself considering alternative models I could use to represent the Inquisitor's henchmen.

henchmen1

I decided to go with the plastic devastators kit. It seemed a decent fit - it comes with all sorts of interesting weapons already, and even includes a couple servo skulls that I could use for Inquisitorial purposes. It fit well in a very marine-themed army, anyway. The only downside to this plan was that the 'servitors' that carry the heavy weapons have a 4+ save, while devastators wear power armor, which implies a 3+ save. I thought I might put the Devastator torsos on scout legs to make up for that, but that looked really silly, so I just figured my opponent would have to deal with it. Most of the games I play are pretty relaxed, anyway. The heads are from Catachans - I originally put them there just to have the model assembled, and didn't plan on actually using them... it was just as a replacement, because I don't have any marine heads lying around that I liked. However, I might actually just leave them on there - they make the weapons look a big bigger and more intimidating, and they have a fair bit of hardened character in themselves.

Here are some individual model pictures...

And lastly, a whole retinue shot:

henchmen7
Aug
2007
35:18
pm

Impatient for the Apocalypse

Had a fun day of enormous battle that I thought I might share.

One of the guys at my local game store challenged me on Wednesday to see how many points of orks I could pull out on short notice, if I'm given VDR and Forgeworld approval and have to stick to force org. I put together a 2,500 list to match his guardsmen. It had 60 models. I find that hilarious. 60 models in a 2,500 point army, guys.

Here's what came along:

1 Warboss (HQ)
Choppa; Power Klaw
'Eavy Armour
Attack Squig
-----------------------------
1 Gargantuan Squiggoth (Heavy Support)
Bolt-on Big Shootas (x5); Zzap Gun (x2); Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha (x4)

Onboard this squiggoth:

8 Flash Gitz (Elites)
Shoota (x4); Big Shoota (x4)

1 Big Mek (HQ)
Kustom Force Field
-----------------------------
1 Gargantuan Squiggoth (Heavy Support)
Bolt-on Big Shootas (x5); Zzap Gun (x2); Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha (x4)

Onboard this squiggoth:

9 Tankbustas (Troops)
Slugga & CC Weapon (x6); Rokkit Launcha (x3); Frag Stikkbomz; Tankbusta
Bomz

1 Nob
CC Weapon (x1); Rokkit Launcha; Frag Stikkbomz; Tankbusta Bomz
Ammo Runt [4]
-----------------------------
1 Shielded Super Heavy Walker (890 points)
Structure Points: 3; Front Armour: 14; Side Armour: 14; Rear Armour: 12; Walker; War
Machine; Speed: Agile (Souped-up Engines); Power Fields (x3)
Long-range Blast Kannon
Long-range Blast Zzap Gun
Long-range Blast Zzap Gun
Gattling Twin-Linked Big Shoota
Close Combat Weapon
Close Combat Weapon
Skorcha
Armor Plates
Grot Bomb Launcher Upgrade
-----------------------------
12 Slugga Boyz (Troops)
Slugga & Choppa (x9); Burna (x3)

1 Nob
Choppa (x1); Power Klaw (x1)
-----------------------------
9 Trukk Boyz (Fast Attack)
Slugga & Choppa (x8); Burna (x1)

1 Nob
Choppa (x1); Power Klaw (x1)

1 Trukk
Big Shoota (x1)
5 pt. Armour Plates
Grot Riggers
Turbo Boosta
-----------------------------
9 Trukk Boyz (Fast Attack)
Slugga & Choppa (x8); Burna (x1)

1 Nob
Choppa (x1); Power Klaw (x1)

1 Trukk
Big Shoota (x1)
5 pt. Armour Plates
Grot Riggers
Turbo Boosta
-----------------------------
Models in Army: 60

Total Army Cost: 2499

The Long-range blast zzap guns are particularly insidious, because the blast upgrade gives it a template, while zzap gun rules state that the weapon automatically hits. And it's AP2. So I'll be throwing around auto-hitting random-strength AP2 Blast templates the whole game. I expected my opponents to stick to cover based on that, which is why I brought the burnas along as well.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that despite the ridiculousness of my list, I came out on top in a 3-way, 7,500 point battle - we had a cron player show up at just the right time. Lots of images below, but I'm not writing a batrep, because I don't hate myself that much. I'll try and hit some of the highlights.

A look at my full 2,500 points. It's hilarious. I had the smallest army on the table, in terms of models.

A look at things post deployment. We didn't feel like figuring things out about who goes where in a 3-way ffa, so we all rolled scatter dice and basically chose somewhere around where the arrows pointed. We were supposed to be equidistant, but the cron player got a little too overeager and deployed way too close to the guard player, honestly. Precision was not our goal. The Guard player was using that big white bitz bin as a stand-in for a Baneblade, while the 'Cron player had his monolith there to represent some ridiculous VDR creation. I felt bad that my dudes weren't painted, compared to the other two, but damnit, at least my models look something like what they're supposed to.

The Lith stood for something the dude called a 'Tomb Stalker', which was basically a 'bend horde armies over and have your way with them' machine. It cost, apparently, twelve hundred points. On the first turn, it ponderously floated forward, and proceeded to drop ridiculous amounts of blast templates on everything within range. The guard player lost an enormous amount of casualties in that first round of shooting, and a couple tanks.

bigbattle16

Of course, he had packed them so absurdly densely that he deserved it. You have no idea how much the ork tactician in my head squealed at the thought of dropping a few large Strength 8 blast templates on this:

bigbattle09

The formation I set up with my orks was pretty damn tight, as well.

bigbattle11

It was a big wall of killing death. The Big Mek aboard the middle squiggoth gave everything around him some love - from hull down on the gargant to invuln saves for both the squiggoth he was riding and the one adjacent to him, and the boyz pooled around the squig's feet. Best use of points ever, ever, ever.

On my first turn I realized that the necron warmachine was full of hate and pain and would easily wipe me off the board given the chance, so I began to hammer all of the necrons I could find within reach to try and phase him out. The gargant's blast zzap guns made a right proper mess of the necrons deployed closest, and promptly removed the entire warrior squad and necron lord. (The lord is being proxied; a tau model is in his place.)

bigbattle15

Guard also took tremendous losses to squiggy shooting. I had to split the squiggoths up due to terrain, so I sent one brave creature off into the middle of the board to tempt fate while my gargant spent the following turn sprinting up the side of the board making a mess of the stormtroopers in it's way. By this time, the baneblade had managed to put three structure points worth of damage on the VDR'ed cron machine, and it was almost done, so he turned his attentions (and his tanks) to me. Unfortunately for him, by the time he managed to do so, I had used my zzaps to disable both ordnance weapons on the baneblade and prevent it from moving, giving me a wonderful shot at the superheavy's side armor.

The downside to the size of the heavy choices I had were that they had to single-file it up the side of the board, so I had to pull one squiggy back. Smarter deployment in future!

bigbattle17

In the end, Guard had eaten up the Necron warmachine with ridiculous amounts of lasguns, and I had dropped unheard of amounts of heavy weaponry onto the guard, which thinned them out in a hurry. I also had a great deal of luck with the two trukk boy squads, which spent a large portion of the game running at full-speed towards the melee - I figured I might as well throw them in without any hesitation. One of the nobz actually survived the rest of his squad being destroyed, and proceeded to spend the remainder of the game introducing the human command squad to his power klaw.

bigbattle14

My boss was sorely dissapointed. He spent most of the game running just a little bit ahead of the squiggoths. He has requested that in future games he gets a trukk of his own.

I ended up winning by a fair amount, as I detonated the 'cron player was wiped before he could really bring his guns on me, and the guardsmen were too flimsy to get in the way of the heavies. There were a few admirable attempts at wounding the squiggoths - each had three wounds by the end of the game, courtesy of his autocannons - but they both performed amazingly well. The Gargant also survived excellently, as well - of the three structure points and three force fields it had at the outset of the game, it was left with two of those structure points by the end, and had one of it's zzap cannons disabled by a cheeky basilisk shot. The Trukk Boyz took some serious losses, but only after eating up more than double their points in guardsmen.

I think I would have done way better had I been able to keep my 'killin' wall' formation, and actually had range the first few turns to bring all my mean guns to bear. In any case, the list performed admirably! And stuck within Force Org, even, though nobody else did. Very fun, all in all, though I can't help but wonder if this list would even be feasible under Apocalypse rules. A couple strength D weapons would do me in right quick!

Aug
2007
19:33
pm

Lights, Camera, Squiggoth!

In sticking with my youtube promise for this project, this should hopefully help to clarify any questions.

Aug
2007
17:59
pm

Plumbing the depths of madness

Oh ye of little faith, behold!

Ya might have thought I was crazy, but tell me if this looks all that bad.

Barely a seam, eh? Alright, there is a seam, and there are a couple marks on it, but nothing that greenstuff can't superficially fix. This all gets easily hidden underneath the howdah anyway.

But wait!

A hatch! And underneath? Batteries and the circuit to amplify the speaker, in a compact (hah, not really...) box!

Enjoy this! It's a view that nobody will ever see of a squiggoth's rock solid resin insides. About two hours of dremelling with a very dedicated sanding drum carved this out.

It's alright, guys. You can say it. Come on, do it with me.

Woohoo!

I might not have been as mad as I seemed. ;)   Youtube video will be coming up soon as an overview, once I relax a bit.

Jul
2007
319:48
am

Hit it with the biggest choppa!

I'z been shown a vishun uv Gork and Mork, an I hadz ta get to werkin' on it!

squiggoth12

DIS CHOPPA IZ TOO WEEDY FER DA JOB, SO I'Z UPGRADED TO A 'UGE CHOPPA!

squigsaw

It wot took me'z bout half uv one-a dem 'ours to chop my way out da uvva side, but I didz it!

Ya'z see, I'z gunna hollow it out and put all da worky bitz inna 'iz gutz, and close 'im up, but not 'fore I putz a hatch in da top fer changin' da batt-rys. Dat way it'z all sealed up good so'z I can put wot-evah howdah I wantz on da top!

I ain't no zoggin' madboy! Just youz give me a little bit ta prove it.

(It was an astonishingly good cut, actually. I missed everything of importance with the saw - avoided the armor plates, the legs, even the squig-wang on the underside. I'm going to hollow it out and remove the top of him as a hatch which will hopefully be hidden or concealed by the howdah. There's a couple cuts there as I worked up the nerve and broke jewellers saw bits that were far too weak to do the job, but those can be easily concealed, and the actual cleft cut itself is a nice and simple repair with a bit of greenstuff 'round the underside that nobody actually sees.)

But wait! It gets worse!

It's times like this I wish I knew electronics so I didn't have to bother with all this work, but so be it. That marked out block is going to be removed tomorrow courtesy of my dremel.

Jul
2007
288:29
pm

The Rise of Gargrim

The whole thing started innocuously enough - at least, as innocuous as orks can be, which is to say with a bang. The particular bang in question was that of the enormous space hulk, Da Earff Shaka, entering the atmosphere of the Imperial colony world known as Feritas Prime.

This bang was proceeded by the sound of an even larger explosion that made the first pale by comparison, a sound emitted from the hulk as it hit the surface of the planet and proceeded to dig an impossibly long impact crater across the world's main continent. Needles scribbled across the surfaces of parchment in an erratic pattern, as seismic monitors on the world heralded the landing of these interplanetary guests. As far as orks go, their craterous landing might have been called subtle, had the hulk not come to rest directly in the center of Peralius, the primary hive city on the planet.

header

The events that followed the crash made the landing seem tame by comparison, as orks poured from between torn armor plating and open hatches into the city. Their survival of the crash stood as a testament to the brutal resilience the xenos possessed. In a matter of hours, Peralius had been transformed from thriving hive city to burning effigy of Imperial power. The world's Planetary Defense Force was ill-prepared for the sudden and bloody arrival of the aliens: the Imperial Guard stationed on the planet quickly lost any footholds they may have held in the city, pushed back to the fringes of the hive and the harsh deserts beyond.

Gargrim "Uge" Mungus allowed a grin to bloom on his face as he planted his chainaxe into the face of an Imperial Commissar half his size, his bulk musculature giving the weapon the momentum to easily chew it's way through the man's body and come free in a bloody mist. Gargrim was a massive ork by any standard, three and a half meters tall in his usual slouching ork posture. Overcome with blood lust and satisfaction, the ork felt delinquent laughter rumbling from his gullet. The sight of the enormous, muscled ork bellowing his exuberance over their severed leader was more than the remaining Guardsmen could bear, and they promptly put the tread of their boot to the test as they turned and ran.

Gargrim watched them run in an apathetic fashion uncommon for an ork. Surely, he could chase the remaining humans down, but Gargrim had bigger things in mind and was content in the knowledge that the 'Ard Boyz he led would make a suitable and bloody mess of the runners. "'Ave at 'em, boyz!", he bellowed, as though they needed his permission. He basked in the resounding roar that answered him as the heavily armored orks surged around him, hungry for the slaughter.

Turning to look at the smoking Earff Shaka, Gargrim considered for a moment before sparing a glance at the ground around his ankles. "Oi, youz still alive, Urk?", the massive ork inquired.

The gretchin clambered out of his hiding spot beneath a large rock, running over to Gargrim. "Yes, yes, I'z comin!", the small creature intoned. It stopped only briefly to pluck the Commissar's hat from his severed body before jumping onto Gargrim. The grot began scaling the rough iron plates that adorned his hide to assume a spot on the massive Nob's shoulder.

The difference in stature was immense - Urk, considered slightly runty among grots, was not even the height of Gargrim's knees. Any other greenskin Gargrim's size would be hard-pressed bother interacting with even some smaller orks, let alone a gretchin such as Urk, but Gargrim was unusual in many ways. Many of Gargrim's green companions found this practice dubious as best due to the disposable nature of such small creatures, but none would dare give voice to such thoughts; to do so would conclude in that particular ork emerging from the Painboss weeks later with half a squig for a brain, if he survived at all. Nobody quite understood why Gargrim would choose to associate with the small, goblin-like creatures. Truth be told, even Gargrim wasn't quite sure - only that he felt reassured by the presence of the small, timid gretchin.

"'Ow many waz dat, Urk?", Gargrim rumbled towards his shoulder-mounted companion.

Urk had spent the duration of the fight hiding under the rock as was the way of such weedy creatures, but he was also smart enough to make up a number to appease Gargrim. "Dat woz... carry da tew... 'bout twenty, twenty five of dem, boss, not countin dat kommy-sar," Urk replied in his high-pitched squeal of a voice.

Gargrim nodded in a manner that might be called thoughtful were he anything but an ork. Though the larger Nob wasn't able to count much higher than about fifteen with difficulty, he was satisfied with the size. "Add dat to da total fer me, Urk", Gargrim intoned, and watched Urk pull out a piece of scrap metal from within the folds of his clothing. The gretchin began scratching marks into the surface of the already pitted metal with a rock.

Gargrim assessed the downed Hulk a moment further, chuckling to himself as a small, random explosion blew off the remnants of a wing from the impossible vehicle. "Da meks 'ave made a right proppa mess uv fings dis time. Booma'z prob-ly tearin' em all apart fer wreckin' it. I'd luv ta see 'im frothing at da gob. Let's go 'ave a look, eh?" With that, the two greenskins began the trudging walk back to the downed ship.


Gargrim walked into the expansive mekshop of the hulk, it's floor tilted and askew thanks to the impromptu crash landing. The distinct smell of cooked flesh wafted over him. It's source was evident: scattered around the shop between huge hulking vehicles were the ruined bodies of orks that had been brave or careless enough to intrude upon Big Mek Booma's rage. Each smoking ork corpse bore evidence to the same method of death - incredible blunt trauma with something very, very hot.

"Oi, 'Urk. You go 'an wait out dere a bit, ya zog. Booma'z in a rage 'an he'd krump ya inna-," Gargrim started to suggest before realizing the smaller gretchin had already fled from the room at the sign of danger. Gargrim began pacing around the husks of what used to be a Leman Russ Tank, working his way deeper into the shop.

As Gargrim navigated around the war machines, he felt a twinge of phantom pain in his right arm - or rather, where his old arm used to be. He flexed the dark iron forearm that remained in it's place, clenching the bionic power fists that was crafted by Booma as a replacement. Fully articulated with fingers, the fist was a masterpiece of greenskin engineering, it's hydraulic grip only letting loose the occasional spark and only sometimes leaking oil. Having Booma make the lethal replacements was only fair, thought Gargrim. Booma's rage had removed his original arms!

"'Ey, Booma! Ya still 'ere?", yelled Gargrim in the direction of Booma's workbench.

The gutteral roar of another large greenskin answered him from the side of a monstrous battlewagon as Booma brought his hammer around, connecting with a nearby ork and sending the immediately dead body flying clear across the shop. The body snagged on the tip of a spiky metal protrusion in the wall and came to rest suspended on it, hung in a grim but late warning.

"JUST LET DA ZOG WHO CRASHED DA 'ULK SHOW 'IMSELF! I'LL TURN 'IM INNA A TOY FER DA SQUIGZ TA FEAST ON!", the Big Mek bellowed over the revving sound of item he gripped with both hands. Glancing at it, Gargrim recognized the visceral shape and size of Booma's signature weapon and tool, 'Da Boomhamma'. Half Mek's tool, half power weapon, Booma's hammer had become a local orky legend among the greenskins on the hulk. Two enormously toothed gears served as the opposing heads of the mallet, with a massive engine serving as the joint between them. The gears spun at impossible speeds, glowing red-hot and crackling electricity, while an exhaust on the side chugged rough black smoke. The obscene weapon was capable of punching clean through the armor of a tank with ease, and made even shorter work of orks that tested Booma's temper.

boomhamma

Blind with rage, Booma hurled himself at the larger Nob, bringing the hammer back over his head to strike another fatal blow. Gargrim was prepared; he had lost his arm to the Boomhamma once before by being careless, and refused to let himself be caught unprepared again. He brought his bionic arms up to block the anticipated strike from the scorching weapon.

Mid-strike, Booma realized his error. The instant before the power weapon connected, Booma pulled the swing, digging the weapon deep into the metallic floor of the shop instead, where it whirred and coughed more smoke in protest before being switched off.

"GRAH! Wots da big idear, ya zog! Ya tryin' ta make me 'ave ta build ya anuvva set 'uv arms?" Booma glared at the larger nob a moment before wrenching his hammer free of the floor and giving it a cursory check. The Big Mek was less enraged in the presence of the large Nob, but still very clearly angry. "Ya know how I hatez ta 'ave my mekanikal werks broken. Just LOOK at wot 'az 'appened to da Earff Shaka! I'll krump da meks dat were steerin', just bring 'em 'ere!"

Gargrim frowned. "I'z pretty sure deyz dead already. Da Boss wud 'ave stomped on 'em if they survived da krash."

Booma turned in frustration. The Big Mek took great pride in all of his work, from the largest warmachines to the smallest whirring gubbins. Da Earff Shaka had been his greatest work - a hulk of enormous magnitude whose construction he oversaw, building it in the likeness of Gork. Or maybe Mork. Booma couldn't remember anymore, but it hardly mattered now that the once-great ship was a smoking mess of metal. "Dis iz gunna take fer-evah ta fix, ya know dat? All dat werk! Gone! I'z already got plenty ta do on da uvva ve-hicles without 'avin ta rebuild it!"

Gargrim wasn't really listening at this point; he was instead captivated by the huge warmachine he saw before him. The metal monstrosity loomed over them, half draped in a canvas cloth. The crash landing had upset it's covering, and the thick armor plating that was visible gleamed between rusty bolts and rivets. Somehow, amidst all of the ruin in the mekshop, this half-built warmachine had arrived impeccably undamaged.

Booma followed Gargrim's eyes to the machine and realized that it's covering had come loose in the landing. The Big Mek moved to pull the canvas back down over the parts that had been revealed. "Dis iz a top sekret projekt! Nobody seez it till I'z done!", Booma grumbled as he finished adjusting the cover. "Da force fields wot I put up saved it from 'da krash, thank Gork".

Gargrim's focus on the vehicle was broken as the last of the machine was covered. ".. er.. yeh. Right. I'z gunna go see 'ow da Boss iz makin' out, an' leave ya ta yer repairz. I 'magine by now all 'dem weedy 'umies 'round da 'Ulk are krumped by now, but maybe 'dere's some left ova," the Nob rumbled, turning to walk out of the shop. What had he just seen? he wondered.

Gargrim didn't know, but he liked it.


Gargrim lumbered his way through the Hulk's rusty corridors, flexing the articulated mechanical fingers on his power fists out of habit. With most of the great ship's greenskins busy creating havoc in the streets of the city, the dark iron hallways proved an easy route to navigate. Between bare plates of metal, the massive Nob could catch flashes of light from the fight below, and he felt the aching need to be off the wreck and back into the thick of things. Gargrim fought away the urge, knowing that bigger things were likely afoot in Boss Dreggog's den, and rounded down the last stretch of platform leading to the helm.

Any Imperial pilot would be loathe to call the scene Gargrim approached a helm, let alone admit any sort of intentional design to the chamber. In truth, the orks simply referred to it as such because it contained the most whirring gubbinz per square inch of the entire ship, but Warboss Dreggog had adopted the space as his own personal quarters. Located high atop the ship, it was from here that Dreggog was able to supervise the entirety of his Waaagh. Series of intricate pipes and tubes carried his always-yelled orders to corners of the ship where lesser Meks awaited direction or a stern kicking. Around the chamber, large windows and portholes allowed the Warboss and his kommand krew the chance to view the wanton destruction being wrought on the city below. A testament to Booma's engineering prowess, the room appeared relatively intact following the crash, as many of the gubbinz kept here continued their insistent clanking and ratcheting. Only one significant sign of damage - a gaping hole in one side of the chamber - was visible, and Dreggog was occupying himself with yelling at the mek attempting to patch the damage.

Warboss Dreggog was slightly smaller than the massive Gargrim, but his form was encased inside obscenely bulky Mega Armor. Waaagh! Dreggog was host to one of the largest and notorious bands of Deathskull Lootas in the entire sector - Booma'z Boyz. Reporting directly to Booma himself, these voracious scavengers would loot anything, even if it was solidly bolted down. In years prior, Dreggog had found himself frustrated with all of his 'dissapearing' prize possessions - kustom kombi-shootas, extra-choppy choppas - and the warboss had struggled to find a solution. The answer had been simple - bolt them to himself! Dreggog's Mega Armor had become a massive and unweildy collection of the boss's favored items and heavy steel plates, and the floor tended to buckle and dent beneath where he stood from the sheer weight of it. For his part, Dreggog took pride in the massive machinery bolted to his frame, and kept a constant supply of oiler grots on-hand to grease and tune the mechanical parts. This was commonly known as both an extreme privledge for the grot, and the last thing said grot would ever do; the backside of Dreggog's armor had flattened many a gretchin. In any case, the armored suit rendered the warboss near-invulnerable, and he made a point of lording it over the other greenskins with regularity.

"PATCH FASTA! WHY AIN'T WE FLYIN YET, YA ZOG?" Dreggog was bellowing as Gargrim entered the room. The Hard Boy Nob arrived just in time to see Dreggog's mega-armored boot connect with the mek with a sickening crunch, ending the greenskin's life as a mek and beginning his new career as a stain on the floor. Dreggog grinned contently to himself, satisfied with the results. The grin quickly turned to a snarl as a twisted ork voice intoned, "Er, Boss... ain't dat gunna slow down da repairz?"

As Dreggog turned to face the source of the interruption, Gargrim was able to catch a glimpse of the ship's warphead, Wurrzag Da Strange. "YOU FINK I DON'T KNOW DAT YA LOUSY RUNT!?", Dreggog bellowed at the weirdboy. Wurrzag raised his hands defensively, shying away from the Warboss and shaking his head. "Course ya did, boss, I'z just sayin'...", the weirdboy began, before Dreggog cut him off. "YER, WELL, DON'T! LAST TIME YA SAID SOMEFING YA ENDED UP CRASHIN' DA ZOGGIN 'ULK!" Wurrzag nodded solemnly, his face unreadable behind the crude wooden mask he wore. Still, the fire burning from eyes showed clear irritation with the Warboss and his antics.

Looking at Wurrzag always made Gargrim uneasy. His gut told him there was more wrong with the warphead than just his glowing eyes. Clothed in tattered robes and a variety of looted Imperial trinkets and ornaments, the weirdboy was much smaller than Gargrim or Dreggog. Wurrzag was both the ship's navigator and Dreggog's primary 'tactical' advisor, though the tactics often simply involved putting a choppa through whatever's in the way. Despite this, Gargrim got the feeling that the weirdboy was always planning something sinister and terribly unorky.

Gargrim's metal-shod boots came to a halt as he announced his presence to the distracted greenskins. "Oi, Wurrzag, ya best consider hidin' 'till Booma cools off if da crash wuz yer doin', 'e's in a proppa rage in da garage and 'e's out fer blood." Wurrzag's eyes flared bright and bled energy from the corners as the weirdboy's temper flared. "I ain't hidin' like no mangy grot! If Booma'z got a problem wif me, let 'em come 'ere and do-", Wurrzag began before being shoved out of the way by one of Dreggog's mega armored fists. "SHUT YER TRAP, YA GIT. GARGRIM, YA BRING ME ANYFING GOOD FROM DA FIGHTIN'?" Gargrim's eyes went wide as he realized he had forgotten to bring the Warboss a trophy from the battle for his suit, and his mind started racing for an excuse.

"Er, ya see, boss...", Gargrim stumbled for a moment before remembering Dreggog's love of hats. "I grabbed a hat offa one a 'dem Kommy-sars before, but I 'fink Urk ran off wif it. Speakin' uv Urk, I wonder where da runt ran off ta..." Dreggog didn't leave Gargrim time to ponder, lumbering toward the Nob with fire in his eyes. "WOT DID I TELLS YA 'BOUT COMIN' BACK WIFOUT SOMEFIN' FER ME SUIT, YA GIT!", the Warboss bellowed, gnashing the scissoring teeth on his power klaw in frustration. " 'PARRENTLY YA NEEDS TA HAVE A LESSON TAUGHT TO YA!"

Gargrim knew the look in Dreggog's eyes; this would not end without a fight. Gargrim raised his massive metal arms, ready to scrap, but while he prepared for the brawl he found himself wondering...

Where the hell was Urk?


Deep in the belly of the Earff Shaka's Mek Garage, Urk trod with the sneakiest care he could manage. Urk had seen Booma and his revving hammer flatten too may orks in the past to consider exposing himself, and the Big Mek was in a particularly foul mood. Fortuately, the tiny gretchin was nigh-undetectable among the warmachines that abounded in the space hulk's holds.

The Mek's Garage was expansive, home to the Big Mek's half-completed projects and giant piles of scrap and junk. Booma'z Boyz were some of the most voracious lootas in the galaxy, and Booma had amassed a startlingly impresive collection of parts over the years. Many of these parts were banged and bolted into various forms and shapes that filled the garage from wall to massive wall. It seemed a shame to Urk that so many impressive, oily machines were left half-completed, but the tiny gretchin knew that while Booma tended to be impulsive, the machines he did finish were superior. It had become the duty of the lesser meks on the hulk to attempt to animate the Big Mek's incomplete projects, though many were so bewilderingly complex that only Booma himself seemed capable of the job.

Urk found himself captivated by the sight at a small, compact armored walker near one of the garage's outer walls and approached it for a better look. The unmanned Killa Kan stared back at the tiny gretchin ominously, its ugly armored features fixed in a permanent and orky grimace. A giant wrecking ball hung from the single, attached arm - though incomplete, the Kan still looked enormously dangerous. The obviously incomplete walker stood balanced against the base of a ramp with some sort of crude rocket-propelled bomb propping it up.

Urk sighed longingly as he surveyed the walker. It was the dream of every Gretchin to get a Kan of their own - sealed inside it's rough armor plating, even the tiniest grot would become a capable fighter. Unfortunately for Urk and many other gretchin on the Hulk, Booma's work never came cheap. Urk had been scrounging teeth together from Gargrim's kills where he could, but 'umie teeth were tiny and as such not worth much in the Orky economy. It would be much longer before Urk had anywhere near the amount he would need to buy a Kan of his own.

"It'z a shame dat Booma leaves dis sorta 'fing just lyin' round... but den again, I'z 'spose dat nobody'd mind if I take a closa look..." Urk stared up at the top hatch of the Kan, considering his options. Though Booma would surely hammer the grot into next week for trying it, Urk couldn't help but succumb to the urge to climb into the armored walker. Urk circled around to the back and grabbed onto the bomb that the Kan leaned on, starting to climb up to the top. As he scrabbled for a foothold, he felt something give underneath his feet, and heard a quick, sharp beeping noise.

Urk looked down in horror to see that in the process of climbing up onto the bomb, he had placed an unlucky foot upon a large, red button built into the weapon. A red light began blinking in rapid succession as the rocket began to light up and spark. Urk realized a few seconds too late that he had just accidentally activated and armed a grot bomb. The gretchin tried to dismount the weapon and run, but he found his pants leg had snagged upon one of the jagged fins of the bomb.

A second later, the grot bomb ignited, spewing gouts of flame out the rear nozzle. After a creaking start it rocketed up the rusty ramp it had been lying upon and out an opening that had been cut into the wall, dragging a screaming Urk along with it. The grot bomb careened off into the planet's ugly sky, spiralling uncontrollably without a pilot steering.

Urk knew he was doomed.


The impact was massive, and Gargrim's metal fists groaned under the stress of guarding against Dreggog's ungainly power klaw. Still, Booma'z handiwork held together, and the Nob was able to break loose from under the Warboss's assault. Dreggog toppled backward a few steps before righting himself, the massive bulk of his mega armor proving a hindrance to his mobility. Gargrim's hands flew to his back, grasping the chainaxe that was slung across it. Gargrim brought the huge weapon around and without even starting the blades began to hammer upon the Warboss's mega armored outline.

Though the Nob's rapid and blunt strikes were enough to slough a layer of crude iron plates from the armor, Dreggog himself weathered the assault completely unharmed. Through the suit's enhanced voicebox he cackled harshly. "YER GONNA 'AVE TA DO BETTER 'DEN DAT IF YA WANTS TA HURT ME, YA RUNT!", the warboss laughed. Gargrim backed up a few steps before thumbing the ignition switch on his chainaxe. With a sputter and cough of black smoke from the exhaust, the weapon came to life in his hands, crude metal teeth spinning at impossible speeds. "I'z not even started yet, ya giant pile of squig dung!", Gargrim roared back.

Though the clash of the titans was a life-and-death affair, both orks involved wore wicked grins across their ugly mouths. There was nothing better than a good scrap, and this one had been brewing for some time! Even Wurrzag had his lips curled back in a grim smile, though none could see it from behind the rough wooden mask over his face. All of the activity in the hulk's control center came to a halt as the greenskins turned their attention to the developing brawl. Some started hooting for the warboss - others for the nob - but before long the cacophony was indistiguishable.

Dreggog and Gargrim clashed again, sparks showering the combatants as power klaw met chainaxe. Though Gargrim's huge axe whined under the stress of fending off the rough, scissoring talons, it continued to hold Dreggog at bay. Seeing an opportunity, Gargrim pulled one arm back, and behind his head. Electricity began to crackle over the rough iron knuckles of Gargrim's fist, superheating the surface. Gargrim let go of the chainsword with his other hand as he slipped to the left. As Dreggog's massive bulk toppled past the Nob, Gargrim swung a powerful blow with his charged fist into the mega armor's gutplate.

The sound was intense, and the greenskins in the room all bellowed exuberantly. Even Wurrzag was hollering his approval at the fight, his eyes glowing violently, resonating with the powerful Waaagh! energies gathering in the room. Gargrim jumped back from the melee, certain that the blow had to have crippled the warboss in some way.

Dreggog was unphased. His mega armor's gutplate bore a massive, craterous indentation, but the Warboss did not show any signs of injury. Gargrim roared in frustration. Dreggog's massive power klaw had embedded itself in the rough steel floor of the room, and his massive mega armored suit whined as it attempted to free the limb. "HAH! NICE TRY, YA MANGY GIT! IT'S GUNNA TAKE A LOT MORE 'DEN DAT - I'Z INVINCIBLE!" the warboss bellowed, still fumbling to free his power klaw from the floor. Gargrim flexed his arms, working the kinks out and testing his limbs to see if any serious damage had occured. "If 'dats wot you wants, I'm 'appy to oblige."


Urk was being dragged through the air by the careening, unpiloted grot bomb. The tiny gretchin had given up on screaming by now, busy struggling to free his tangled pants. Suddenly, the grot bomb lurched upwards, caught and redirected by a strong wind. Urk hung behind the grot bomb, only now seeing just how far up in the air he was, and resumed his screaming. The bomb began to corkscrew through the air before evening out and levelling off. Urk risked a glipse forward and saw that the grot bomb had managed to redirect itself 180 degrees and was now spiralling uncontrollably towards the crashed form of Da Earff Shaka.

hulkbomb

Back inside the helm, Gargrim was thundering towards the stuck warboss. Dreggog continued struggling, attempting to withdraw his mighty claw from the chamber's floor, but the suit's own weight seemed to be overwhelming him. Gargrim delivered another mighty blow to the armor's gut plate with a charged fist, but the armor refused to give.

Over the hooting and hollering of the greenskins in the room, Gargrim heard an unusual sound and ceased his assault for a moment, unsure. It sounded like... like some sort of rocket? His eyes darted around looking for the source of the disturbance before glancing out the gaping hole in the chamber's wall and spotting a grot bomb careening through the air, coming right at them. Gargrim squinted, and was just able to make out a tiny gretchin dangling from the back of the rocket.

"WHAT DA ZOG IZ DAT!?" Dreggog bellowed, his eyes widening as he caught sight of the incoming grot bomb. Gargrim hurled himself off the stuck warboss.

Urk's own eyes were open wide as the gretchin continued to struggle with the grot bomb. Prompted by the sight of the rapidly-approaching hulk, the grot gave one last, mighty tug on his pants, and came free of the bomb with a tearing sound. The grot was able to fall off the bomb just before it rocketed into the hole in the helm, and Urk bounced off the rough metal exterior with a sickening sound.

Dreggog had only the time to roar angrily before the unmanned grot bomb struck him cleanly in gut. The suit of mega armor tore free from the floor seconds before detonating. Shrapnel and debris rained down upon the room, and a handful of the greenskins that had been watching the fight too closely were annihilated by the blast. Bits and pieces of Dreggog's massive power armor littered the scene. The explosion hurled Gargrim's massive bulk across the room and into the wall with a thud.

As the smoke cleared, Gargrim was greeted by an incredible scene. Dreggog's power klaw had come loose from the rest of the armor on impact and remained jammed into the floor, sparking and smoking. Any remaning evidence that the Warboss had ever existed was splattered around the room - burnt trophies, smoldering metal plates, and charred chunks of meat. Gargrim looked at the hole in the wall that the grot bomb had entered through and spotted his tiny gretchin accomplice, Urk, crawling in through the opening before collapsing in an exhausted heap.

Though many of the greenskins in the room bore signs of injury from the blast, Wurrzag appeared untouched, floating a few feet in the air with a shimmering green orb crackling around his body. The field dissipated as the weirdboy touched down and flipped his mask up. Gargrim had never seen Wurrzag without his mask, and looked on curiously. The wizened and eyeless face that stared out from beneath it surveyed the carnage for a moment before sliding the mask back down and into place.

Wurrzag slowly strode over to Gargrim, the weirdboy's staff clacking on the floor in the dead silence of the stunned orks. The weirdboy looked up at Gargrim for a moment, as though considering, before beginning to speak in his twisted voice.

"Nice one, Boss."

The orks began to bellow their approval.

Jul
2007
2810:35
am

The ever infrequent update

Well...

The good news is that I have gotten both of my Secret Santa gifts done and out of the way. The bad news is that I completely and accidentally deleted the photographs of one of them in its final stages, so I'm going to hope that my recipient can take some decent photos of it and sent it along to me. Either way, now that they've been sent out, I think it would be a good time to point out the 4th Edition Lootaz project, as it won't ruin the surprise any more.

I also had the good fortune of winning an unusual model on Ebay. Apparently, a company called 'Demonblade' created models very similar to Games Workshop's... They promptly got sank under the lawsuit, but there are still a couple of these old models floating around, and I thought I might pick one up and give it a look-over. And while I'm at it, why not give all of you a chance to look as well! This is their 'Orc Warboss' model.

Demonblade existed around the time of 2nd edition orks, which might help explain some of his appearance, though that face looks more like a squig that has become humanoid! The Klaw is a neat touch, though - I like it a good deal simply because it looks good and orky. The gun is actually a bit inspiring, not because I find it particularly well made, but because it looks like it would make a reasonably good Big Shoota model. I'm actually contemplating making a similar weapon now, with the ammo drum and clip in a similar fashion, and maybe casting it for the benefit of my Flash Gitz. Either way, it's an interesting model - the face needs a bit of work, but I think if I get a big enough iron gob on him, he might be passable as a proper ork, though of what variety I could not say. Maybe he can be a mek, or something.

One last detail: I got the entirety of my BWBits Mega Grab Bag order. I'm pretty satisfied with it. I have posted loads of pictures of the spoils here so if you care to see them, venture that way. I'm feeling far too lazy to thumbnail and post up all of the pictures here when I think that post sums it up much better and cleaner, honestly. Not much ork stuff; primarily chaos, dark angels, marines, and nids, with little bits of everything else thrown in for good measure. I feel like I just broke even on the cost of the two bags, honestly.

Jul
2007
2810:17
am

Naughty or nice?

As part of The-Waaagh's Summer Secret Santa, I had to make a gift for a fellow by the name of Stuart. I did a bit of research on Stuart, and it turns out that he plays deathskullz as his ork army, which means that he requires a number of lootas to satisfy his army requirements. With that little tidbit in mind, I set about leaning how lootas work, and what the most effective weapons might be.

As it turns out, autocannon lootas are one of the more powerful choices, according to my fellow orks. I've never had the chance to play with lootas and test 'em out, but I figured it'd be fun to make heavy weapons squads out of them.

Unfortunately, I set about building these models at a time when I was lacking most of my tools. We had literally a dozen family members visiting all at once who basically evicted me from my normal living space, and with it, access to most of my tools. As such, I did the best I could in the course of assembling these, but they're not perfect; particularly when it comes to mold lines on items, as I didn't have the tools at my disposal to remove them as well as I would have liked.

I set about building the Nob first. My initial ideas for the leader of such a squad were pretty basic - wearing a helmet, and maybe a beefy close combat weapon. I thought to myself that a Nob might see a chainsword dropped by a slain 'umie as a prime choice in looting, so I set about making one from scratch. It was only after I finished making it that I realized I had way, way overshot the size I was going for.

A buddy of mine also told me that Loota Nobs are best equipped with a big shoota, anyhow, so I reconsidered a bit and instead slung it across his back as a sort of 'looted eviscerator'.

I have no idea what the helmet is from - I have a couple of them as bits that I got in a trade that just happen to be roughly the right size.

The next thing for me to do was to get going on the autocannon teams. I figured I'd set them up true to imperial style, with both models on the heavy weapons base, and the second of each removable via the use of magnets. The first one went pretty quickly once I figured out how to pose an ork firing the autocannon.

Each pair of heavy weapons teams I tried to get to match in terms of certain details - for example, these both are wearing helmets and have pairs of marine shoulderpads on. I was pretty happy with how the first pair turned out, so I started working on the second pair...

The downside to the design of the autocannon, as I saw it, was that each autocannon 'firing' ork had to be to the same side of the weapon, as the autocannon's ammo drum stuck out too much to allow them to hold it the other way around. It was also hard figuring out what to do with that gunner's left hand, as the only options I could think of involved the same general pose as the first gunner. Instead, I decided he would have a special handle that allowed him to balance it and aim it a bit easier. I chopped down the haft of a choppa arm, cut at the wrist and turned it, and replaced where the choppa was with a length of wooden spear. You'll notice these two match in their single shoulderpads. Then came the third...

The upraised hand was the last thing I could think of to go with the posture, which seemed a bit more relaxed than the other two, who were intent upon raining bullets at their targets.

My final efforts:

lootaboy22

All in all, I'm happy with how they turned out. I hope Stuart gets some good use out of them - he has taken and posted his own pictures of the group here.

I hope to add shots of the painted models up when he does put a brush to them.;)