Last to source, first to arrive!
Orks are fun! While selling the army of Necrons, like the last time, I got a eBay DM with an offer for it. Maybe I got greedy, because the offer was on the first days, and I rejected it. It was a bit over what it ended going for… But it was all for good! The gentleman who finally got it, was the same one I was in conversation with for commissioning another custom two thousand points list of of war-loving greenskins!
A hefty investment, no doubt, but he’ll be able to be enjoying the Necrons, while watching as the Orks get finished… And personally, I am thankful and committed to make it my best to date!
Starting good! First to arrive, was the Weirdboy… The psychic character option for the Warhammer 40.000 Orks. Sold-out through Games Workshop, he got sourced of eBay.
What got here was… less than ideal. Guess I am not a 100% on the providence of the item… Or I might be in denial of the abyssal quality of casting that company was selling for such a long time… Having been a perfectly good sculpt in pewter previously. What I got was resin, and there lays my suspicion. I took it was Finecast when I first saw it, but it cleaned too nice, there were no bubbles, nothing bent… And it had a distinctive petrochemical whiff to it.
On the other hand… Why would anyone recast something so perfectly, while destroying every underside with a dozen gates? That has the mark of GW all over it… Or maybe Forgeworld, because resin.
In short, it was a pain to clean. I joked that to a degree this could qualify as a carved piece. It had as many supports as a three-dee-printed mini… But not the ones that peal on hot water, mind you… These you have to snip, often carve, scrape and cut, and give it some sanding. And on top, it has a mold-line, too. Luckily, there will be no more like this. Everything else will be far newer sculpts, all cast in plastic.
Ater looking around, seems like this model is not specially loved by the community, to say the least. Maybe due to scarcity, but people are running conversions or straight Fantasy (Sigmar) models as proxy, mostly.
They sell one, now… Comes atop the Killrig, and can be based separately. But that model… That model lacks everything. Ugly af, imo.
Main complain with this old boy, is the same I thought when I saw it, a couple of decades ago… That Gretchin with the zig-zag chain… Just… Why!? It kind of takes the focus and balance off, and the pose itself… Made no sense! So mostly everyone snipped the fellow away. Well, after all those years, and after looking at the mini in my hands, I think I’ve made sense of it. He’s being zapped (cartoon style) by a jolt of psychic energy! (Missing a shoe, for more forensic evidence) Were it today, the effects would have been sculpted, they would suck, but everyone would understand it, I’m certain. To help with the readability of that, I decided to sculpt my own effect, following along the teachings of The_Warsinger, hot-glue master.
Tip: The perfect armature comes inside the plastic-covered wire zipp-ties. Like the ones used here to close bags of industrial starch foods… and sold in bulk for gardening, methinks.
He was a breeze to paint! I’ve missed Orks after all those Sororitas I’ve been painting this year… With this dudes, one can be more expressive and free! Just for starters, they are not all uniformed in the exact same gear! That’ll mean its own set of challenges come batch-painting three dozen boyz, but fun it is.
I’ve also given him a chin hair-squig… Because… Well, it looked right at home! It could maybe looked spicy if it were all statically jolted, and toyed with the idea, but it was a bit too much. But I am considering some on the head, standing. And more white glow to the “Nunchuk Gretchin” in his head cavities once I crack some oils, later.
Narratively is a miniature I now adore. Passed the “hard-to-read” Gretchin (Grot) on his right, he’s being headed by two others at his back, pulling at chains that not only constraint him, attached to leather strappings, they are connected to a pulley system that puppeteer his arms to lift the staff… While the other hand is tied close to the body. He is covered in tchoskis of psycher origin… Eldar, Imperial… And clearly making a cargo-cult of the usual Imperial parafernalia… With a bunch of glyph-boards hanging at his sides, in parody of your everyday Librarian… And bells too, so maybe a bit of Chaos in there. And the popping eye! With his sutures all busting by a bulging brain… Lovely!
On the painting part… Contrast Plaguebearers Flesh. You can go to town from there, but to my taste is the perfect straight-off-the-pot base for Ork Greenskin the way I like it.
My old Orks are going into the list, and although they are painted by yesterday’s standard, the army will have Commandos in it, so I went with good-ol’ red as a contrasting hue for the panels.
Feeling very much that nice sensation of “my last, my best”!
Happy Solstice everyone! May Gork, or possibly Mork, bring you all the Dakka you hoped for! Happy Waaaaagh!!
WIP:
Túbal Villar - Virakotxa 