I got another squad of boyz done, which is a surprise even to me! I struggle to paint large armies anymore, but the new Warhammer 40,000 Ork Boyz are really pretty cool, so I think I owe it to myself to finish them off!
Officially I am a little over half way finished figure count wise with the Ork half of the Armegeddon box. There’s 11 Grots, a Big Boss, a Little Boss, a Banna Boy, a Pain Boy and a Weird Boy left for foot troops, with a couple of vehicles to finish as well. But that’s the pudding course on this project, it’s always the chaff that trips me up.
Krumptoof is a particularly nasty Nob, with a penchant for cruelty even for an Ork. His superiors adore him for this, so if any other nasty, ill-tempered boyz start making a name for themselves, they’re certain to end up in Krumptoof’s Krumpas!
Krumptoof started out with a dark blue basecoat and brown zenithal highlight, which was then drybrushed with a light ice yellow to bring out the details for my very tired old man eyes. This helps in a huge way and has become standard procedure for me!
After that, I give each area a wash with its respective contrast paint, also to help pop out detail so I don’t miss it. Then I started with skin tones, going from a dark green to a poppy swamp green, and highlighting that up with successive blends of ice yellow.
Everything else (except white) was also mixed with ice yellow to help unify the highlights throughout this model (and the rest of the squad, actually). Once everything looked how I wanted it, I dabbled on some rust effect from Army Painter, which really helped bring out some dynamic contrast with the vibrant blue.
Also, I love the squig. More squigs, please!
The running theme with these guys is the blue being used to pick out the armor plates and weapons, and everything else (except the skin) being fairly muted. No direct yellows, bright reds, lots of ochre, mustard, and washed-out purples and greys.
The rust effect was surprising for me, it takes some work to get on the model because it’s actually textured a little, and leaves a pretty convincing rust on the areas that you apply it. I liked it so much that I ended up going back and applying the rust on Skullpuncha’s Ladz, too.
The last step is a diluted wash with Army Painter Strong Tone, which helps dull down the areas I wanted dulled, and pulls down the sharp contrasts I had in the skin highlights. I do dilute the strong tone about 50/50 with acrylic medium, which helps keep it from overwhelming the model.
Next up, Grots! And I’m challenging myself to just paint the little idiots and not obsess over them. I rarely make it past Grots on an Ork project without burning out!
I’m also thinking about statting out some boyz using the Pulp Alley rules to see how that goes, just for something fun to do on my own. I’ve been reading through the rules the last few days, and they look like they might be a lot of fun for solo gaming!
Take care, everyone! Make sure to take some time to paint today, it’s good for your soul.
-Leigh
Awesome unit, and the Nob looks totally badass, you definitely wouldn’t want to end up in his unit ! LOL
Are you going to do different skin tones with the characters and the Grots ?
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Thanks, Dave! He’s a really fun mini! The plan on coloring the models is really light, almost floro green for the grots, then moving into more of a moss green for boyz, then getting into darker greenish blues for bosses. I remember reading something in 3rd edition fantasy that the Orcs just got darker as they got bigger, so I’m going to try and capture that a little!
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These are looking great and while I don’t favor GW’s Orks at all really, I really like that Nob as well. Its just an excellent, if not soon-to-be iconic sculpt! Using these in Pulp Alley is a really cool idea. I have the rules, wrote up a nice review a few years ago, and other than my Conan wargaming project being thought up, I still haven’t actually played a Pulp Alley game yet, I’m sorry to say. I’ll be curious to hear how you get on with it!
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I’m the same with the GW Orks, I love the LOTR style of classic Ork, the GW guys have always been comedians to me. But, these sculpts are about the best they’ve brought and they’ve been fun!
Pulp Alley has been really interesting to learn, I normally HATE game systems that don’t work weapon stats into the mix, but I like how this system just works it into the shooting and fighting stats. I had some fun earlier today just working together an Ork Kill-Team party, and the system really allowed me to play and explore a bit! Now I’m looking more at just single model purchases to fill things out instead of entire boxes!
I’ll keep you posted once I actually play… maybe I’ll even do a (gasp) battle report!
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That’s great to hear because I think our opinion on orcs is somewhat uncommon amongst hobbyists but I completely agree with you. I like the classic and more realistic orc when I can get it!
That is very true about the lack of a weapons system. The traits (or whatever they’re called) give you a lot of customization which is cool in my book. I’ve not gotten to try it out but it is something about Pulp Alley that piques my curiosity.
I hope you will spoil us with a battle report! I’m sure it will make for a fun read.
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I have been playing with a card creator for Pulp Alley, and it’s definitely a cool system! As soon as I get a gang of Grots finished up I am for sure doing a little battle report!
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Ooh, I’m very excited to learn more. My idea was to use Pulp Alley for Conan wargaming so that is why I’m curious to see what you can accomplish with it!
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