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
