#Orktober 2022

[betabites]

[Image description: Ten photos of painted ork miniatures. They have green skin, violet eyes, blue clothes, black and brown leather boots, belts and packs, and steel weapons and armor. Their left boots are bright red. Their metal gear has accents in blued steel. The first photo is of three orks, a driver in crash frame and two heavy gunners. One gunner is only an upper torso. The second and third photos are front and back angles of the same ork. He is emerging from a pipe in the ground, and holds a pair of stick grenades and a breaching charge. He is dabbed with camo patterns in purple paint. The fourth photo has an ork who brandishes a shield and a heavy, single-edged sword. He is dabbed with camo patterns in purple paint. The fifth photo is of two orks, both with two-handed axes. One has heavy armor and the other has a chainsaw axe. The sixth photo is of a large ork in heavy armor, holding a chainsaw axe at ease over his shoulder, with a pistol in his other hand. The seventh photo is of two orks in heavy armor, with two-handed morningstars raised to smash. The eight and ninth photos are front and back shots of the same ork. He has heavy armor, with a breaching charge in one hand and an axe with two breaching charges attached to the axe-head. There are stick grenades and another axe in the pack on his back.  He is dabbed with camo patterns in purple paint. The ten photo is of five orks with crude rifles. End image description.]

The first batch of boyz is done! Not pictured is ‘dat lad what hauls gear’, because his armful of gear isn’t painted yet. Apart from a squad of shoota boyz and a squad of heavy choppa ladz, we have the vehicle crew for the second trukk, plus a support gunner. If you look close, you can see that some of the ladz have gotten into the purple stealthy paint. They’re the Kommandos, though some may also being doing double-duty as melee-range tankbustas. Enough high explosives and no one can say how stealthy the op was.

[boke-chan]

orktober 2022

[crippledgiraff]

Orktober 2022 Marches on!

[boardgametoday]

Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef launches Orktober 20th on PC and Consoles

Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef launches Orktober 20th on PC and Consoles #warhammer40K #warhammer40000 #videogames

Rogueside and Games Workshop have announced that the upcoming run & gun platformer Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef will now launch on October 20, 2022 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. A new and improved demo is now available via Steam as part of the Warhammer Skulls 2022 event. The enhanced demo adds a new level, unlocks the Weirdboy…

[betabites]

[Image description: two photos of partially painted ork miniatures. The first photo has seven orks, in heavy armor with melee weapons, or no armor with rifles. The orks have green skin and blue clothes, and their weapons are steel with accents in blued steel. They all have a red left boot. The second photo is a close-up of an  open-topped truck. The vehicle is steel and blued steel, with unevenly applied blue paint. The cab has an ork diver in a crash harness and an empty cupola for a gunner. The back of the truckbed has a section in bright green and black, of noticeably different construction. End ID.]

The trukk is all assembled, apart from the gunner, who I may or may not actually attach. For the first time, you can see the Rhino door the lads nicked. The other side is fancier, but then you couldn’t see the cab all nice and assembled.

The boys just need a few more details, and then to get washed. They’ll take me up to 24 minis completed, and the trukk is 25. I should be able to finish six more orks in a week.

[betabites]

[Image ID: four photos of painted miniatures.  The first photo is of an army of green-skinned orks, primarily in blue, on a wasteland battlemap. The second photo is of a pale-skinned brunette woman in a blue jacket and khakis. She is brandishing a large pistol and a power sword. The third photo is of a dark-skinned dwarf in gray carapace armor. He has an orange and green missile launcher on his shoulder. The fourth photo is of a dark-skinned dwarf in gray carapace armor. She is kneeling, and has a lowered sniper rifle. The sniper rifle is striped yellow and black. The text on the base of the mini reads ‘SGT BEATRICE’. End ID.]

All of Nika’s Boyz together. It’s definitely not a competitive force, but it’s enough for a proper bash-up. Also, we’ve got the archeo-theologian Lara Nika, later acclaimed as one of several Saint Nikas of the Troias Cluster. Most of the sacred texts speak of her use of dual pistols, but she was also known to have used at least one power sword, Ex Calador. We also have Squaddie Nerph (heavy sniper) and Sergeant ‘Bee” Beatrice (sniper). Nominally from the Troian 77th Siege, these two have been indefinitely seconded to Inquisitor Andominia.

The non-orks are all from Hasslefree Miniatures (Lara, the dwarves don’t seem to available anymore), though I did replace Lara’s right arm with a spare from Victoria Miniature’s Tannenburg Fusiliers, since I was having serious trouble with that connection point. Love Hasslefree, but you’ve got to pin the arms on some sculpts. Also, I painted her with pants, though that khaki is probably still a bit too close to the skin color I used.

[betabites]

[Eight photos of ork miniatures. In all photos, the orks have green skin, purple eyes, blue clothes, and steel and blued steel armor and weapons. They all have a bright red left boot. The first photo is of a heavily armored ork with a machine pistol and a banner. The banner is blue, divided in half with a black bar. The lower left quadrant is bright red. The center of the top half has a bright yellow circle. The second photo is of the top half of an ork armed with an autocannon. The third photo is of the top half of an ork armed with a rifle. The fourth photo is of an ork armed with a rifle. The fifth photo is the top half of an ork armed with a rifle, but a different sculpt from the third and fourth photo. The sixth photo is the top half of an ork armed with a heavy machine gun. The seventh photo is of an ork with a blue topknot and two pistols. He has two swords on his back. The eight photo is of an ork with an axe and a standard depicted a large horned orkish helmet. Skull dangle from the horns, and the flayed face of a yellow-eyed ork is mounted below the helmet. End ID.]

Okay, that’s all the orks done! Didn’t manage to take photos of the interim steps, alas. As usual, I’ll try to get glamor and group shots of everyorky. Still working on the foxholes for my half-orks seen above - I had to dig out my badlands map to try to match the colors.

I’ve still got a four-pack of tankbustas and a seven-pack of choppa nobs and cyborks (and a lone burna boy) - they may have to wait around for next Orktober, since I need to get started on giftmas mini presents. Maybe along with the battlewaggon, and actually basing everyorky...

[betabites]

[Image description: four photos of miniatures. The first photo is of nine orks, partially painted, with green skin. The second photo is of a dwarf man in plate armor, with a maul and fiery hair and beard. The third photo is of a large scarecrow standing on fallen corn stalks. The scarecrow has a pumpkin for a head with blue-glowing eyes and mouth, a brown coat, and a scythe. The fourth photo is over a grizzly bear in bronze. The base reads: “©2042 MONTANA RECREATIONS”. End ID.]

A brief focus on non-orks, and then starting on the last batch of orks. The dwarf was originally a duergar slaver, but he’s been rehaired with greenstuff, and the seven-ish blazons of questionable repute have been removed. A proper (and huge) scarecrow in the spirit of the season. And a bear from MONTANA RECREATIONS, because I played enough Horizon: Frozen Wilds that the phrase is seared into my mind.

Perceptive viewers may notice that several of the latest batch of orks lack legs. This is because a) I ran out of legs and b) I decided to make them foxholes. Well, waist-high firing positions, at least. We’ll see if they actually look decent or not.

[betabites]

[Image description: nine photos of painted ork miniatures. The first photo is of a street sign that reads, in blue paint: “Danjer!!! ORKS”. There is also a shot of the reverse of the sign, which reads: “NIKA’S BOYZ↓”. The second photo is eight orks on foot. They have green skin and blue clothes, and have melee weapons and guns. The front-most ork is carrying a pile of other weapons, including a rifle, a stick grenade, a knife, and an axe with blades on both sides. The third through ninth photos are all shots of a six-wheeled open-topped ork trukk. It is primarily steel and blued steel, but has blue paint crudely dabbed all over it. The driver is on the right, and there is a gunner’s cupola on the left. The front left fire is splattered with red paint. The back hatch of the trukk is of noticeably different manufacture than the rest of the vehicle, and is colored bright green and black. It has a gold-winged and black robed figure on the exterior, above scrollwork that reads: “REPENT”. There is graffiti all over the trukk. This graffiti reads: “’Ere we go!”, “Ol Smokey”, “Zog Ya!”, “Not me leg” (on the cupola armor), “Red wen?”, and “Fasta!” The ninth photo has a gunner with a heavy machine gun in the cupola, and three orks with rifles in the back of the trukk. End ID.]

And there’s the second batch of Orktober minis done. I have no idea how that trukk is supposed to transport ten - are orks sardines? clowns? Is it Waaaaagh energy extra-dimensional storage?

[betabites]

[Image description: a photo of partially painted ork miniatures. There are seven orks armed primarily with melee weapons, and an open-topped truck in a state of partial assembly. The vehicle is painted steel and blued steel, with unevenly applied blue paint. The orks have green skin and blue clothes. End ID.]

I’ve desynced on the colors for the orks and trukk, unfortunately. Need to get the lads caught up by coloring their metal bits.As always, deeply satisfying to do grot-work and just slather paint on the trukk.

[betabites]

[Image description: Two photos of partially painted ork miniatures. They have green skin, violet eyes, blue clothes, black and brown leather boots, belts and packs, and steel weapons and armor. Their left boots are bright red. Their metal gear has accents in blued steel. The first photo is of seventeen orks. The second photo is a close-up of one ork. He is sitting in a chair with a roll frame, and his hands are gripping joysticks. He has goggles and a blue bandana over his nose and mouth. End ID.]

Bunch of details done today, the most notable being Da Red Boot of Nika. There are one or two little details I have left to pick out on individuals, but for the most part, they’re ready to get washed. And get their bases painted black until I can figure out how I want to base all of them. I should probably figure that out.

After that - more orks! I might take a brief side-trek into non-Warhammer orcs for variety, assuming I can find them.

[betabites]

[Image Description: six photos of miniatures. The first two are both of dark skinned and black-haired elf men in blue robes. The first photo has an armored elf holding a sword and blue banner with Tengwar written on it. There is a front and back shot of the mini. The second photo has an elf mage thrusting a spear forward. The third photo is of a large wingless dragon with blue scales and yellow stripes. It stands on an obsidian flow. The fourth photo is of a human-sized otter, with dark fur and a pale mask. It is surrounded by several human skulls. The fifth photo is of a large statue in classical Greek style - a nude woman with a spear, plumed Corinthian helmet, and a round shield blazoned with a bull-head. The miniature is painted as if it was black-figure pottery: mostly black with red-orange edge highlighting. The statue’s breasts are covered with a censor-bar that reads “Female-presenting nipples”. The sixth photo is of a workbench, with paints, brushes, and many unpainted ork miniatures. End ID.]

Had a longer-than-I-intended break from painting due to a move, but I’m back at an unpacked workbench in time for Orktober, that most sacred of Holidays. As usual for me, Orktober begins with a push to clear my painting queue.

So we’ve got three miniatures from the Chainmail miniature game - not the first one, the 2003 version. These are some of the first minis I ever bought, and painted completely wrong. I think I was using unthinned model car paints? Anyway, they got paint-stripped and this is take two, nearly two decades later. The two elves and the drake are from the Empire of Ravilla: a Gray Elf Wizard, a Gray Elf Noble, and a Spiked Felldrake. The Tengwar reads ‘naithrem’, or ‘spear-net’, because apparently Sindar doesn’t have a work for maille?

Next up is one of the Lu Tra, one of my Brain-Eating Otters From the Depths! and the skulls it is doubtless using for some necromantic ritual.

And the second Amazon statue from Bones 5. Since it had a stony texture, I decided to make it look like black-figure pottery. Mainly because I didn’t feel up to covering marble with the historically accurate assault of colors. Still censored because Tumblr still bans the Dreaded Female Presenting Nipple.

Lastly, this is what I’ve got Orktober: a trukk, ten shoota boyz and some big shootas, five tankbustas, some kommandos, and uhh, twenty-ish slugger ‘ardboys to fill out a kill team? I grabbed a box of the old-style boyz and bashed them together with a box of AoS ‘ardboys. Some of them may get scrap-wings so they can join the Living Orkon’s retinue.

Unrelated, the adorable Korrasami sticker on my water bottle is by @iahfy.

[betabites]

[Image description: a photo of partially painted ork miniatures. There are seven orks armed primarily with melee weapons, and an open-topped truck in a state of partial assembly. The vehicle is painted steel color. The bases of the orks are black. End ID.]

Wave two of Orktober is already in progress! Nothing fancy yet, the trukk is just slightly disassembled so it’s easier to paint. I probably should have left it more disassembled, but if I can’t reach it with a brush, it doesn’t need paint. I am impressed at the level of detail in the kit, though it’s a few steps beyond what I personally care about. It’s got a little bit of bashing, but nothing very visible at the moment.

The orks themselves are two shoota boys and five bashy orks who might make Kommando, or just be heavy boys or nobs. There’s also street-sign that’s mostly out of the shot.

For the rest of my ork pile, I’ve got nine more bashy orks, four tankbustas, a burna, five more shoota boys, and two banner-nobs. I found goblins in my stash of unpainted minis, but no orc bands. A few orc adventurers or heroes, if the fancy takes me. But I also have some Hallowe’en minis, including an in-progress giant scarecrow.

Bonus orc content: I’ve been replaying Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, aka The Finest Orc Politics Simulators Ever Devised. I also reread The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, which was probably a Mistake, given the canon divergences in Shadow of War.

[betabites]

[Image description: a photo of seventeen partially painted ork miniatures. They have green skin, blue clothes and steel weapons and armor.]

I’d forgotten how much everything slows down with this layer. It’s the combination of big areas of armor and small details bits. From here on out, it’s all detail. At least until we get to the ‘slather shade over everything’ stage.

[betabites]

[Image description: The first image is a photo of seventeen partially painted ork miniatures. They have green skin and blue clothes. The second image is a photo of an unpainted miniature of a dwarf with a beard and two-handed hammer. His hair is made of greenstuff. End ID.]

Blue jeans and tank-tops for the lads, and un-balding this dwarf with greenstuff. My first time trying to do hair, so we’ll see how this works out.

[betabites]

[Image description: a photo of seventeen partially painted ork miniatures. They have green skin.]

Orktober begins! My goal, as usual, is 31 painted ork minis by the end of the month. I’ve got another 28 boyz and a trukk besides these lads, so I’m not going to run out.