Greetings Terrans! I hope all is well with you and that life is being kind. I have quite an exciting post for you today – I have another skwad of Orks completed & ready for Wolf Time, and I’ve also been pushing some Greenstuff around in a pretty major way! First up the painting – this time I’ve tackled one of three Ork Warrior units that are needed for the campaign – the list shows them as armed with Bolt Guns, Bolt Pistols and Combat Accessory (these all have a small pistol tucked away somewhere on their person):
I’m happier with these guys than with the first few skwads – I forgot to take a green glaze with me on holidays so didn’t use it on the first batch of Ork skin, but I tested it on these guys and am much happier with the resulting tone… I’ll have to remember to go back and glaze the others! Also, I cheated a bit on this unit – the leader (Thrug Bullneck no less!) was already painted on hols, but I re-did his trousers & shirt to tie him in with ‘Red Skwad’ a bit better, (and I also glazed the flesh).
I also had a look ahead to some more units that are needed for the scenario – the Ork Guard Units. These Guards are a bloody pain in the arse… They are meant to have Power Armour, Bolt Guns & Chainswords – all fine and good, except I can’t find a single OldHammer mini that matches this equipment loadout! All the Power Armoured Nobs of that time have Power Gloves, and all the sculpts would be really tricky to weapon-swap on in a convincing way… I could go for some newer Ork minis, but I really don’t want to deviate from the era too much. It’s a pickle, and one that I’ve been mulling over for several weeks now!
Anyhoo, yesterday morning, I had a brainwave – I thought I’d try and attack the problem from the other angle and try and sculpt power armour on a correctly armed Ork, (funnily enough, Thrug again)… I mean, how hard can that be, right? Well, turns out that it is bloody hard – several hours of fun later, and I got to this stage:
Hmmm… I am both pleased and frustrated at the same time – pleased that the basic shape is there, and happy that it clearly reads as “Hey fuckers, look at me! I’m that mythical non-existent Power Armoured Ork with Bolter and a Chainsword that Rick Priestley wrote into the Wolf Time campaign!”, but I’m also frustrated that it is so rough. Of course, it isn’t finished yet, but I’m in totally new territory here – I’m not sure how much I can refine it, whether it should be more refined now, how to add stuff, etc. I’m basically learning as I go, and have no idea were to pitch my expectations – the uncertainty is somewhat uncomfortable. Also, I’m thinking of the bigger picture – I need 19 of these buggers! 19 re-sculpts will take me bloody ages, and I run the risk of them all looking like kneeded dog shite at the end of the process… on the other hand, my sculpting will have improved hugely, and they might end up looking absolutely awesome… Decisions, decisions!
Well, I guess the thing to do is go balls-out to finish this guy to the best of my ability & then make a decision. I have some clay shaping tools on order (recommended by Jon – thanks dude!), plus some brownstuff (recommended by Jesper – thanks dude!!), and a cable rolling tool, so at least I’ll have the right gear to take this ‘eksperiment’ to the next level. I also ordered some mould making material, so at least I can make my own ‘period’ chainswords, and maybe even try and mould whole figures! Exciting times dudes and dudettes – it all feels deliciously old-school 🙂
Anyway, that’s it for today – catch you homies all on the flip-side!
