Ork kill team update: ammo runtz

In an effort to bring a small but drawn out project to a close, I opted to plough through a bunch of ammo runtz to round things out. Nowt sparkling, I'm afraid, but they'll do the job well enough.

One of these is straight out of the Nobz kit, the other 2 are kitbashed from gnoblar trappers with grot heads. Like the rest of the kill team, they've been mounted on Scibor resin bases.

Ork Kill Team update: Bacon Ear and chums

Nowt really to say, other than the big 'uns are all now completed. A mere 3 grots to follow...

Bonny Prince Billy: Ork Kill Team revisited...

A goodly while ago I started work on an Ork Kill Team with the old 4th ed rules in mind. As is usual for many of us, this turned out to be a project that got 60% completed and then forgotten about.

Over the last few days, I felt oddly compelled to paint up the remaining orks. For this post, I'll give you the notorious freebooter, Bonny Prince Billy.

I had the idea for Bonny Prince Billy quite some time ago.  I'd felt inspired to paint him up in a way that was influenced by (as well as by general piratical garb) C17th European aristocrats, with their tendency to cover up smallpox scarring with white powder make-up, and use spots of black velvet to cover particularly deep pock marks (yep, that's what those artificial beauty spots were all about). I also thought that this kind of stylistic ethos might fit quite well with the fashion whims amongst the aristocracy of the wider 40k era Imperium. So I've given this guy a very light shade of green overlaying his face to try and show this.  I did draw the line at giving him a fake beauty spot though. I dunno, though, maybe I should add one.

I haven't converted this model at all. It seemed to capture what I wanted already. He looks like he's striking a victorious pose for a portrait or some-such, which I thought was a suitably pompous look for a 'oomie imitating tough, roaming and looting on the galactic tides.

Other members of the team can be viewed at the links below:
Spag Bol
Dutch
Dokta Heimlich
Komrad Blenski
Silent
Gnasha

There is also another one known as Bacon Ear, but I think I neglected to blog about him. I'll look into it...

Daemonhosts - the Sacred & the Profane part 2

Following on from the previous blog post, this is the second of two Daemonhosts.  The previous one representing the Sacred, this one representing the Profane.

The Profane is manifesting in a different way to his erstwhile companion, and is restrained and warded differently too.  You will notice there is an obvious size difference between the models (see final picture).  The Sacred has been forced into increasing the size and strength of the host body in order to better manage the burden put upon it.  The Profane can sometimes be hard to keep under control, and has a vicious and violent nature.  The host form has been placed in consecrated stocks which are adorned with litanies of faith.

I like to think of the Profane as an homage to Nosferatu. Only partially accidental!

Daemonhosts – the Sacred & the Profane part 1

I’ve been toying with the idea of putting together an inquisitorial war band for quite some time now, primarily for use in games of a Kill Team kind of size, but with a view to potentially getting involved in the INQ28 scene.  The three people that read this cry for help on a semi-regular basis may recall that I put together a couple of rough 3D sketches of a Vindicare and Eversor assassin a couple of months back.

This week, I’ve unearthed the old bits box and gotten to work on the first of (probably) two Daemonhosts. At this point I should probably explain my vision of Daemonhosts in terms of my war band.  What I am hoping to convey, is the idea of a Daemonhost as a somewhat subjugated creature.  From the Warhammer 40,000 mythos, we know that a Daemonhost is a daemonic entity that has been ritually bound into a corporeal form and kept under tenuous control by an inquisitor (usually) through the application of warding which may be in the form of tattoos, scars (amongst other more esoteric methods), psychic powers, and sheer will.

It stands to reason that demonic possession is not going to be a positive experience for your typical individual. It’s a loss of control. In the case of the creation of a Daemonhost, the possession is almost exclusively against the will of host, and the binding of the daemonic entity will almost exclusively be against the will of the creature (although who are we to know? For the motives of the daemon are beyond mortal ken, and thus are opaque to our primitive understanding).  I theorise that in a normal case of daemonic possession, that for the host, it would be similar to being trapped under ice, but within their own body. In terms of a Daemonhost, the daemonic entity would also experience a sense of being trapped within the host with no immediate means of escape. The Daemonhost is seemingly enslaved on two levels. How much the Daemonhost (both as host and daemonic entity) suffers would be entirely in the hands of its master, who will force the creature to do their bidding, and might mercilessly reward resistance with punishment.

In the case of this particular Daemonhost, I have portrayed it as shackled at the ankles, no doubt by ritually blessed chains. It is also carrying a huge basin of blessed or Holy Water as an additional means of control that the inquisitor has devised. The basin has no flat bottom, and thus the host cannot put it down. The weight it carries is immense, both physically and psychologically. It fears to spill the water for it will be punished for wastefulness. It fears to spill the water, for it will spill onto the Daemonhost and inflict excruciating pain upon the entity imprisoned within. In turn, one would imagine the caged entity would in turn thrash and tear at the host body itself.  In the pictures, the Daemonhost appears as though it might be pausing to rest, and temporarily alleviate some of the weight it is forced to bear.

I would like to express my thanks to Tim (Fulgrim) at The Tears of Istvaan for his advice on constructing shackles, and to Tom at this very blog for providing many of the parts that went into this miniature.

Ork Kill Team update - Spag Boll the Tank Busta!

Painted up this gent the other day, who will be playing the role of a tank busta in my ork kill team.

The minaiture is by Kromlech, and the base is by Scibor.

Look at his gormless expression of glee. And his lovely remote controlled bucket of scrap metal and explosives.

What's not to love?

There's orks skulking about in the park... Terrain W.I.P

I've managed to do a bit of work on my first piece of terrain, for my forthcoming, ahem... gaming table.  It's the battlescape made by Games Workshop.

Pretty simple to build, but it did need a fair bit of green stuff around where the trees fix to the base. Given how well GW plastic kits generally go together these days, quite why there should be massive gaps of this kind I have no idea.  In addition, the vision slot on the front of the wrecked rhino needed to have both end cut off to fit on the model. Bizarre.

Paint job is W.I.P. but has been pretty simple so far.

Airbrush undercoat in black, followed by an airbrush overspray of grey and black in a roughly 2:1 ratio.

Trees painted in GW Graveyard Earth, washed in a mix of the old GW brown ink and Devlan Mud. Further dry brush in Graveyard Earth, and a second wash with Devlan Mud.

Rhino had a thinned coat of GW Warplock Bronze applied with a large brush. Was then streaked with GW Boltgun Metal using an old dry brush. The new GW Typhus Corrosion technical paint was then applied liberally to the whole rhino (this is an excellent new paint, by the way - kind of like a textured wash). Once this had dried, a rough stipple of Calthan Brown was applied to the whole of the tank.

Throw in a bit of blue on the marine bits (face it, the Smurfs are boring) and that's pretty much it thus far.

Ork Kill Team update - "Dutch"

Well looky here. It's been a while, but it's time for an Ork Kill Team update.

This time around, it's the leader of this motley crew of green-skinned menaces, who I will name "Dutch" in honour of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator.

The model itself is the GW Kommando Nob, and it's the metal version. Quite heavy it is too, as he's a big 'un...

Love the cigar, the ammo runt and the 2 bionic arms. He's fairly laden with a variety of weapons and explosives.

Definitely the man for the job of leading "Kaptin Dutch's Gold Teef".

I do apologise if the flash is a bit strong in some of these!

Ork Kill Team update - ammo runtz

Short and simple, these ladz are ammo runtz for the ork kill team.

Kit bashed from Ogre gnoblars and ork grot heads. Mounted on Scibor bases.

Very quick and easy, but I think they have a bit of character!