Category: ork

Ork Desert Fort

One of the things I liked about Cities of Death was the large Ork “town” which was there alongside the ruined Imperial Cities. I know I will never have the time, space or resources to make something similar, but I did like the concept and thought it would be nice to have some buildings for my Ork Airfield, well at least something that could be used alongside my Ork Bommer.

So I took an old DVD-R spindle tub I had, these are available in various sizes depending on how many disks there are, I used a 25 disk tub.

Once you have finished with the disks, you do have the basis for a good building. They come in various sizes as well, 25, 50, 100, therefore you can have different heights as well.

The first thing I did was cut up some plasticard, wooden sticks and Starbucks™ wooden stirrers into similar lengths. I also delved into my bitz box to get some parts, in the main from Imperial vehicles, ie Rhino and Land Raider doors.

Using strips of wood, Starbucks™ stirrers, plasticard, bitz from Imperial vehicles, I stuck them to the side.

Then using a hot glue gun I stuck these to the side of the DVD tub. A hot glue gun is perfect for this kind of thing, as both plastic and super glues are unsuitable for this kind of model.

When I thought about the floor of the fort, I did initially think about adding a series of wooden planks or metal sheets, however in the end I went with using modelling sand, which I think will look quite effective when painted and somewhat Orky.

The next stage was to add rivets using cut plastic rod and plastic sprue.

I used both strips of plastic rod and hexagonal rod. Using the hexagonal rod to make nuts and bolts.

These were also added to the Imperial scrap as well.

See the full workbench pages for the fort.

Squiggoth about to move forward…

My Ork Squiggoth prepares to move forward. This photograph was taken at a weird angle (don’t remember why) and on my unfinished desert terrain boards, which as a result are a dark purple-red colour.

This is the Forge World model and you can see how I painted it in my workbench feature on the model.

Of course the rules for this model are not in the standard rules or the Ork Codex.

I use to use the Forge World supplements, but more recently I have been using the rules from Apocalypse.

Ork Great Gargant and a plastic Thunderhawk

At GamesDay 2003 there were a lot of Forge World Warhound Titans which has just been released. Amongst all that Imperial heavy armour was this lone Ork Great Gargant.

Ork Great Gargant

This was from Armorcast in the days before Games Workshop took large scale resin models back in house and created Forge World. It was only (in theory) available in the USA and was very difficult if not impossible to get in the UK.

Ork Great Gargant

If I could find one, afford one and have the time to paint one, I really would like to get hold of this model, but alas I think everything is against me!

With the release of the plastic Stompa you can  compare the detail of the Armorcast Gargant versus the well detailed plastic Stompa now available. Large plastic kits are now certainly achievable technically from Games Workshop, of course the business case has to be made. It is this business case which I suspect means we may never see a plastic Gargant. The main problem will be having such a large kit in the stores. Taking up a large amount of shelf space, means that less space for smaller (probably more profitable) kits. Games Workshop have already started to
reduce the space taken by particular models, by combining all variants into a single box. So no longer do we have separate boxes for the Land Raider variants such as the Crusader, but now have a single box containing all variants. This has made room for the larger kits such as the Baneblade, the Shadowsword and the Stompa.

However to make room for a Gargant kit would mean removing more than just the variant boxes.Interestingly we could see a Reaver, though just as tall as a Gargant, certainly does not need such a large box as it is not as big as a Gargant (in terms of girth).

So what will be the  next big plastic kit?

My view is that we will probably see a Space Marine Thunderhawk.

This has been rumoured for many years, it’s not a matter of if, more a matter of when.

One tidbit to think about with the release of the Skyshield Landing Pad is the following description.

Landing pads are launch bases used by flight-capable craft to unload or evacuate troops and vital personnel. The Skyshield landing pad used by the Imperial Navy, though originally purpose-built to accommodate Valkyrie and Vendetta gunships, is robust enough to serve even the Thunderhawks of the Adeptus Astartes, and has field generators that protect the craft and its crew from incoming fire.

Note my emphasis. Now obviously this could be referring to the Forge World model, but why note this in a kit description. In the rules yes, in the marketing for Games Workshop mainstream, generally they don’t mention Forge World models as part of describing other products, normally as a separate page or link.

The Skyshield landing pad is a very nice model, perfect for the Valkyrie.

So no plastic Gargant  but maybe a plastic Thunderhawk…. perhaps…

Ork with Rokkit Launcha

This Ork conversion has had a Rokkit Launcha using a metal grenade and Shoota. This is a work in progress. The base is done, the basecoat for the skin is done. Most of the metal work has been drybrushed with Tin Bitz and Boltgun Metal.

Still to do are the skin highlights and more detailing of the belts and clothing.

Full workbench feature on my Orks with heavy weapons.

Forge World Ork Gun Trukk Concept

There were some great new models at the Forge World Open Day 2009.

Will Hayes has been working on some ideas for Ork Trukks and additional weapons and these looked really nice and would add variety to any Ork army which uses Trukks.

This was his Ork Gun Trukk or should that be Half-Trukk? Note the bigger engine. The room for only a single driver. Oh and the big gun in the back of the Trukk.

Forge World Ork Gun Trukk Concept

See more pictures of these concept Trukks.