Category: ork

Constructing an Ork 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 will be to add rivets using cut plastic rod and plastic sprue.

See the full workbench pages for the fort.

Washing and detailing

Having washed my other Wartrakk, I did the same for another Wartrakk I am painting.

Having finished the base coat of Vomit Brown, I gave the Wartrakk a wash consisting of Chestnut Ink, Scorched Brown paint (which helps remove the gloss of the ink) and some water to thin the wash down. I also painted the Ork glyph on the front, which is from the Orc Warriors shield sprues.

This Wartrakk has been converted with new tracks as well as some other added features.

Zzap Gun

Today I had my first game using the new Ork Codex and my Ork Gunwagon was armed with a Zzap Gun. Now in the old Codex the Zzap Gun automatically hit its target and you rolled 2D6 for the strength of the attack.

Now in the new Codex, the range has been extended to 36″ however no mention is made of automatically hitting anymore.

So what does this mean, do I now have to roll to hit as well as rolling strength?

If so what is the point of the Zzap Gun, might as well get a Kannon which always has a strength 8 shell shot which is (on average) higher than the strength of the Zzap Gun.

I may have missed the bit in the rules which talks about automatic hits, but in the old Codex it was quite explicit.

Of course playing revised rules means you miss some new rules which benefit your side (Furious Charge) and some which benefit the opposition (there may have been a Stormboyz rule I missed).

Overall my Orks  did not do so well, but the Squiggoth and the Fighter Bomma performed above expectations.

Washing my Wartrakk

Having washed my Looted Rhino I am using the same process on my Ork Wartrakk.

Having finished the base coat of Desert Yellow, I gave the Wartrakk a wash consisting of Chestnut Ink, Scorched Brown paint (which helps remove the gloss of the ink) and some water to thin the wash down.

This is a quick and simple way of accentuating the detail and adding shadows.

Deffkopta

As well as Killa Kans, George Dellapina’s funky Speed Freeks Ork army on display at Bristol Conflict 2004 included a flight of nice converted Deffkoptaz.

He had converted the pilots (this was the inspiration behind my converted pilots) and added Big Shootaz from Killa Kans as they matched whereas the twin-linked version on the model didn’t really look like a Big Shoota.

Deffkoptaz are now part of the main Ork Codex (released in January 2008) and in theory (after been mail order only) will be sold in the shops as a boxed set.

The Speed Freeks list only allowed three, the new Codex allows a flight of five, so I might get two more.

However I may wait as (as with the Killa Kans) there are weapon options which are not available on the metal model, so there may be a new plastic model.

See more of George’s funky Ork army.