Snikrot and his Kommandos

The unit is finally completed, 6 members with their vicious leader of the stand-in snkirot.

Snikrot nearing completion

Further work on my count as Snikrot.  The painting is done, just need the base...

Snikrot + Paint

I finally got to painting, and I started off with Snikrot.  Overall I am not happy with him.

Kommandos WIP

So, I have been working on 6 Kommandos, including Snikrot and here is what I have come up with.  I am mostly proud, and think they'll look better with paint and a base on them.

I have shrunk the images down, so for larger images click on them.

Kitbash Snikrot

After proxying a squad of kommandos I enjoyed the use of them, and of course snikrot was part of them.  I am a fan of doing this hobby on the cheap, and trying out some skills I decided to kitbash my own Snikrot.  Overall I am happy with him, I think he looks suitably brutal but also feel as though something is missing.  I can't spot it, so I am asking the intermawebs.  Any thoughts on what me might be missing?

Complete Deffkopta

And thus... it is done.  I have even entered it into the LO Contest.  Woooo!

Deffkopta nearing completion

So, I have been working on a model over the weekend.  I think I went a bit overboard with the wear and tear, the wings especially.  I know the pictures aren't very good, I just wanted some quick ones and once the base is complete I'll get better ones, so they'll have to do.

Big Mek Conversion

So, this is the newest big mek to my army.  I liked the idea of giving him a blow torch, so I shortened a burner and gave him a special spanner.  The rest is just bitz and pieces from different ork kits, cut up and glued on.  I quite like it, I think it looks suitably orky and a huge mismatch.

Da Green Tide Takes to Da Skyz!

So a semi busy week, using what time I got at my desk I managed to put together another painted ork:

Blowing the dust off...

Oh wow, it has been a while.  A long while since I touched this thing.  I could list multiple excuses and reasons but honestly, it's because I was lazy and didn't feel like painting.  I have started to game more (and having more boardgame fun too! :D )

On that note, I was about to open up this thread again.  I have painted two models!  YES, TWO!  First off we have the Empire Explorer that was painted for the Secret Santa.  It was a random model and one I wanted to be a bit different.  It was fun to paint, I chose quite bright colours as this guy is a nice proud fellow.

Rethinking Orks

So, I have managed to get a few games in with my Orks and I enjoying playing them, however I feel like I need to re-work my list a little.  First of all, here is my current list I have been using (1500pts).

Wagons at the ready! Steady! GO!

Excuse the corny title, I just felt like it. =P

Having spent today assembling an Ork Battlewagon, I felt like I should discuss my views on these beasts. To start they are the toughest Ork vehicle with 14/12/10 to the respective locations. Most vehicles in the Ork list are 10-12 AV, so having a nice big, juicy 14 is great. In addition to this, the vehicle has some nice options. An increased transport capacity to 20 models or 10 in Mega Armour, this allows you to ferry a nice large boy unit across in relative safety and have lots left to assault with. The next is the BWs weapons options. It may have the following:

• Killcannon
  
• kannon or lobba or zzap gun
• 4 big shootas or rokkits

This beast can be toting loads of firepower, then on top of these you can have upgrades such as ard case, extra armour, a deff rolla, grot riggers... pretty much all vehicle options. So, where is the downside?

The downside is these weapons, in my opinion, are wrong for the main use of the wagon. To me, it is a more resilient transport that can ferry larger units where you need quickly and not blow up at a stiff breeze (otherwise known as Pulse Rifles). To slap on all these weapons defeats this point. The BW should be moving 13" a turn (Red Paint Job), which - due to it not being a fast vehicle - means it will not be able to fire anything, thus negating the points spent on the weapons. It could be a mobile weapons platform if you wished, but the choice of weapons it has isn't really the best options for it -

Killcannon; 24" S7 AP3 Ordnance Large Blast

Looks good on paper, but for less points I could have an extra 12" +1S by taking a looted wagon. Sure it lacks the armour, but if kept well positioned then it would be getting a cover save to help make it last. This weapon just doesn't seem worth it to me, the short range and the fact its below S8 makes this an expensive and weaker demolisher cannon.

The lobba; 48" S5 AP5 Heavy 1, Blast

Being a barrage weapon this could hide and fire, however. Ork BS is terrible and generally blast weapons just scatter far (2D6-2), coupled with its low AP, this weapon wouldn't really be on any use except against masses of low T and Sv armies/models (Nids, Orks and Guard come to mind).

The cannon; (frag) 36" S4 AP5, Heavy 1, Blast
(krak) 36" S8 AP3 Heavy 1

This is a bit better of an option, giving you chance to take down vehicles. But, again the BS of the greenskins fails them. A single shot hitting on 5s is not something to put your belief if. Most the time you won't hit. The frag version suffers from the lobba's problem. Not high enough S or AP.

Big Shoota; 36" S5 AP5 Assault 3

Better. More shots equals more chances to hit. decent S and range, but once more the AP value means you won't be dropping many marines. In addition, on the BW, these are not defensive weapons due to the S5. Making them less useful unless you're crawling at infantry pace.

Rokkits; 24" S8 AP3 Assault 1

Again, much like the krak cannon round, the one shot relying on 5s is not a good idea. In addition the short range of 24" is not good, unless you've rushed.


As you can see, the options available to the BW in terms of weapons requires it to sit still to make the most of them all. Or to move a little and use one. For the points paid for it, I'd rather it was a glorified taxi. Cheaper and more effective, in my opinion. Add some points for say extra armour and you can now keep coasting forwards, ready to do the job it was made for. Letting loose loads of boyz! To this end I would keep it open-topped, allowing you to disembark after moving, and anywhere within 2" of the vehicle, not just exit points. Mine would read something like so:

Battlewagon; red paint job, armour plates, reinforced ram, 1x big shoota. (115pts)

It would also allow me to take another, if I wish. They're cheapish. One thing, as well. They're a fire magnet. People hear "Armour 14" and panic, spraying it with lots of firepower to try and down it quickly. In the mean times, my AV10 trukks just crusie on past and drop 12 Sluggas ready for a fight. If the wagon makes it to the enemy and drops the boyz off, then good stuff, if not - well... see above.

This is all just theory from me. I will try out all various configurations, and will do this by magnets. You will see below that there is no weapon in the main gun housing, this is because I will magnetise the various options allowing the one mini to be quite versatile. Also, the rear casing is not fixed on, allowing for it to be closed or open topped.

Ork Objective (Pt VI)

The fourth objective is complete. The sign was done to appear like wood. It wasn't easy as the piece was flat, I had to mark out the wooden planks first. But, so far its my best attempt yet. Some of the shading is a bit too thick, but its not too distracting. For those wanting to know, I used this tutorial from Brushthralls : Wood Grain 101. Despite the site is for Privateer Press stuff, I suggest people check it out as pretty much everything there can be used for GW minis as well.



Then came the writing. I decided that it should be in turquoise as it will tie it in nicely to my army. I know what you'll think when you see it - and yes I did sort of run out of room, however as its orks I figured it works quite well.



So, that is four out of five objectives complete. I have just the grot left for the final one, but I'm going to concentrate on the Black Templar at the moment and then the Lizardmen for the LOCs project.


Just to recap, here they all are:

MANz and Nobz

Despite never using one version of them, I wish to compare the two nob types - Mega Armoured Nobz (MANZ) vs Normal Nobz.

Starting off, both types have the basic ork rules: Furious Charge, Mob Rule and Waaagh!. And taking a warboss allows for a single mob of either type to be taken as a troops choice (per warboss in the army) thus making them a scoring unit. The stats are the same, each having WS, S, T4 W2 I, A3 LD7.

The differences arrive in the form of armour, weapons and wargear.


Mega Armoured Nobz (MANz)

These beefy orks come clad in heavy duty armour, gifting them a 2+ save in combat. This makes them great at soaking up firepower, along with T4 anything less than a bolter spraying spree is not going to result in many dead nobz. Instead it'll take higher strength/AP weapons to take these guys down.

In addition to this save increase they automatically come with stikkbombz (assault grenades), a power claw and a twin-linked shoota. All this for 40pts per model. The skikkbombz are pointless, being as the claw makes them I1 anyway. The claw is the best thing about them - orks lacking in power weapon options the power claw is the only truly reliable option available to them for cracking things like MEQs, Termies or even vehicles. The shoota is OK, the re-roll for twin-linked makes it a bit more reliable in hitting but nothing really to down an ale over.

The downside to these behemoths is the following rule: slow and purposeful. This rule means that the MANz are slow. At best a 6" move, probably averaging a 4" each turn. This includes their charges being capped by the random roll. Making them less reliable at getting into range and hitting the unit, unless... they have transport. Trukks can get a maximum of 6 in, due to MANz counting as two, and the battlewagon 10.

They have two options, for 5pts they may have either a combi-skorcha or a combi-rokkit instead of the twin-linked shoota.

Nobz

In comparison to the have only a 6+ save and come armed with sluggas and choppas, for 20pts each. Instead they get spoilt for options. They can have the painboy option for 30pts - giving the whole unit the Feel No Pain universal rule and allowing the unit to have cybork bodies (5+ invulnerable save) and 5pts per nob for the cybork upgrade.

Alongside this they have the options for bikes (which I'm not going to look at here) and two upgrades that increase their WS by one point (Waaagh Banner) and allow them to re-roll failed morale tests (Boss Pole). They have access to a single armour upgrade, making it 4+, rather than 6+. For weapons they all have access to power claws, big choppas, combi-weapons and twin-linked shootas. All for additional costs.

Transport wise the unit may have either a trukk or a battlewagon, both being able to hold their maximum size of ten.

The comparison bit

Looking at the options available to each it is obvious that the nobs have the more and better options. Non-wargear wise they have the pick of the litter. They have access to invulnerable saves, making them able to stand up to power weapons - something that is the bane of MANz - and low AP weapons. In addition they get the Feel No Pain rule from the painboy, giving them a second save of 4+ making the unit on a whole even more durable. In comparison, the MANz have only their 2+ save; whilst great against most things any form of power weapons will quickly see an end to the MANz. One thing the MANz miss the most perhaps is the Bosspole option. The ability to re-roll failed morale checks is handy, doubly so for MANz as their high cost means low numbers per unit. The final option is the Waaagh Banner. This gives nobz a +1 WS, making them hit most units on a 3+.

Lets look at the combat skills of these two units;

6 MANz vs 6 Nobs

The MANz would cost 240pts; all armed with power claws
The Nobz would cost 285pts; 2x power claw, painboy, cybork, 'eavy armour, waaagh banner and 2x bosspole

In combat - assuming they charged - the MANz would have:

18 (3+1) attacks at WS4 S9 I1. All ignore armour and instant kill T4 or lower.

Nobs would have:

15 (3+1+1) attacks at WS5 S5 I4.
6 (3+1) attacks at WS5 S9 I1 All ignore armour and instant kill T4 or lower.
4 (3+1) attacks at WS5 S5 I4 ; 4+ poison

Now, I'm not going to do mathhammer - mainly because I dislike it and it generally varies due to good luck, bad luck etc (but if you feel like doing it... then by all means). But looking at that it can be seen that the nobz have in for sheer volume of attacks, but most of which will be allowing saves - making them less ideal vs MEQs due to their high save. On the other hand the MANz are made for MEQ fighting, lots of armour ignoring attacks. Nobz are better at dealing with hordes that have average or low saves - or even just drowning MEQs in dice rolls.

In defence the MANz have 2+ armour whilst the Nobz have a 4+ armour, then 5+ invulnerable and a 4+ Feel No Pain save. This makes them very durable, able to soak up attacks from power weapons, where MANz would just die.

Overview

The two units have different targets. Throwing MANz into a mass of average save models is a waste of their abilities, where as Nobz would eat them up with ease. And in reverse MEQs are for the MANz to handle. That said, Nobz are more durable in terms of taking wounds due to their mulitple saves. Its all about the right ork for the job.

As an aside, the Nobz are cheaper in terms of points and £££.

***********

I didn't write this as a review or proper comparison, due to not having played enough to compare each. However I just wanted to write something for fun and compare for myself if my preference for Nobz over MANz is a good choice. Personally I would say yes, I prefer the high volume of attacks, making them viable against most opponents - the claws deal with armour and the choppas with the squishy stuff.

Taxi! Mounting up for 5th Ed

I'm sure many of the veterans of 5th edition have realised this already, but I have come to realise that this edition is all about being mounted.

I have only had a few games with my orks, but each time my foot slogging mobs are generally decimated. I started orks, and indeed built them, to have/be a horde army (I have 2x 25 shootas and 25 sluggas), but I am coming to view this as a failure on my part.

Orks need to be in combat to do well - in most cases anyhow - but an infantry mob on foot with a paltry movement of 6" a turn will take way too long to get there. In addition, these units need to be big - 20 strong at least - to survive the shooting phases they will have to slog through. Even the ork weapons are designed for short ranges, the basic shoota being 18". The two special weapons available to the mobs are a little bit better, with the rokkit at 24" and the big shoota at 36". But even with these the average ork mob is not made to be static, to keep with their strengths they must move.

So, what's the best way of getting an ork to where he needs to be? A trukk of course. 13" (12"+1" for Red Paint Job upgrade) followed by the 2" disembarkment and assaulting (got to love open topped vehicles for this) means the mob has an average assault range of 21" (22"-27" if they WAAAGH! that turn). So, this is much more to their tastes - a fast means to get where they need to be. What is the drawback? There are a couple of can think of:

• smaller mob size
• vulnerable/low armour

The first is problematic as orks are only fearless is they number 11 or higher. The capacity of a trukk is 12. Which means once you take two casaulties you're looking at using LD. Granted you can use the units - due to the Mob Rule, but with only a 6+ save, its not looking good for long.

The second means that the trukk - AV10 in all locations - is very easily to stop in its trakks, and reducing the mobs to the same state and problems as their footslogging friends.

How to solve these? I suppose having lots of targets is one. Saturate your opponent with options and a couple will slip through. The other is look at Battlewagons. More expensive but higher capacity and tougher; meaning it'll last longer and there'll be more orks left at the end of it.

What does this rambling mean to me? I means I'm looking at taking more trukks. I already have a battlewagon but only got three trukks. However. I might keep one footslogger so they can camp on an objective and soak up casulties. The rest I'd have to rely on the combat ability of other units to contest or maybe hold a trukk back for those last minute speedy grabs.

Ork Objective (Pt V)

The Templar is in fact being worked on, today he was undercoated. Wooo. As I was waiting for him to dry I returned to one of the objectives, this one is nearly complete just the board to finish. You'll see that its pure brown, that is because I plan to try out freehanding some wood effect (ie grain) onto it. A bit of practice. So hopefully that one will be finished tomorrow.

The skulls came out quite well, I love the ageing effect the sepia wash has, took these up to completion and then gave them a couple of washes and they aged quite well I feel. The helmets I wanted to be kept uniformed, so they're all almost the same colours.

I like this objective as I will be able to add other trophies to it when I feel like it. :D

Ork Objectives (Pt IV)

Today I added the finishing touches to two more objectives. They worked out fine, though, the first one isn't quite what I had in mind but I feel works just as well.




This second one I used water effects, rarely use this stuff, to simulate spilt ale. It worked decently, but for some reason it cracked as it dried, leaving black marks in the liquid. I might go back and beat up the helmet a bit - its still too clean.

Ork Objectives (Pt III)

I finished my first objective, quite happy with it as well. I used the turquoise of my army to tie it into them.

This one is almost done, I have to do some work on the helmet and then do the spilt ale.

And this last bit, I'm not sure about so far. The yellow was an attempt to show the previous colour and the bullseye is odd because no ork would do it straight. I have so far just washed it with devlan mud but I'm not sure it looks any good. :/

What do you think?

Ork Objectives pt II

OK. Finally I got some pictures done of the final two objectives, here they are below.

The grot is blue tacked to the base and will be painted separately. I had to greenstuff the lower section of the pointing arm, as you'll see and that needs to dry.







On this one, the barrels will be fungus ale with the space marine helmet will have some ale spilling out of it.

Ork Objectives

So, the maximum number of objectives in a game is five (D3+2), so I have decided to make a few extra things for my orks - namely, five objectives. The first one, and it might be hard to see these but its a minefield. I removed the handles from the tankbuster bombs and stuck a couple to the base, one I cut at a forty-five degree angle and then did something similar with a rokkit - to make it seem all well...orky. Next up is a trophy 'rack' or pile. Using the damaged helmets from GWs 40k basing kit and then a few ork skulls I have made a pile. And the thing I thought about is that I can add more with the wins I get. The sign in the middle is made from a shaped piece of plasticard I got in a set from GForce9, a piece of plasticard was added to the front to make a sign. The final one I found the idea amusing, so had to make it. Its basically going to be target practice, and as you can see the orks are not doing too well. I have included a rokkit that missed target and embedded at the foot of it. I have two more, but am unsure of what. I had the idea of a pile of shootas, but none of them come with handles (all have hands attached) it would look odd. Same goes for sluggas. The other idea I had was an grot holding a white sign/flag but its back would be strapped to kingdom come with explosives. Any ideas?