Bad Moon Orks

I took custody of an old Ork army from a friend of mine. They had been somewhat neglected and I'm in the process of rehabilitating them. I've made several purchases since. After plugging in some numbers with the new index book, I'm starting to think I've overdone it as I'm well over 2000 points and haven't even added in the most expensive units.Yellow is tricky, but I learned a lot about painting it doing working on these guys.

This was supposed to be the start of a new project, but I've been seduced by 30k. Seeing Greg and Dallas assemble MK III models from the Prospero box (Greg should be receiving commission by now) I ordered a bunch of stuff from Ebay and decided to jump in. Ever resistant to change and preferring the status quo, I've opted for Imperial Fists. I figured another Loyalist Legion was needed and they would complement the Blood Drinkers Dallas has painted up for what may one day be a Battle of Terra game. Below is an unfinished test model.

Big Stompy Robots - 40K Battle Report

 

 

Last Thursday we decided to roll out some new models that hadn't yet been battle-tested - the Ork Stompa I finished last week, and the Imperial Knights that Conscript Greg and I painted last summer.

 

The game would be the culmination of the Rynn's World campaign we'd been playing for some time - the final assault by Thrugg Bullneck and his warband (along with the Stompa!) on the Imperial stronghold of New Rynn City, defended by Pedro Kantor's Crimson Fist Space Marines and two mighty Imperial Knights.



 

Space Marine Devastators take up position on the city walls. The scenario was simple - six objective markers placed on the battlefield, the forces lined up on the diagonal just like a beauty shot from the old White Dwarf :-)

The Orks fielded, in no particular order: two squadrons of two and three warbuggies; two Deff Dreads, a Flakka Dakka wagon; three mobs of 15 Boyz; a unit of 5 Kommandos; a Battlewagon with Killkannon, a unit of 10 Stormboyz, and finally, Thrugg himself in mega-armor with 5 mega-armored henchmen. Oh, and the Stompa.

The Imperials came out with three squads of Marines in Rhinos, a Predator, a Devastator squad, a Terminator squad, Scouts, an Assault squad, and Pedro. Plus two Imperial Knights -

 

The Blue Bomber...

and the famous "El Booze"!

The view from the Ork lines as the Imperials take the first turn.

El Booze and the Blue Bomber anchor the Imperial line.

Rhinos move up covered by the Knight.

Crimson Fist Devastators rained a hail of missiles down on the Orks.

The Blue Bomber wielded its Thermal Cannon to wicked effect. Melta strength + large blast = many dead Ork Stormboyz...

Conscript Frederick moves up the Flakk wagon.

After whittling down the Kommandos with Devastator fire, the Marines disembark to prepare for the assault. Dreadnought has had its powerfist knocked out.

Warbuggy on a suicide run at the Knight. "Can a vehicle with no weapons do anything?" "Sure, you can ram things..."

Aaaand this goes pretty much as expected...

One pile of slag.

After lighting up the Predator with its main gun, the Stompa gets to grips with the Knight. I was actually feeling pretty good about this.

Over on the other flank, things aren't going that well. The Deff Dread charges in only to be felled by Marine krak grenades before it can swing a power klaw.

The three remaining Terminators had leapt forth from their crater to charge Thrugg and his mega-armoured ladz, who themselves had disembarked their transport to try and get some attacks in on the nearby Knight. The Crimson Fists died to a man but took down all but Thrugg and his faithful lieutenant.

Unfortunately for the Orks, their ace in hole ended up as a smoking one. The Stompa whiffed on its first hit on the Bomber (rolling a "1" on the damage table)... the next turn, El Booze charged in and between it and the Bomber they beat the Stompa's azz into a shiny red pulp :-(

Some more gratuitous Imperial propaganda shots...

So while the Stompa went the way of all newly painted models, at least the Knights scored a massive kill on their debut by putting down the Stompa. We also realized what a poor matchup my Ork army is against Space Marines. I'd need a ton more Boyz, but I don't really feel like painting more figures. The list seems to match up much better against Imperial Guard... or in Rogue Trader games :-)

Anyway, it was fun and the fight for Rynn's World has been won by the forces of the Imperium. But I'm sure the Stompa will be back!

Ork Stompa!

Finally... the Ork Stompa that's been a work-in-progress for almost a year, is complete. As with most projects of this ilk, all it took was a block of time and a concerted effort to just get the bloody thing done.
 

The kit was built pretty much straight from the box, with a few exceptions. I cut off one of the horns to simulate some battle damage, and added a RT-era commander for the top crew hatch.

It's heavily armed as well, with an assortment of rockets and missiles to compliment the giant Gatling cannon...

Of course the model needed to be heavily weathered so I busted out nearly every technique in the toolbox. Washes, streaking, sponge chipping, drybrushing, mud stick, liquid Rust Effect and pigment powders all were used.

I rather enjoy the expression on this little fellow's face as he defiantly flips off the enemy.

Ha!

Ladder at the rear of the vehicle allows passengers to embark and alight.

Ol' Rusty.

Another little guy hanging from the power cable.

That's "Josork Goebbels" holding forth from the crow's nest.

The sheer size of the model becomes apparent when compared to some other 40K heavy hitters. That's a super-heavy Shadowsword tank in the foreground and an Imperial Knight beside the Stompa.

I really think we'll need to roll out the Reaver Titan to give the Stompa a real challenge...

Although I have more crew-orks to paint if I want to, I'm considering this model to be done for now. It was a pretty cool build but honestly I'm happy to see the back of it and get it on the table. The sheer amount of red paint it took was staggering - basecoating took most of the time in painting. Once it got to the weathering stage it was more enjoyable, but I think the sheer size and scale of the thing made it a little daunting from the fun perspective.

In any case, we can all look forward to its (undoubtedly disastrous) debut on the tabletop! 

Shout-Out to Kromlech and Meeplemart

Several weeks ago I was on a business trip to Toronto and stopped in at the new and improved Meeplemart. An unbelievable store - by all means try to get there if you're ever in the GTA.

Anyway, they carry a vast array of miniatures including the very cool Orks from Polish atelier Kromlech. So I took the opportunity to pick up their excellent Ork Pilot, a cool Field Chirurgeon (aka Painboy) and the Ork Operator and Goliath Mine (a pastiche of the German remote-controlled demolition vehicle from WW2).

Unfortunately the Goliath kit was missing its tracks, which I hadn't noticed until I got back home. So I emailed Kromlech and heard back from the boss, Artur Sek, who promised to send replacement parts.

Yesterday I got a tiny parcel from Kromlech in the mail, containing TWO sets of Goliath tracks and a bonus figure - a Gobbo Overseer!

So "bravo" to Kromlech for awesome customer service and to Meeplemart for carrying their stuff in the first place!