Imperials vs Orks - A tale of four painters

[Fle]

Hi all and welcome to our PLOG. Over the next couple of months myself and three friends will be documenting our attempt to create four 1000 point armies for the new edition of 40k. The plan is to eventually expand the armies beyond 1000 points but to begin with we want to focus our efforts on achieving a fully painted and based 1000 point army.

My friends will be along shortly to introduce themselves and their armies, but it falls to me to kick things off. I plan to build a 1000 point Sons of Orar 2nd Company army using the following 1000 point army list :-

Captain
2 x 10 man tactical squads
2 x Razorbacks
1 x Dreadnaught
1 x Predator

I've built and painted a test model, what do you think?



And I've started work on the first tactical squad "Tactical Squad Capaneus"

Brother Sergeant Capaneus is arguably the most skilled swordsman in the 2nd Company, although some maintain that this honour belongs to Brother Hecaterus, the 2nd's Company Champion. Where Hecaterus is noble, wise and well loved, Capaneus is spiteful and bitter, but no less deadly for it. Indeed it is told that his skill with the sword is matched only by his own arrogance. If it were not for Capaneus' deriding attitude it is likely he would now be fighting alongside the honoured veterans in the Second Company Command Squad, an observation that continues to sting Capaneus like a thorn in his side. Capaneus is well aware of the contempt in which many of his brothers regard him and it is perhaps in spite of this that Capaneus continues to lead his squad with an air of superiority and disdain. In truth it cannot be denied that Capaneus is a gifted warrior and leader, and his squad is often called upon to spearhead the most brutal and deadly of missions.






As you can see I've mixed some Forgeworld MKIV armour in there as I've noticed the Sons of Orar seem to favour this mark. (Sorry one of the pics is upside down d'oh)

And as a final pic for this post, here's a sneak peak of a space marine objective marker I've been working on, built using one of the space marine casualty models and a some recycled bits from an old space marine standard bearer. I quite like the bullet holes in the banner which are inspired by the "Dawn of War" PC game intro video I took two pictures with and without the flash as I wasn't sure if the pictures above were too dark or not? Oh I've just noticed the banner looks 'wonky'. That's because it's only blu tac'd on and had come loose whilst I was taking the photo (d'oh again)




That's it from me for now, hopefully my Imperial ally and my Orkish nemesis's's will be along with some of their own progress soon

[Fle]

Hi again. Well today I managed to finish the sergeant from one of my tactical squads. The power fist effect is inspired by a fellow called Ravendove who has his own Sons of Orar painting log on another forum (just google him if you want to see his fantastic Sons of Orar army)




And, during the England v Sweden match I was also struck by an idea for a conversion to represent Sergeant Capaneus. Here is a WIP of a model held together by blu tac. I have cut some assault marine legs up and I will attempt to green stuff in a new hip.

[Mega Nutz]

Sweet looking pose!

[Tarsus]

My turn now. I'm going to the other imperial player, I'm building an IG drop troop list using the rules from IA8.

Most of the tanks and fliers will be converted or scratch built and all the infantry will be heavily converted from cadian plastics.

For my first 1000 points I will be making-

Tauros command vehicle
Storm troopers
Drop sentinels
Infantry platoon 35 men
Observation team 10 men
2 demolition tanks
Vulture

So far I have just been building test models to see how easy certain techniques are to replicate. The only one I've fI usher so far is for the veteran squad with camo cloaks



I'm thinking about black armour and grey/brown clothing with a grey and brown cloak.

The drop troops will be similar to this with grav chutes instead of cloaks and a different head, although I'm still undecided on what heads to use.

Let me know what you think.

[Fle]

Phew, my imperial ally has arrived

Well work continues on my first tactical squad "Tactical Squad Capaneus". I have to say I really like the Forgeworld mkIV space marines.

[Tarsus]

They look a bit skinnier than the regular ones, or us that just the angle of the photo?

[Fle]

The legs may be a tiny teeny bit skinnier than the normal marine legs near the ankle. Because of the position of the legs the marines actually stand a bit taller too, so the two mk IV marines are actually a bit taller than the sergeant.

[TeldurUK]

I'll arrive into this thread in true...Ork-like style:

Ahem...

WAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Alright, so first things first...I'm one of the Ork players mentioned further up in the post. It's my job to batter the well organised (and painted) Imperial forces in true greenskin style. I'm sadly not too great with a paint brush, so I'm hopeing this log will help me further my painting skills. (Fingers crossed, eh?)

My army list isn't completely finished, but it's going to look something like this...

Warboss
Big Mek
Unit of Orks in a Trukk (x2)
6x Nobz in a Trukk
10x Stormboyz
Deff-Dread
Burna-Bomber

I'm going to take a guess that some of you maybe thinking...hold on...this guy hasn't got nearly enough Orks in his army!!! Now I'm not going to argue, you're probably right. While I love the humour, units and rules of the Orks I really dislike having tons of models. Also, because I rarely pick up a paintbrush the thought of painting a multitude of models makes me shudder. I may find after one battle that I'll need to go straight back to the drawing board with my list, but for now I'm going to give a more Elite-ish army a go, and see what happens.

I decided to start by doing the basics on some run-of-the-mill Orks. Again, due to some confidence issues with a paintbrush you may find my army will have all the basic colours and washes done first before I start on any details.

Enough typing, how are they looking?







I'm pretty happy with how they are looking so far. The skin hasn't turned out to be quite as bright as I'd have liked, so I plan to rectify this by dry-brushing a brighter green over them. I've used a fair amount of Nuln Oil on the weapons to attempt to make them look more worn, although in the later stages of painting I hope to make them look more knackered.

Similar to the other guys I've put together an objective for my army. Ladies and Gents, I give you Gurwaka...

Some say he once crushed a Hive Tyrant's head with just the palms of his hands,
Some say he killed a unit of Guardsmen with a single fart,
Some say he's one of the most under-appreciated Orks in the galaxy...

Some say all those comments are complete *******s...and regardless of all of the above...he's now got a power sword in him.





While my Warboss doesn't care for the outcome of a single Ork, he does have a thing for items he could use to kill humies with, and that sword looks really shiny.

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed this first post. I've written up more fluff for some of the other units in my army which I'll share when I get round to them. I didn't really write anything for this unit because let's face it...

...this motley crew have just been thrown onto a Trukk together and are being sent straight to the incoming Imperial forces...

[Tarsus]

The skin tone is very muted, try mixing a little bit of yellow into the top layer of highlights. Looking good so far, I think those few models are the most I've ever seen you paint.

[TeldurUK]

I think those few models are the most I've ever seen you paint.

So very VERY true!! haha

[Fle]

He is on a roll now, last night he came round mine and picked up another squad of boyz! I have a sneaky suspicion Teldur will finish painting his 1000 points before any of the rest of us.

The green looks good in real life, the pictures don't really do it justice. They look espcially good in a full unit. Also the metal weapons look nice too, I like how you have managed to get the worn and not very well maintained look to them.

One thing I will suggest though is that you get them based before you start the next squad otherwise you will never get back round to doing it.

Keep up the good work Teldur!

[Tarsus]

Just finished painting my test model for my veteran squad.



There's a few marks I need to deal with, on the base and the inside of the cloak that I didn't even know we're there until I took the photo. His cloak is just plain green for now, I haven't decided if I'm going to put a pattern on it yet.

So what do you think?

[Fle]

He has turned out really good. I really like the colour scheme you have chosen. Also the gun is epic.

[Tarsus]

Update!

I just wanted to share a test model for my Tauros conversions. I'm going to add a small amount of panelling to the back around the gun mount and a roll cage over the drivers area. Ignore the old paint marks.



It's the same width as the proper Tauros but about an inch shorter but the gunner will be hanging of the back so that should add a bit to it.

[TeldurUK]

He's looking awesome dude!! Loving the paint scheme.

Also, those guns from the forgeworld drop troops are ace.

[TeldurUK]

Well, sadly I've not had any spare time to paint since my last update (although, as Fle quite rightly pointed out, I have picked up more Orks to paint).

However, to keep myself posting/updating..I thought I'd share these images with you... Say hello, to the 'Neck Crushers'







No before you ask, I didn't paint these chaps...altho I wish I did! They were expertly painted by Fle sometime ago, but I've managed to draft them into my Ork army! I've used these Nobz before, hence this tale...

While it isn't uncommon for some orks to display odd personalities, it is rare to find a small group of orks who work well
together as a team (a term not found in ork culture). However, the Neckcrushers buck the regular ork squad mentality.

The Neckcrushers are 5 Nobz who one day got left behind on Toof's planet. Since then they've fought for Kruze's warband. War
veterans who love nothing more than a good ole fight. Rumour has it they once fought alongside the legendary Ghazghkull, but I
doubt that'll ever be comfirmed.

Who's Kruze, you maybe wondering... All shall be revealed (at some stage in the not so distant future).

For now tho, 3 cheers for Fle!

[Tarsus]

He's looking awesome dude!! Loving the paint scheme.

Also, those guns from the forgeworld drop troops are ace.

That gun is a conversion from the regular plastic one, but I have based it loosely on the Elysian rifle.

I've done a but more work on the Tauros, it's no where near finished yet but it's looking a lot better now.

[TeldurUK]

Ahhh, in that case..an awesome rifle conversion! The Tauros is looking really cool as well. How many you planning on fielding in 1000pts? Have you read about the new stuff in the upcoming rule changes btw?

[gonzosbignose]

Firstly... its charming to see a tale carried out amongst friends. I will keep my eye on this one and look forward to seeing it develop.

But...

1) only three updates so far... who is your fourth?

2) take some time to all introduce yourselves, where you are from, how long you have been playing and how you all know each other.

3) keep up the great updates..

regards

My name is Daniel and i am a wargamer

[TeldurUK]

Hi Daniel!

Thanks for your comments, and hope you enjoy the painting log.

I'm Dave. Pleased to meet you. I'm from Crewe, which is not too far from Manchester.

I've been playing Warhammer/40k for a fair amount of years now (I honesty, couldn't hazard a guess at an exact length of time). More recently have also had a go at Warmachine. While I really enjoy building and battling with various different armies (Fantasy and 40k) I sadly usually shy away from painting anything (hence my involvment in this blog, could I...one day...field a painted army?!).

While I'm currently collecting Orks I've also got a reasonably sized Imperial Guard army. The last army I collected were Grey Knights. Originally I used to play as Dwarfs for Fantasy, but I've started to collect an Empire army. For Warmachine I've got a Khador army.

Fle has been a friend of mine since childhood (he's never been able to get rid of me) while Tarsus I met through Fle when the two met at university. The fourth 'mysterious' guy is another Ork player, who'll hopefully introduce himself at some stage in the near future!

Outside of this topic I'm a keen freelance games journalist in my spare time (of which with painting, is very little). My actual job is far less interesting, but pays the bills and funds stuff like this!