'Eadcracka Da Big Bad Savage Orc Boss

I had a brief look at the ETC lists a few weeks back and paid special attention to some Orc & Gobbo lists. Keeping in mind that armies are only 2400 pts, I noticed that a few of the lists had a Savage Orc Big Boss with BSB.

This intrigued me a bit as I always had a different philosophy when it came to the BSB. Keep him cheap and keep him away from the fighting lines - hence I had a Goblin Big Boss waving the BSB and packed a great weapon. That was it.

So I thought about the pros and cons of having a Savage Orc BSB

PROS
- as long as he's with the Great Shaman and the Shrunken Head, he has a 5+ ward save. No need to spend extra points on a ward.
- he can pack a punch in combat.
- adds the vital +1 for having a BSB for combat resolution.
- Nice model.

CONS
- points wise in-game, pricey - compared to the Gobbo BSB. Less points to spend elsewhere.
- GW has no Savage Orc BSB model. So will have to convert one, meaning $$$.

In the end, I convinced myself that he was worth having a go, spend a few bucks on converting one up and trying in a few games.

The Savage Orc Big Boss plastic kit was obviously a great place to start. I just needed to scrounge around my bits box to see what I could find to use as my new BSB.

As you can see from the pics above, I cut off the massive stone axe and replaced it with the banner that came from the Doomwheel. In case you were wondering, I had a Doomwheel converted up to have Snotlings all over it and would be used as a Pump Wagon. However, the model didn't survive when I accidentally dropped my laptop on top of it.

Rummaging around the bits box even more, I scored myself an Orc totem from the Boar Boyz box set. After playing around with some other parts and changing angles, I decided it would be best if I kept the banner relatively simple.

Realising that the pole simply wouldn't stick to the shaft of the axe with glue alone, I drilled a small hole onto both ends and would pin the two together. Once it was dry, I used some grey stuff to cover up the pin and played around with the putty to make it look like wood.

I stuck with the same method of painting Orc & Gobbo skin - base with Orkhide Shade, highlight with Snot Green, highlight with a mix of Snot Green and Bleached Bone.

The interesting part was getting to the banner itself. Because I had the Orc totem at the top of the banner, I felt I didn't need to paint up an Orc glyph on the banner itself. Instead, I thought I would do my best to tie in the black and white checkered theme.

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Finally, I painted up the tattoos using Macharius Solar orange - then DONE!

The Mortis Engine Project

One of my club mates asked me if I was keen on painting up his Mortis Engine a couple of weeks ago. Problem was, he had already fully assembled the darn thing, making it hard to reach certain parts of the model. I asked him what kind of colour scheme he was after, but he wasn't too picky.

So here I was, looking at this beautiful model, with the freedom to paint it whichever way I liked.

Challenge accepted.

I had a few images swirling in my head about how I wanted to paint the Ethereal parts. Owning my own Vampire Counts army, I've always envisioned a ghostly theme, but unfortunately, none of them are painted. Could this be what motivates me to finally put some paint on the hordes of undead? Maybe...

I remember going through one copy of White Dwarf when the VC book just came out and really liked the painting scheme the Mortis Engine got.

I started off with the lower Ethereal parts of the model.

I gave it a layer of watered down Astronomican Grey. I didn't bother adding several thin layers to most of the area, just the parts which was showing too much of the black basecoat.

The next part, I decided to paint up the metal parts of the skeleton riders' armour and the bone areas of the skeletons themselves.

Next, I got some Ice Blue and watered the hell out of it. Adding a bit of the blue wash (can't remember the name of it) added a bit more colour and diluted the ice blue a lot better than pure water. I applied it to the entire area, making sure to cover every part evenly, otherwise some parts would be darker or lighter than others.

It took awhile to dry, but when it was, I drybrushed over the area with some Fortress Grey.

I also decided to paint the flying Wraiths after I had painted the Engine itself.

I went over it with Bleached Bone then gave it a liberal wash of Devlan Mud (may Devlan Mud R.I.P.)

This was followed by another layer of Bleached Bone thinned with water, followed by a drybrush with Skull White.

To make the flames stand out a little, I decided to paint them green. Based it off with Dark Angels green, then added Snot Green and more Scorpion with each progressive layer.

Once I was happy with the Engine parts, it was time to paint the Wraiths.

As for the Necromancer, I painted his cloak with a basecoat of  Scorched Brown, then went over it with Devlan Mud. I followed it up with another layer of Scorched Brown. On the lower parts of the Necromancers cloak, I drybrushed a bit of Dark Angels Green to add the look of mould and grime.

And finally, the finished product. All in all, I was very happy with my first attempt at something not Orcs & Goblins or Empire.