'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!