From MartinN: Kev Adams Orcs (10 points)

For various reasons I've not found much time for painting lately, so you've got to contend with these two fellows down here for the time being.

These two fine specimens of the Orc race were gifted to me by a friend during one of our semi-regular painting meet ups. I've never had much track with Fantasy, but still I've always had a soft spot for the older, more cartoony Orcs of the late 80's, early 90's. So I had a blast painting up these two fine fellows. I might even have a little look-see if I can acquire some more, who knows?

Figures are sculpted by Kev Adams and available through Ral Partha. The backdrop is available from Handiwork Games and I can only recommend you giving them a try. 

Points wise I'm pretty sure we're looking squarely at a grand total of 10 points.

***

Once more Nick you grace us with a combo of hobby nostalgia and stunning brush work! The posture and proportions of these figures just shout "1990s!" to me, and these renditions look truly stunning here. While they are proper "green", the variations on the skin tone near the eblows, knuckles etc. are amazing! And the "piece de resistance" has to be the checkerboard patterns on the red shields - it just sets the whole thing off! Brilliant work Nick! I'm sure I am not the only Challenger who hopes you will find your way to acquiring a few more of these and painting them up!

GregB

From MartinN: Orc and Orcling (10 points.)

A couple of friends and I spent the last few days together painting miniatures and talking rubbish. A great time was had and as a result of this I came home with something a little unusual for me: An Orc. I'm not quite sure if it's an official GW miniature or not, but it was great fun to paint anyway. 

Roman Lanciarii in for a nasty surprise

For these I claim 5 points for a single 28mm miniature while I'd rate the Orcling as a 15mm miniature for an additional 2 points.

***

Well, that is one crazy-looking Orc you have here Nick! As ever, your brushwork really sets the standard. Quite right...those Lanciarii are in for a rather terrible day at the office, I expect. 

I like to consider myself an old grognard and afficianado of older GW castings, but I cannot say I recognize the provenance of this chap. He certainly has the LOOK of a big scary GW orc...perhaps a Challenger will recognize the casting and its origins.

Just incredible painting as usual Nick. I'm adding three bonus points for the checker pattern on the weapons. Because that is extra awesome and you get to do that kind of thing when you are the minion. 

GregB

From DallasE: Victoria Lamb 40K Commissar and GW Ork Kommando (10 points)

Two quick models for this week as I didn't realize the "Empire" theme posts won't go up until next week. These are a female commissar from Victoria Lamb and a converted Warhammer 40K Ork Kommando.

Standoff!

This is a vary nice resin figure from Victoria Lamb, it was an Adepticon special from some years ago and I really wanted to paint one for my old Squat army. I was surprised when I opened the blister to find that the model is actually 3D printed, not cast resin - there were a couple supports that weren't entirely removed that gave it away. Still a very nice model, I painted it using the site's painted model as a reference.

The Ork Kommando is a metal model from GW. He was originally wielding a power axe in his right hand but that broke off (as they do) and since I already had this same model in the Kommando unit, I substituted a much sturdier chainsword as the close combat weapon.

I just love the gear on the Kommandos. I painted his pants in the army's uniform camo pattern and added the red star insignia.

Check out the Swiss army knife on his belt. The Perry Twins really did a great job sculpting these Kommandos, they're among my favourite GW Orks.
 

That's two 28mm infantry models - 10 points.

Really nice work on these two figures.  Love the lipstick on the Commissar and that oaky Swiss army knife.Ten points duly noted.

From AaronH - 10mm Epic Warpath Marauder walkers (12 Points)

This entry is just two 10mm Marauder walkers. These are for Mantic Games' Epic Warpath game, which seems like it will be a lot of fun. I backed their Kickstarter and got the Marauder and GCPS armies (Orks and Imperial Guard). 

There's a lot of detail on these for 10mm. They are plastic off a sprue.

These are mostly just yellow and metallic. I hit the visors in blue and they have a wash and some highlighting. Quick and easy but that's what you need when you are painting a whole army of 10mm.

The back view. These are three part models; body and two arms. The only real way to get variation is by how you glue on the arms.

There are six of these in the starter army. For no reason other than head cannon and variety I'm doing three clans. Yellow, red and blue. 

I really like the character of these models. Some of the lines in this system don't appeal to me, Asterians for example, but these guys are pretty awesome.

This is 2 x 10mm vehicles for 12 points.

___________________________________

This also hits the Big Stompy Robots side challenge for an additional 2 points

14 points total.

___________________________________

Fabulous work on these mobile suits/robots, Aaron. The yellow is wonderfully punchy, which is what you need for these smaller models. Epic stuff is so awesome, no matter what the setting or period - it just looks cool. I hope we get to see more from this force from you in the coming months.

- Curt

From PeterB: 2nd Edition Spam and Orks - 145 points

The mission to recreate an experience from the 90's continues. I am abandoning the library stacks for the week and just concentrating on painting some models. Some nice primary colours on some nice repetitive units. So, firstly I present to you 20 Goff Orks from the 2nd Edition starter box set. A close friend donated most of these to the cause. He had a large stash of them hidden in his loft and was quite willing to let me have a bag full. (Handed over to me in a plastic carrier bag at a wargame show last year like some underhand deal.) I am still keeping a good eye on ebay for an old style dreadnought but to no avail (I did used to own one but sold it to buy more Space Marines). So for now I have custom made my own base out of a slotta base and some sprue cut offs and printed out a replica of the original starter set cardboard dread.

Next up are some Terminators I rescued from my collection.(Or for their full title, Space Marines in Tactical Dreadnought Terminator Armour) I have spent a big chunk of this week stripping off multiple layers of paint off old models in my collection instead of painting. In the previous millennium I would paint models as quickly as possible to get them on the table to play, so my painting quality was terrible. I would change my mind on a paint job and just paint over it. So, these models had a good thick layer on them and had lost a lot of detail. These models definitely needed a strip and a repaint.

I had forgotten how skulltatstic all these models are, at final count the sergeant has sixteen skulls on him if you are including the four atop his banner pole. (One either side in the middle and one either end).

Finally some tactical marines and an Apothecary. I had to strip these as well and rebuild them. These metal models had plastic arms glued to them from later kits that I had added to make them match the look of my later plastic Space Marines. Luckily I never throw out any spare bits and so had a good delve through my Space Marine bits box and fitted them out with proper old school backpacks, arms and weapons to give them that old school back cover image of 2nd Edition rulebook look.

Scores on the doors (I will endeavour to actually get it right this week)

20 x 28mm Orks. 20 x 5 = 100

5 x 28mm Terminators 5 x 5 = 25

4 x 28mm Spam 4 x 5 = 20

Total = 145 points

Ha, seeing the word spam in the title I didn't really know what to expect, Peter... and it still took me a minute to discover what you meant by spam! However, needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. There is a special charm to these retro models, and you have certainly done them proud. I must say though, that I admire your determination in getting these ready (again) for the tabletop! A very fine job. I agree with your score total for your entry, earning you another 145 points.

Martijn

From ThomasG: Green Orks and a Pretty Pink Princess (30 points)

Welcome back one and all to the tales of Tom and all things orruks, orks and uruks! Although not intending to turn my entries this year in to a gallery of the brutish denizens of the fantasy world, I can't tell you just how much fun I'm having with them; and to kick things off this week, I've returned to GREEN for my orks, and as you can see below, some more green and a dash of pink to tantalise the senses.

As the companion to Zoggrok Anvilsmasha (last weeks smashing success) this here squig (short for squiggly beast) is my moment of artistic freedom, having made it here with muted and earthy skin tones, now we can see my madness in full colourful panoply.

 

As a rule, all of my squigs end up pink, mostly as that is the most contrasting colour to green according to my colour wheel, but also because my 3 daughters think it is hilarious. My son however, he's not so sold on the matter, so instead tells me they look like bubblegum bubbles, which only serves to spur me on! 

 

The squig was initially a tricky model to decide l decipher as the large areas of skin, juxtaposed with the scales made of a harder substance, were not easy to texture right. But with a few different applications of painting styles the results speak for themselves! Pow, pretty and pink... well one of the two anyway. 

Next we come to some, as we younger sort like to say, "OG" Orks! These boyz are green, mean and like to eat beans... I guess, I'm not sure it just sounded better than lean, which they certainly are not. These 5 boyz are part of a larger squad of 20 which are taking me far too long to paint up, especially as these guys get me to the half way point in the unit that I bought this time last year! 

They are painted up to be part of the Bad Moon Klan of orks from Warhammer 40k, which is denoted by the yellow detailing, and are joining an army of pure hobby love. Back in 1999 I bought my first models in Harlow, Essex at a shop called Marquee Models, and they were then called "Space Orks". Not a lot has changed in their design since then, which only makes me love revisiting this army all the sweeter. 

Individually they have their differences, and they are by no means competition pieces, but I have such a love for these little fellas, I can't help but put in a dash more effort than I do for other troops. Please enjoy their close-ups, and think up some particularly orky names as you go through. 

There is an additional theme I have for the army; all of the braces are bright red to represent my love for 2-tone ska and they each wear a blue fancy as orks believe blue brings good luck. The bases have a bright green covered in a cracking medium to give the feeling their raw orkish WAAAGH! energy is breaking up out of the ground. 

And here we are, at the end of all things green this week. This coming Thursday (25th) is my 37th birthday, and have been lucky enough to be able to pick my presents this year, as such I've got 13 more orruks to join my growing force, represented by my first two posts, and 1 ginormous boar-like creature the size of a tank! I can't wait to share those with you all. 

     

Now, George Daws, what are the scores! 

6x28mm = 30pts

Total = 30pts

Thank you all for reading, and I'll catch you next time. 

Tom.

Waaagh! As a Tolkien purist, I am not necessarily fond of green skins, but I suppose they can be forgiven on space thingies and besides your greenskins look fabulous! That bubble gum squig is quite adorable too, though I fathom that petting it might not be the brightest idea. I look forward to the boarish one! Very well done, Tom, 30 points it is.

From BartekR: WAAARGH Orks: The Goff, The Bad (Moon) and the Ugly (Overduez and Returnz) (35 pointz)

Despite best intentions, another close-to-deadline danger zone first entry. (Hey AHPC XV! looking at you, third times the charm!). Just a lot of busy going around (mostly work), but its great to be back for another year.

With my main intended project for this challenge nowhere near undercoated, what was i to do? The answer - digging into my very own overdue and returns box - holding those figures that never quite make it up the paint queue but havent gotten around to getting rid of. 

Thus I bring you three (space) Orks from Warhammer 40K: The Goff, The Bad (Moon) and the Ugly (Blood Axe).  Obviously all three are the same miniature, taken from 40K's 5th edition (?) starter box. Since i never owned that, I assume they belonged to my brother or came in a lot sale. And they have been gathering dust for a few good months having been used as experimental dollies for 'slapchop' undercoating, with the intention of testing Speedpaints/Contrast etc on them (yet more overdue).

A Goff, Blood Axe and Bad Moon walk into a bar...

Since they're all same figure (aside from my having cut off the topknot on one for a bit of variety), the question was how to paint them - all three as the same scheme (which would have been kinda boring but faster) or something more creative. Inspiration hit when flipping through one of the trilogy of GW 1st ed 40K Ork sourcebooks, 1990s WAAARGH Orks (this was in the days of 40K lore when greenskins ate but were not, I'm pretty sure, fungus). 

 Authored by Nigel Stillman and Bryan Ansell, WAAARGH is a pure fluff sourcebook - no rules, no army lists, no stats (these were covered in 'Ere We Go: Orks in Warhammer 40,000 - a game sourcebook - and Freebooterz, which contained army lists). Aside from explaining every bot of Ork society and culture, it also contains some fantastic artwork for different Ork clans, because Orks have clanz, and castes. So, lets introduce these fun guyz...fungis...boyz, with some self-commentary on the painting. 

The Goff

I've named him Carl McCoy. The most militaristic of the orks, they favour black clothes (the name gives it away?), with red and black/white chequered decoration ubiquitous to GW orks. They also bring in German military and biker vibes (they have a unit called the Stormboyz, and wear coalscuttle helmets), not evident on this fig.

I couldn't not try it and turned out quite well, if i say so myself, for a impetuous attempt at freehand (and after a couple of glasses of adult beverage to boot). After using an Artline 0.3 pen to draw the lines, filled in the black then white, and didn't fuss too much about precision given these guys wouldn't be OCD about getting things between the lines. Equally happy with how the pitted and worn red on the body armour plates turned out - inspired more in my mind's eye by Firefly Reaver ships than anything 40K.

The Bad Moon...rising

The Bad Moon clan are rich, mercantile traders (I guess in a particular Ork way), and wear lots of yellow. 

Yellow is a colour i have been hit and miss with - seemed to work out this time: Citadel 'FlashGitz' yellow base, light wash of Citadel earthshade followed by Citadel's yellow wash, then army painter Moon Dust (a pale yellow) for highlights. Armour given a bit of a earthshade wash to give it a yellowish tone. The red face paint/tattoo is straight from one of pics in WAAARGH (though I'd been loking at this guy and wondering what was missing, when i realised I'd painted it on the Goff instead - quick redo was in order). Lastly, the striped pants - a tribute to David Lee Roth and Iron Maiden's lycra years.

The Blood Axe

In this lore the Blood Axes were almost wiped out in the internecine and genocidal 'Da Big Party', and - being weakened - were willing to receive covert indirect support from the Imperium. Result - human military style influence - they wear combat helmets, fatigues and forage caps. Thus the cam outfit - it came out alright but a bit disappointed as had a decent tigerstripe going before hitting it with a Citadel shade which washed it out in green tones. Just not as black/white tigerstripey as before - gotta love a good tiger stripe cam.

 

Paints used: A mix, as usual. Citadel Contrast and layer paints, Citadel Shades, Army Painter Warpaints and Speedpaint 2, Vallejo Metal color airbrush colours which are amazing, but need a lot of control when applied by brush because they flow like crazy.    

A postscript: AOver three decades ago, in the days of 40K 1st ed (Rogue Trader!), I was an Imperial Guard player: structured hierarchy, shiny helmets, lasgun pennants, flak armour or breastplates...they used s's, had Commissars (and Commisar Training Squads...and the more sketchy 'human bombs') in their orbat. Pure antithesis to Orks, so I definitely never got into the whole "Orky" thing. Thirty years on I am starting to see the appeal, of the minis at least...green chaos in plastic. 

Points

3x 28mm @5pts each = 15 pts

'Overdue and returns' library bonus = 20 pts

Total = 35 pts (and only 965 to go to target!)

From Millsy: Welcome back Bartek! Great to see you make the cut in 2024 and with a wonderful trio of greenskins to start. I don't typically like remakes of my favourite films but I would pay to see this one.

Speaking of green skin, I love what you've done with the flesh tones on these chaps, lots of depth without being too bright. That leaves room for some bright clothing and other adornments to really make these orky boys pop.

From JimG: Ork Trukk, Overdues and Returns (50 points)

Hey there! Long time listener; first-time caller. 

My first post for the challenge is one of the most long suffering models in my backlog: the humble Ork Trukk. I've had this kit for at least 8 years.

I haven't played a game yet of 10th Edition, but here we are with a model so coveted in the current meta that you can't find them online. Clearly, painting this thing is far overdue.

There are plenty more Orks to paint in the backlog that will involve significant kitbashing, so I decided this one should stay basic. I've swapped the heads out on driver and gunner, but otherwise everything is stock.

As a former librarian and current professor, I definitely dig the whole library challenge this year. Who knows, I might even find an orangutan in my pile to paint up...

POINTS:

28mm Vehicle = 20 points 

Overdues and Returns = 20 points 

Total = 40 points

________________________________________

Welcome to the Challenge Jim! 

Your opening entry is a doozy! What a magnificently shambolic Ork Trukk. There is so much to like with this model, especially your work on all the various details and the overall weathering. I'm also quite impressed with your apocalyptic backdrop and photography - it really sets the scene for the vehicle and its loonatic crew. 

I'm going to give you a few extra points for the driver, gunner and sheer size of the model.

Terrific work!

- Curt

From MIkeW: 28mm Apocalypse Survivors, Renaissance Foot & Horse plus 40k Orks (321 Points)

Left over from last week, as I ran out of time to complete and a batch of 3D 28mm Renaissance Cavalry, these are nominally Spanish but I have repurposed them to be able to be used as any nationality by swapping out the standard. A common trick I use to reduce the number of figures required to stave various battle scenarios.

Finally completed the Renaissance Spanish Cavalry

These figures were supplied with the riders and horses as one piece with their right arms separate to be glue din place using super glue. Assembly was simple - although two horses arrived with broken legs, one could be fixed the second is missing its lower leg but I have tried to disguise this by appropriate scenics on the base.

These are D printed with a huge amount of detail, best of all reasonably priced

All figures were given a lances lowered stance, except for the officer that had a sword hand from the spares box added and the standard bearer who simply has the lance pointing upwards.

Another view

Figures came without bases but were glued to appropriate cavalry bases and then undercoated white before various horse flesh colours were applied, followed by the horses' leatherwork and furniture. The riders were 'dressed' with various colours and Oily Steel was used for armour, then washed in watered down Dark Tone ink. Other appropriate ink washes were applied to horses and riders before the figures were bases with Sand, electrostatic grass and various tufts.

Close-up of the Standard Bearer, flag is a generic cavalry standard from the period,
taken from the internet and recreated in Windows Paint.

Next is a group of ten 28mm Apocalypse Survivors, these are from a frame of plastic 28mm Warlord Games figures (ex Wargames Factory), built with the aim to provide some additional opposition to the Zombie Horde that I created during last year's challenge.

A motley group of Warlord Games survivors

I'm a little disappointed with the build of some of these figures, maybe its my fault but I found issues with the interchangeability of the arms and heads on these guys and this left a couple of the models looking a little 'odd'. 

Left to right: A guy with two pistols, a juvenile with an Uzi
and an office worker with a crowbar.

That said, I'm reasonably pleased with the paint jobs on these guys, you'll note that they are all male survivors. All figures were sprayed white from a rattle can to undercoat, and the 'dressed' according to my whim. I have a frame of female survivors to work on next and these will hopefully provide me with a number of figures to 'power' Sarah's Limo around the Cinema Lots in coming posts!

Two more survivors, left a 'Matrix' like guy with a long leather coat and pistol
and right a gangster or government agent with an M16 

The weapons available on the frame were pretty limited, so the group is a motley bunch of nine adults and a juvenile. Six of the guys have firearms whilst the remainder have a selection of 'ad hoc' weapons. Of this smaller group I particularly like the guy with the chainsaw and the Office Worker with a crowbar and rather randomly a bow and arrows! 

Guy with Chainsaw and a 'Dad' with a baseball bat

The Cricketer, carrying a Bat & Molitov Cocktail, is one of the figures that I'm not overly happy with the pose it has, similarly with the 'Dad' figure carrying a Baseball Bat, the arm joints at the shoulders is not a great fit.

Final group, left a guy in combat trousers and tee-shirt with an automatic rifle, centre the cricketer with a Molotov cocktail and right a cop with an M16

Of the armed group, we have a guy in a long black leather coat, carrying a pistol, a mafia or maybe Government Operative in a grey suit carrying an M16 Rifle, both pretty nice figures in my opinion. I did a policeman, again with an M6 and a holstered pistol plus a juvenile and another guy both with some type automatic weapon. Finally there is a guy with two automatic pistols and wearing jeans and an orange vest. Unfortunately on this figure the right arm/shoulder joint isn't that great. 

The bases on these figures are simply painted grey to represent concrete, black lines added to show the cracks between the slabs and then a wash of sepia ink is run along each black line to indicate dirt. When dry I varnish and sprinkle a mix of grey and black flock to represent detritus on the uncleaned streets and finally a few small tufts of grass between the paving slabs to further drive home the uncared for look of a post apocalypse city!

Then we get on to the Orks! Part of the reason I ran out of time on the Spanish Horse was due to having two batches of Orks on the go, they're just such fun to paint. So this is actually two batches that have merged together to be completed this week, 18 figures in all.

The Warboss 'Goldtooth', named for obvious reasons.

There are 10 x Boyz almost all with Choppa and hand Blasta, plus 5 Boyz with Heavier Blasta plus 2 new Grechin and a mighty Warboss.

Two Grechin to add to the army

I won't go through the painting methodology of these guys as I've described elsewhere, I'll leave you with the photos and commentary to see what I have done with these figures. By some fluke I have a number (4) of Ork Heads in this batch that have all got scars on them, so I have painted this regular (pinkish) flesh colour and then run over this with a line of red ink, to make it slightly more vivid than their lips.

Five Ork Boyz with Heavy Blastas

The gretchin with the sword is clearly cut out to be some kind of leader, he is an old metal figure and I gave him distinctive red hair for the fun of it.

Five Boyz with Choppa and Hand Blasta

And another Five Boyz with Choppa and Hand Blasta

All of the new batch together

And maybe a slightly better view

Finally the two Boyz with skulls on their Choppas for this week's Side Duel

Last but not least we have a group of 13 (unlucky for some) Landsknechts, six pikemen, 4 two handed swordsmen, two more handgunners and a crossbowman. Seemingly a random lot but really I wanted to add 2 handgunner's to last week's batch - allowing me to field these are 2 x 6 figure wings to a pike block. Additionally I wanted to add another rank of pikemen to a pike block of 20 figures I completed last May, see <here>. Then I just wanted to see what the Two Handed swordsmen would look like, deployed in a forlorn hope in front of the pike block, chopping away enemy pike heads as they advance. The crossbowman was just for good measure and again to see what it looked like.

Thirteen completed this week Landsknechts

Painting technique was exactly as described last week, adapted for crossbowman and swordsmen. The two handed swordsmen, musketeers & handgunners come in only two poses, albeit you can swap arms and heads about to your whim. Again I'm pleased with the results.

Two Handgunners plus a Crossbowman

with a rear view!

Four Two-Handed Swordsmen

and their rear view...

Six Pikemen, five of these are Warlord Games figures,
one is a Wargames Atlantic Conquistador, pressed into German Service!!

Wargames Atlantic figure is front right

Why am I showing the rear of all these guys?

Here is a photo of the new 25 man pike block, with flanking handgunners and wo handed swordsmen out front.

My first completed pike block and supporting arms,
I'm now thinking that I need to increase the hand gunner wings to eight figures each

Another view, bulk of the pike men were panted earlier in the year
but supplemented by this week's and last weeks Landsknecht figures

Final view

So to the points tally, bit of a points bomb today...

... Next week more Orks, hopefully a Marian Wars Scots Pike block and some more survivors - fingers crossed!

POINTS

10 x 28mm Renaissance Horse  @10Pts ea                        100 Points

10 x 28mm Survivors                  @ 5 Pts ea                        50 Points

18 x 40k Orks & Grechin            @ 5 Pts ea                        90 Points

13 x Landsknecht                         @ 5 Pts ea                        65 Points

TOTAL                                                                                305 Points

SIDE DUELS

+1 Squirrel Point

+165 Codpiece & Feather Points Assuming I can count the Cavalry in this section!

+2  Skull Points

From TeemuL: This definitely counts as a points bomb, lots of points from four different sources. Is that a points grape bomb then? The Landsknecht look very good and I really like the light green skin of gretchins. The Orks are a bit tall to count as 28mm minis, so I'll give you couple of extra points from them.