Monday, 18 January 2010

Ork Genestealer Hybridz - Deff Dredd

Ork Dreadnoughts have four arms. Genestealers have four arms. So, my Ork/Genstealer Hybrid army must include one with four gribbly klawz.

Greenstealer Dredd

This involved buying lots of klawz, and as Genestealers have three claws on their hand I bought lots of extra blades so each klaw has three blades too. This means in real life they wouldn't be that effective (there's nothing for the top blade to shear against, and it stops things getting between the other two klawz, but IT LOOKS AWESOME so nothing else matters). Each klaw is removable and attached with rare earth magnets for ease of transport and to stop them breaking off. It also means I can detach them for vehicle damaged results, and wave them around in my more childish moments while making robo-wibbly noises.

The pilot is taken straight from the goofy 2nd edition Ork Dreadnought. I love the way he's sticking out his tongue. And, I really want to see Dredd pilots, it gives a sense of scale. I wonder if the upcoming Deff Dredd kit includes one. The Dredd model has a solid closed hatch that took an age to drill and dremel out, and then find a replacement hatch from my bits box the right size to replace it. But it looks fantastic.

Greenstealer Dredd

The big chompy skull is from the Chaos Dwarf Hellcannon. I wanted the Dredd to look like a giant bug, and attempts at doing this with plasticard and gubbinz looked silly rather than scary (in a goofy kind of way). I added a classic oldskool Squig in the mouth because he's awesome and I want a whole army of them. I miss stupid smiling models.

In terms of upgrades, this also has Grot Riggers, which is the dude on the base, being the Direct-only Oiler Runt. He needed no conversion work (I figures he's a third or fourth generation Gretchin/Genestealer hybrid and therefore quite Gretchiny apart from the purplish skin hue).

There's also some fairly major reposing in the legs, to give the impression the Dredd's powering forwards on its stubby legs. This was incredibly difficult - and all the weight goes through it left leg and required some heavy-duty brass pinning. What's annoying about this is soon everyone will be able to achieve similarly awesome and dynamic poses with a minimum of work as the new kit will be plastic. Bums.

More of my Greenstealer army soon. If you missed the thirty-strong Shoota Boyz mob - take a look at it here.

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Posted by Curis at 9:32 PM

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Ork Genestealer Hybridz - Shoota Boyz

Ork and Genestealers melded together into grotesque hybrids, thirty times over.

Ork Genestealer Hybridz

The core mob in my Ork/Genestealer Hybrid army, forming the centre of the battleline. There's subtle variations on the head conversion throughout. Lots of three-armed monstrosities ready to taste manflesh.

Ork Genestealer Hybridz

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Posted by Curis at 7:52 AM

Saturday, 12 December 2009

Ork Objective Markers

Objective markers are one of those things that often get forgotten about modelling-wise. They're deathly important in game terms, but as they neither very shooty or killy, people neglect them. They're just extra things you can't be bothered painting and so are proxied with coins or unusual dice.

Lego objective markers methinks



But for my Epic Bad Moonz, I thought I'd model a complete set. Left to right: Orks command bunker (the "Blitz"), exploderised Stompa head, cliched crashed Fighta-Bomba, and the 40K-scale Warlord (used to remember the Supreme Commander re-roll and also to give the Gargant an extra Macro-weapon attack).

Oh so pretty. And painting the classic Warboss figure was a joy. But honestly, these are rubbish counters. Why? Because they're painted and based exactly like the army. So many times my Warbands have found themselves halfway across the board lugging with them the crashed plane or their own command bunker. See if you can spot the objective below.

Lego objective markers methinks



So, for my Dark Angels I went for the far simpler objective markers from the 40K transulcent green range. They stand out lovely and never get mistaken for a stand of Marines.

Lego objective markers methinks



What have I learnt? Erm, form follows function I suppose.

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Posted by Curis at 11:20 PM

Saturday, 7 November 2009

Ork/Genestealer Hybridz - An Introduction

Back in the early 1990s, when instead a single slim paperback the Orks had two huge hardback reference volumes (Waaagh the Orks and Freebooterz there was a weird Ork Freebooter model - the Ork Genestealer Hybrid (below left). It was one of several weird and wonderful Ork models Citadel produced that included a Chaos Champion, Stormboy of Khorne and the Pirate Ork Kaptin Robobeard was converted from.

Greenstealer tease



Well, I updated the concept and built an entire army of these hybrid monstrosities. And I've only just got around to photographing it.

So above there's the original Freebooter Hybrid, a Nob (converted from the Games Day 1998 Gorkamorka Nob) and a regular Boy. Front row are two old Genestealer familiars representing the young purestrain offspring.

More photos in the next few days.

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Posted by Curis at 12:42 AM

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Farewell Space Ork Raiders

Periodically I get rid of old armies wholesale. People get very attached to armies, and vow never to sell them, but I've found there comes a time where years of gaming takes it toll and the army needs either a complete overhaul or selling.

So, back in 2002 I found I was amassing a growing collection of Rogue Trader era Orks. Here are some pictures from back in the day I took for CoolMiniOrNot.

Retro Orks!



Retro Orks!



So, I was painting all these old old Orks, and wanting to get them onto the tabletop. But how? Using the then-current Ork Codex obviously. But all my Orks had Boltguns, and with a Ballistic Skill of 2 and Shootas being a Rapid Fire weapon under the 3rd edition rules Ork Shoota boys weren't a viable infantry choice. And what to do with my Madboyz and Weirdboyz?

Well, I found a solution. The army was fielded under the White Dwarf Feral Ork list where Orks had BS3. Shoota Boyz were now much more viable. The army was taken to the WPS Club Challenge back in 2002 and did, well, averagely. But it felt great to take them to the battlefield in all their lurid-coloured glory. Waaaagh Robobeard shook the world.

Fast forward six years and my 1,500 point Ork/Genestealer Hybridz army is looking at going to some 2,000 point tournaments. But where to get those extra 500 points? I dug out my Rogue Trader Orks and bolted them on the end. I justified it to myself background-wise by saying Kaptin Robobeard was now a Freebooter who Genestealer Patriarch Xerxes had hired to bolster his forces. Old and new Orks fought alongside each other as one. They were no longer Feral Orks as the new Ork Codex was out (making the White Dwarf list obsolete), and Shootas changed to Assault 2 weapons. Huzzah.

Here they are fighting against Jonathan Last's Deathwing. This was very apt and cinematic as at some point Robobeard had swapped the dead Squat on his base for a dead Dark Angel (made using one of the Limited Edition Christmas Marines).

Retro Orks!



Here they are in lines, striking fear into their foes with their warpaint. (Hey, I got bored doing all that green flesh. And they were Feral Orks anyhow.)

Retro Orks!



And here they are fighting Amanda Rutter's mish-mash Tyranid army. So many different colour schemes on display they make my army look cohesive.

Retro Orks!



What for them next? Well - France. Some guy in France bought most of them. What he intends, we may never know.

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Posted by Curis at 10:41 AM


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