Thursday 19 December 2013

Random thursday update!

Just a short blog update on a few things I painted while I was finishing off the Wood Elf Army.

First off are some Rogue Trader Orks in Power armour. I was looking through a box of bits and found them, and decided to paint them up as a distraction as I like them. They were made about 1989 and sculpted by Kev Adams. I thought I would paint up the armour to look a little like Space suits, putting some 'Space' into 'Space Ork'.
I still have a few more Rogue Trader Space Orks left to do at some point, including three Wartraks.

Secondly are photographs are of Squats and a basing experiment.
After painting several Warhammer Fantasy 3rd Edition armies, I fancy painting something a little more Sci-Fi. There have been several Squat related updates on the Oldhammer Forum and on peoples Blogs, and this has re-kindled my interest in my own Squat army. So I will be painting up the army over the next few weeks, although it won't be very fast as there are a fair few of them, I am in no hurry so want to make a good job of them, and I have a busy January coming up.
I'll see how I get on :)


5 Space Orks, looking to give Houston a problem! 
 Unit leader armed with a Powerfist.
 Another powerfist.
 Cyber arm/gun and a type of gatling pistol in his left hand.
 Got you in his sights! 
Side views of 3 of the Orks from above. 
 
 Plasma gunner!!
In Rogue Trader it does'nt matter if you roll a '1' (well, except that you've missed!).
 Back views. 
Yes, that is a padlock on the left hand one.
 Basing experiment.
After doing different bases for the Wood Elves, I did'nt want to go back to the same old green flock bases for the Squats. So I thought I would try out the new Games Workshop Technical paint Agrellan Earth.
For those not aware, the idea is that you paint it thickly onto the base, and then as it dries, it cracks, giving a mudflat/desert type of base.
 Here's a close up of the finished base. It cracks very well and looks good. Takes a little while to dry, depending on the room temp, took about three hours without the heating on. 

Two things to note. Firstly, is that when it cracks it can sometimes show the black base and and green stuff filler used underneath. Painting the base sand colour sometimes works, although sometimes I found you need to paint over the cracks with sand colour (I used GW's Tallarn Sand and then added flock over some of them). Failing that, add more Agrellan Earth.

Secondly, apparently there is a rogue batch that does'nt work in the first shipments. GW will sort out the probem for you if you get one, but mine was fine and they are probably all sold and returned by now.

The flock is also GW, their 'Dead Grass'. I might add odd bits of green flock and debris on some.

Please let me know if you think the basing works for the Squats.
 Thudd gun and crew WIP.
Squats! 
I will be doing a more in depth blog update on the army this Sunday.  :)



6 comments:

  1. I just love those space orks, giving them a NASA spacesuit is just brilliant ! This is really nice to see how those oldies can take a totally new personnality with just a different colour scheme ! Very clever !
    The bases are really good and it adds some depth to the squats. One thing though I would keep the baserim in a sand colour. Black sides kills the effect and makes a conrtrast which is too strong (to me). Maybe some grey could do but otherwise I believe sand sides would be the easiest and most effective solution.
    Now I might have to try this technical paints.

    I just love the quat with sunglasses and James Dean Hairdo, I just received one yesterday and he's already in the favorites !

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    1. I thought it would give them a different look from the usual Orks, or the rest of my Rogue Trader army, and more of a 'space' feel. I sometimes feel that the Sci Fi aspect of Rogue Trader has been lost to the Gothic fantasy side.
      They were fun to paint up in the space suits, and I muse that they could be 'Warhammer ??K' , first contact with the Orks!

      Thank you, I was wondering about whether to do the bases in that style. I think it, again, looks a bit more Sci fi. Good idea keeping the sides of the bases sand colour, I was wondering whether to go for black or brown, but the sand works better. Needs two coats though.
      Personally I think just a couple of the technical paints are worth a look, a lot of them are just time savers which is fine, but Agrellan Earth is more unusual.

      He a cool Squat, with the shades and quiff. I think my favourite is 'Nambu Arisaka' with the flamer.

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    2. Oh yes, I also got the flamer one and he's great too.

      As for the RT vibe, I feel a trend these days of people getting to a more realistic 40k setting more RT oriented than the Grim/dark/gothic 40k we're used to nowadays.
      You can actually see quite a lot of people digging their hive gagers, adventurers and pirates to get this special touch.
      I am building some RT wrabands atm and one of them is a space faring unit.
      Let's take some grim darkness away and put some pulp/retro sci-fi/cyberpunk back in our 40k !

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    3. You're right, I have noticed a lot more of the older miniatures creaping into 6th edition armies, and a lot of people going for that gritty realistic look. Even for Eldar!

      There has been a lot of people starting hive/space gangs and Genestealer Cults too, with many going back to the stylings of some of the Rogue Trader ideas and photos.

      Your warbands sound very interesting, be good to see them.
      I am planning to go for a less gritty uniform for the Squats, the green and brown one on the basing test models, which was one of the first paint schemes for them. I am trying to keep give it a slightly more realistic feel though.

      Taking the Grim darkness out of 40k, especally Rogue Trader armies, and restoring the Sci fi elements is the way to go :)

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  2. I ike the even skin tones. The rogue trader orks really drip character. Good luck on your latest greenskins

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    1. Thank you,
      the Rogue Trader Orks did have a lot character to them, especally the earlier ones.
      The skin tone is just a black undercoat, Goblin Green base coat, and then highlighting with Goblin Green and yellow, and then finally a add some white to the final highlight mix. I then gave the whole lot a Agrax Earthshade wash.

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