My dreadnought got me in the mood to paint more Dark Angels, and I decided to jump into robed characters rather than the standard green-armored tac-marines.
The new finecast standard bearer is a nice-looking model with a great bas-relief standard. It’s what appealed to me about it. The chance to paint the raised relief edges and also try my hand at the robes for the first time. I had mixed results but I was happy with my first effort:
Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!
It’s true I love painting orks but, like a lot of 40K folks, I have dedicated myself to a space marine chapter as well. I went with the Dark Angels over a more codex astartes chapter because of their somewhat mysterious past, duel agenda, and their chapter structure. Gotta love the Ravenwing…
Since I still consider myself a painting neophyte, I started painting my Dark Angels with something a little easier than even a tactical marine figure: a dreadnought.
With the big, flat surfaces and edges, and larger areas it was a simpler place for me to try out some of the layering techniques I’ve seen more expert painters use. It also has lots of weapons and mixed colors (though still on larger surfaces) so it wasn’t just a single, drab item but required a bit of creativity.
I used the Assault on Black Reach dreaddy-nought since he’s relatively static and he’d be easier to clean off if I had any painting disasters:
I went with the Dark Angels color scheme recommended by GW: Chaos Black, Caliban base, Biel-Tan shade, Warpstone Glow layer, Moot Green layer 2, Underhive Ash dry brush, with Waywatcher glaze. Pretty vanilla but I don’t feel ultra-confident enough yet to experiment!
I added the red sarcophagus front-plate and weapon details to give him a bit of character, but still retaining the Dark Angels general scheme.
I’ve decided I’ll have a lot of my DAs in 4th Company, so I used the munitorium “4” and “IV” from the transfer sheet to detail him, along with some extra bits from the Dark Angels upgrade sprue (pretty good deal, btw folks. It’s basically the DA veteran’s kit $14 cheaper!) to make him more Dark Angel-y. I named him “Puriel” an angel described (by Wikipedia at least!) as “fiery and pitiless”
Again, I love basing models and tried my hand at using some of the Forge World weathering powders on his feet and leg armor. The rest of the base is pretty much just stuff from the GW basing kit again.
That’s his big brother, Camael, the venerable dreadnought behind him. He’s just primed (and yes, that’s part of an Icon of Old Caliban on his back…) I haven’t had the guts to finish completely gluing or painting him yet since, as a member of the Deathwing, he’ll be bone white and I want to practice that a bit more before I potentially mess him up!
Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!
Since I’m a fan of both Dark Angels and Orks I found Gav Thorpe’s The Purging of Kallidus to be a perfect book for me. Not only does it include a lot of small details on the functioning of a Space Marine force in the field, but includes the two biggest and baddest ork warlords in a combined effort; the mighty Ghazghkgull Thraka, and the wily Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub.
Ghasghkull was and is still the king of all orks to me; his semi-religious role, brutish persona, yet strangely high-intelligence seems to encompass the most frightening combination of ork traits. However it’s nice to have options, while looking over an older ork codex I found Nazdreg is a GREAT option for an ork warlord (if only we could get modern rules for him GW!)
Nazdreg is not only a cunning leader, but also a remarkably good shot for an ork (BS4! BS4! With a PLASMA weapon!) He also has fun painting options, as he is a Bad Moons warboss and can be done-up right in bright yellows and ostentatious decorations.
NAZDREG
The old Nazdreg model is nothing like the current line and difficult to field. He’s SMALLER than most ork boyz, so that’s not an option. This one is mine. He came with his boss pole broken so I replaced it with a different one. Luckily I got an old metal Ghazghkull with the deal I mentioned in a previous post and decided I’d Nazdreg-him up.
I used the older Big Mek head so he had a different face from Ghazghkull that gave him a Mek look without having weird screws in his head. I also liked the smug grin and goggles.
There wasn’t an appropriately massive Bad Moon bosspole, so I made my own out of green stuff. I mounted it on the Lascannons from a Forgeworld Tauros Venator I turned into a warbuggy and stuck a deffdread face on the back. The skulls came from the Chaos Defiler kit, whose bitz have served me so well since I converted it to the Dredtrukk. It’s not perfect but I ended up really liking the look of the moon.
His armor, instead of black with flames, I wanted a bright, blazing yellow. Mostly to make his stand out even more from my Goff models. His custom power klaw is made of the lower-potion of Ghazghkull’s with two ork chain blades and a piece from the Skaven Hell-Pit Abomination kit as flexible spiked-knuckles.
The most difficult, but fun, part of the model was the Kustom-Blasta-X, Nazdreg’s supa-gun. It’s frequently described as being “multi-barreled” but because it has the “gets hot” profile and the same feel as a plasma gun I thought it would be good to make it LOOK like a plasma gun. I sheared off the twin-linked big shoota that came with the model (never cut off so much metal before) and used one of the plasma storm batteries from the Land Speeder Vengeance kit. The little piece underneath is actually a re-fashioned mace head and it has the power supply from a megablasta off of an extra Mek on top.
Basing is something that I’ve heard a lot of modelers complain about but it’s one of my favorite parts of finishing a model. I originally wanted to have him on a telly-porta but I couldn’t think of a good way to make that work on a terminator-size base. So I went with a scene from The Purging of Kadillus that is by far one of my favorites in the Black Library books I’ve read (along with Primarch Corax’s charge into the Iron Warriors in Raven’s Flight, also by Thorpe). If you haven’t read the book SPOILER ALERT!
In the novel, Chaplain Boreas leads a defense of a power plant against an ork attack. They initially succeed until Nazdreg himself arrives and dooms the space marine/imperial guard defenders. Boreas challenges Nazdreg to single combat, and, though he fights as best as he can, is ultimately smashed by the Bad Moons Boss. I like this narrative not only because the fight itself is rousing, but also because it’s a rare instance of orks portrayed in a Black Library book not as comic relief but as the martial menace that they are. Boreas and Nazdreg fight fairly, and Nazdreg beats Boreas through strength of arms, not blundering into luck. This is especially impactful in this book as future Deathwing Captain Belial took a similar beating from Ghazghkull in the novel’s background. I also have a strong memory of Nazdreg addressing the Dark Angel’s leadership through Boreas’ helmet comm with the typical Ork laconism, “Dey’s all dead…”
For my base I have Nazdreg stomping Boreas’ Crozius Arcanum. The Arcanum is made from the handle of a thunder hammer; the head is actually part of the angel wings off of the Icon of Old Caliban from a Land Speeder Darkshroud kit. For the Chaplain’s helmet I used a standard space marine helmet, sliced his face off, and glued on the face of a skull (again, those Chaos Defiler bits save the day!) I then added appropriate muddy texture and various pieces from the GW 40k basing kit.
Nazdreg’s my favorite model I’ve completed so far. I hope I can use him (WITH his profile) in games and I’m really hoping GW includes him back into 6th edition when we get our overdue ork upgrade next summer!
Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!
Before the glory that was Halloween (It’s still going on as far as I’m concerned. I’m extending Halloween the way the rest of the world does Christmas…) I began posting some of the Orks I’ve been painting. Though I have two chapters of space marines (the two more “angelic” chapters…First Founding!) and now some Sisters of Battle, the Orks are still my chance to be the most creative.
This model is an old metal Stormboy Nob I got in an incredible deal on eBay along with a lot of other older metal models. I love the look of the older models mixed in with my newer plastic kits, but they are a bit static and don’t look very “Storm-y.” Luckily eBay also introduced me to these great flying bases for them. I have a full compliment of ten to do, but I started with the great Stormboy Nob to test how it works:
How to paint the flying base here.
And my previous ork posts:
If it wasn’t clear from my previous posts, most recently the one about Dreamlike Gaming (congrats on the new store guys!) I’m pretty well into the Warhammer/Warhammer 40k hobby now.
Over the last couple months I’ve built two 40k armies. One went along with the release of the new Dark Angels codex. Dark Angels are troubled and all about smiting chaos (with their own flaws so that makes them interesting) not to mention a super-cool robed look. I love my Dark Angels army and pics of them will be coming soon. However…my favorite 40k army is orks.
Orks are a great horde army. All movement and weight of fire. They have a terrific all-id attitude and slight regard for personal survival; it’s all about the good fight.
One of the tragedies of the orks is their slightly humorous persona. Orks ARE funny and I do love that about them, but their cockney slang accents and brutish attitude usually make them difficult to tell entire stories for. I’d hate to see them lose their sense of humor but I’d like to see some good, long narratives from Black Library about them. Like Rodney Dangerfield….they get no respect. Except Ghazghkull.. If you don’t believe me read Chains of Golgotha and see how menacing this guy is.
My favorite tabletop aspect of orks is their junkyard tech. They can make things work just be believing they work, and can “loot” vehicles from other races, make ’em orky, and use them under the “looted wagon” codex profile (btw orks REALLY need a 6th edition codex…c’mon Games Workshop!)
Keeping this in mind I was able to get my hands on a Chaos Defiler for a discount price and, as I truly despise the traitors, I knew I’d never use it in a chaos army…but I could loot it!
Since it’s half Deff Dread and half Trukk I dubbed it the “Dreadtrukk.” It has parts of a Chaos Defiler, Battlewagon, Trukk, Land Raider Crusader, Wartrakk, Dakkajet, and Warbike to name a few.
Attached are pics of my looted Chaos defiler. It was a challenge to build, but I created it under codex rules and gave it:
| DredTrukk | Points | Number Taken | Total |
| Original Points: 35 | 35 | ||
| Skorcha | 15 | 1 | 15 |
| Big Shoota | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| Red Paint Job | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Stikkbomb Chukka | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Armour Plates | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Boarding Plank | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Wreckin’ Ball | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Reinforced Ram | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Grabbin’ Klaw | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Total | 105 |
The lower “jaw” is obviously the reinforced ram from the battlewagon. Believe it or not it is held in place with the left “arm” weapon of the Chas defiler left in two pieces. It worked remarkably well.
The Skorcha is actually the Flamestorm cannons from a Land Raider Redeemer. I made the Crusader variant but liked the look of the flamer so I was glad to use it. The turret still raises and lowers slightly which means the jaw actually “works.”
Inside the “mouth” is a ram head from a warbike.
The boarding planks I attached to the back of the trukk bed rather than the sides. Since the legs are on the sides it gives a bit more range, plus they can board whatever is “grabbed” by the Grabbin’ Klaw. For the Grabbin Klaw I used the claws that came with the Defiler and laid the trukk bed on top of them.
The “commander” is a nob with a stormboy head in a cupola made of Killa Kan shoulder pads an a vision slit.
The left side gunner is from the old Wartrakk set, I made a skorcha out of that too so I had him left over.
The right gunner is a “big shoota” boy with a nob head (no laughing!) I was very please with his posing, the big shoota held wildly in one hand and the human head held high in the other. I gave him a bloody chain axe just for fun. His “turret” is made of left over parts of the Dakkajet, a bike tire half, and Killa Kan parts.
I admit I like my orks “dirty” and scratched up even when bright and flashy. I had it painted in a nice pristine color scheme but didn’t like it until I scratched it to kingdom come with Necron compound.
I have another looted wagon I actually like better. A typical Leman Russ wth a boom gun. Pics of it and my custom warboss, Grimskragg Defftrigga, coming soon!
Click the picture below for a 360 view!
As anyone with the internet, a PC, a car, or a television…I get a little tired of things sometimes. Not just typical annoying things, but other things that might seem harmless, or even wildly popular, but for some reason I just get incredibly weary of some aspects about the culture and just life in general. Just for fun (bring it on internet) I thought I’d do a list of the things that have been especially annoying recently in no particular order:
That’s all I can think of now. Again, this is just me. We’re all allowed our opinions so feel free to disagree!
And as usual, it’s all just good fun 🙂
Revenant Publications 