Ramshackle Gorillagon as Ork warboss

While I was priming up some Orks for my Rogue Trader project, I thought I would throw in this Gorillagon from Ramshackle Games. This is a fun, chunky, rough-and-ready post-apocalyptic resin model that rewards a certain amount of brio in the painting. The right fist is a spare weapon from another Ramshackle model (I think!). I do have the actual Gorillagon fist around her somewhere, but I wanted him to have a mixture of ranged and close-combat weapons.

Both these photos and, frankly, the paint job are hurried and a little crude, but overall I think he looks pretty nice, although he's much more consistent with the rough, bulky late-period Ork aesthetic. RT models for scale.

Apparently I'm thirteen again.

One of the events that's been proposed for this year's Bring Out Your Lead event in August is a little Rogue Trader "tournament" (the Oldhammer scene doesn't do tournaments, so let's say 'collection of themed games') organised by the creative and resourceful Curtis Fell of Ramshackle Games. The points total is supposed to be 1,200, which is pretty notional given the number of different army lists that fall under the rubric of "Rogue Trader," but again, that stuff isn't so important -- it's just a good way to organise your models. I've decided to try to put together a few forces and use them to motivate me to paint stuff between now and then -- and I'm beginning with what I think will be the easiest one, my Orks.

For this force, I've used the Evil Sunz army list in Freeboterz, because it matches the paint scheme I used on my models. I have probably bent the rules in one way or another, but c'est la vie. Some of these models belong to my friend Alex, but I am sure he will not mind them getting an outing on the battlefield. The points values include various table choices and equipment that I'm not going to discuss.

BADLUG, the Warlord. Your typical Evil Sunz warlord, i.e. a vainglorious narcissist obsessed with showing off the latest gadgets -- in this case is pricey new power axe and probably some kind of power field. 110 points (technically some of these points are for rolls on the relevant weapons tables, but I only have the one set of models, so). 

His retinue, five Drillboss Nobs in power armour plus another pair of Nobs to be his personal standard bearer and musician. As previously established, the musician is a colourful character who can't stop shouting his own name. His name is "Hello Cleveland." No one knows why. Also a Gretchin to carry the snacks. 200 points. 

GUNNUT, a Mekaniak, equipped with a deadly Shokk Atack Gun. 75 points.

TINBAG, another Mekaniak, armed with a kombi-weapon and there to keep the Oddbitz running smoothly(?). 40 points. 

RATFINK, a Runtherd, accompanied by five stands of Snotlings (for the Shokk Attack Gun). 90 points. 

THE BIG MOB, 12 Boyz with some heavy weapons, led by another Nob from the retinue. 235 points. 

BOYZ MOBS, kitted out for hand-to-hand and led by another pair of Drillbosses. 150 points. I know one of those Nobz is a Blood Axe, but it's too good a model not to use. 

GRETCHIN MOB, miserable cannon fodder. 50 points. 

PULSA ROKKIT, often works. 50 points. 

GOBSMASHA, definitely works. 200 points. 

Total: 1200 points, although there might be some tinkering to do here and there. 

TO BE PAINTED: this is pretty promising, actually! It's one of the Mekaniaks, one stand of Snotlings and a Gretchin. I can do that in four months, no problem. 

Catch-up painting

More progress on clearing the unpainted models off my painting table! I don't think I'll actually finish them all before I start on new stuff, but at least I will have a little more free space.

This classic Ork Pulsa Rokkit belongs to my friend Alex, as, I believe, do the Gretchin (which I painted earlier).

These two will probably wind up being used in Frostgrave or D&D. The left figure is a Metal Magic / Hobby Products adventurer from the 80s, while the guy on the right is a Reaper Bones model I'll be using as an Elementalist in Frostgrave. I think he looks OK, although in the photo I can see that my experiment in doing colours with thinned paints and inks still has a little way to go. Still, overall, I think they look pretty good. 

This ruined vending machine is a piece of post-apocalyptic scenery from ThunderChild Miniatures' Wasteman line. They just completed a big Kickstarter, but this is actually from the pre-Kickstarter line. I picked it up together with some other bits at Exilicon last year. I painted this vending machine in ochre and red to suggest that it was a Sunset Sarsaparilla vending machine, in the same way I painted the other in red and white to suggest Nuka-Cola. 

Here are all three Wasteman scenery pieces together with some of my PA figures for scale. As you can see, the bed is a bit big, but I think it looks good. 

This magnificent bastard was a prize from the talented and generous Curtis Fell of Ramshackle Games. I imagine him as an Adeptus Mechanicus type stranded on a remote world who has to make do with the scrap he can scavenge there; or maybe one who has begun to feel the appeal of Nurgle ... alternatively, in a post-apocalyptic setting he could be the King of the Junkyard, a sort of Fagin type that scavengers and raiders sell their loot to. 

With Copplestone Castings (left) and em-4/Forlorn Hope (right) scavs for reference.
Obviously, both are sculpted by Mark Copplestone.

Rear view.

The paint job is a bit rough-and-ready, but it was a morning's work and I'm happy with it.

So that's six models (assuming you count the Rokkit as two) in a weekend in which I also did some book shopping, wrote thousands of words and edited a podcast. Not too bad, and the clutter on the painting table is definitely clearing!

Another small painting update

I finished this little rebel Gretchin from Fox Box! He's one of a handful of free miscasts I picked up at ExiliCon in 2015, and the casting is a little rough -- but this I attribute to it being a miscast. He was missing the weapon or pack meant to be slung on his back, so I replaced it with an old metal Ork bolter. He's the guy standing on the thing, with the previously painted ones hanging around in the background.

These photos aren't great (and my paint jobs are a bit shaky), but hopefully you can get the impression.

Here is a size comparison showing these models with other generations of Gretchin:

Left to right, these are Fox Box, RT metal, 2nd ed. plastic, RT metal. I don't really own any more modern grot models.