Foehammer’s Kill Team: SpetzNob’s OrkerKommandos

Quick update. With bases complete, and army painter dip dry, I finished the large number of shards rack spine terrain for kill team.

1) as these would be terrain roughly handled by my kids and fellow gamers, I attached the spines to the bases with screws through the bottom

2) I used hot glue to attach the various decorative aquarium plants

3) afterwards I Matt varnished them all with an airbrush, to kill the sheen from the army painter dip, as well as the plastic sheen on the aquarium plants

Ok, so updates to this project have been somewhat slow lately, as I’ve been side tracked working to complete the Kill Zone Terrain shown in the last update. This has been motivated by 2 factors:

1. I would like to have a nice set of terrain to actually play some kill team games on
2. I currently am working 2 sets of the Aeldari Xenoscape Terrain, one for my personal use, and one for my FLGS. I really need to get the FLGS terrain completed to get it back to the store, and the most efficient way of doing it is to complete all the terrain in one go. Its just easier due to commonality of parts and paints.

Now, I hope to wrap up most of the terrain by this weekend, as which point I’ll jump back into the Ork Killteam. However, I am looking for inspiration for additional conversions for team members. I am trying to stick to this very militaristic feel for the Blood-Axe kill team, and would like to expand upon that.

My current orks include:

1. Spetz-Nob: The commando Nob ridden by the bossman, spetz himself.
2. The Veteran Specialist – Kommando with entrenching tool choppa
3. The Soviet-Themed Gunner – with DP style big shoota
4. Krakka – my ork boy with rocket launcha, carring all kinds of fun AT goodies
5. Breecha – Demolitions Nob with lots of grenades and shoota-scorcha
6. Loota (yet unnamed) – armed with the “Mork ‘n Gork 42 (MG42)” style Kustom Defgun
7. Communications Specialist – Loota Spanner with Kustom Mega Blasta and WW2 Radio style backpack
8. Scout Specialist (unnamed) – Ork Kommando with bionic harpoon arm and Ice Axe choppa, very winter-weather themed all terrain specialist

I’m looking for other military-themed stereotypes or themes I could turn into unique Ork models for my Kill team. Things inspired by actual military units, characters from PoP culture, etc.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Took a small break from my actual kill team this week to work on the terrain for one of my Killzones. This is the GW Aeldari Deathword Terrain. It’s mostly out of the box, but I did choose to mount it to bases so I could add some undergrowth later around the bigger plants.

This gave me a chance to really experiment with the airbrush and bright colors.

Nothing too special tonight. Just some painting progress on the Ork SpannerBoy Communications specialist. While he has a custom backpack, I can’t help but think he looks too “normal”.

Any thoughts/tips/pointers to customize him some more would be appreciated.

This weeks work was diverted by painting some grots to fill out the kill team. The cool thing about these figures is they are similar scale to Bolt Action miniatures (unlike the Orks) so I can use various bits (helmets, packs, etc.) from BA rather than sculpting them.

After a couple weeks on/off work, several kill team members from my Orkerkommandos are wrapping up.

I’ve also made some additional progress on some other models. One is my demolitions specialist, “Breecha”. Ork Nob with Shoota-Scorcha, and “Kustom grenade axe.

I also made some final additions to SpetzNob. Most were to give Spetz a more authoritative appearance. Mostly it involved adding a hat, backpack, ammo pack, and binoculars from a Bolt Action Soviet plastic kit. Scale was about right for a Gretchen.

Small progress being made on the Orkerkommandos. Viktor, my Soviet-themed Ork Gunner, is mostly painted. Primarily need some fine detailing and rebasing. In the end I painted the checker pattern on the top of the disk magazine for two reasons:

1) the figure needed some color, it was very steel and tan.

2) he’s still an Ork, and was looking a little two uniformed, even for a Blood Axe.

Also making small progress on Sarge.

First update for the evening is a quick pick of the German-Style pea-dot camo on the Orks pants. It was my first attempt at this type of camo, and I think it worked out rather well.

To keep fatigue/frustration at bay, I paused work on the missile launcher/tank busta Ork, and started the base coating process on two other Orks. The first is my Soviet-themed Ork gunner, “Viktor”, with DP-style big shoota. The second is my Ork veteran, “Sarge”, armed with an entrenching tool Choppa and MP40 style Slugga.

Really quick update of my test fig for my Blood Axe Ork Kill Team Paint Scheme. Given their militaristic nature, I tried to stick to military camo colors. This was a bit challenging, as many camo colors are green, and wanted them to not clash with the Orks skin tone.

So, I picked specific camo colors. Tans. German fieldgray (very gray green), and US olive drab (very brown green). I also picked a very bright olive green for the skin tone. As a stretch I also did some pea dot camo on his trousers.

Decided to take a break from the conversions for a bit. Now, when in my local FLGS I noticed the following base kit for Necromunda. It contained a total 10 pre-molded 32mm plastic bases for $6.50. While I probably wouldnt want to base a whole army like this, the set was a perfect impulse buy to cover a kill team. Might need 1 more set given an Ork kill team could be over 10 models.

Below is a picture of the finished bases. Took only about two hours over 2 nights to paint them up. Paints included:

– GW leadbelcher, highlighted with mithril silver

– GW brass, highlighted with mithril silver

– Vallejo red gore highlighted with flat red

– small areas of white, or yellow with black chevrons painted on

– copious varied washes of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade on different parts to give slightly different metallic shades

– detail painting of the GW Oxide paint into the recesses around the brass areas

I also painted on lots of scratches to make the bases look worn and “40k”. This was done by:

1) paint small, thin lines of mithril silver

2) on the side of the silver line facing the assumed light source, paint a dark line of 50/50 leadbelcher and black the same length as the silver line

3) alternate painting some scratches like steps 1 and 2, and applying washes. Those scratches under 1-2 layers of wash will appear older, while those over washes will appear newer.

So, had some inspiration yesterday for my killteam leader. Rather than having Spetznob Kommandos, I’d have SpetzNob’s Kommandos.

Enter Spetz & Nob, my kill team leader. Spetz (the Gretchen) will be the actual leader, who is carried into battle by Nob. Profile-wise they will just be a Kommando Boss Nob. I thought the idea interesting as

1) Kommandos are very sneaky, and thus un-Orky.  Much more like Gretchen.

2) The Blood Axe Clan are known for their organized, and thus in-Orky nature.

This is thus far mostly a fairly simple conversion. Base is a Nob fig with power Klaw, with a backpack from the Burna Kit, a gun scabbard turned into a large blade in the small of his back, and some night vision goggles made of plasticard tubes glued over his eyes.

the revolver was a bit more complicated, assembled slowly from a bunch of plasticard off-cuts. As most of his weapons were basically straight off the sprue, I wanted a suitably impressive looking Slugga for my Leader. Something to ensure “Da Boyz  Follow Orders”

i plan to raid my Bolt Action bits box when I get home to add some bits to Spetz to give him more Authoritae… maybe some binoculars and a suitably impressive hat.

Next is my in-Process Heavy Specialist, as-yet unnamed. He’s a mostly off-the-sprue Loota. One thing I wanted to do was give him a gun with a little more historical inspiration. Thus, I hacked off the old gun barrels, and built some new ones out of plasticard tubing to look like WW2 German MG42 Barrels. Mostly the are square tubes with holes cut in the sides with a pin vice. I then added the flared nozzle to the end.

A tip for accurately drilling holes in plasticard – take the sharp tip of a hobby knife and make an indent where you want the hole. It ensures the pin vice drill bit doesn’t “walk” off-center as you start drilling the hole.

I made some additional progress today. First was doing most of the assembly for my Spanner Boy Communications Specialist. The base fig is pretty standard off-the-sprue spanner boy from the Burna boy kit. What I wanted was a pack that looked like communications equipment, but also resembled the WW2 radio backpack sets.

the base backpack is just some slabs of square plasticard tube slapped together. I then added the various decorative bits all made from scrap plasticard I had lying around.

– the ork-style antenna

– the various dials, icons, and rivets

– the small satellite dish

– the radio handset that looks like American radio hand sets from WW2.

The only thing further I’d like to add is a cord between the handset and the backpack. Might have to dig around for some wire at home.

Some further progress has been made on the Soviet-style Ork Boy Gunner. I added a bipod and gun sight to the Big Shoota. I also removed the previous backpack (it was far too large) and the top not, and sculpted on a green stuff cap and bedroll. They are a little hard to pick out as the base plastic fig was already green.

i also added the second arm holding a grenade from an unused Burna boy arm, as the sprues didn’t come with the second “supporting arm” for the Big Shoota, overall I like the finished look.

C&C welcome!

Quick update. First I spent some time assembling these crane and construction vehicles that came in my Ork Kill Team boxed set. They are nice for terrain, assembled quickly, and are things which most people won’t  already have in their collection. I plan to ork the morning up some with additional rivitted-on armor plates.

also doesn’t hurt that the box comes with a tactic that allows an ork to drive on around during the movement phase.

I also spent some time converting this ork heavy with big shoota. I still have a lot of work to do on the actual ork, including some pouches, webbing, and a Russian-style cap. However, I did some quick work with plasticard tubing converting the gun into a Russian style DP machine gun.

I trimmed the original barrel down, and replaced it with the thinner plasticard barrel with flash suppressor. I then used some larger plasticard tube and sheets to create the iconic “record player” disk magazine.

Ok, I’m not 100% sold on this guy yet, so would love some feedback.

He’s my first attempt at one of my specialists, an Ork scout. I was almost solely inspired by that bionic arm bit, with the harpoon gun and winch. I instantly thought of a mountaineering trooper, capable of scaling the most impassible terrain.

With this in mind, I added the following conversions:

1) I used green stuff to add fur lining to his shoulders, as well add a fur lined hood to protect against inclement weather.

2) I converted his Choppa into a shape more resembling an ice axe. I envision it used in combat as well as climbing.

3) I added the better to give him a slightly more militaristic feel, as he had started to look a little Ferrell with the fur and ice axe.

i think I need to remove the back banner/gun and add a pack with a little more mountaineering gear. Maybe ropes and a bedroll.

I did a small go back on the first Kommando. I thought the entrenching tool was a little too large, and was unbalancing what is already a top-heavy model. It also didn’t look quite right at the joint between blade and handle.

as a result, I narrowed the blade, and used some plasticard to add a hinge to the transition between blade and handle.

First model is a basic Ork Kommando with Slugga and Choppa. Fig was converted from an Ork Nobz plastic figure as I wanted my kill team to look appropriately huge.

conversions include:

1) Adding a plasticard barrel extension and retractable shoulder stock to give the Slugga the appearance of a German MP40

2) replacement of the Axe blade with a horizontal plasticard blade to give the Choppa the appearance of an entrenching tool

3) green stuff field cap and pouches

The second is a heavy boy, armed with a Rocket Launcher. Conversions include:

1) Green Stuff wool cap and ammo pouches

2) silencer on Slugga, made from plasticard tube

3) Choppa converted into a Panzerfaust-style rocket launcher. I figured a panzerfaust would be close to the mobile, short range rocket launcher the Orks use.

As more of a modeler than a gamer, I’ve long had a love-hate relationship with Warhammer 40k. On one hand, the extremely expansive background allows almost no limit to the modeling, painting, and conversion possibilities. However, the GW approach to game design has always turned me off. You build and create a large, expensive, and sometimes pain-staking converted army, only to be hamstrung by the fact that the meta has evolved into min-maxing often a small handful of repeated unit entries to create the most competitive list, that is also zero fun to play against.

Its still set in the 40k universe, so all the modeling and converting possibilities still exist, but there are numerous advantages over 40k. Forces are small, so there is significantly less monetary and time investment in making an army. The small collection of miniatures means even more time can be spent painting and converting individual models without the intimidation factor of having hundreds of models in queue ahead of you. Lastly, the army selection requirements and varied missions appear to counter the tendency to spam single units to victory.

Additionally, it will let me play with my 9-year-old son, who has a small Tyranid force.

I decided to go with an Ork Kill Team for several reasons.

1) I am a slow painter, so would never have been able to paint/convert a horde army, so Orks have always been beyond my reach

2) They have near unlimited conversion possibilities

3) They just seem fun

The Kill Team will be from the Blood Axe Clan. For those unfamiliar, the Blood Axe Clan is the most universally mis-trusted of the Ork Clans as a result of their very un-orky organized and structured nature. They plan. They use tactics. They perform reconnaissance. They act like a structured military organization…mostly.

In appearance, they mimic other military organizations, like the Imperium. They wear uniforms and camouflage, even though that camouflage may not, in any way, match the environment in which they are fighting, and the uniforms may not be…uniform across the squad. They will decorate themselves with medals and awards, with those stolen from fallen opponents being most prized.

I’ve decided to combine this with my love of WW2, and particularly Konflikt 47, by theming individual figures to be visually similar to historical WW2 soldiers. Camo-patterns, weapon conversions, and general gear will be converted to align with the look-and-feel of German/US/Britis/Soviet/Etc WW2 forces. Not sure how it will all come together, but in the end I think it will make for a fun project.

I’ve purchased my first two boxes of Orks, so its time to get rolling. Will hopefully update shortly with progress updates.