Heresy & Heroes

Ork Meganob

The third Ork Meganob of this commission is done, and he was a barrel of fun to work on too, though it had a few frustrating moments, and I did the best rescue job I could with that crashed rokkit…

Let this serve as a warning to anyone buying models second hand, or just as a general modelling lesson really. Some people have great ideas, but no skill in executing them. I include myself in that, but when I’m trying to learn any painting or modelling tricks, I don’t start out on the showcase miniature. Begin with a grunt if you have to use a miniature at all – something from the bits box means you can get it wrong and it doesn’t matter. This would have been sage advice to give to the guy that my buddy (for whom these orks are for) bought these from, but alas apparently no sages were there to give it. The rokkit in the base is a nice idea, but it not only cost a combi launcha on another ork but it was literally just stuck in there. I’ve done what I can for it by adding a small plume of smoke, building up a slight crater around it (hard to see in these images) and making it look like it had at least the hint of an exhaust but it’s the sort of thing that has the potential to ruin an entire model. I like to think I’ve rescued it though so we’ll leave that mini rant/advice snippet for now and look at some more shiny pictures.

I flipped the colours around on this guy – no two orks should ever have armour that looks the same – and it was interesting seeing a black shoota and a red klaw as opposed to visa versa. This Goff-ish colour-scheme is really fun to play around with and mix up across the models what with all the chequered patterns and the like, and I’m glad I tried this switch around.

Other than all of that, it’s as you were really. A rusty klaw that I’m very happy with, a couple of nice glyphs and a lighter skin shade for this ork too. Actually, I’ve been ecstatic with the skins I’ve managed to do and it’s so fun to paint that there have actually been a couple of times when I’ve almost thought ‘yeah, I could do an Ork army…’ and then the Emperor’s ghost bitchslaps me and I remember that not every boy is as fun to paint as these guys. Still, there’s a relatively simple formula that I could share on here at some point – it’s pretty fun and I at least like the results.

So, I’m going to call this squad done. I’m still going to be doing a couple more of these but they will take a bit more time and this is sort of the official ‘squad’ of three. That means there’ll be some glamour shots of the whole squad going up over the next couple of days, so keep an eye out. I’ve really been enjoying these orks and I’m really happy that I’ve taken to them so quickly. Not perfect by any stretch, but for someone who hasn’t painted one in 20 years, they ain’t half bad. And now, the obligatory “WAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!”