miscellaneous: deep strikin' santa 2015, sent

As it happened, the day I received my Deep Strikin' Santa package from Total Anorky I was busy by the fire, hobbying the final touches (rivets!) to the present for my giftee - Lt. Gregor.

A long-time Ork player and master plasti-craftsman, Gregor is known among the scratch-build and kit-bash community for painstakingly working on an Orkish Navy. His kit-bashed masterpieces include boats built on Land Raider and Rhino frames, a "Red Orktober" submarine based off a Chimera chassis, and some of the coolest deep-sea Mega-Armoured Nobz I've ever had the pleasure to witness. Seriously. Click the link. I'll wait.

His builds are inspirational, and it was both exciting and terrifying to draw his name for DSS.

After perusing 3rd party bitz makers for pirate-y Ork heads, I happened across Kromlech's Anzac Ork heads and Afrika Korp torsos and came up with a plan. I've spent almost all my hobby time since October inching towards a boat worthy of Kap'n Gregor's fleet. I hope I've done the ol' Mek justice.

Ork River Patrol Trukk! (clickable)

Turret and mid-ship Gunner

Rear Gunner

Rear Gunner (low angle)

Turret Gunner and Kap'n

Grot Pilots and other details

Packed and ready for "ship"ping!

All-in-all it a ton of fun returning to the army and scratch-building that got me started with 40K. I've got big plans for 30K Mechanicum at the moment, but not before another Ork project that could stack well with a long-haul (and long-pined for) build towards a fully functional Speed Freekz army...

(This post was originally written on 12.24.2014 while awaiting confirmation of the package's arrival.)

miscellaneous: deep strikin' santa 2015, received

After sitting a year out, I've rejoined the fun and festivities that are the Freebootaz Forum's annual "Deep Strikin' Santa" event. For those unfamiliar, it's essentially a "secret santa" event where participating forum members email an organizer that they'd like to participate, an army or two they'd like to get a gift for, and a shipping address. The organizer then randomizes the list and you find out who you'll be gifting. You then get to work as your Santa does the same!

While my gift is currently making its way up North to its unsuspecting recipient, I received a nice box from FedEx last night. I put it under the tree, but was implored by Total Anorky - my Santa and our resident AmbassadORK - to open it post haste, which I did. Inside, I was greeted with the following card...

...and a model that, quite frankly, took a bit of a thrashing. Despite being damaged, I was floored with the gift. The creative, haphazard combination of bits and paint immediately put a smile on my face and hit me right in the nostalgia. My first 40K army was Orkz.

After a bit of repair work, I'm finally able to share the badassery of TA's present with the rest of the world!

What started as a coffee can and junction box became a beautifully Orky tribute to the GW Bastion with the loving application of chunkily gribbly details, seriously vintage bits, and a splash (or two) of slap-dash paint.

Seriously? Necromunda plastic bulkheads!? In a kit-bashed Bastion for someone else? Total Anorky's a frickin' madman! And he cleverly left a reminder of that fact on an oil drum so I can never forget which Warboss gifted me this crazy hideout. Not that I could ever forget. I loves it too much!

Looks like the local boyz seem as taken with their new digs as I am! I'll definitely be keeping it as handy inspiration for some Ork models I'll be starting soon. There's an unofficial Adepticon event I picked up some Kans/Dreads for...

build: work-in-progress: imperial city, part 3

Been a bit since I updated, but not for lack of effort. The landing pad has some design issues that need to be ironed out, so I started blending a Shrine of the Aquila with some Basilica Administratum bits. Been at it for a couple weeks and I think it's getting there...

Front of the Front

Back of the Front

Back Corner 1

Back Corner 2

Like the Sanctum Imperialis bits before, these segments are designed to work in GW's "Ruined Corners" mode, or be placed together as a cohesive whole.

Full Overhead View

Still have a bit of detailing to do. I plan to add buttresses from the Basilica set, and rubble all around. In the last pic, you can see the ruined tile floor I'll be adding as well. Not sure if that's something I'll retroactively add to the other buildings yet, but it's pretty likely. Oh, and I need to source some extra floor tiles from the Shrine set to add some "roof" to Back Corner 1.

Hope to have the interior detailing done before the end of next week, but it'll have to get done on school days as I'm busy with Tough Mudder the majority of the weekend. I look forward to showing you what else I've got planned for these kits!

build: work-in-progress: imperial city, part 2

The aesthetic I used when assembling my Manufactorum sprues is cribbed entirely from the "Tetanus IV" terrain ManOwarrioR brought to U.S. BootaCon.

"Tetanus IV" by ManOwarrioR

The towers and walkways here are awesome! The walkways and platforms popping off each tower allowed them to be reconfigured in all kinds of new and interesting patterns. Unfortunately, I don't have access to anywhere near the same quantity of sprue, so I'm having to be a bit cautious with their layout and design.

For example, this "big tower" has a default configuration whose damage scales appropriately between the levels. However, it is not glued and, once magnetized, will be interchangeable with all the other Manufactorum pieces in the set. If I do it right, this should allow for a wealth of layout opportunities both horizontally and verticality.

Front and Back

Deconstructed!

And reconstructed as an... Outpost? Courtyard?

Refinery? Way station?

I think it's going to work out quite well. If I can manage to get my hands on another Imperial City, I plan to add some "walkway" towers like the ones that inspired me. Might even do some kit-bashing with leftover Imex refinery pieces I've got hanging 'round here somewhere...

build: work-in-progress: imperial city, part 1

Spurred by some glorious terrain at the 1st Annual U.S. BootaCon - a nerd-tastic end-of-Summer vacation where a dozen Freebootaz rented a house near Memphis and gamed, laughed, ate and drank for three straight days - I pulled out my dusty "Imperial City" box and started playing with the pieces.

Many years ago, when I received the box for Christmas, I had put together a handful of panels, but never crafted anything resembling a building. The first step was to take these panels and finish them out into a few pieces.

I get that the Games Workshop kit is designed to make ruins, and all of my building will be damaged to some degree, but it drives me nuts how all of their examples are "ruined corners." So, starting with these guys, I plan for all facades to have corresponding pieces that make "matching sets" to resemble complete buildings.

Sanctum: Front

Sanctum: Back

Sanctum: Side

I'll base them on 1/8" MDF board cut with just enough edge to add some rubble and/or sand. If I do it right, I think it'll make a pretty compelling set of terrain.

While trying to figure out what to do with the remaining Sanctum Imperialis pieces, I together a few bits to make blasted sewer or bunker entrances. They'll initially make some nice scatter terrain, but I eventually hope to use them in conjunction with a future "Zone Mortalis" style terrain project.

Next up, the Manufactorum!

paint: iron warriors: motor pool

Chelonian III & Scutum IX

Work continues on the Iron Warriors. I'm just about ready for salt-masking...

Warsmith Thokcha's Rusted Motor Pool!

...fingers crossed it goes as well, or slightly better, than it did on the Hell Brutes.

paint: iron warriors: sturm

...did I say 7 vehicles left? Tell ya what, let's go ahead and drop it to 6. ;)

Sturm: Helbrute: add CCW, heavy flamer, power scourge
(clickable)

Sturm's companion Helbrute, Drang, hasn't had any work done since we saw him last. I think he'll be an intermittent project until I can knock out the rest of the vehicle base coats all at once. Because of the sheer surface area of stippling and salt masking 5 Rhino-sized vehicles with dozer blades, this will require a solid chunk of uninterrupted hobby time. I'm hoping to find such a chunk before August switches over to September.