As I have mentioned in both my previous posts, I'm currently painting a 2500 point Ork force all at once. Most people I tell this either nod their heads knowingly (ususally because they have tried to paint a horde army themselves) or tell me I'm insane (typical response from Space Marine players).
I've been collecting Orks since second edition, and have a very large force. Depending on how I choose certain options I can put between 6000-8000 points worth of assembled Orks on the table. I have another 4000-5000 points in boxes - a good amount of the stuff in my games cupboard:
I've been collecting Orks since second edition, and have a very large force. Depending on how I choose certain options I can put between 6000-8000 points worth of assembled Orks on the table. I have another 4000-5000 points in boxes - a good amount of the stuff in my games cupboard:
I've had my Orks for over a decade now (since 1993) and while I had made some progress in painting my old 2nd edition Orks, Games Workshop went and changed the whole look and feel of the army (f0r the better) rendering my old painted boyz obsolete.
Since then I haven't painted any. This is because I was actively painting my Blood Angels, at the rapid pace of one squad per year. But the irony is, I have always enjoyed gaming with my Orks more, and so decided my Blood Angels had seen enough attention, and it was time to give the boyz some love. So with new resolve I selected a good core footslogging force to start with, and began to plan the project.
The force you see above is made up as follows:
- two thrity-strong mobs of slugga & choppa boyz, each with a power claw equiped nob
- two thirty strong shoota boyz mobs, one with three rocket launchers and one with three big shootas, both led by power claw equiped nobs
- one thirty stong 'ard boyz mob with sluggas and choppas, led by a power claw equiped nob.
- twelve Lootas, led by two meks with kustom mega blasters
- six mega nobz - one with a combi-rocket launcher and one with a combi-skorcha
- ten nobz, with two pain boyz (these will be in separate units) and two grot orderlys.
- three Kanz - one skorcha, one shoota, and one grotzooka.
- One Deff Dread with a big shoot and a skorcha
- One Warboss with power klaw and twin linked shoota, with attack squiq
- One Big Mek with Kustom Force Field and Power Klaw
Starting in November, I started cleaning and assembling units. This took about two months, at an average of an hour a night, though I did get a number of units done in addition to the 184 lined up for painting. Once the assembly and cleaning (that is removal of mold lines and flash for the uninitiated) were done, I set up an assembly line to base the units. Some painters like to leave the bases until after the models are painted. These painters are insane. If I can offer one piece of advice, it is to base your models before you undercoat them and paint them. The undercoat and paint bind the basing materials onto the model, and look far more integrated than post-paint basing.
The other thing I cannot emphasize enough is the 'glue and dip' method of basing is also a mistake. This is the technique that you see in White Dwarf, in which you paint some white glue onto the base of the model, then dip the model into some sand or other basing material. This method leads to a lot of chipped and flaking bases, trust me. The method I use is a variation on this that provides a much more solid base - I make a mix from PVA Glue and water (about 1:1) then add the same amount of basing material - in my case three grades of silica sand. You can pay a lot of money for basing materials, or you can buy it for a few dollars a liter from most hardware stores - just ask for clean silica for making textured paint. Mix all three grades together - fine, medium and course, in a plastic container with an air tight lid, then stir in the water/glue mix until it is thick but wet.
When the mix is ready, spread it onto the base of each model, and let it dry overnight. This produces a nice course terrain, and it is rock solid.
After basing the models (this took about 4 hours effort all told) I ensured they were fully dried, then proceeded to undercoat them all black. This took a full 2.5 cans of Chaos black spray!
Following that, my plan is to take the whole army through the following steps, not moving on to the next step until every model is completed for a given step.
1 - Drybrush astronomicon grey on all clothing - DONE
2 - Drybrush all weapons, some armour, and key parts of the Kans, Dred and MANz boltgun metal - DONE
3 - Paint all skin Orkhide Shade
4 - Pick out some armour, gun parts and other minor details in Dwarf Bronze
5 - Paint belts and staps scortched brown
6 - spray wash with 3 coats of badab black wash
7 - Pick out detail and paint chips and scratches with chainmail
8 - Paint skin with Knarloc Green
9 - Highlight skin with Goblin green
10 - top highlight skin with Scorpion green
11 - Paint teeth snakebite leather
12 -Paint eyes bleached bone
13 - highlight teeth bleached bone
14 - paint eyes blood red (fully covering the bleached bone)
15 - extreme highlight teeth white
16 - Paint any minor details unique to any models
I figure making a solid go of this, averaging 5 hours a week, I can finish in 3-6 months. I'm up to step 3 now, here's a current progress shot of my Warboss and Big Mek:
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