Lowest of the Low Pt 4

We come to the last of our Grot posts - the command squad - in true IG fashion, the Grots of Da Longteef have cobbled together a command squad of sorts, including a Lieutenant, Kommisar and a few 'special' weapons.  These particularly intelligent, brave, ambitious or willing Grots bark orders (a few even correctly) and generally try to keep the squad moving in the right direction.

The Lieutenant is built in same fashion as the other grots, though this time with an officer cap (again from Basicks), a grot-sized chain sword and a las pistol - a fancier weapon, as befitting his rank, than the crude pistols the other grots use.  Finally, a fur half cloak from the Empire White Wolf upgrade sprue makes a nice cape and gives him just a little more 'authority'.

The one element of the IG  that remains an ongoing mystery to the Orks is why you would have two people in charge (the concept of morale being largely lost on a Ork mind).  Never the less, there must be a reason - in this case to mostly give contradictory orders and add to the general chaos that is an Ork battlefield.

The Kommissar is a goblin officer from Basicks with the most Commisar looking hat from their officer head sprue.

Finally, one of the special weapons.  This is one of the older pre-plastic GW grots, though I've sawed him in half to give him some pants and boots.  I think the blunderbuss works great a special weapon - like a crude, big blast shotgun 

Here is a shot of the entire command squad.  The dual pistols and Necromunda shotgun are really just place holders until I can find something a little more characterful.

And finally, the current squad all together.

Hope you're liking this look at the Orks.  Please comment and follow on facebook..
Next post we'll have a new squad!

 

 

Lowest of the Low Pt 1

From the mighty, towering Warbosses, we now swing to the other end of the spectrum with the lowly Grot. The labourers, assistants and functionaries that make Ork society (such as it is) function, and occupy the lowest rung in the Warbands.

I avoided GW's Grot with its loin cloth and bare feet, as being too wild and not representative of the IG theme of the Blood Axe army.

I envisioned the Blood Axe's using their Grots more strategically, actually training and equipping them to serve, admittedly as unequal partners, in their Waaaghs.  After all, Grots already man the artillery and pilot Killer Kans, so not that far of a stretch.

I also recalled the Whiteshields from early editions of the IG (and I think more recently with Cadians). More inexperienced and less battle hardened recruits seemed like a thematic match with the Grots, so added a white arm band as a nod to those old Whiteshield units.

The first 'squad' of Grots is a Rifle section.  There's a fair number of components that go into these guys (totally reasonable for a 2 pt guy that you need 60-90 of, right?)

  1. The body is from GW's Fantasy Goblin range, only using the less 'medieval' legs and torso.
  2. Bare heads are GW Goblin heads, while the helmeted heads are from Basicks, one of the early (and now defunct) Polish microcasters, created after the split at MicroArts Studio.
  3. The guns are converted Lasguns from the plastic Orlock Necromunda sprue
  4. The other arm is from the GW Empire Flagellants range
  5. Finally I added things like kit from the IG sprue and a random assortment of backpacks

I've painted them in my standard Longteef colour scheme, kind of an urban camo, with bluey greys and whites and a touch of actual camo on the helmets.  I felt I needed to include some actual camo as its a distinctive feature of the Blood Axes, but too much can look muddled (not to mention its quite time consuming to paint)  so  I felt that just the helmet was a good compromise.

Hope you like this intro to the more rank and file and will be back next post with more of the Grots!

Red ones go fasta! Pt 1

I'm starting our look at Da Longteef with the Big Mek, Gogstompa.  Gogstompa holds the rank of Kolonel and leads Grimtoof's walker warband - stompas, dreads, nauts and cans!

The fig is the old metal Big Mek GW miniature.  In keeping with the Blood Axe/IG theme, I figured the meks would take after the Adeptus Mechanicus so I painted him red and sculpted a hood with dags (instead of gears).  I really liked the idea that the Ad Mech are predominantly red and this somehow validates the Ork's belief that 'red ones go fasta!'

I also added a backpack with a little more horsepower - a old Killer Kan power plant.  I then fitted it with a couple of power claws from Kromlech, to help when building those big walkers.  Admit it, every 'converter' wishes they had three arms at some point.

And of course I magnetized the arms and head just in case I needed swap anything out down the road.  I have no real reason for doing this other than I'm afraid to commit to any one wargear option.

Of course, every mek has his grot oilers.  I figured the pit chief would try to emulate his boss, so used a Night Goblin for the red robes.  He's had a few less then well though-out upgrades. His assistants are a grot from the current plastic box (with custom blow torch) and a converted grot from Spell Crow with power hammer.

Finally, threw in an attack squig for good measure.  When I saw these mekano squigs from Wargame Exclusive, I knew they would work perfectly for a Big Mek.  They are painted up using the standard GW rust technique (Ryza Rust over Typhus Corrosion).  All my Ork robots have this super rusted look because, Orks.

And here is the group all together.

Hope you liked this first look at Da Longteef, my Blood Axe warband.  Lots more to come!