Tuesday 24 February 2015

From DavidL - More Epic Orks: The Death Skulls (92 Points)

My Epic40K project rolls on.

This week, we have the Death Skulls clan, which I consider the "core" of my army in the bit of background I've worked up:

On the planet inhabited by House Beaumaris (my friend's Imperial Knights army), tech levels remain medieval outside the centers of civilization. In addition to primitive humans, there is a feral Ork population that still wields axes and spears, rides around on giant boars, and breeds massive Squiggoths to perform manual labor. Recently, however, a mysterious Death Skull warboss known only as "Da Blue Baron" has arrived planetside. Inspired by the Knights and Titans of House Beaumaris, he has started building Stompas and Gargants in imitation. (Indeed, it is rumored that he even stole his exalted title from Baron Beaumaris.) As the Waagh waxes strong within Da Blue Baron (who previously was content simply to steal stuff from his fellow Orks while they were off doing the fighting - as evidenced by the presence of Goff Gutrippas and Evil Sunz Scorchas in his army - then leg it to another system before anyone noticed), he has contracted with some stinking Blood Axe mercenaries to bulk up his forces. The rising Waagh has also attracted the local Savage Ork population, who have flocked to Da Baron's banner (and his idol-like Great Gargant, which they worship openly as a god), forming a Wildboyz horde (like Snakebites, only more primitive).

And so here we have the Death Skulls and Da Baron, along with his escort of Stompas, plus the looted tanks referenced above. (Once again, my lightbox proved too small to get everyone in a single shot, but this is everyone sans Stompas...)



Like the Blood Axes, the Death Skulls are usually something of a second-tier force, but I liked the idea of being able to take other clans' special units as my own, and the idea of making these guys my "core" had a certain perverse appeal that led directly to the whole Blue Baron background.


(Plus, mechanically, I love the fact that when a Death Skulls unit is out of command, its default action is to drop everything and start looting--so Orky!)


Death Skulls often don blue and white face paint, so I gave about half of the figures that treatment, which was an interesting exercise in such a small scale!


Da Baron himself, along with his Nobz, a Painboy in blood-spattered smock, and a Mekboy wielding a Shokk Attack Gun, probably my favorite bit of Orky tech.


You just cant go wrong with a gun that teleports a gaggle of Snotlings (dumped into the machine through a funnel, no less) through the Warp and into the delicate workings of tanks and Titans!


The looted Goff Gutrippas. I considered giving them a Goff paintjob with blue stripes slapped on, but I decided in the end that the Death Skulls would have sandblasted the Goff paintjob away and applied their own slapdash colors, similar to what we see with photos of captured enemy tanks in WWII.


I was quite intent on giving the tanks a real "lived-in" look, with plenty of rust streaks and chipped paint, and I'm happy with the results.


And here are the looted Evil Sunz Skorchas.


There's something quintessentially Orky about a massive flamethrower spigot located directly above the exposed driver...


And finally, the Stompa mob.


I got these off of eBay, and the original owner had done a fun little conversion to indicate the commander of the mob. Da Blue Baron's second-in-command, no doubt...


One of the things I absolutely love about the Stompa models is their little slate-roofed shacks on the back. It's strangely homey in a way.


Last, and certainly least, a Gretchin mob to act as a meat shield for the clan...


And on that anti-climactic note, the tally this week comes out to 122 infantry, the Shokk Attack Gun (which may or may not count as an artillery piece...I'll leave that up to Curt), 6 vehicles, and 6 Stompas (not sure on points scoring for those...once again, I'll leave it up to Curt).

Next week: some odds and sods plus...the Gargants.


From Curt:

I'm usually not a big fan of the whole Space Ork thing in 40K but I can't help get onboard with the infectious fun that you're having with these models and the entire 'ethos' of the army (if such a word can be used with Orks). For example, as soon as I read your description of the workings of the Shokk Attack Gun I immediately wanted to game with it. 

Again, like your previous entries with this collection, I really like the punchy, high-contrast colours you've gone with. The ork's green flesh is clearly apparent and that bright blue is a nice change from the common red you typically see with Ork stuff.

Wonderful stuff David!

14 comments:

  1. Sweet job on these 6mm. You got a lot of detail painted on these guys. The Stompas are my favourties. I think they're rather cute.

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  2. I did look on eBay thinking to get some Epic Models thanks to your posts. The Prices were surprisingly high so people are still playing and enjoying the game and looking at these troops you can see why.

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  3. Wonderful painting work. This horde is fantastic!

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  4. Great bunch of the bad guys,

    Ian

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  5. Great painting on these tiny blobs!

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  6. Excellent work on these David :)

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  7. Every time I see your Epic stuff I'm impressed David. You make such a wonderful job of them AND have a great backstory. Keep em coming!

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  8. I think Epic has me leaning toward 6mm more than anything else. Say what you want about the tenets of the Waagh. At least it's an ethos. ;)

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  9. Really nice stuff. It reminds me of a really old white dwarf battle report for epic where they had just sprayed each clan the appropriate colour, but the extra work to do the proper colours on everything else is fantastic. Well done indeed!

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  10. Great work, David! The Epic stuff is always fun to see (got rid of my stuff sadly, when folks stopped playing locally), and I have a soft spot for that "era" of Orks, with the Clans and all! Keep up the good work!

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  11. Very cool David - this Epic stuff has been outstanding.

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  12. Very cool stuff. I always enjoyed Epic as a system. You are giving me serious flashbacks to painting up a massive Guard army when Titan Legions was still on sale! Thankfully Fee-bay prices are keeping the urge to recreate it under control ;)

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  13. This is an awesome project. Another excellent addition. cheers

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