October is a funny month. Here in the UK, it's when the clocks go back (or forward? I can't remember) and it marks the start of five or six months of cold, snowless slush. It's also Orange Plastic Tat Month, or Halloween as it is also known, and model-makers everywhere are plundering the shops for useful terrain. And it contains several Oldhammer events, the greatest of which is surely Orktober, where everyone paints some kind of orc. There's also the less-snappily-named Zomtober, when people paint zombies, but I did that a couple of posts ago. And apparently there's Dreadtober, where you paint a dreadnought, although I think that would sound better as Dreadcember.
Anyhow, not wishing to miss out, I painted two orks.
The guy on the left is a medic that I've had lying around for a while. He's very obviously an alternative sculpt on another body (basically, an alternative head) and while he's not a terribly exciting model, he was quite pleasant to paint. I reckon these metal ork specialists must have been quite popular models, as there always seem to be a lot of them knocking around on ebay.
The model on the right is slightly odder. He's actually a looter from the Deathskull clan, and was released after Rogue Trader and the blue Citadel Catalogue, but before the major change in style in the orks that happened around 1998 or so. Nonetheless, he's slightly different: his face is longer and slightly less cartoony, and his proportions are more humanoid (I actually wondered if he was a converted Delaque ganger from Necromunda). He originally came with a massive heavy weapon, but I got him without arms and so added some classic ork ones.
He was actually quite a pain to paint. Sometimes a model just won't look right, no matter what you do. Eventually, I got him to look fairly piratical. I'm starting to wonder if I'm collecting an Oldhammer ork army. After all, I've got about 20 men, a dreadnought and a vehicle, which is about enough for 2nd edition!
Two great miniatures! I really like the yellow and black stripes and the red bandana with white dots. Really makes them characters!
ReplyDeleteCheers, I was trying for a piratey look, and that seemed to work. I do like bright colours these days, especially for Oldhammer models.
DeleteThey both look awesome in those schemes, pretty cool! I'm afraid I've skipped Orktober this year, this month has gone away without even noticing!
ReplyDeleteYes, this month has gone really quickly somehow! I'm sure there's something in November. Necronvember, perhaps? Thanks, they'll be joining a force of Freebooters and Bad Moons, so a lot of yellow and jolly Rogers is involved!
DeleteWith those dental clamps he must be from the billing department rather than from the caring department of the medics.
ReplyDeleteGreat figures, and yes, it sounds like you are 80-90% of the way to an army, you just need an old rhino and some heavy weapons!