I Have A Plan - And Some Classic Ork Firepower!

So I had this random idea, and I thought I'd run it past both of my readers.

What if a bunch of painters bought a box of - say - ten minis each, painted the models, sold them on ebay and gave the profits to charity? I think that could be a nice idea. You could sell the painted models for anything from £40 to £150, depending on how well they were painted and who painted them. They would be fun to paint and you could try out a new paint scheme or models from a game you don't usually play (personally, I'd do a Blood Bowl team).

Unfortunately, I have virtually no clout in the painting/gaming community - not that I've ever looked for it. But it someone with a "name" picked up on the idea, or enough people went for it, I think it could be really effective. Of course, you'd have to rely on people to honestly donate the profits and not just pocket them, and there would be some showoff who tried to paint an entire army for it, but by and large wargamers seem to be decent people who would be willing to turn their talents to a worthy cause.

Does anything like this already exist? Would you consider doing it? If anyone fancies doing something like this one-box charity challenge, or has any idea on how you'd go about organising it, drop me a line.

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Right then. This week, it's space orks. I've been picking away at these for a long while, but I've got a batch done, and here they are.

I bought some metal guns off ebay, which originally came with 1990s Deathskull Lootas. They must have been some of the last old-style ork models. The guns are comically large and (of course) fit really badly with the ork models, metal or plastic. I used ancient shoulder pads to mount the guns and added handles made of a green stuff/milliput mixture.

I actually used an old metal madboy as the wielder of this weapon. For one thing, he's got a great expression and for another, you'd have to be mad to be carting this thing around. I think it's an autocannon.

He got a little plastic friend to act as a spotter. By turning the left hand the other way up (it's meant to be supporting his bolter) I've got him shielding his eyes. Shame his mate is looking in the wrong direction.

The next pair are both plastic models. Again, the gun took a lot of fitting. I've gone for the usual jolly freebooter/Bad Moon colours. 

And now onto the really fun stuff!

 The old plastic ork warbuggy gets a lot of stick for being a bad model but, once you factor in the odd design of the crew, I think it's perfectly decent. The detail is reasonable for a kit from 2000 or so, and you can add as much detail as you like to the big hubcaps and the front. It's also pretty easy to convert and customise.

The main problem is that the crew don't really look like GW orks. They resemble hefty humans (like House Goliath Necromunda models) with no necks. In sculpting terms they're not bad, although they don't resemble either the Oldhammer Paul Bonner-type orks, or the ape-like monsters from 3rd Ed onwards. If another company had made this model, it would be fine.

I particularly like the driver, with his deranged grin, and the guy operating the gun, who looks like an unusually green fat biker.

This model is pretty much as it came from the box, slightly repaired rather than deliberately converted. It was missing its banner pole, but I've got no great love for banners, and that won't be much missed. 

Broom!

I've got a Bretonnian leader to paint, but I'm trying to put him off, as it's a really daunting bit of conversion and painting work. Got to do it sometime, though!