Ork warbuggy, madboys and a beast of Nurgle

 Lots of stuff this week, most of it ork-related. But first, what is Games Workshop's most overcosted miniature?

I think a lot of people would nominate some big war machine, or a particularly fancy character, and that's fair enough. We seem to be moving to a point where no GW model costs less than £25, and no squad of models is less than £40. And of course, if you really want to burn through money, you can buy some ex-Forgeworld titans and spaceships that cost hundreds of pounds.

But my choice would be the humble Beast of Nurgle. This is a plastic kit, and it's notable that it is indeed humble. For £36, you get one plastic model with very limited customisation options, which isn't a character. If I remember rightly, you have to take them in units of two or more. That's a shame, because I really like the miniature. With the right options, it looks like a silly, happy blob-monster, and has that rare thing for a Warhammer kit: charm.

Anyhow, I saw two of them going for £30 on ebay and bought them. When they came through the post, I was surprised to find that they weren't legit: they were 3D printed models, presumably scanned from the original. Oh well: I can easily see why someone would make their own. Anyhow, I painted one of them and really enjoyed it. I think he would make a good friendly alien or enthusiastic sidekick.

"Hi guys!"

I tend to give most of my models a thin coat of spray-on matt varnish. I sprayed this model with a new can of Colour Forge matt varnish, having given the can a shake. To my shock, white stuff came out, presumably spray that hadn't settled properly. Luckily I'd only sprayed one side of the model before I realised the problem, but I still had to repaint it, which was a nuisance. Oh well, lesson learned. 

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Now then, on to the orks. I've been chipping away at a few models for a long time, and I've saved them up for this post (lucky you!). First up, we've got three more metal madboys: not the most sympathetic depiction of mental health, but excellent sculpts with loads of character. It feels quite weird to see GW models with such a range of expressions. I have no idea why one of them is missing a shoe, but they still look as if they're either thinking things over or having a super time. Which feels very orky.

And finally, here's another warbuggy. Like the one I made a few months ago, this is a plastic kit from the later 90s, with oddly-proportioned crew. This time around, however, I was missing a lot of bits and had to improvise. The driver is a completely different plastic miniature, a truck driver from the Gorkamorka range, and the gunner's arms are from a chaos space marine, with some of the armour cut down and some fabric-type ridges sculpted in with green stuff and milliput. 

I like these models. While the crew don't fit well with the main ork ranges, either old or new, the sculpting is fine and the vehicle itself has lots of nice detail - but not too much. You can do a lot of things with it and I suspect that they would have been a lot of fun to convert, back in the day. 

Bretonnian Organ Gun

 It's been a long, bad week, but I've managed to get a bit of painting done. I repainted an old Bretonnian organ gun. I had to repair it from the bits that I had, and gave it some 3D printed wheels. They're probably too big but I don't care. It looks alright as it is.

Two of the crew are original gunners, but the chap waving his sword is an old brigand miniature. I think his helmet and padded jacket fit the look of the gun crew. 

Here are both of the guns with their crews.

Giant Robot/Gundam/Warmachine conversion!

 And now for something completely different.

I've had a lot of robot bits lying around, for quite a while. I bought some cheap Gundam kits when I made my big Tau walker (see here) and I had some bits left over from a Warmachine conversion that just wouldn't hold together.

I know nothing about Gundam models. They all look rather too much like people for my tastes: I prefer walkers with dinosaur-style legs and boxy bodies. Still, the legs and arms could work well, if I replaced the body and head. I used what seems to be the most classic Gundam robot, which has a white body and red and blue sections. Maybe it's the hero of the franchise. Anyhow, it provided the limbs.

The upper body came from the Warmachine conversion, and the gun was a 40k piece. Having put the basic model together, I added details with all sorts of random bits, including tank parts, Lego, pipes left over from an Imperial Knight, and plasticard sections designed to make it less sleek and more industrial. I wanted to tie the different sections of the model together, and to hide the somewhat crude joints on the Gundam model.

The head is a 40k sensor, with a lower jaw made from plasticard. I like the way that it juts forward. I imagine that it can retreat into the main body. Here is the unpainted body (without head):

When it came to painting, I didn't want the robot to look too medieval or tied to any particular system. I went for a fairly industrial off-white, which could be chipped and shaded to look suitably used and grubby. I added a few bits of colour for interest, and just about resisted the urge to paint hazard stripes all over it. After all those Bretonnian knights, it was quite nice to paint dirty metal again.

The arm is jointed so that the gun can be raised and aimed. Otherwise, it's static.

There we go. I should make more robots. They're always fun projects. I'm quite tempted by some of the GW Horus Heresy robots, but I've got enough stuff to be getting on with right now. As ever!

Sorceress and Crossbowmen

 Here are some more Bretonnians. First up, here's a sorceress from the 1996 release. I like this model: it's quite simple and elegant. Unlike most female wizards, she's not sitting sidesaddle.

Second, this is a small unit of crossbowmen. Back in the day, Bretonnian infantry could take crossbows. These guys are painted in the colours of the "arblastiers de Lyons" in the Games Workshop studio army from White Dwarf 137. They're pretty decent models, for their time, and I enjoyed painting them. I worked on them in batches, and to be honest they're a bit on the rough side, but they'll do as a small unit. If I was to field them under the modern rules, which don't allow crossbows, I'd probably say that they were scouts.