Da Skulltakaz Deathskull Warband

 "Da Skulltakaz" Deathskull Warband

 Army List:

Da Skulltakaz 

• Warboss: slugga, power klaw, cybork body, eavy armor (100 pts)
• 21 x Ork Boyz: slugga, choppa, Nob w/ power klaw, boss pole (166 pts)
• 21 x Ork Boyz: shoota, 2 x big shootas, Nob w/ power klaw, boss pole (176 pts)
• Da Bonepickaz - 29 x Gretchin: blasta, 2 x Runtherds (107 pts)

Total: 549 points

Unlike my previous Ork army (and indeed pretty much every army I have ever collected), I decided to start by building and painting an entire legal force before getting sidetracked on other units. (What a concept!) I really owe it to the Contrast paint range as it lets me knock out big blocks of infantry much faster than before so I can get big units done without losing my excitement (and sanity!). 

This gives me a solid core for my army, wherever I decide to go next. Two big mobs of boyz should be the heart of any respectable warband. With 44 Wounds at Toughness 4, they should be able to withstand some punishment. One mob is armed with shootas and two big shootas to keep the army from being completely one-dimensional, but I definitely don't want to get into an extended firefight with marines. A big blob of gretchin gives me lots of bodies to absorb damage and tie up enemy units, or they can be split into two legal 15-grot mobs if I need to spread out to grab multiple objectives or table quarters where the mission calls for it. And the Warboss with S10 power klaw gives me my hammer to smash up any 'ard stuff.

While I have a lot of bodies, the army is lacking mobility, firepower, and armor (is that all?). Next, I need to add some vehicles, walkers, and big guns!

More Skulltakaz! Shoota Boyz!

I finished my second big mob of Deathskulls for the upcoming Rynn's World campaign using 4th Edition rules. Any ork warband without at least two huge mobs of boyz is not worthy of the name, I say. Just like last time, I assembled 20 boyz before I remembered the nob so once again, I have 21 in the mob. Oh well, unlike humans, orks do not care about neat organization into multiples of ten. The nob leads as many boyz as he can inspire (and bully) into following him!

I kept the same paint scheme and once again, everyone gets a skull - or part of one - for good luck. But I updated the bases. The previous version was a little too muddy looking. I went with a drier frozen base and a black rim for visual dead space between the base and the board. I am happier with the result. 

Shoota Boyz

With the addition of the three new ones (now based), the shoota boyz are finally starting to resemble a proppa mob. But in order to include both of the big shootas, I will need to add five more boyz to get them up to 20.

With all this dakka, a few shots are bound to hit their targets!

The only problem is that I modeled the nob a long time ago to make him look cool with a big gun, but in game terms, I don't know what I can have that gun represent besides a plain shoota. Maybe I should try to modify the model to make a kombi-skorcha or something. And there is no longer an iron gob wargear item; the boss pole is the item that helps improve morale results now. So he's not really set up to be effective in the game.

First models after a long break

First new Orks painted in many years! Three shoota boyz to bring that mob up to 15. They still need a few detail touch ups and their bases done, but I wanted to post some progress pictures to inspire myself and maybe get my brothers painting again, too. I'll work on how to post better pictures, but I'm happy with this start.

These guys ended up with a lot of red highlights between the face paint and hair. I like the one who is stabbing with his knife. Just because they have shootas doesn't mean this mob doesn't want to get stuck in! It is hard to tell from the photos, but the ork in the center has a chain strap on his shoota to add a little something unique.

Next up, I really need a Warboss. I've been putting it off, but if I am going to play, I need to finally paint one!