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!

Skulltakaz Warboss - Uzrog Mag-Kull, Boss of Badlanding

Uzrog was an aspiring nob of the Skulltakaz warband making a name for himself as a dead 'ard fighter when he was badly mauled while hunting a massive Horned Squigmaw. Despite having his right arm ripped away by the sharp horns, Uzrog was able to cleave the Squigmaw's head in two with his trusty choppa. Even with the traumatic injury, he somehow slogged back to camp, where he was forced to cash in all the teef from his kill to get a painboy to stitch him up before he bled out. However, he chose to keep the massive horns for himself rather than trade them for a crude bionic arm made of rusted scrap. He mounted the impressive horns on his helmet as a symbol of his toughness and for the good luck they would surely bring, coming from such a worthy adversary. With these massive horns mounted on his already outsized head, he earned the moniker Mag-Kull, which roughly translates as "great skull" or "big head."

The lack of a replacement arm meant he was forced to learn to fight one-handed. Over the months he proved adept enough to survive in a kulture of combat, but was never successful enough to scrape together the teef required for expensive bionics. However, with the mustering of the Skulltakaz as part of the mighty WAAAGH! led by Snagrod, the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, his luck would change. 

In his first action during the invasion of Badlanding, he was part of his warboss' retinue when they got into a good scrap with a unit of Imperial walkers. During the fighting, Uzrog was charging one of the walkers when he slipped in a pool of blood from a dead guardsman. At just that instant, a plasma cannon blast that had been aimed squarely at his head missed him and instead vaporized his unsuspecting warboss! Picking himself up, he tapped his lucky horns and then leapt at the offending walker. He grabbed its chainsaw arm and directed it into the walker's own leg, severing it easily and toppling the walker. He was then able to pry open the hatch and get at the squishy pilot with his choppa. 

The loot from this conquest of so many walkers was impressive and Uzrog immediately laid claim to the magnificent chainsaw that proved so deadly. Using his share of his now dead boss' teef (like a true Deathskull, he was not above looting any corpse, no matter how esteemed), he was able to get the chainsaw and its engine mounted as a massive oversized bionic limb. Thus armed, he was able to win the inevitable challenge for leadership of the Skulltakaz warband, and by extension, became the Boss of Badlanding. He would report directly to the Arch-Arsonist, Snagrod, and be on the front line of the clash with the Imperial forces of Rynn's World.

And as for the guardsman corpse that inadvertently saved his life with its pool of slippery blood, he claimed the skull, had it cleaned by a grot, and now wears it around his neck as another lucky talisman. With the boldness of one who believes he has Mork's own luck combined with the improvisation learned by a one-armed fighter (and of course his massive chainsaw arm!),  Uzrog Mag-Kull had the makings of a truly deadly warboss who would cause havoc for the Imperial forces during the Badlanding and Rynn's World campaigns. 

Da Big Boss

I finally have a general for my army. I converted him back in Houston using some Warhammer Fantasy bits from an Orc boss and an ogre. I was going for a pit fighter look. My intention is for the big left hand with the gauntlet/chainsaw to count as a power fist/power klaw. I know it doesn't look as killy as a power klaw, but I figure it looks a lot bigger and stronger than a chain fist on a terminator! Looking back, I wonder if I should have made the huge chain sword stick out the end of his fist in order to look more like a chain fist and less like a chain sword. But being an Evil Sunz boss, I wanted him to look brutal, but also quick and kunnin' in combat.

His skin is a much browner/mossier green and his teeth are browner to represent him being older and tougher than the boyz. Perhaps later I might add a blood splatter on his chain blade and the severed Hydra Legion head. Citadel has a new paint called Blood for the Blood God that is supposed to look like wet gore.

I am ecstatic to finally have an HQ to lead my army. For the first time ever, I can play a legal game of 40k using only models that I painted myself!