Civs Foray into Orky 40k

So I’m putting these guys on hold. After 3 games of the new 40k, after a few years break, I honestly hate the game.

For me theres too much off the field that impacts the game. The strategems For me impact the game too much and it just doesnt flow I feel.

I want to rush orks forward and have guard try to hold back the tide not spend my time checking key words and looking up strategems. I really want to feel this is a 40k game and I just couldnt get immersed in it at all.

I love the universe of 40k, the artwork, the models, the stories but the game…well I’m on the Lookout for something else.

One page rules are a potential, looks simple enough for me to get a good game out of it and not have to invest half my life and life savings buying several different books and then reading them all trying to piece together what my army can actually do.

Even my brand new rulebook direct from GW was completely out of date. It was Lloyd who mentioned recently that sometimes you just dont have time to keep up with the game, so I’m choosing not to.

Hopefully My orks will grace (smash into) the battlefield again, but they wont be doing so in the 40k game world that’s for sure.

Since my list focuses on a weirdboy jumping orks around the board i thought i had better make and paint a weirdboy.

Im still doing this project on the cheap so buying an £18 model is out, but with the help of a few 3d printed parts and a suitable nob body my weirdboy was born.

Ive even put some paint on him, highlights and some light effects on the staff still to do but tabletop standard ready he is.

Orks first battle!

The Sisters of Battle against the Orks in the mission supply drop.

The sisters brought:

• Sister superior
• 10 Sister squad with 2 meltaguns
• 10 Sister squad with 2 meltaguns
• Rhino
• Rhino

The Orks brought:

• Weirdboy
• 20 ork boyz with power klaw nob
• 10 ork Boyz with power klaw nob
• 5 Kommandos
• 2 mek gunz

We set up a table that was symmetrical with ruins in each corner, a set of trees in the adjacent corners and a larger ruin in the middle.

Placement of objectives was fairly easy, one is placed in the middle and we both set up one in the ruins on our side of the board.

The aim was to keep the objectives for as long as possible, after a few turns one objective is removed at random and after another turn, one more objective is removed, the idea being the supply drop location is finally known.

Orks Won first turn.

Ork Turn 1

The unit of 10 boys set up on the objective so they stayed put to start building up points.

The mek Gunz had the rhinos in their sights so stayed put (they are both smasha Gunz so should be okay at taking down Rhinos).

The unit of 20 boyz moved forward but with the expectation on using da jump in the psychic phase.

Kommandos stayed off the board for now.

In the psychic phase my weirdboy Rolled a double 6 and perilled on his first outing. Da jump went off but the weirdboy had a banging headache and took a mortal wound.

The 20 boyz found themselves 9 inches away from the SoB objective and the enemy HQ. Adter some ineffectual shooting the charge phase took the 20 boys straight into combat. This was going to be messy.

The orks charged the sister superior and the Rhino near the objective. The sister superior was swamped by a tide of green and brought low. The rhino took little damage.

SoB turn 1

The sisters in the engaged rhino disembarked and got ready to charge the orks now in the ruins.

The other sister squad in the rhino (deployed on the opposite side to the sisters objective) moved up full speed towards the ork objective.

The sisters shooting phase took down 7 of the 20 boys,  which they charged in the subsequent phase.

The order my opponent was using had bonuses in combat but wounding orks on a 5 meant th combat was very much on the orks favour.

Ork turn 2

The 10 strong boyz squad sitting on the objective get bored and move towards the rhino advancing towards them.

I also spring the kommandos out of the ruins in the middle of the battlefield ready to much on the transported sisters squad.

In the shooting phase the mek gunz gang up on the Rhino transporting the sister squad and knock it out and leaving its transported squad open to some excited Ork charges.

The charge phase saw both Ork charges get into the disorientated sisters squad, which ended very badly for the sisters.

The orks attacking the sisters on their objective cut some more down and suffered few casualties In return thanks to their high toughness.

After losing so much of his force the SoB player called the game. It was a surprising victory for the Orks, capturing all objectives and destroying the opposing force.

Game summary

We had a good chat about the game after we played to figure out what we got wrong (it was our first game and we got quite a bit wrong!)

We decided having two transports on such a small table which took up almost half his points was not worth it.

Standard SoB in combat vs Toughness 4 troops was also not ideal, wounding on 5s and being wounded on 3s, even with a 3+ armour save was only going to end one way.

We played another game, swapping out the transports for another 5 SoB and some seraphim. It was a much tougher battle but the Orks still won due to using da jump to get the big squad on his objective and catching the SoB squads in combat.

The SoB didn’t have any anti horde weapons, it was all meltasand bolsters. I think with flamers and more use of grenades the game would have been much more challenging for the Orks.

Da jump combined with ere we go is so strong in getting a big unit of orks straight into a combat in their choosing.

Started on the meganobz, one of the four is this grizzled chap.

His banner had broken off so I had to drill out the banner holder and to secure it in I used some green stuff to wrap the joint, I tried to make it look like a bit of cloth so as not to be to circumspect

All my meganobz are armed with a power claw and some shooting weapon. No idea if this is a good mix but meh they look cool.

Started on my mek gun grots too, only got 5 but will get those finished soon too.

I’ve managed to paint 30 boys, 4 nobz and 2 warbosses so far (the one in the main picture was painted for my brother many many years ago).

These have all been painted to a tabletop standard just to get them ready for the crusade game. The final step is a coat of army painter dark tone dip which makes them very durable but also very shiny which you’ll see in the pictures.

The plan is to spray them all with a Matt varnish once the basing is done to remove the shine. I’d like to also go back and add in some highlights once the whole force is painted to this standard but that may be a way down the line.

I’ve kept to the same few colours on all the orks And tried to make the most of the black undercoat to save on time. This has led to a fairly dark army primarily black and red. The idea is to lighten this up with highlights to make the models pop more.

Overall I’m pretty pleased with the progress so far. I should be painting the Mek gunz or the Kommandos but seem to have started on the mega nobz. Oops!

Unlike Warren basing has always been something I’ve been scared of doing as it can make or break a model and once you’ve done it you have to do it for your whole army.

After some research I’ve taken the dive and am starting simple with some grey wasteland with some bits of debris and rock to break up the bases.

After a suggestion from a friend I’ve purchased vallejo grey pumice as the base material, to which I’ll add some 3d printed bits and some GW 40k basing material from probably a decade ago.

I’m going to paint these with a dark blue and add splashes of ink/wash to make the base more interesting and colourful. So watch this space for some actual painted examples.

Basing part 2 is realising that the basing convention has changed a little bit since assault on black reach. Turns out 32mm is the new 25mm. Rebasing 90 orks isn’t going to happen but I’m going to rebase the nobz as they really dont fit on 25mm bases.

Incomes part 3, I have a resin 3d printer so that’s now my go to for any bases I need these days (if I dont have them in my bitz box already). I’m using a magnetic sheet transport system so having ferrous bases is a real plus. All this means I’ve designed a 32mm base that holds (very snuggly) a 2p piece which the nobz have now been based on.

New basing requirements? Check

Magnetic bases? Check

Basing idea? Check

Now I just need to get on with it!

As an added basing benefit, the GW Basing pieces I’ve got represent most armies in the 40k universe do I’m going to paint the helmets of fallen warriors in the colours of those armies I come up against in our crusades campaign.

The big Ork below is sporting a SoB helmet on his base, a hint as to how their first game went against my friends SoB army.

Unlike Warren basing has always been something I’ve been scared of doing as it can make or break a model and once you’ve done it you have to do it for your whole army.

After some research I’ve taken the dive and am starting simple with some grey wasteland with some bits of debris and rock to break up the bases.

After a suggestion from a friend I’ve purchased vallejo grey pumice as the base material, to which I’ll add some 3d printed bits and some GW 40k basing material from probably a decade ago.

I’m going to paint these with a dark blue and add splashes of ink/wash to make the base more interesting and colourful. So watch this space for some actual painted examples.

Now I’ve got my list together its time to start painting.

I’ve managed to get 30 boys painted to a tabletop standard which is the bulk of the force.

Next up is the mek Gunz.

It turns out you start with a pool of 50pl and then pick units from this army for games so below is the force so far and I’ll get some better pictures done when I get 5 minutes.

I’m not sure on a basing scheme yet so will do those altogether When I’ve picked something I like.