This month I was away from home for a couple weeks. When I entered the challenge I planned my painting block for this month to be something I could manage around my travel schedule. My plan for the month was to paint the warboss (Kor Sparktoof), his 4 gretchin assistants, and the army standard bearer.

Kor is a cunning (but not quite cerebral) ork. What Kor most definitely is NOT, is a subtle ork. I tied the command group together with tiger stripe camouflage: and when it comes to Blood Axes they mean more “tiger stripe” than “camouflage” (to an ork, the difference is negligible).

As is usual for Kor, he displays his motivation proudly in his personal livery of Judas Priest art. I built his back banner from styrene shaped over a flame, drilled a few bullet holes, and painted it with the classic Melvyn Grant art from Judas Priest’s 1981 album “Hero, Hero.” I’m particularly proud of his back banner, considering it’s around 20mm X 30mm. His Gretchin assistant with the knife, shotgun, and eye patch is my favorite greenskin sculpt of Warhammer 40,000, of any edition.

The army standard bearer is modified from a Rogue Trader-era standard bearer with a brass rod to lengthen the pole, the original standard placed on top, additional skulls, and epoxy sculpting. I painted the army standard with the ‘Metallion’ (art by Doug Johnson), from the cover of Judas Priest’s 1984 album “Defenders of the Faith.” I let my family vote for what cover art to use for the army standard. It was down to “Turbo” and “Defenders of the Faith” as being the most “orky” choices. I’m glad Defenders won out, since Kor Sparktoof identifies closely with the first track from that album:

"Fast and furious we ride the universe
To carve a road for us that slices every curve in sight
We accelerate, no time to hesitate
This load will detonate whoever would contend its right
Born to lead at breakneck speed
With high octane we're spitting flames
Freewheel burning!"

-- Freewheel Burning, Judas Priest, 1984

I feel these are my best pieces of freehand so far, and I couldn’t be happier!