My army list for this challenge is themed around Ork fast attack vehicles. However, the army wouldn’t be able to hold any board objectives without infantry of some sort. This month I switched gears and painted up a mob of Bad Moon Ork Nobz in mega armour, a mekaniak with shokk attack gun, a herd of snotlings, and a few bonus models.

These mega armour Ork models are the newest Ork models (in terms of their date of release) that I own. I’m not a fan of them, and only bought these models in the 90s because the local hobby store was closing and I bought what they had for around $1 USD per blister pack.

These models lack the complexity of Rogue Trader-era Ork models, and probably even that of their Ork contemporaries from the time of 2nd edition. Considering that they’re ridiculously larger than all the other infantry of the period, I feel they should have more detail. They just seem rushed. I love Alan Perry’s figs, just not these.

Most examples of Bad Moon meganobs use a black/yellow palette, but I don’t care for the high contrast. So I went with a green/yellow palette. Nothing especially different, but it just seems easier on my eyes. Most of the banner poles were snapped off in the blister, so I drilled holes in the models so that in the future I can replace the broken poles and give them some banners. As usual for my orks, power claws are painted in “power weapon blue.”

I was planning on painting the mek with shokk gun later on in the challenge, but I completed the nobz so fast that I had time to finish more models. I enjoyed painting him up: grinning face and lots of fun details (typical of all Kev Adams figures). After digging through my Ork bins I found some more snotlings, so I upped the number of bases from 4 to 6. Now I can keep shooting for a full six-turn game, if needed. I enjoyed painting all these little grubbers, though it took alot longer than I had anticipated.

Each model had a quirk to them that needed to be brought out in some way: a cool pose, funny expression, strange weapon, etc. In the Ork codex (and fantasy Orc army book) the troop description of snotlings says that a base “contains about 9 snotlings…” which, to me, is bananas. In what practical way could you fit 9 of them on a 40mm base? Seven, maybe, but no way could you do nine: you couldn’t properly flock the base, and you’d never see the awesome little faces on these freaks. Since I must get a Judas Priest-inspired banner into the army, I painted up one of the snotlings as holding a teeny banner in the same style as my banners from the previous 40k challenge, adorned with JP’s metal cross.

The last models for the month were a quick little bonus batch of figs: 2 hop-splat field guns (splatta kannons) and 4 crew. I painted 3 hop splats in the previous Cowabunga challenge (Mark IV), so now I have a total battery of 5 hop splats. I have to imagine that 5 hop splats will be a huge hassle in terms of how much longer your turn becomes dealing with the additional rolls and measuring required.

Models and Points:

Bad Moon Nobz Mob (8) – 433
Mekaniak with Shokk Attack Gun – 43
Snotling Herd (6) – 30
Hop Splat Kannons (2) – 120

Totals:

21 models (27 equivalent)
626 points

More photos of my miniatures can be found on Instagram @pygmyhippo