Ogryns: The chonkiest of the chonks. The perfect mercenary addition to Kor’s Ork Raiders. Rarely do I prefer 2nd edition 40k models over Rogue Trader models, but these sculpts fit perfectly with RT orks. I wish I had more of them. They were a joy to paint, primarily because of their faces and fun details, and because they’re quite large and more forgiving on my eyesight.

When I assembled them, I mixed the heads and bodies around to make sure I didn’t have 2 of the exact same poses. I stuck to colors found in other parts of my Ork force, and wanted to keep them less uniform in style, so that gave me a chance to mix and match with some bright colors along the lines of my nobs from the previous challenge. I varied their skin tones to keep things interesting, but all their ripper guns were painted the same so they would look like they belonged to the same crew. When they stand next to the massive 2nd edition mega-armour orks they don’t look as imposing, but next to my older orks they’re impressive.

From early on in the planning stages of the challenge, I knew that I wanted to add a banner to this ogryn unit. The upraised fist would make the pose holding the flag look natural and require no difficult converting. I intended it to be a “Thank You” to the Cowabunga Journal for reinvigorating my painting hobby, and I knew it had to be something cowabunga-ish. What says TMNT/Cowabunga Challenge more than a slice of pizza? My intention was for the pizza slice to look somewhat realistic, since it’s fairly over-the-top anyway, and I figured it would be fun to make it appear as though the toppings were sloughing off the slice if held sideways.

The banner is plasticard, and I cut the edges to make it look like the pepperoni and cheese were sliding down. I drilled a hole in the ogryn’s fist, cut some brass rod to length, then used a lighter to melt the plasticard a little and fold it over the flag’s pole. I used a plastic skull from GW’s box of skulls to cap the end. Painting was pretty straightforward, and I tried to make it look like it had some real depth. Maybe not as good as a proper trompe-l’œil, but from a distance it’s pretty cool. When viewed from an angle it looks funny as the illusion falls apart. So Dr.TV, this one’s for you.

It was good to take a rest from painting last month, it really helped restore my interest in being creative. I only have 7 models left to paint for the challenge, so hopefully I can get a few fun extras done next month.

Models and Points:

Ogryns (5) – 235

Note: I took a mulligan last month in the painting challenge. I had a very full hobby month of Greek reenacting, and needed to take a break. So if you’re looking for a Month 4 post, it doesn’t exist.