WAAAAGH! Pt.16: Keelhaul, Orc Warboss – and his faithful squghound, Muttley. (Neglected Model May ’18)

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Brian Nelson, Ork Warboss, Blood Axe, Warhammer 40k, Orks, Squighound

Another pair of Brian Nelson classics here today. These figures are relevant to me for quite a few reasons. More relevant in fact than anything I’ve painted since the initial pair of Celestial Lions last December – and with a personal backstory that goes way beyond then. Firstly, and probably least importantly, they’re another pair of Neglected Models – though I have to credit that particular challenge with being a strong motivation that drove me to get over my mental block on the Warboss and complete him – the very same can be said for the snotlings I completed very recently.

Brian Nelson, Ork Warboss, Blood Axe, Warhammer 40k, Orks,

As I mentioned in the Lions post linked above, I’ve only gotten back to painting the Orks last year, as a tribute to my brother who was the biggest single influence on my life and who is responsible for all of these geek interests. This pair of models mark the final models that were part of that original Ork warband that I was painting when he passed away over 10 years ago that I was only able to start again in on last year. There’s still more to come for the Ork army over time, but that entire first small force is now complete.

Brian Nelson, Ork Warboss, Blood Axe, Warhammer 40k, Orks,

My brother had three pseudonyms that he used over his life. Keelhaul was one that surfaced during his time playing PBM (play-by-mail) games, which were very much a thing before the internets arrived. He kept that one up in various games up until the end, and it fits in well enough with Orks, so this big bad bastard is now Keelhaul. Sure, he doesn’t look like a freebooter, nor does he have a pirate’s tricorne hat, but he’ll still happily keelhaul you using whatever is to hand. With or without water. Squggoth, Wartrukk, Battlewagon, Megatank, Kill-bursta. Moving or not. Doesn’t matter to him. A second dates back to his biker days, and fits perfectly with the Squighound – Muttley. I don’t think I need to say more on that one’s appropriateness.

Brian Nelson, Ork Warboss, Blood Axe, Warhammer 40k, Orks,

In terms of the modelling, I believe I swapped the head out from the original from another Warboss kit. I can’t remember if the cables from his head onto the torso were part of the torso (ie, a head AND torso swap) or if I sculpted them there. They look a bit rough when you get close, so it may well be the latter. I did have a metal “iron gob” from another kit carved and ready to glue in, but I couldn’t find it originally, and now don’t feel like I really need to add it, even if I did find it.

Brian Nelson, Ork Warboss, Blood Axe, Warhammer 40k, Orks,

As far as painting goes, we’ve got the usual camoflague patterns on his clothing, along with the usual dark metal. I decided to “skin” some of the parts that I’ve left as plain metal on the other Orks – speficially his shoulder pads and weapons. I went with the heavily weathered bone colour, since it worked so well with the Nob I painted a little while ago and also fit in well with the whole “desert camo” look of the force. The red lines are something I added to add some structure of sorts to his gear, kinda reflective of the stripes I often give to the weapons on Imperial and Iron Warriors models. Marouda said that it reminded her of a set of skins from a videogame, so there might well be a subconscious influence there as well.

Brian Nelson, Warhammer 40k, Squighound Brian Nelson, Warhammer 40k, Squighound Brian Nelson, Warhammer 40k, Squighound

I actually had the Warboss finished when I suddenly remembered that I originally had this specific Squig as his pet. This led to spending literally half of the day last Sunday looking for it and delayed this post by several days. Once again, Marouda came to the rescue when she got home and she found it in a tub that I’d only looked through about three times already, not seeing it repeatedly. With that, I was able to rebase and then paint Muttley over a couple of days, drawn out further by the cold weather making the spray varnish take forever to dry. I added some blood effects to his maw because he should be a slightly terrifying looking guard “dog” for his master, after all.

Brian Nelson, Ork Warboss, Blood Axe, Warhammer 40k, Orks, Brian Nelson, Ork Warboss, Blood Axe, Warhammer 40k, Orks,

I’ll get photos of the whole force up sometime soon. Hopefully I’ll be able to take some photos this weekend.

25 thoughts on “WAAAAGH! Pt.16: Keelhaul, Orc Warboss – and his faithful squghound, Muttley. (Neglected Model May ’18)”

  1. He’s brilliant mate – the bone armour & red stripes work so well with the dark flesh tone, and the camo is spot on (as always). Loving the squig as well dude, he’s a little superstar in his own right! Superb.

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    • Thanks Alex! I’m pretty happy with how all three colours came together on him, especially as I wanted to avoid the over-the-top use of red that I would have done in the past. I’m surprised how easily the squig came together in the end as well.

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    • Thank you. Now I’m free to start adding more and more to the Ork force. I’ve got some Kans that are still WIP, but when I make some space on the desk I want to get out some of the old-school RTB02 Space Ork Raiders.

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  5. New tactic on blog post replies – let’s just assume that the latest figure you post is automatically the best one you’ve ever painted! That will simplify things! I really think this guy is great! And I’d love a dog like that, as long as he’s really a softie at heart!

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    • Ha! It’s far from that I think, but I’m certainly pretty happy how this pair came out. I think squigs are supposed to be pretty squishy. That’s what you meant, right? 😉

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  6. Great stuff! Really like the stripes and spine of the squig. Someday I need to find a decent Squig model so that I can build a Madcap Miggz star player.

    Sorry to hear about your bro. My brother and I have shared a love of games and comics for a long time. Can’t really imagine losing him.

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  7. Looks fantastic! That’s still my favourite Warboss Model GW has ever put out. There was another head option for him at some point, with a helmet (and now I think of it, an Attack Squig leaping off his arm instead of the Shoota), but I think that might have been a limited edition thing. The head you’ve got on there is from Ghazghkull. I did the same swap when I had one of those. I might still have it around somewhere, but I don’t think so.

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    • Yep, I’ve got that other Warboss model …somewhere. It might be in one of the storage tubs of unopened blisters. Plenty of opened stuff to paint first, though. Ghazkull, eh? That makes sense and thanks for filling me in there. I think I planned to convert the Ghaz as well to make them both unique. Luckily I’ve got a eBayed MA Ghaz somewhere as well, so I can (eventually) have an original as well as a separate converted MA Warboss.

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    • Yeah, it can be really (too) easy for people to get carried away with the old blood spatter. I enjoyed working the metal parts of the Ork. As I get to work on more things like that, I’m sure I’ll continue to improve adding that depth to aged and worn surfaces.

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  13. Pingback: 4th Edition WHFB Night Goblin Cave Squigs and Hunters/Herders (Kev Adams) (1993, 2003?) (Neglected Model June ’19) | Azazel's Bitz Box.

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