WAAAAGH! Pt.20: RTB02 Space Ork Raiders Troopers (1988) (Orktober ’19)

RTB02 Space Ork Raiders Troopers (1988) Kev Adams Rogue Trader Orks

A few months ago – back at the end of May to be precise, Wudugast posted up some shots of his 40k Ork army for Army April, and ruminated about potentially completing another 25 boyz this year for a total of 100. Seeing this, I saw a chance to help motivate both him – and rather importantly – myself to get 25 Orks painted each and offered to do it as a mutual challenge. Since then, Wudugast has completed and shown another 10 Boyz, as well as a Mek and his Grot, while I on the other hand have completed ….nothing to date. So with Orktober being a thing, as well as regular old October pointing out how close the end of the year is, I found it time to remove my fist from my backside and get some Orks bloody well finished!

RTB02 Space Ork Raiders Troopers (1988) Kev Adams Rogue Trader Orks

RTB02 Space Ork Raiders Troopers (1988) Kev Adams Rogue Trader Orks

Luckily I had at least gotten some models started. 20 old-school, Rogue Trader Orks, to be precise. The ones I’ve got here are some trooper models from the very first Space Ork boxed set (and the second 40k box set ever) RTB02 Space Ork Raiders. I’m not sure if I have a full set of the boxed set due to the many repeated sculpts (13 troopers), though I do have all of the individual models. Being that I’m going old-school with these models, I thought a nods both to the original boxes and the Rogue Trader book was in order, as well as later narratives found in the various wars for Armageddon with some of the scavenged gear being worn.

RTB02 Space Ork Raiders Troopers (1988) Kev Adams Rogue Trader Orks

RTB02 Space Ork Raiders Troopers (1988) Kev Adams Rogue Trader Orks

As with my other Orks, I’ve retained the variety of desert camo clothing being worn, in the pseudo-Blood Axe way I’m putting this force together. Mismatched camo, of couse, as it represents whatever they’ve managed to scavenge off the battlefields and trade from others. Most likely from enterprising Grots rather than directly from da humies.

RTB02 Space Ork Raiders Troopers (1988) Kev Adams Rogue Trader Orks

RTB02 Space Ork Raiders Troopers (1988) Kev Adams Rogue Trader Orks

These Orks were completed in three batches, and if I’d been posting regularly over the last couple of weeks, they’d have most likely have been in three seperate posts as I completed them. As it happens, they all fit into the one post perfectly, as they’re all models from the same boxed set. There are a few more on the way, but they sit still-unfinished on the paint desk as I type this shortly before posting this up, so they’ll likely be along in the next week – along with a few more that aren’t from the RTB02 box for variety. With these eight though, I’m at least started on my Ork Challenge Pledge. At almost the end of October. Only 17 more to go…

Legion of the Damned #5: Rogue Trader-Era RT01 (Aly Morrison, 1988)

Legion of the Damned Rogue Trader-Era RT01 (Aly Morrison, 1988) Oldhammer

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted (or painted) any more Legion of the Damned models, but today we have a pair of them – finished as part of Mechanismo May (after missing the end of Armoured April). The biggest reason my Legion of the Damned has petered out so much is because I tend to have a few models from my various projects on the go at any given time, and I like to finish the WIP ones before allowing myself to start more. That way, starting the new models are a “reward” of sorts for completing the previous batch. It takes awhile, but it does work out a lot better than my previous method of just starting new models all of the time, that appears to have just given me a thousand or so neglected models to wade through.

Legion of the Damned Rogue Trader-Era RT01 (Aly Morrison, 1988) Oldhammer

So why, dear reader, did it take me so long to get through this pair? Well, the answer is that I don’t actually like either of these models very much. As much as I like the character of the old Beakies from the Rogue Trader days, my personal aesthetics go with Mark Copplestone and Bob Naismith’s renditions, and the Aly Morrison ones – with their short, blunt helmets and extra-hunched poses are a distant followup. So with that, they can be a real chore to paint, and so this pair has taken me well over a year to get done. I can’t even remember when I began on them, quite frankly.

This pair were chosen for the Legion because of their sculpted details. The skull-shoulder studs and knee-skulls on the first “Brother Morris”, and the big-ass shoulder-skull on the second. Also, being Aly Morrison sculpts, I can “hide” the soft details on their helms to an extent by freehanding skulls on them.

Legion of the Damned Rogue Trader-Era RT01 (Aly Morrison, 1988) Oldhammer

In the end, these models have come up decently, and I am now happy enough with them to incorporate them in with the rest of my Legion. It’s that thing I’ve encountered a fair bit where through the painting process, I really quite dislike the model(s) I’m working on, but once completed, I’m pleased enough with the final result that I no longer resent the models, and can even quite like them in their final form. With a Multi-Melta and Plasma Gun between them, I have the Special and Heavy weapons for a squad here, so I’ll have to check my existing painted models and work out a Sergeant and 7 Legionaries to go with them to fill out another game-friendly squad.