Catching up with the Orks

Well it has been a while, and I have something to show for it. I took a little vacation back home to Dallas for New Years. I put a lot of effort into cramming as much 40K as I possibly could into the week I had there. I managed to play quite a few games with my two local 40K buddies while I was there. In an effort to make sure that I had two armies to play, I struggled to complete as many Orks as possible to bring me up to roughly 1000 points. Sadly I had to stretch a bit to get to that value, and in the end they certainly weren't the most competitive 1000 point list you've ever seen, but they were fun and finally getting some time behind the wheel of the army was what was most important.

I did have to fudge a little on my pledge of never playing a unit that wasn't painted. I had three Nob Bikerz that I had only about 15% complete on their paint job. It was still worth it and I think we all had a good time playing the various games. We did not, however, play at one of the GW stores this time around. I think it's a lot of fun though and next time I hope to do so. We paid them a visit a couple of times and I got the chance to see some of the new Tyranid models up close. The Trygon and the Raveners to be specific. Great models, and they'll be a fantastic looking addition to any 40K table out there.

Before I left for the vacation, I managed to finish up a 10 man squad of foot-slogging Nobz. I used both a box of Nobz and the five Nobz from Assault on Black Reach. At first I was disappointed with the box of Nobz, as I had originally thought I was going to be able to use the torsos for the warbikez. Sadly, I discovered that they are torso and legs together in essentially one piece. Instead of chopping them up, I scrounged some Nob torsos from my battleforce for the warbikez and decided to just use the Nobz box as intended. I'm now VERY glad that I did. These models turned out fantastic. They are some of my favorite Orks to date. Each model came out unique and I had a terrific time choosing the bits to customize each one. The AoBR models, though obviously not customizable, still turned out pretty good. When I ran these combined with the boxed ones, it was nearly impossible to tell them apart, all crowded together on the table. Of course, they tend to be the first to die since they're all just choppa-slugga Nobz, but that's alright because the wound allocation for the last five (the ones from the box) is pretty cheesy. Basically they're just a meat-shield, allowing my to hopefully deliver three Big Choppas and two Power Klaws with deadly force. By the way: Big Choppas are some vehicle killing bastards.

The Nob Bikerz were pretty good, but with only three of them, they tended to be an early target, and pay a pretty heavy price. When they managed to survive, they tended to be VERY good. I can't wait to finish the other three, giving them that same awesome allocation ability and bringing along a Painboy. Ooooooh it's going to be nasty.

I've essentially purchased everything I need to finish up the army to about 1500 points. I'll be finishing up my Boyz squad, building a Kommandos squad with Snikrot, bringing in a Painboy for my foot-slogging Nobz, throwing in a trukk for them to ride in, and putting together a nasty group of Lootas. The only model I've yet to buy is the Forgeworld Ork Warboss on the Bike. I shiver every time I think of that wicked model. I'll probably be purchasing that in the next couple of months. Until then, I still have the warboss on foot from the AoBR set.

Here are some more shots of my newest additions: