WAAAGH! DA GOFFS

 I've put up a few pictures of these boys over the last few years or so as the project has developed. Now, at the close of the year I can show the army off in it's finished state. All 1500points of retro themed Orkish glory.

This Army was a blast to work on. It started a a fun little lockdown project to try and get through some of the lead pile, but it grew into a full fledged painting drive; leading to bigger conversions, multiple hand painted banners and then into making plans to build an army for each of the major clans (more on that next time). GW's points adjustments over the last year opened up space for more units and kept things interesting on the table top. The army runs slow, but hits like a train once it gets going and I can honestly say I'm not board of playing with it yet. But New Year and all that, I want to get the Snakebites on the table and play some games with them. For now, here's a boat load of pictures of my retro Goffs. ENJOY! 

The whole lot manages to fir in the one case as well, making transport and storage super easy. I'm aiming to do the same with each clan, complete with appropriate decorations.

Da Bosses, of course the 2nd edition Ghazzy was going to be in charge, how could I not use that adorable little tyrant. His paint job uses the 2ne Ed Ork Codex as reference as much as possible, eve featuring the squig hound and dead Dark Angel on the base. When I began the project, I was using the old Rogue Trader books to design the army composition, so the Dok had to be included, but since playing games, I struggle to build an Ork list without him. The Rocker was a fun extra and counts as a Waaagh! Banner in game.

No Goff army is complete with out a few 'ard cases to break heads, so plenty of Goff Nobz were going to make the list. Each of their banners is hand painted and no 2 banners have the same markings. It was a bit of a slog at times, but the results really make me smile.

Like the Nobz, the Megas all got the banner treatment. These guys do make me smile because of how small they look compared to the rest of the army. Even compared to the normal Nobz, these oldschool power armoured ladz have pretty skinny proportions.

The Dred was drafted in from my existing collection and given an upgraded paint job and a snzzy oldschool style banner. 

The Trak was a last minute addition as the GW points changes left me 100pts free in the list. I didn't fancy painting any more infantry or banners at the time so I added some high speed punch. In modern games it counts as a Scrapjet.

The Big Mek and the Wagons have done me proud in the games I've played, The Dred has usually got itself blasted in the first few turns, but when it does survive, it really does make a mess of my opponents.

The Storm Boyz were another last minute add on to the list. I needed more mobility in games, but wanted to keep within the Goffs themes. These guys were the obvious choice and tend to do quite well as rapid response in the later stages of games.

So there you have it. 1500pts of Retro Goff Orks were finished off this year. Alongside 1000pts of marines, that's 2 armies brought to completion in 2022. Pretty sure there was more.....

Fist To The Face

 Oh WOW it has been a while. I admit I've been very neglectful of this blog for over a year now. This has been due to my work life over that time (mostly) and a desire to put more time into other social/personal activities than blog writing. I know it might seem like a small thing to do, but at the end of long shifts, I was happier painting than writing. I wanted to finish my projects more than I could be bothered to document their progress. Thankfully, my Instagram allowed me to put up a few glimpses into what I ws doing, but that was due to the convenience of the platform. But times have changed and though a lot has happened in the last year I can say that some positivity has arisen, I started a new job that has provided me more free time to actually have a social life and pursue the more creative side of my life that, for so long now, had been almost abandoned due to scheduling conflicts and constant working weekends. 

NO MORE! Already I've built up a healthy calendar of events for the New Year and began work on the next string of sculpting and comic projects to get those creative juices flowing. With that in mind, lets take a look over the next couple of posts at what I've been doing during this busy time...

That right. As some of you who follow my Instagram have seen, I got caught up in the Horus Heresy hype earlier this year and bought the starter box. I never played all that much of 6th/7th Edition of 40k so the rules didn't hold too much sway over me, but I was hooked by the retro feel of the new beaky marine sculpts and I have always been a huge fan of the book series. After buying the starter box and randomly deciding a chapter I went to work.... and then I stalled. As the box sat unbuilt on my desk for about a month, I started to question the sense in what was ultimately a very expensive purchase. I didn't like the rules, I've always hated painting power armour, and the thought of THAT much yellow was a daunting prospect. In the end, I made a deal with myself. I would get a usable army (by 40k standards) painted by Christmas, or I'd sell the lot CHEAP as a personal punishment. 

Well, if that wasn't the kick I needed. I got my first 5 test marines painted and I was away. The army became oddly therapeutic to paint. The recipe for the armour was straight forward and looked cool, the character of the models was showing through with each new batch painted and I had learned how to use slide transfers properly after so long of avoiding them. And now, Christmas is just round the corner, and I have got 1000pts painted and ready to go.

The Terminators were possibly my least enjoyable unit to paint. I'm still pleased with the finish, I just don't remember having as much fun painting them as I did with the rest of the army.

I knew the dreadnought was going to make or break this project. It was a large model and I needed to see what the recipe for the armour was going to look like on the bigger models, especially when it comes to the tanks. In the end he turned out great, and is easily one of favourite pieces in the army so far.

I've not too much to say regarding the devastators. They were a necessary unit due to the Imperial Fist's army rule regarding bolter weaponry. Though, like the rest of the marines, they grew some character over the course of being painted

Finally the bosses. The Praetors form the HH starter box are lovely models. Covered in detail and carrying the weight of their respective titles well. It hard to decide what direction to go with them. I only need 1 Captain, the second model would be a sub commander by default. In the end I think this was the best choice. The Captain looks every bit the seasoned warrior and general, whilst the Chaplain holds a much less reserved pose, delivering inspirational litanies as a focal point for the troops

That's the army so far. As a means to stop me getting lazy, I have entered into a painting challenge with a friend of mine. This way I'm encouraged to finish up the rest of the army and he, like wise, is put to the task of finishing some of his own painting queue. We plan to have a battle in March to show off our progress, so when that comes around I'll be ready with the camera for a fully painted battle report.