Gorkamorka mob building and loadouts

I've had a couple more games of GorkaMorka and started building my own minis to represent my mob (as I borrowed them last time). Rules-as-written there are a few things to consider when choosing gear for my Boyz

• Everyone gets knives/knuckles free, meaning there's no reason any boy can't have multiple melee weapons
• The +1 Attacks bonus for having multiple melee weapons only applies to Boyz who don't have any two handed weapons
• The Big Shoota is hands down the best weapon, no reason not to take one on each vehicle apart from cost!

There's no advantage to having a pair of Choppas or a pair of Sluggas (apart from if one of them runs out of ammo) or a 'Uge Choppa and another melee weapon, so I've been reviewing my mob's loadouts.

The boyz grabbing some loot

My Nob's switched out his Slugga for a Shoota as they cost the same and the Shoota is better at range at the cost of being two-handed - so he got no benefit from using the Slugga with his 'Uge Choppa. Not that that would have stopped him being taken out by one of Jim's grots (above, left) - oh the shame!

Oddly, Slugga + Choppa is probably the best loadout for a Nob, despite the urge to beef them up. The game is definitely designed for boyz to go ranged OR melee, and I'm trying to make them all unique:

Melee/CQ 3-teef loadouts:

• Slugga + Choppa/Chain/Spear
• 6 Shoota + Choppa/Chain/Spear

I might play around with them but the other melee weapons (spears etc.) just don't feel like they have as much utility as a good ol' Choppa. Happy to take advice!

Ranged 3-teef loadouts:

• Kannon (worth trying out)
• Shoota + Choppa (for the strength bonus?)
• Shoota + Shield (cause I think it would look cool and might work?)

Stuff I'm toying with:

• 2x 6 Shootas (two rounds of firing before needing to reload) - 4 teef
• Shoota + 'Uge Choppa - 4 teef
• Frag stikkbombs (only? Nothing really adds much and they're already fairly expensive - but presumably fun) - 3 teef
• Just a Slugga - for the drivers - 2 teef

Going to try a few of these out. Thankfully I won a few bags of teef so I've put a Big Shoots on my second trukk too.

Suggestions for fun loadouts accepted in the comments!

Orktober GorkaMorka shenanigans

It seems I've been drawn into a GorkaMorka campaign at my FLGS; I'd forgotten how much silly fun that game is. It was pretty cool that about half the players at the table had their original rulebooks however, and spirits were high.

With 100 teef in the budget and only five spare boys available to borrow for my mob I went for a couple of trukks (which were thankfully plentiful) to spend up:

• Trukk (20)
• Trukk (20)
• Nob - six shoota + uge choppa (15)
• Spanner - slugga + choppa (9)
• Spanner - slugga + choppa (9)
• Boy - 2x slugga (9)
• Boy - 2x choppa (7)

With a few teef left over I splashed out on a spear gun for one of the trukks and called it done.

My borrowed mob, centre, ready to race...

We started with a race to help learn the vehicle rules, which I think was a good idea. Space on the starting grid was tight so it was perhaps inevitable that we weren't going to get very far... things soon degenerated into enjoyable chaos as trukks collided and span out, becoming obstacles.

Narrowly failing to slip through a gap

This is a game where vehicles can move and then boost forwards (risking rolling on a failure table for extra fun) so from the offset we were ramming each other with glee. Two turns in, the track was pretty much gridlocked - but that was a fine opportunity for a good ol' orky fight. Four turns in only one player had made it more than halfway round the track and some of us had to call it a night, but we'd all had fun.

Definitely a game that's better if you embrace your inner Ork, and despite not placing in the race my mob ended up with some xp and a bag of teef to spend. Looking forward to next time.

Happy Orktober, progress on my fledgeling Genestealer cult is on hold now as I've just bought a box of Boyz and a trukk!

Four arms good, two arms bad

With the release of a new edition of 40k I've been tempted away from my usual love of skirmish games* and see what all the fuss is about - so I've picked up the Genestealer Cult combat patrol.

First thoughts looking at the sprues were that with the number of extra arms and heads it seemed like a great opportunity to do some kitbashing (I've always preferred building minis to painting minis)!

GW Genestealer Cult + Anvil Industry bits

I'd wanted a rag-tag mix and match look but my second thought was how badly the GSC torsos and legs fit to these Anvil legs and torsos due to the angling of the joins - and in fact, the GW legs and torsos don't mix and match well with each other! Reading the assembly instructions it's clear that the torsos and legs are designed to be paired up exclusively which is disappointing.

Reading the instructions it also became clear that although "each mini" has two intended builds (very much like the monopose Warcry minis that are my only other recent GW experience) and that many have a shared component in both, often a left arm, which I guess is going to be a factor in any potential kitbashes using the spare arms.

All that said, I'm excited for the possibilities. Playing around some more:

Those same Anvil and GW bodies, now unmixed

Trying GSC heads on Stargrave and Frostgrave bodies

Of all these I really like the Frostgrave soldier body with the GSC head, ridiculous as it looks here, it's just a shame that they're so small in comparison to the GW bodies. If I could build up the torso/shoulder area it could work, as the head is actually about the right height, so I'm definitely filing that away for future consideration!  Not sure about the fit of the others with the aesthetic however, but food for thought all the same.

Any suggestions for potential kitbashes, and your good or bad experiences, welcome in the comments!

* OK I'll admit the main reason I went for GSC was because I could use them in Necromunda and Kill Team too!

DIY Blood Bowl Sevens pitch

I have a soft spot for Blood Bowl that goes back to the 90's (anyone remember the polystyrene "astrogranite" board?) and I've been keen to dust off my newer copy and get it all painted up.

One of the best things I think that came out of Blood Bowl being OOP all those years was the Sevens format, 'cos let's face it GW games can be overlong and the idea of lunch break gaming has always appealed! So here's my take on a Sevens board:

Basically I just masked off the lines on one side of my regular Blood Bowl pitch and stippled some white primer in (to try to match the existing effect of the lines).

Blood Bowl Sevens pitches are 11 squares wide and split into three 6 square long areas between the end zones, each team has its own scrummage line. Note I didn't put the end zones on so my board is 18x11 not 20x11 but for the purposes of the rules it will work just fine.

It's not terrible, and more importantly it's not £30. Looking forward to playing some games on it...

Test minis for Warcry

 A while back I got into Warcry, a light and fast skirmish game which is perfect for time-strapped modern life!

The previous Blood Bowl minis were a pre-test for these to try out Army Painter Speedpaints - although hopefully some Blood Bowl is on the cards sometime.

Huanchi skink and a Jade Obelisk cultist

I wanted some nice contrasting colours and as I wasn't feeling restricted to a colour scheme (as I have been with Infinity) it was fun to experiment.  I knew I wanted jade green for the cultists and went from there, and I really didn't want to go green for the slinks so I picked orange as a nice counter to the cultists' purple.

These are Army Painter Speedpaints from the starter set, I've seen people complaining about them "reactivating" (i.e. not drying) but I find that makes blending and mixing colours easier...

I'm liking it so far, and having fun finally, just need to get the rest done!

What's on your hobby table?

Quick and dirty slap chop tryout

I've been putting off painting my minis for a while now, mainly because I worry that the output doesn't justify the time invested.

So today I've decided to treat my as-yet-unpainted Blood Bowl minis as "just board game minis" and give them a super quick and dirty 3 colour slap chop paint job. Skin, cloth, armour. Let's just get stuff done - starting is the important thing, after all. If only I still had the 90s one with the polystyrene board...

I usually use a rattle can zenithal base but I thought - especially as I live in a cold, damp, windy climate - that I'd give slap chop drybrushing a go. Honestly, apart from the colour schemes I chose I'm happy with the results (in context) and each of these minis took less than an hour tops.

Drybrush Threepwood

In retrospect, I think I should have stuck to my guns and gone with my gut blue armour for the Ork (Deff Skulls til I die) and maybe a less clashy undersuit for the Human, like grey?

However, for the time invested - and the Just Getting Stuff Done factor - I'm happy. This is my first time working with SpeedPaints and they seem to be just fine. Poor pallette hygiene suggests they mix well, which is something to explore in future. Time to finish these (and the Infinity Nomads) and get through WarCry so I can buy more minis...

Can I grab some cheap Warcry warbands from Stormbringer magazine?

I found out what minis come with the first 10 issues of the Warhammer Stormbringer magazine and have been wondering what warbands I could put together for Warcry on the cheap ever since... here's my thoughts.

I haven't posted about it but I recently got into Warcry and it's great for a quick skirmish game, I'll try to post some more stuff if people like it!

Stormcasts

Cool fanart by Zliva on deviantart

Seemingly the following not-Space-Marines-honest units will come with the magazine:

Knight Arcanum (spellcaster) - 205 points

5x Vindictors (spearmen) - 135 or 170 points each

Praetor hero (halberdy bodyguard) - 160 or 215 points

Lord Imperatant + Gryph Hound - 240+115 = 355 points

Xandire's Truthseekers - now these are interesting! I can't use the bird but the others have a sword (Vanquisher?) a bow (Vigilor?) and a hammer (Annihilator or a Lord maybe?) so it will be fun to play with the options!

Kruleboyz

Who doesn't like orcs (or Orruks?)?

Killaboss + Stab Grot - 180+45 = 225 or 190+45 = 235 points

10x Gutrippas (orcs) - 75 or 140/145 points each

10x Hobgrot Slittas - 70 points each

Swampcalla Shaman + Pot Grot - 165+45 = 210 points 

So, let's see what we can make from this lot...