Viva La Revulushun! - part 5

The Ork-held Space Hulk dropped out of the warp in a blaze of light and green fire, it drifted silently through the Duskhurn system, near the Malfactus Rift. No signals were transmitted. No messages sent. The Hulk's archaic systems ticked-over quietly on slowly dwindling power reserves.

The Rebel Grots hidden on board started making plans to jump-ship in secret. They wanted to leave the Hulk without their former masters and find sanctuary in the hope that the Hulk would slip back into the Warp quickly, taking the Orks with it, and leave them far behind on a forgotten world.

But as they watched from their hiding places the Orks prepared to drop to the world they could see beneath them; to explore, to fight, to conquer (the Orks weren't fussed which). 

When a giant Traktor Kannon beam locked onto the Hulk from the planet's surface, the Rebel Grots realised with annoyance that they would not be leaving alone and that the Hulk was not going to pass through the star system: there was more than enough time for the Orks to make many trips to the world below and back.

Unfortunately for the Rebel Grots, the primary planet of the Duskhurn system was an Ork Mekworld. There were many, many more Orks down there!

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I got hold of the last grots I needed for my Rebel Grot Kill Team. I bought a Mek Gun for a bargain price on eBay, just for the crew. But the left-over gun parts will not go to waste (see further down this post!)

So here are Dagbelly - Leader Specialist Specialist, Spotta - Scout Specialist, Worm (grot with drill), Spark (grot with welding mask and reel of cable), Snout (grot carrying case) and Bolt (grot with rivet gun).

That completes the full 20-grot Kill Team, plus Da Red Gobbo! I can use these gits as a team on their own or mix them into the Dust Hogz for a more "normal" Ork Kill Team. Now we just need to come up with a campaign to field them....

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On the subject of Ork-centric campaigns... After seeing the mention of Ork Mekworlds on the cover of this month's White Dwarf I started thinking about making some Ork themed scenery again -- but I don't have time, space or money for a full set.

I realised I can use my Wortbad mat and my Tor Megiddo industrial ruins, with a layer of Orky additions to sell the setting. So I my plan is to to make Orky armour plate add-on in lots of different klan colours, that just sit on top, or hang off the side, of the industrial ruins. This means I don't even need to buy anything as I have loads of orky spares in boxes already!

A lot of my stuff is in storage as we are in the process of moving house, but I started making some Mekworld scatter terrain for Badlanding City. This is almost all the left-overs from the (now crew-less) Mek Gun I bought for the grots above.

There will probably be a lot more of this appearing at some point!

Viva La Revulushun! - part 4

In the dark corners of an Ork-held Space Hulk, revulushun spreads. More grots flock to hear Da Red Gobbo speak. The secret meetings become harder to hide from their Ork oppressors!

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6 more Rebel Grots ready to join the Red Gobbo's Revulushun! Here are Bulletz, Statik, Bokz, Dok, Husk and Piggy. I have just acquired the parts I needed to make another 5 Rebel Grots, including Leader and Scout Specialists for Kill Team.

Dark Skies Over The Harrowmark - part 4 The Cleavermaw

The Cleavermaw was a hulking conglomeration of different wrecked and captured ships, cobbled together over many years from the orruk pirate crew's victims and any old junk they could salvage. The various parts were completely mismatched and it sailed in an ungainly, awkward way. It looked like a dog, steered like a cow and smelled like a slum. Luckily it also packed a punch like a prizefighter: it was equipped with vast amounts of heavy artillery and loaded with thaumaturgic devices of varying reputability.

The Cleavermaw was a little too big to be managed efficiently by her crew. They were not few in number but the ship was large and ungainly and unresponsive to her helm. Kaptain Mogrum deemed it too risky to sail at higher altitudes, as it was even more unweatherly.

Flying at very low levels came with its own dangers though - especially in the Harrowmark. The ship should have made frequent violent turns to avoid the many obstacles that appeared from the forest, but the crew often didn’t bother and just ploughed on through everything that got in the way! The hull often scraped over a rocky spire, grazed the brow of a hill, knocked tiles off the roof of a tall building or crashed through the top branches of a tree. Monsters occasionally leapt out of the forest canopy to attack the ship and crossbow bolts, bullets and arrows of all kinds were often found embedded in the ship’s timbers at the end of a voyage.

The Cleavermaws often spent a lot of time doing repair work using materials captured from their victims’ sky-vessels. They didn’t seem to mind this as it seemed to make capturing merchants with no cargo on board worthwhile!

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First steps.

I plan for this to be my main sky-vessel for the Dark Skies game, so I want to go all-out on the build and the paint job.

My plan is to give it a mast and painted sail, to make a flying stand from 3 Citadel Woods trees on a 160mm round base, and to add a lot "repairs" to the hull and deck. To follow the style established for the Rotmoon I will probably sling a lot of baggage along it's sides as well. I also want to add several "arcane devices" for magical protections, probably made from Ork Big Gunz bits...

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Decking and internal strengthening.

The diagonal support beams from the old Fortified Manor kit slotted nicely between the Gloomtide and the Frigate hill and held the Kharadron ship in place very snugly.

Next steps: more details to be added to the Frigate (the bits are in the post hopefully!), the base and Citadel Woods trees flying stand, a mast and some magical devices.

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Update: 18th March 2020

The Cleavermaw is "airborne" now! That is a 160mm round base, by the way. This ship is pretty big!

Viva La Revulushun! - part 3

Hidden in the dark corners of an Ork-held Space Hulk, revulushun ferments. The small band of back-stabbin, ambushing, run-awayin, spiteful little gits grows. They are joined by Toad, Zonk, Glump, Bunion, Stizzle and Stikk.

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Viva La Revulushun! I got a few more Rebel Grots completed last night. They are all pretty much built straight out of the box, with no changes or additions. Mainly because when I built them I had no access to my bits boxes, so the only parts I had to hand were those in the Gretchin kit!

This is the whole Rebel Grot Kill Team (so far!). I want to make 10 more Rebel Grots, including Leader and Scout Specialists. but I still have no idea how I want the specialists to look.

The Harrowmark Twisted Oak - part 5, game 2 - The Deluge

Rain. The Rotmoons had trudged through the forests for days now any the lashing rain had been unrelenting for most of that time. Tempers were fraying and several arguments had already broken out. The forest floor had turned to stinking mud, that pulled off boots and swallowed-up dropped gear. The Kapitán had spread his party out over a broad stretch of woods, party to widen the area they could search but mainly to stop them fighting so much. They were at greater risk from each-other than the horrible creatures that dwelled in the forest on days like this.

When the rain finally stopped and the clouds parted, horizontal orange light sliced through the tangled trees. The ground was no firmer and would not be for days, even if the rain held off, but the risk of fights breaking out within the crew was always a little lower.

El Doctoro shook his stolen Aetheric Barometer; it rattled slightly. He held it to his ear for a moment and listened to its faint clicks and whirrs. He tapped the dial then squinted into one of its crystal lenses. Finally satisfied that it was actually working he told Kapitán da Leeva where the Gravelines they were trying to follow were leading next - through a particularly swampy area of forest.

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Kapitán da Leeva, Geedo and Percy Percy found the first graveline marker hidden in the undergrowth. But they didn't have time to celebrate.

Suddenly there was a deep guttural roar and Badruk and his Ironjawz Ardboyz crashed through the trees! The Kapitán cursed and swore - he had fought this band of orruks a few months before and bested them, they must have followed him somehow!

Percy Percy took the brunt of Badruk's charge but somehow managed to survive the surprise attack.

The Kapitán leapt into the fray, kutlass flashing in the evening light.

An armoured Ironjaw called Drog appeared at the Kapitán's side. Another Ardboy, Grukk, pushed through the tangled briars.

Hearing the shouts and clash of swords, El Doctoro, Deestro and Bortango hurried through the woods, toward the noise.

Bold Rikk, Pez and Dragante also answered the call.

Kapitán da Leeva used is long-earned experience of dirty fighting to bring down the Ardboyz' boss, with a crafty hack to the thigh. The Ardboyz around him took several minutes to register that their Boss was not getting up again.

While da Leeva turned on Drog, Percy Percy and Geedo tried to deal with Grukk.

Pez and Deestro moved towards the second of the stones that marked the Gravelines, next to a mausoleum.

Grukk Bigtoof and his mate came crashing through the forest. El Doctoro spotted them and prepared a magical response.

Bold Rikk came to aid Dragante as another Ironjaw approached.

As Bigtoof gathered a counter attack.

The Rotmoons found themselves in the jaws of a trap: Ironjawz on three sides!

The Kapitán saw Rezgut make his move.

Pez and Rikk tried to muscle in on the Ironjawz holding the second Graveline.

Grukk knocked down Percy Percy and hacked at the Kapitán's back.

Kapitán da Leeva turned on him in a fury and stabbed his kutlass into a gap in his armour.

Bortagno shoulder-barged into an Ironjaw while El Doctoro zapped Bigtoof with a close ranged blast of green energy.

Deestro squinted down the barrel of his pistol. The lock clicked, powder ignited with a hiss then a bang. The lead shot punched straight through Drog's armour.

The Ironjawz and Dragante's party fell upon one-another, blades clashing.

Geedo blasted Grukk with both of his heavy black powder pistols - the Ironjaw dropped like a stone.

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Kapitán da Leeva looked around the darkening forest, making doubly-sure that the last of the Ironjawz were fleeing before he could relax.

El Doctoro the Shaman took a deep breath to calm the raging magical energies that threatened to overwhelm him - the presence of so many aggressive greenskinz in close proximity had generated a vast amount of power. Once the charge subsided he was able to think straight again. He aligned the Aetheric Barometer with the gravelines and studied the dials and crystal lenses - he frowned and checked again. But the readings were clear now. He knew where they had to head next, and he wasn't happy.

"Our course is set. We are bound for the Shattered Circle again, Kapitán." he said with a sigh.

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Deployment: Close the Jaws (Rotmoons on Blue)
Victory: Sudden Death
Twist: Murky Swampland

Viktor played one of his NPC warbands this time, and it made for a brutal encounter. Ironjawz are more than a match for Bonesplitterz in close combat, but I pressed the advantage of my warband's longer range, and a lot of luck, to secure a win at the end of turn 3.

The Rotmoons set sail for their first Convergence...