Weekly Waffle #344 – That’s a Rapt
10th August 2024
This is my last weekly waffle before the carnage that is work really kicks in. I talked about it last week but from Monday I will be back in the office every day so hour or so I used to have in the evenings will be eaten up with the commute. I’ve also got quite a lot going on in my personal life at the moment so so finding that hobby time somewhere else is going to be a challenge. But I do want to stress that this isn’t me falling out of love with all things hobby. Or black of mojo that is keeping me from picking up a paint brush. It’s just that life is getting in the way at the moment.
It isn’t going to be forever. I think we have three stints between now and next March where I have to go into the office every day. And I know that I’ve been lucky that I can normally spend some time working from home. So this isn’t meant to be me sulking or anything like that. It’s just the circumstances that are going to make it hard to deliver something new every week. But as I said last week I do have some ideas about how I can keep things ticking along. So there will still get a weekly waffle every Saturday. It’s that the format may change for a while.
So for this last full week I’m sticking with my Orks and I’m still working my way through my box of Puppets War creations. After the slightly slow Karl last week I’ve upped the speed for this week. So we have some RaptOrc cavalry which I think are intended to be replacements for Squighog Boyz. But could also be used as an alternative set of Bikers. For me they just look like a fast mechanical creation which is something that fits right in with my army style.
The miniatures themselves required very little cleaning and all fitted together nicely. As I’ve previously said about the resin that Puppets War use it can be brittle so you need to be careful if you are pinning or adding magnets. I did pin a few parts just to give me that little bit of extra confidence that they will stay together in the long term. I also added a couple of magnets, one for the weapon arm which is already drilled out to accept a magnet and then one for the ‘head’. But this was mainly so that I could paint it separately and have access to the areas that it hits. A side bonus from this is that I can change the look of the squad by swapping the head / jaw pieces between minis. As I said it was done for purely practical reasons but it’s a nice side benefit.
The heads are not the ones that come with the kit and are actually from Spellcrow. They are advertised as storm boy heads but I think they work really well here. Have a nice biker feel to them. That coupled with the pose of the minis and the riders and I think you get a nice dynamic squad. Something I may expand on going forward. And do still have one more slightly larger version to build up who would be the Nob or special character depending on how I want to use it. But that is going to be on the back burner for a little while. Although it will be joining these guys once this manic work period ends.
So digressing a little bit here something I may try and get done in the limited hobby time I have is to get things prepped for when I do get some time back. Spending a little bit of time clean up what I have in by work pile. Possibly even get a few things build up so they are ready to receive paint once I have the time. Those little bits of things that are easy to pick up and put down. I might even see if this sort of thing is actually doable during the commute. May get a few funny looks on the train and will have to be very carful what I use to clean them up. So that may not be good idea, but i’ll see.
Anyway back to this week’s project. With the Raptorcs built up I kept things simple and after priming them I use my trusty dry brush to lay down the basic metallic feel. Basically a dark metallic which was then highlighted before being given a heavy wash with Nuln Oil and then a few dabs of Fuegan Orange whilst the Nuln Oil is still wet to give a bit of rust effect. Once all of that is dry I think give it very light dry brush with silver to pick out the edges and it’s ready for colour.
On the colour front I have again kept things the same with red being the predominant colour. For anyone who is interested this is made up with a base of Khorne Red. Followed by a layer of Mephiston Red, but making sure you can still see the Khorne Red around the edges. You can also leave a few gaps to add to the chipping effect. Then the final highlight layer is Evil Suns Scarlet. It’s simple but I think gives good depth to the colour. For the blue highlights I use a simpler approach but use a mix of Scale 75 and Vallejo colours. Not for any special reason, just because I’ve picked them up at some point in the past and like them. The base is Arianrod Blue, the mid tone is Mediterranean Blue and the highlight from Vallejo is Light Sea Blue. Again I think they give good depth to the colour and also give a little bit of pop to the finished mine.
This approach keeps them in the same range as the rest of my Ork’s and just like how they look. It’s an approach that I can repeat so is good for building armies. And I think it also looks good on the table top. Even if it may a long time before these guys find their way into a game.
But enough of me talking about them what do you think of them.
You can see more Ork miniatures at my gallery here.
That just about sums up this week for you. As I’ve mentioned I have a bit of mail phase coming up at work so I’m not sure what I’m going to have for next week’s weekly waffle. But I will have something for you. I’m going to try and get something painted up each week, fingers crossed, but I’m probably only looking at a single smallish mini. But if I don’t get time for that I will back on the idea of doing a bit of revisited theme. Going back over the nearly ten years of content. And I was shocked it’s been that long, god I’m getting old.
Anyway until next week I hope you all keep safe, have fun whatever you have planned or get up. And that you get more hobby time than me.
