Weekly Waffle #353 – Bad Ass #
2nd November 2024
The first thing that I just have to bring up on this week’s weekly waffle is how it already November. Some weeks have really dragged this year but it really doesn’t feel like ten whole months have passed. I do feel like I have done a lot this year but this is just not right.
Anyway that shock to system out of the way this week really has flown by. But for all the wrong reasons from a hobby point of view. It’s getting to really crunch time at work for the project I’m working on and that has an impact on hobby time. I do sometimes wonder what it would be like if I didn’t have to work. Just how much I could get done in a week. But there is another part of me that thinks that if it was hobby time all the time I would get board with it. It wouldn’t be something to look forward to. Not that it makes any difference because without a lottery win I’m still going to have to work to pay the bills. And I do think I’m lucky because I do actually enjoy my job. Most of the time. When I’m getting up in the cold and dark, not so much but it’s not that bad.
Having said that this week that job has conspired to ruin my hobby plans. I was adamant this week I wasn’t going to have to resort to painting grots. I had a small squad planned for you and really thought I would be able to get it done in time. Then work stepped in and I’ve had to go into the office every day. So my lunch time hobby slots evaporated which meant I had to do some replanning. But what did that mean.
Well you will be pleased to know it didn’t mean grots. But it did mean no squad for you, just a single miniature from that squad. The choice was to finish one mini and have that to show you. Or get nothing finished and only work in progress pictures for you. I’ve met checked every post this year but I think everyone so far has a completed mini and I wanted to try and keep that run up. Hopefully to the end of the year if I can. But given the workload I’m likely to have next year WIP may come back into the picture next year. But that’s in the future.
The progress this week has been a bit on the slow side but Puppets War have come back to rescue. It started with me working on the Ultimate Bad Ass Squad then cutting that down to just one mini. I think these guys are intended to be a squad of Lootas but that’s not how I’m going to use them. That’s because there are only five of them and they aren’t that easy to convert. So getting a squad of ten, which I think you need, would have the same minis repeating and I’m not keen on that. And I also have another option lined up for my lootas.
Given that these guys are based on the smart gunners from Alien’s I’m going to use them as Big Shoota;s in my truck boy squads. I’ve also magnetised the barrels so at pinch they can be converted into rocket launchers. Although I don’t think I’ve ever use a rocket launcher in a squad. The only change I’ve made to the minis is a head swap. The ones they come with are very much in keeping with the film feel. But I decided to use some of them on my Buster Mob last week. All my truck boys have these American football style helmets so that’s what I’ve gone with. I think my existing squads will end up being swapped out for Puppets War versions but for now this is the tie in. I use the strip on the helmet to identify the squad’s and this also matches the marking on their truck to keep everything in order during games.
From a painting perspective I’ve kept things nice and simple with a dirty metallic look for the weapons and armour sections and then gone with the standard red with blue details. The yellow on these guys also helps with the squad identification but it’s keeping that colour scheme the same through everything that I’m doing. Which I think is really important for the overall feel of the army. When you put everything down on the table it does look like one force and not just a collection of random miniatures.
But I’m really starting to waffle now so why don’t I drop some pictures in and you can see for yourselves.
You can see more Ork miniatures at my gallery here.
For next week I’m going to try and finish off a few more of these guys. There are five in squad but I’m only going to be working on three more at the moment. That is because the last one is not going to be going in a truck boy squad. And after everything I said about an army having a feel by using the same pallet throughout. The squad this last guy will be going in has a completely different scheme. It does have some of the red and blue but is going to be very different. But that’s a little further down the line so you will have to wait to see what it is. Although I do have the minis all cleaned up and ready for priming so they should be with you before Christmas, and that is this year not just some random Christmas at some point in the future.
I do find that once I’ve painted up one mini if I’m doing other in the same colour scheme they seem to be easier. So my hope is that I will have enough time to get the other three finished for next week. That does mean that in theory I will need four new squads of boys to go along with them. And if they are all going to be truck boys then I will need two new trucks as well. Although that has just reminded me that I have a vehicle tucked away somewhere that could be a really good fit of the other squad I’m working on. I just need to make sure I don’t get carried away trying to convert it. It’s nice as it is and would only need a couple of weeks to bring it in line with my other existing transports.
Well that just about it for this week. I have my plans for next week and I’m looking forward to going out with a few friends tonight so my batteries should be charged up and the mojo flowing for next week. I hope that you enjoy whatever you have planned for the weekend and that you keep yourselves safe. And with that I’ll sign off for this week.
