As part of the growing Blood Axe force, and potentially useful for an upcoming Unbound event, I wanted to paint up some camouflaged Meganobz. It would be a fun side project, and would give me a hardy sized unit to use in my games. With the release of the Ork codex and more interest in actually having more than one Battlewagon to shuttle the Boyz into battle, I also felt it’d be a good time to finish assembling a pair of Battlewagons I’d gotten from someone and give them both a paint job.
The idea with the Meganobz was largely that it’d be hilarious to see Orks in giant clanking armor trying to sneak through the forest. I’m also looking into doing some Deff Dreads and Killer Kanz so you can imagine a bunch of metal killing machines trying to blend in while noisily smashing through the shrubbery. It makes sense to the Blood Axes.
Meganobz
The Meganobz were nine out of fourteen older metal models I’ve collected over the years. Some of them I’d painted up with a basic color scheme I liked, some were ones I’d picked up cheap off someone else in a trade or through other means. I didn’t really feel any qualms about repainting them, because having a unified unit for a change would be nice, and having them in camo would be even better!
I based them all with a dark green and used my typical “camo technique,” which involves using a sponge to slap on other shades of green in random locations, with no discernible pattern. To me, this looks more natural and works better. I then painted some of the other areas of the model, including doing the skin with a dark green base and a lighter green brush over that, various cables, and other bits, and washed the whole model in Agrax Earthshade to add quick shading and tie the colors together. I then did the pants in grey, the teeth bone color, picked out some other details, and washed those with Nuln Oil. Finally I did various details, such as the lenses on the guns and eyes, jewelry, and markings on the rokkits. All of the Meganobz also have crossed axes painted in blood on their armor, signifying that they are Blood Axes. (This particular faction takes the name literal. Plus, they enjoy the look on their opponents’ face.)
I’m still interested in seeing if I can make some kind of “ghillie suit” or otherwise make it look like they’ve attached shrubbery to their armor, but attempts so far haven’t panned out well. I think it would have worked better on bare models. Still, they’re camouflaged Meganobz, which gets across the “joke” (though, again, as Blood Axes, they take it very seriously). I’m also planning on picking up a stipling brush to use to add some blood spatters to the power klaws, as the current look is a bit “dull” and doesn’t suggest “action.”
Jungle Camo Battlewagon
I wanted to do one of the Battlewagons as a pure transport, just something to get Orks from Point A to Point B, so I built one of them without an ‘ard case (to leave it as an assault vehicle) and without weapons. If I want to put a big shoota or two on it later, I can assemble the Ork gunners, paint them up, and have them as removable options. Alternately, I can rig up something to put on top of the vehicle.
The camo was done in pretty much the same style as above. Frankly, I find the system of base coating and using a shade to be a lot more efficient for large armies, and you can still achieve good results. The blood axes are present on the front ram. You can see dirt that’s been churned up onto the vehicle and its wheels and tread, and the underside of the ram has had the paint scraped off by digging into the ground in places. In the passenger compartment, the paint at the edge has similarly been worn off by Orks piling in and out, who’ve also tracked in mud, and either their own blood or their opponents’.
Urban Camo Battlewagon
The second Battlewagon was assembled with an ‘ard case and a turret with a Zzap Gun and big shoota. It will be used mostly to shuttle units of shooty Orks into better locations to unload and fire on the enemy, while lending its own shooting attacks. Since it’s built like a building, I opted for urban camo (which also ties it into another armored carrier of mine, the Morkanaut).
There are various details to help tell a story. The vehicle’s taken some damage so they’ve patched it up with random bits of corrugated metal, who haven’t handled exposure to the elements well. The Zzap Gun has a bit of electric markings on the front and kill marks on the side of the turret. A little bit of graffiti includes a helpful hint (“Enter Ere”) and inspiration (“Blo Dem Up”). In the crew compartment, there’s a trail of blood leading from the exit to a rather large pool inside, suggesting a badly injured Ork stumbled onto the vehicle for safety before passing out and bleeding all over the floor.
I might add more details to all of the above models as time goes on. While a lot of the painting techniques were relatively simple, they did still take some time to do, and the combined unit and vehicles took a couple weeks to get through. I go into these projects with a vague plan of what I want to do, and let the model suggest to me what I should do to add some detail or story to it, kind of “making it up as I go along,” in a sense.
One thing I definitely took from the Battlewagons is that you should paint the wheels and treads *before* gluing them to the model. I received the two kits half-assembled and they were already glued together (also explains why the one crew compartment is slightly cut up, I’m not sure what he was intending). I plan on getting at least one or two more Battlewagons (I’d love to have five, to run the Blitz Brigade), and I’ll definitely paint and *then* finish assembly. It seems like that’s very possible even with the treads.