Tuesday 9 August 2016

Praetorian Blood Axe Kommandos?

Greetings everyone!

I've been hinting for sometime that I'v been working on something a little different for my army, something a little greener... well without further ado... a Blood Axe Kommando! 


Now before you call the Inquisition on me hear me out. Back when the Praetorians came out, part of the story of Big Toof river was that the badly led Imperial Guard had ignored the intelligence of their highly paid mercenary blood axe kommandos. In doing so they walked right into a trap fully believing the settlement to be lightly garrisoned. As you all know it did not end well for the Imperial Guard and led to Glazers Creek where the remnants of the 24th where holed up maintaining supply lines. 


Anyway, I've always loved the idea that the Blood Axes could be bribed to turn against their fellow greenskins. How far you trust their intelligence is another matter entirely. This inspired me to build a unit of kommandos to fight with my guard, either as proxies for something or simply as orks in bigger apocalypse style games where their sneaky skullduggery can be woven into the story.


Anyway enough guff about the fluff, let's talk models. This guy is one of Kromlech's fantastic Afrika Korp models. They have tonnes of character and with the uniforms I thought they would fit in a treat with my Praetorians.


This model was a lot of fun to paint and was also very straightforward. I actually painted him in parts, with the torso and legs glues together and then the arms and head separate. It was a pain when it came time to assemble him as I had to greenstuff the gaps on the arms, but it was worth it for ease of paint job.


The green for the skin is the GW method they demonstrate in their instructional video with an extra light highlight from me to make it that little better. The eyes are worked up to pure yellow in the centre too to give them a little extra interest.


The white webbing is the same as my regular guardsmen as is the uniform colour. I've changed the shorts to grey to add an extra colour or else I though it would end up far to mono colour. The gun itself is just plain silver as I was at a loss what to do with it!


Here we see the ork next to some of the Life Guards for a comparison of size and to see how the colours go together


This ork is pretty massive in comparison to the guardsman, just as it should be. I know orks are meant to be on the same size bases but I fancied they would look better on the new Space Marine bases and I think I prefer them on the bigger size.


Here we see the ork staring down the barrel of a Life Guard's flamethrower. You will see the vein on the ork arm which is painted with a slight blue hue


So there you have it, the first of a unit of 10 sneaky Blood Axes to add to the Praetorian IV.

I'd really love some feedback on this guy before I paint the best. In particular the following - the weapon, can I leave it just metal? I it needs another colour, what? What do you think of the skin, does it need to be darkeror different in another way? Does the model need more colour? 

Any feedback whatsoever would be greatly appreciated! 

Cheers!

28 comments:

  1. I went for the Kromlech WWII British Commando types so have a squad with stens, a Bren and a PIAT. Love their stuff.

    As for calling the Inquisition, I remember a piece of Rogue Trader era art that quire clearly shows an Imperial commander conferring with an Ork while the combined Imperial and Blood Axe force sets off to fight a foe (not shown). I might still have it somewhere, I think it was in one of the original Citadel model catalogues.

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    1. You know, I think I recall that very piece of artwork!
      Agreed, kromlech orks are really outstanding. Have you got some photos of your painted ww2 orks?

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  2. Feedback!? All I can offer is WOW!!!!!!!!!! (So happy the "Green" side project didn't turn out to be my guessed Ratlings.)

    What an amazing shout-out to the original iteration of orks! So much more character than the current dull version. Kromlek really have made some fun sculpts and I'm happy to see you've chosen the ones that fit in best with your IG.

    Can't wait to see the other squad members!

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    1. Haha, pleased you like them! I think the plan for the full squad may involve a little variation in skin tone too. The ork with the big mg42 I'm in particular looking forward to painting

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  3. Fantastic work, man! They go together very well, and I absolutely love how he turned out. Great stuff!

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    1. Thanks buddy, I'll need to channel some of your painting efficiency or it might be a bit of a wait!

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  4. Man, I've been following you for quite some time already — I just love your approach to the army (fluff, story, consistency, uniqueness, painting). Now I'm really happy to see greenskeens as your allies 'cause I'm assembling a Waaagh! myself. I hope to see more of 'em — Orks should have numbers!
    Concerning your paint scheme — nothing to add — looks great with your umies!
    Blood Axes are somewhat outcasts from the Ork society so the fit great fighting against propa Orkses at the guard side.

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    1. Thanks for following and commenting! High praise indeed from an ork warboss.
      Thanks for the insight into blood axes. I really enjoyed him so the danger is it will lead to lots more orks...
      Good luck with the waaagh, hope to see some photos in the future!

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  5. Awesome! Just awesome! And a great way to link in with the Big Toof River background. The weapon looks good as is, but you can always add some Orky markings to it if you feel it's too subdued.

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    1. Cheers! I love the classic fluff and couldn't resist. How about rust or corrosion on the weapon, you think that'll work?

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    2. A little bit of rust/corrosion would work quite nicely, and the brighter colour would work - in the same way the blue cabling on the Life Guard's stand's out.

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  6. Looks great! I am also a fan of Kromlech. Can't wait to see the whole unit.

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    1. Thanks Mad Mek! Fingers crossed I can get the rear done relatively soon. Now I have the scheme more or less down hopefully they won't take long

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  7. Lookin' good there. The Kromlech Orks rock - as you say, much more character than the GW ones.

    I like the sombrero hat ones. The magnificent seven with Orks would be nice to see. Maybe.

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  8. I love it! This is fantastic!!!!!

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