Orky post number 3! Battlewagons and Big Mek

Welcome to guest post number 3 of my friends Bad Moon Ork army. This week battlewagons and a big mek. I'm a huge fan of these vehicles and think the ork ramshackle nature of it all has been captured perfectly.

Now before we have a look at them a quick WIP of Praetorian Chosen Men...





Now time for some more orks!

Hi All.

Time for some more Orky pics. As promised this post will mostly focus on the Battlewagons in my army.

With front armour 14, 4 hull points and a transport capacity of up to 20 models – the Battlewagon is a great way to get your boyz safely across the gaming board to get stuck in with the enemy. I have 3 Battlewagons in my army – each quite unique - and regularly use all of them even in games as small as 1200pts. The base model is dirt cheap for what you get and you can upgrade them in whatever way suits your army.

My first Battlewagon has been converted from a Leman Russ model, but with some heavy conversions. I changed out the barrel of the main gun with a custom one mad from bits (to represent a Kilkannon), and then extended the chasis using some plasticard. I’ve then built a ‘deck’ to represent the open-top nature of it’s transport ability and modelled an ork climbing out of the hatch from the transport area. All of the Heavy Bolters were switched out for Big Shootas and then bits of an Ork and Gretchin were used to model people shooting out of the side hatches. Custom blades and Rams were added to the front of the hull which was than hacked, cut and drilled to show battle damage, including the removal of some of the armour protecting the tracks. Finally the turret was given a modified Ork as it’s Kaptin and a number of extra “bolt-on” armour plates to make him feel safe. It has been painted in a fairly standard Bad Moons yellow scheme but with a few transfers and bit of graffiti to give it a bit more character. This model can be used as Looted Wagon in games, but with the current rules, I find it a lot more useful as a Battlewagon.









The second Battlewagon started off as a Landraider model, but again has undergone some heavy conversions. The entire top section of the Landraider’s hull was removed to make it open-topped, and the top and bottom plates from it’s sponsons have been used as running boards to each of the 4 side doors. Firing positions for a couple of Ork gunners were made atop the 2 front corners of the hull with a ladder leading up from inside. A larger firing platform was then created over the rear of the vehicle which originally housed a Zzap Gun with a power cable going down to the wagons engine. This proved pretty ineffective in games though and so has now been converted in to a Dual Big-Shoota (used as 2 Big Shootas in game). In time, this will probably be converted to 2 normal Big Shootas though, as I’m currently not that happy with the look of it. The conversions were finished off by adding a chimney stack to the engine, plasticard “teef” to the front ramp and liberal battle damage across it’s hull. In games I normally give this wagon a red paint job for a bit of extra movement, but didn’t really want to move away from my Bad Moons paint scheme. That’s when I had the idea of red flames painted around the hull. The final scheme came after a few designs sketched on scraps of paper and I’m pretty happy with the end result.











The final Battlewagon is the only one converted from the actual Ork Battlewagon plastic kit. Even though the kit looked great if built normally I really like putting my own twist on each of the Ork models. I decided the the Kaptin of this Battlewagon liked to feel safer by having the transported Orks in front of him rather than behind, and the Orks would be happy as it means they’re closer to the enemy for shootin’ and fightin’. With that idea in mind I went about hacking and regluing the entire model including the addition off a removable Deff Rolla which I luckily picked up in a random hobby shop. The end result is a longer version of an already long and thin model – not ideal for gaming, but loads of fun. There is also a removable Kilkannon to sit atop the cabin, but that isn’t painted at the moment as I rarely use it in games. The paint scheme is much the same as the Landraider conversion as I enjoy the ability to move my boyz that little bit quicker towards the enemy.











And finally, to keep all my wagons in top shape, my Big Mek. If you have an Ork army I believe a Big Mek with a Kustom Force Field is another “must have” as the 5+ cover save he grants any unit within 6” is fantastic at keeping your boyz alive and the vehicles running. I often put him in the wagon with the Kilkannon (accompanied by a few boyz if I have the points) and then position the other 2 wagons (brimming with close combat units) within 6” on either side to create an awesome tank charge. I never thought that the standard Big Meks you could buy were big enough so I converted mine from an old Heroquest Ogre body. With the addition of Ghazghul’s head, some Nob arms and some other bits for armour and gizmos, he has become one of my favourite and most used models.









Right, that’s it for this post. I’m currently in the process of deciding whether to create my own blog at the moment and your opinions here will probably have a big effect on whether I do or don’t. If you’d like to see more of this army as well as some of my other W40K projects, please let me know.