Good Day to you all!
Today I am going to go through, in some detail, one of my long running projects that looks (until you look too closely) all but finished! No, don't worry; it isn't a third post about my Ork Slugga! However the two are closely linked in many ways. It's my Ork army for Warhammer 40,000, an entirely helicopter mounted Waaagh! known as Da KoptaForce.
This is the guy that inspired the project for me. The sharp-eyed amongst you may recognise this as a conversion of Forge World's Ork Warboss on Warbike, which for some reason I still can't bring myself to like as a whole model. I absolutely love the rider, the jet engine, the tracks, the front plate detail... just not when all combined together. A few weeks after the model went on sale, it occured to me that a Speed Freak Warboss would love a Deffkopta as much, if not more, than a bike; especially if he had been a Deffkopta pilot as he clawed his way up the ranks of Ork society. However, there wasn't any rules for doing so or models to cover that eventuality. I couldn't help but think the biker Warboss would be an ideal model to convert for the purpose.
So that's what I did. Originally I called him Orguzza Vestallon, in attempt to parody the Augusta Westland helicopter manufacturers (who had just turned me down for a job at the time). Whilst waiting for my model to arrive from Forge World I started writing rules for him. As with a lot of Special Characters throughout 5th Edition 40k Codex's, I went with the option to take his favoured specialisation (Deffkoptas) as troops, and to make an entirely Kopta-mounted force more feasible, let any mob that could take Trukks as dedicated transports have the option of Forge World's Ork 'CHINORK' Warkopta instead. I played several games with him against willing opponents, discovering he was every bit as much fun as I was hoping he would be, though surprisingly fragile in close combat, given his lack of an Invulnerable save. When Games Workshop advertised for an Assistant Games Developer, requiring a unique character to be written as an entry test, I took it as an opportunity to refine Vestallon, creating a richer back story for him which suggested a better name for him, Spearsmasha, named after his first kill; a Biel-tan Eldar Shinning Spear aspect warrior.
He actually got me through to the subsequent rounds of interviews, and finally helped get me to the last eight applicants for the position. Unfortunately I missed out, but I still ended up with a great, very polished couple of characters that I have been using amongst my friends ever since. Below, I have added a few more close up shots, showing some of the detail of my conversion and paint scheme.
I gave Koptaboss Spearsmasha a flame cannon, similar rules-wise to a Hellhound, to make him a little more than a way of making Deffkoptas a Troops choice. It also helped change the silhouette of the bike and is actually made from the front wheel from the Warboss kit, cut in half and spaced with a big curve of plasticard. I used thin plastic rod to make the rivets, cutting off half millimetre disks and gluing them on fairly randomly.
Whilst raiding my bits box when I first built him, I used several Eldar bits, rather than keeping to the relatively Imperial loot that most Ork players seem to stick to. Rewriting Spearsmasha's background readilly suggested the colour scheme for those parts, and was a nice change of pace when working on the model from crude metals and daubed on paint.
When I first saw the Forge World model, one of my favourite parts was the Buzzsaw/Powerklaw. I didn't want to mess with it too much on my model as it all ready fit so nicely with the theme of high-speed, slashing attacks. I also tried to keep the paint scheme simple and functional, decorating it only with the inevitable blood splatters.
Today I am going to go through, in some detail, one of my long running projects that looks (until you look too closely) all but finished! No, don't worry; it isn't a third post about my Ork Slugga! However the two are closely linked in many ways. It's my Ork army for Warhammer 40,000, an entirely helicopter mounted Waaagh! known as Da KoptaForce.
You might be able to tell, but a couple of years ago I entered this into Armies on Parade at my then local Games Workshop in Southampton. I came joint second, losing out by only one vote (although that was also true of all of the other entrants on the day in question). After the vote I started talking more openly about my entry and the small details I had added with several people, including the store manager. Almost all of them said they wish they could have changed their minds having noticed them, but what was done was done. Undoubtedly, I wouldn't have even come close to winning at Games Day, but it would have been a great experience I unfortunately just missed out on.
Enough of my whining though, lets look in more detail at these guys, and some additions I have made since.
KoptaBoss Spearsmasha
This is the guy that inspired the project for me. The sharp-eyed amongst you may recognise this as a conversion of Forge World's Ork Warboss on Warbike, which for some reason I still can't bring myself to like as a whole model. I absolutely love the rider, the jet engine, the tracks, the front plate detail... just not when all combined together. A few weeks after the model went on sale, it occured to me that a Speed Freak Warboss would love a Deffkopta as much, if not more, than a bike; especially if he had been a Deffkopta pilot as he clawed his way up the ranks of Ork society. However, there wasn't any rules for doing so or models to cover that eventuality. I couldn't help but think the biker Warboss would be an ideal model to convert for the purpose.
So that's what I did. Originally I called him Orguzza Vestallon, in attempt to parody the Augusta Westland helicopter manufacturers (who had just turned me down for a job at the time). Whilst waiting for my model to arrive from Forge World I started writing rules for him. As with a lot of Special Characters throughout 5th Edition 40k Codex's, I went with the option to take his favoured specialisation (Deffkoptas) as troops, and to make an entirely Kopta-mounted force more feasible, let any mob that could take Trukks as dedicated transports have the option of Forge World's Ork 'CHINORK' Warkopta instead. I played several games with him against willing opponents, discovering he was every bit as much fun as I was hoping he would be, though surprisingly fragile in close combat, given his lack of an Invulnerable save. When Games Workshop advertised for an Assistant Games Developer, requiring a unique character to be written as an entry test, I took it as an opportunity to refine Vestallon, creating a richer back story for him which suggested a better name for him, Spearsmasha, named after his first kill; a Biel-tan Eldar Shinning Spear aspect warrior.
He actually got me through to the subsequent rounds of interviews, and finally helped get me to the last eight applicants for the position. Unfortunately I missed out, but I still ended up with a great, very polished couple of characters that I have been using amongst my friends ever since. Below, I have added a few more close up shots, showing some of the detail of my conversion and paint scheme.
Whilst raiding my bits box when I first built him, I used several Eldar bits, rather than keeping to the relatively Imperial loot that most Ork players seem to stick to. Rewriting Spearsmasha's background readilly suggested the colour scheme for those parts, and was a nice change of pace when working on the model from crude metals and daubed on paint.
When I first saw the Forge World model, one of my favourite parts was the Buzzsaw/Powerklaw. I didn't want to mess with it too much on my model as it all ready fit so nicely with the theme of high-speed, slashing attacks. I also tried to keep the paint scheme simple and functional, decorating it only with the inevitable blood splatters.
The bike was heavily weathered, with chipped paint and, particularly on the Warboss's personal armour, rust. Again, I tried to keep things look relatively realistic and not damaged for the sake of making it look more crude and orky. Hence the verdigris on only one of the battery terminals for the Buzzsaw and more chipping on the leading edges of the KillaKopta than elsewhere.
As this is all ready quite a long post, I'll leave it there for now. If anyone is interested, Koptaboss Spearsmasha has his own Facebook profile. I know that is a little sad, but it allowed me to post photo album battle reports for a campaign I was taking part in without annoying my non-gaming friends. Feel free to befriend him and look though those battle reports. Hopefully you will find them reasonably entertaining. You can also find more detail of his rules and background there (although I haven't update them for 6th Edition 40k yet).
I'll be back with more posts about Da Koptaforce soon. If you are really impatient and want to know more, I have a thread in the Bell of Lost Souls Lounge which shows a lot of the WIP progression. It appears a few of the pictures have gone missing, but I will get round to sorting that soon. There is still plenty that is available for you to gander at!
See you all soon,
Matt
Matt
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