Orks

Orks are a very fun army to collect and paint due to the diversity of available models. The challenge is to maintain a consistent look across the entire army to avoid the “ah, you bought each unit from a different guy on EBay” look. That’s especially true if you go with the Ork Clan concept from earlier editions. To this end I turned to the same method I used for my Warhammer Bretonnians (another colourful mix that can easily get out of hand). Specifically, I used only four main colours for the entire army (red, blue, yellow, black) and applied each consistently (the final “red” on all models used the same basecoat, same wash, same highlight, etc.). Thus, the small red detail on the predominantly black Goff Clan models matches the red base of the nearly completely red Evil Sunz. This really helps to tie the army together visually. Surprisingly enough, green is not a terribly important colour in an Epic Ork army. Though the Orks are the “Green Horde”, their green skin colour only really comes to the forefront in 28mm 40k armies. At the 6mm scale most visible surface area is either clothing or vehicles.

Unlike the other armies, Orks also offer incredible freedom when selecting the composition of formations. This posed a bit of a challenge to me as I laid out the army without any experience in the Epic Armageddon rule system. To avoid selecting the “wrong mix”, I created specialised each clan according to its background history rather than trying to create “mixed” warbands within each clan.

Goff Clan
The Goff are the archetypical close combat force. Nothing fancy, just a good old brawl. To reflect this, the clan includes a very large warband with support from Dreadnoughts, Killa Kanz and Kommandos. The armies’ Warboss is also part of the Goff clan.

All models use the classic Black and Red scheme and the Goff skull on the banners of the Nobz (from the 40k Ork transfer sheet). The infantry is a mix of Ork models including old Mad Boyz and old Wild Boyz to emphasise the close combat aspect.

A dozen Gun Wagons (including three Zzapgun options) provide basic armoured support. Throughout the army, most of the Mekboy guns are based on left-over Gargant arms that I had lying around.

I decided against a dedicated Goff Gargant, figuring that no self-respecting Goff would operate a gun platform if he could get stuck in himself. Instead, I added some close support oriented Stompa.

Deathskullz Clan
The Deathskullz are the other main infantry formation in the army. Since Deathskullz are looters, I figured that they would be most likely to have more improvised vehicles and gadgets. The very large warband can therefore be fully transported in War Wagons.

Heavy support and more transport capability come from a two Battle Fortresses (one with Zzapgun) and a Gun Fortress. This makes the entire clan highly mobile and thus likely the first to hit the enemy lines.

The transport fleet can be escorted by a dozen Gun Wagons including three with Mekboy guns. The Mekboy vehicles are based on the old Epic “speed freak” dragster models as this seemed to fit in nicely with the Deathskullz theme. I have also added some Flak Wagons for Anti Air cover.

The clan also has a Stompa mob with a mix of weapons and a Supa-Stompa based on the old Mekboy Gargant model which looked suitable “looted”.

Finally, a Great Gargant provides some series firepower. The right arm is magnetised to allow for either a Zapp or Scoopa Gun.

The paint scheme is a random mix of all army colours with a slight bias towards Deathskullz blue. I wanted to emphasis the looting nature of the clan so many models are converted and the infantry is mixed with a variety of heavy weapon models.

Bad Moon Clan
The Bad Moon clan is the richest of the Ork clans and have access to the most “Dakka Dakka” – guns! The clan therefore only has a mid-size warband (though with a large number of Nobz to reflect the higher status of the Bad Moon clan) and LOTS of guns. The large Nobz contingent can either accompany the warband or lead individual big gun formations.

The real core formations of the Bad Moon clan are 6 Big Gunz Mobs, each with the option to add a Mekboy upgrade. I got carried away and built more MekBoy guns than strictly necessary based on the pile of Gargant arms in my bitz box.

More guns are on the dozen Gun Wagons that provide the mobile element of the clan (including three Weirdboy Towers representing Zzapguns).

Finally, the Bad Moon clan has a mob of shooting oriented Stompa with a Supa-Stompa.

The strong yellow colour scheme is build up with Iyanden Darksun over black followed by several coats of Golden Yellow and a very light black wash. Fortunately the 6mm scale and especially Orks are forgiving so the odd unevenness in the yellow coat isn’t the end of the world.

Evil Sunz Clan
Evil Sunz provide the Kult of Speed for the army. With bikes, buggies, tracks, Scorcha and Deffkopta, the clan has the ability to field several very large Kult formations.

Support comes from the usual dozen Gun Wagons including three Mekboy options.

The armies’ air force is also with the Evil Sunz though the Landa is usually loaned to the Blood Axe Clan for air deployment. I need to paint up a few more Fighta Bomba for competitive game play at some point.

The Evil Sunz clan owns the second Gargant of the army (no real reason, I like painting dirty red…).

There are enough fast vehicles in this clan to easily field a mid-sized Speedfreak army if desired. The paint scheme of the Deathskullz is deliberately close to the Evil Sunz so that they can provide the boyz for a Speedfreak army without looking out of place.
The clan is of course painted in “Go Fasta” red (Mechrite Red over black, black wash, then Blood Red and finally Blazing Orange highlights).

Snakebite Clan
The Snakebite clan has received its own army list in the form of the Feral Ork list. Since I don’t have enough models for a full feral Ork army the Snakebites are instead a “count-as” Kult of Speed (Boar Boyz used as Bikes) with the support of a small Gun Wagon group (the cute furry Squiggoth which I infinitely prefer over then new lizard-like creatures). Just for fun I also addeds some old Squig Catapults. I guess they could be Gunwagons if needed.

Blood Axe Clan
The Blood Axe clan is the smallest of all the clans in the army with only a small warband and some Stormboyz. The warband is usually airlifted in a Landa to provide a mobile strike option. The clan infantry used old Stormboyz models for the regimented look.

The Stormboyz use newer models converted to give the impression of crazy rocket propelled Orks. As an exception to the unified colour rules above, the Blood Axe clan colours are grey and black.

Objectives: The Ork objectives are an Ork occupied bunker, Mekboy stuck in the mud and a mighty Gork Head missile silo (based on a 40k Stompa head).