Monday 2 July 2018

Black Moon Mercenaries



Greetings vaqueros! Today we'll be looking at this unit of ork nobz in mega-armour I've painted for an up-coming gaming event.

My friends and I are getting together this month for a gaming weekend and the theme is Rogue Trader, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get back to my roots and paint some orks - my first 40k army, and by far my favourite. First time round my army was a mix of the late RT releases, and a lot of the 2nd ed. stuff like plastic warbikes, multipart Lootas and many, many monopose Goffs  and gretchin from two of my mates' 40k starter boxes. SO MANY gretchin. This time round I aim to make a mercenary force using a lot of Bad Moon themed miniatures, but minus all the yellow - meet the BLACK MOON MERCENARIES.


Back when I was 14yrs old and painting my first Space Orks, I listened to a lot of Metallica, and so the waft of heavy metal cheese will always hang about a project like this. When thinking about a theme and scheme for this mercenary force, the words 'black', 'heavy' and 'metal' were my main consideration. In order to make sure the spirit of 80's metal was thoroughly baked into the models, I played Master of Puppets to them while each layer dried, and thought only about guitars, leather and hair while I worked on them. The only colours allowed for this force will be green, and... well that's about it. Green. The rest is black, white and bone, and METALLICS WAAAAAAAOOOOOH!


By the time I began my adventures in 40k space, these guys were basically a footnote in ork history - quirky Kev Adams sculpts, replaced by the newer, bigger and quite bad-assed mega-armoured ork nobz in Bad Moon livery made by Alan Perry. I like those Bad Moon nobz a lot, but they lack that special something that make these older ones so great - specifically, large, marshmallow-like armour plates. SQUISHY METALLL!



Models like these reward careful painting of the details, but also, take to a quick and dirty approach as well - the character of the sculpts shines through on even with a boring monochrome scheme like this one. You could probably really weather these up and they would still look great - primary colours have their place, but orks like to get down and dirty. RUSTY METALLL!!!



This unit is the prototype for the whole force, and will be the retinue for their warboss (COMING SOON). They will likely need some heavy support and a transport vehicle of some kind... if only I could find something METALLL ENOOOOUGH

*raspberry noise*

And what's next? Well once you've let some big nobz into your life, you will only crave for bigger!

"Cop dis klaw up yer jacksie mate!"

Adios for now!

21 comments:

  1. Awesome mate! They look like proper hardnuts.

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    1. They are going to break open some bonces and smear the sloppy goo they find inside just everywhere!

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  2. Menacing and yet humourous. The stripped back colour scheme really does add them gravitas and presence. It also makes the faces the focal point of the figures. Except the guy with the gun finger - that always draws attention. I really love these old sculpts - there's a real sense of weight and mass - they're not running around waving everything - they're striding ponderously, but inexorably forward, and almost certainly going to slaughter whatever they reach.

    Lovely paint on lovely figures - the best combo!

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    1. Thanks axiom, it took me years to work out what scheme to paint these guys - I'm glad it worked out!

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    1. Cheers Kelvin! Fortunately I don't charge a fee for orkage.

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  4. Lovely! I have those Nobz lying around somewhere. Another once and future project. My hangup has been to back banner or not to back banner. It doesn't take much to put me off painting things.

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    1. I will put a banner on the warboss who will accompany them - I love me some back banners but not too many ;)

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  5. Gork is satisfied. Most likely Mork is too.
    Seriously, I have those minis and they aren't even close to your standards, they're truly great!
    Nice take on Warboss Nazgred. The Noise Marine claw suits the mini in quite an unsettling way...

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    1. Well spotted on the claw, I found it on a bitz site and had to get cheetor to identify it. It looks much better on an ork... :D

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  6. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!! I really hope some day the Black Teef and the Black Moons can team up on the table top someday and make all our opponents cry from all the orkyness. ;) Top job M8!

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    1. Waaagh! We'll steal all their lunches and beat them up behind the toilets.

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  7. I love them. I really thought the name was refering to their rear but I suppose it's something even more intriguing...

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    1. Barbecuing their bottoms is a rite of passage if you want to join the gang.

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  8. These Orks are soooo BLACK it hurts.

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    1. They eat exclusively black pudding, drink Guinness and listen to the Black Album on a continuous loop.

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  9. Awesome work mate. I love a big nob but these slightly smaller nobs are excellent too. In all seriousness though these are some of my favourite ever figures and you have done a great job on them.

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    1. Cheers Warburton, they are a big tick off the old list and no mistake :D

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  10. That jaw is a great way of bulking out the very narrow-headed Perry Mega Armours. I really enjoy the era purity of your conversion work.

    That klaw conversion has given me the idea of converted oldskool Yarrick's claw back onto a Mega Armour Ork.

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    1. I've actually been looking for a damaged or cheap Yarrick for that exact purpose - in fact there is even a pre-cut claw on ebay for the low price of $4... with $40 shipping from the US! :D

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  11. Excellent work and vibe with these guys man! These are still the high point in Ork minis

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