February has brought some expected and unexpected delays for my Orks. Nevertheless, in true Orky fashion, I am stubbornly pushing ahead!
As expected, ski season arriving here in New England has meant that I've been away most weekends (including some long weekends), so have been restricted to hobbying maybe 2-4 weeknights per week.
Now for the unexpected: as I eluded to in my previous post, I have been hit with the sobering realization that I woefully underestimated how long painting layer highlights takes me, even while batch painting!
The combination of these two factors means that I am still working on finishing my January build wave.
Last night, I finished all 11 models through the final freehand detailing stage. All that is left is to add their final weathering, battle damage, and varnish before sticking them on their bases and belatedly starting February's wave!
Here's how the January wave is looking as of today:
Looking back at 2021 so far, here's I've spent each week:
Instead of taking two weeks to paint 11 models, it's actually taken me four, or roughly double what I had hoped!
I expect that one more evening painting session should cover the final weathering and battle damage steps, and I can varnish and base these models while working on building the February wave... so if all goes well, the Week 8 update (coming around ~Feb. 28) will contain some finished gallery photos of my Orks from January!
A particularly bright spot over the last couple of weeks was the arrival of a bunch of new kits that represents the foundation of an eventual armored wing of vehicles for Da Ironbullz. I ordered:
You might be thinking that this seems like a chaotic assortment of unrelated vehicles. If you were... you are absolutely right!
But there is a method to this madness: I have grand ambitions to kitbash these kits with the ones I already own, hopefully to construct the following list of converted vehicles:
Converting is my favorite aspect of the hobby, so these vehicle builds will be a real treat for me.
On that note: given that I'm a few weeks behind in my original schedule, and given that the end of February is drawing closer every day, I'm going to switch up my Hobby Sprint schedule yet again and turn the February wave into "Armor Month"!
Here's what I'm currently planning:
| January | February | March | April |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warboss | Deff Dread with Dread Klaw, Dread Saw, Kustom Mega-Blasta, and Scorcha | Nob with Big Choppa & Choppa ("The Executioner") | Nob with Big Choppa & Choppa ("Gork's Champion") |
| Nobz Boss with Power Klaw & Slugga ("The Lieutenant") | Deffkopta with Kustom Mega-Blasta | Nob with two Choppas ("The Berzerker") | Nob with two Choppas ("The Strategist") |
| Ork Boy with Tankbusta Bombs | Big Trakk with two Big Shootas | Kommandoz Nob with Power Klaw | Stormboy Nob with Power Klaw & Slugga |
| 2x Shoota Boyz | Boss Meganob with Power Klaw & Kombi-Rokkit | 2x Kommandoz with Choppa & Slugga | 4x Stormboyz with Choppa & Slugga |
| Kommando with Choppa & Slugga | Meganob with dual Killsaws | Kommando with Rokkit Launcha | 2x Shoota Boy |
| Kommando with Burna | 2x Shoota Boyz | ||
| Nob with Power Klaw & Slugga ("Kommissar Yarrork") [note: no longer used in 750pt list] | Shoota Boy with Big Shoota | ||
| Slugga Boyz Nob with Big Choppa & Choppa [note: no longer used in 750pt list] | |||
| Slugga Boy [note: no longer used in 750pt list] | |||
| Killa Kan with Buzzsaw & Rokkit Launcha [note: no longer used in 750pt list] | |||
My thinking is simple: February is nearly over, and I've barely started the models for my February wave. I suspect I'll be able to paint vehicles much faster than infantry, so if I make up time on three vehicles and two Meganobz over the next ~month, that will put me in better shape of focusing on da Boyz between March and May.
Also, I have some elaborate conversions planned for the Stormboyz, which I didn't want to take up too much time in March. By switching them to the final wave (April), it will allow me to proxy them using Slugga Boyz if time runs out.