Greenskins: Warhammer 40,000 Ork Killa Kans Gallery

Showcasing a unit of ork killa kans today, all armed with big shootas to keep their point cost down in the cheap and cheerful range.  They feature a modest amount of kitbashing and quite few minor part swaps with other ork kits, particularly the deff dred thanks to its many cross-compatible components.  Or should that be kross-kompatible komponents?  Orkspeak is hard on the old spellchecker for sure.

Kans come on 60mm bases just like the larger deff dred does.  They may be the least expensive model in the game with such a large base, although some of the new Imperial Guard weapon teams may steal that title when their 9th edition codex finally arrives.  Being a 3-6 model unit on such large bases makes for some unusual problems when it comes to navigating terrain, complicated by having the vehicle keyword.   

Da Boss Kan

This one's been converted to have a pair of spare shoota barrels (which count as its big shoota) attached to its hull, a heavily-modified wrecking ball from an ork trukk kit attached to a power ram arm as its main melee weapon, and a second melee weapon arm (which does nothing in game terms but looks cool).

Kan units don't really have leaders as such, but that's no reason not to include a model that stands out from the mob a bit.

I'm sure some nitwit will irritate me by telling me it's not WYSIWYG sooner or later, but the folks I usually play 40K with aren't that kind of people - which is why I play with them.

Mister Pinchy

I think the big claw arm is a part swap from the ork deff dred kit, but I'm not 100% positive of that.

The empty casings spewing out of the big shoota come from the ork boyz kit, and can also be found in the burna/loota kit.

The "skirt" is just a piece from the kans kit stuck on upside down.  I like to think it's good for keeping over-affectionate (or hungry) squigs from jumping up on the kan.

Drilla Killa

Almost a stock assembly here, nothing fancy.

I did fiddle with the angle the exhausts a bit though.

The original one has the long exhaust at a more vertical angle, which makes painting the engine detailing a bit of a pain because it runs so close.

Da Kan Wit' No Name

Because I couldn't think of something clever to call it, of course.

The big shoota on this one is heavily kitbashed, using the upper arm from the grotzooka piece, a gun from the deff dred kit, some scraps and bits to make it all hang together, and the same spent brass that Mister Pinchy used. 

Pretty happy with the way it came out.

Pizza Cutter

This one also uses a big shoota from the deff dred, which is an excellent source of spare weapons to round out the rather limited choices the kan kit comes with.

The deff dred also comes with two melee weapon arms designed to fit in its lower arm sockets, both of which are fully compatible with the kan kit and at least one of which is unique to the dredd, getting you variety if you use it on the kans instead.  You can swap can arms of any kind onto the dred's lower sockets, but they won't fit the upper ones, the shoulder ball is a different size despite the wrist socket fitting any of the many melee options between the two kits.

The big shoota here is another kitbash using the grotzooka upper arm, a buzzsaw from the ork nob kit, and some glyph plates to round it out.  The grotzooka weapon pieces are residing it the bits box awaiting use in a future project.

9th edition players will be quick to point out the numerous failings of killa kans, but they certainly are visually impressive models, and their low point cost (unless you start mounting the very expensive rokkit launchas on them) lets you field a unit or two without feeling like you've invested too much in them.  They come in groups of 3-6 and are boxed in threes, but I'm sticking with five-model units. That's partly to avoid giving Blast weapons a bonus, but the image below highlights a problem that I don't see mentioned by anyone - most likely because theoryhammer doesn't look at the physical miniatures much. 

If you go to six models your unit coherency requirement changes from being near one other model to two.  Those big 60mm bases make maneuvering in tight quarters hard enough, and when you need to keep three figs in a clump it's even harder. Getting bottlenecked is a real possibility with a full unit of these thing, and can easily cost you the opportunity to charge the target you want.  Pundits are quick to point out how much morale losses in a kan unit hurt, but that's nothing compared to how bad you'll feel if you slip up and leave your unit in a position where you can't remove a casualty without breaking coherency, or worse, just plain lose a model due to careless movement.  Better to stick to five if you're taking them at all.

Frostgrave: A Few More Wizards

 Finished up the last of my female wizards from Frostgrave, although I still have a  vast supply of leftover bits that will no doubt make an appearance on other models in the future.

Four are the usual dynamic duos of wizard and apprentice.

Broke with the pattern on the last two.

The woman on the far left might be a wizard, but I was thinking more of an alchemist by way of being a chemical warfare expert loaded down with flasks and bottles and glass globes full of mysterious substances.

Built and painted these with an eye toward simplicity, which came out just the way I envisioned it.

Bit of a Gandalf the Gray vibe going on with them, and they're generic enough to serve as members of almost any school of wizardry.

These two use a much more colorful palette, and I'm quite happy with the way the white hair stands out here.

They're also quite a bit more heavily laden than the Gray Ladies, but still pretty all-purpose in term of school.

These last two are the oddballs of the group, and the alchemist is my favorite of the lot.  I imagine she's got a mix of poisonous and knockout gasses, semi-magical acidic solvents, and probably some kind pyrotechnic chemical making things go boom.

The other gal is a conversion that uses a spare head and arms (one of them bionic) from the Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder frame.  The left arm is a mechanical replacement for a lost limb (thanks to the new rules in Fireheart) while the right has had a hand holding a copper staff (because channeling electricity seems like an artificer kind of thing) from the Frostgrave kit swapped on.  The bracer on the arm makes that sort of thing much easier since you have a good place to cut without leaving having to repair any damage to the clothing.  The parts are a pretty good fit despite being from different companies.   

Been rather ill lately and I find the Frostgrave (and Stargrave) models make a nice, relaxing project to work on while I'm trying to stay upright.  Sadly I'm pretty much out at this point (aside from parts, so many parts) and the local store is doing a terrible job stocking the ranges so I'm going to have to find something else to work on the next time I need some "just messing around" figs.  

Pity, I was hoping to get some of the demons and gnolls and the female Stargrave kits and...well, the list goes on where those two games are concerned.  Some of the best plastic minis ever made and a pleasure to work on.

Dropfleet Commander Kitbash: Fuel Tanker

Quick post to show off a kitbashed fuel tanker using some spare parts from the Dropfleet Commander range.  About 2.25"/6cm long and uses parts from two Shaltari cruiser sprues.  Very simple build and not the best paint job I've ever done, but I rather like the look.

Mounted on a 1" hex base, which are getting pretty rare at this point.  Apparently the last mold for making them finally died sometime during the COVID shutdown and have yet to be replaced, which makes me wonder if they'll ever be coming back.  They've been around for close to fifty years and not having them available any more feels kind of weird, although they were never my favorite style of flight base and there are certainly plenty of other options still on the market.

Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder Overview: Warhammer 40K Penal Legion Trooper Proxies

Showcasing Wargames Atlantic's two Cannon Fodder scifi infantry kits, in this case painted up for use as Warhammer 40,000 Penal legion troops from back in the 2nd Edition days.  As such, I've equipped them very basically, with nothing but lasguns, bayonets, and their signature frenzon/bomb charge collars.  A few have managed to pick of a knife as well, no doubt stolen from the mess hall, and a small number of them are veterans with bionic arm prostheses.  It's nice to have a good set of figs for these flavorful old models.  

If I liked 9th Edition enough to play it I'd do up some homebrew rules for using them in the modern day, but I'd rather play old school 40K from the Rogue Trader and 2nd Edition days.

I did up fifty of the models for this project, which amounts to most of the contents of one of each of the male and female Cannon Fodder kits.  There are thirty male figs here and twenty females, which leaves me with four leftover females and a fair pile of heavy weapons and other spare bits for future jobs.

The first (male) Cannon Fodder kit is a real pleasure to work with, easy to assemble and with decent variety of stances and gun positions.  You can build 30 figures with it, which makes it a huge bargain at mere $35 retail.  It's a little short on add-on bits, although there are some very nice backpacks loaded down with miscellaneous gear, several different styles of heads with variations within each style, some grenades, and a half dozen pistol arms and heavy weapons.  Everything is nicely keyed on the frame, so you can be sure you've got the right arms together for each pairing.

The second (female) kit is the same price but only builds 24 models, four of which are in rather odd crouching poses.  The frame has the same backpacks as the male kit, a different heavy weapon (which you get four of), and a much larger numbers of oddball spares and arms, including both right and left bionic arms, some with guns, some without.  There are a few knife and pistol arms (both left and right), an arm holding binoculars, a pair of arms with a grapnel and rope in mid-throw, and a variety of head styles including one set with pigtails.  A few of the parts (some bionics and pistols) may have appeared on the $6 Death Fields Upgrade Sprue, but most are new. 

Both kits are fully cross-compatible, and having both available really expands the modelling options for the male kit a lot.  The only letdown (and it's a big one, unfortunately) is that, unlike the male kit, there is no keying at all on the female frame.  This makes it a lengthy process of trial and error to assemble, since the paired arms aren't anywhere near each other on the frames.  It took me five times as long to assemble 20 figs from the unkeyed kit as it did to do 30 of the make models. 

To put it mildly, I wasn't pleased when I discovered this, and I was even less pleased when I contacted WA to ask if they had assembly instructions for the unkeyed female kit (which uses only a single frame) and got no response.  At time of this posting they haven't put a guide up online, despite having images of the frame on their store that could be easily photoshopped to add a key to it.

Because of this, I'll gladly recommend the male kit, but advise no one buy the female kit without being aware of the issue.  You can manage to pair the arms up with a lot of test fitting and trial and error, but even having finished a bunch of them I'm still not sure I've got all the arms matched up properly.  When (or if) they get a simple guide up online the problem vanishes, but it hasn't happened yet.

Also, be aware that Wargames Atlantic kits don't come with bases, so you'll have to provide your own.  In this case they got stuck on GW 25mm bases to match the usual Imperial Guard bases, but I have hundreds of them laying around from the old days.  Washers would work just as well, and of course there are many other varieties of plastic or resin bases commercially available. 

Scale comparison shot with a Frostgrave wizard and a Games Workshop poxwalker.

Privateer Press Cephalyx Monstrosities

Three Cephalyx monstrosities from Privateer Press's War Machine range.

Big chunk plastic models on 50mm bases.  Frostgrave wizard for scale - as you can see, they're huge.

The models share a common body, with the forearms and heads and some weapon parts differentiating them.  If you weren't using them for War Machine, the various arms could be mixed and matched however you desire - they all fit the same way, although the net launcher arm will only fit on the left side so its cable reel will connect properly.

This is the defensive Warden, with twin gripping claws.  A bit weak against heavy armor but also the most inexpensive monstrosity in the game. 

The Subduer has a large blade and a net launcher, the only ranged weapon monstrosities carry.  Slightly more expensive than the Warden, hits harder, and has some nasty positioning tricks.

The Wrecker is the hardest hitting of its kind, and the most expensive in game.  It's quite strong against any target, and has a particularly nasty sweep attack.

Their size and "tormented test subject" look would make them good proxies for Dark Eldar grotesques over in Warhammer 40K, but they'd need to be stuck on 40mm bases instead of their normal 50mm ones.  Alternately, they could be left as-is and used as Chaos Spawn proxies.