Painting one of The Longsnouts

Every Man is an Enemy.

Ever since getting into Warhammer 40,000 at the tail end of the 2nd Edition of the game, orcs have held a special place in my heart. The artwork for the 2nd Edition Codex book was filled with character, with notable work by greats like Mark Gibbons, Wayne England, and John Blanche. The template for the orc designs seen in the 2nd Edition codex was established earlier in the Rogue Trader era by artists like Paul Bonner, where the orcs were lanky, with wide lower jaws and long, slanting upper jaws. Brian Nelson gave the orcs a noticeable image change in the 3rd Edition of Warhammer 40,000, giving them a hunched, muscled, and aggressive look. It is this Nelson design that really captured my imagination. Games Workshop has slightly updated the orc aesthetics over the years, but never quite captured the magic that Nelson harnessed with his designs. Much to my excitement, sculptor Carlos Pérez Bugedo started a project designing his own orc models that take aspects of Paul Bonner’s orcs (somewhat lanky and long in the face) and combine them with the hunched aggression of the Nelson designs. This project is fittingly called The Longsnouts, and had an earlier Kickstarter campaign for STL files of some of his initial designs. To stir up some excitement for his second Longsnouts Kickstarter, he held a painting competition to paint one of his models. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to break out the paints and paint another model.

Blood Bowl: Unboxing

Blood Bowl is back!

When there were first rumors that Games Workshop was going to re-release their classic fantasy football game, Blood Bowl, I was a little skeptical.  After all, the game has had a very strong following for years, despite a lack of official support.  Would GW really do enough to make it worthwhile?  As the months progressed, and more pictures leaked, it became increasingly clear that they would live up to the legend.  Their use of classic Wayne England artwork along with newer pieces from Karl Kopinski, and a fantastic cover by Filipe Pagliuso, was one element that really sold me on the whole endeavor, reassuring me that they were not cutting corners.  We were fortunate enough to pick up a copy of the game during the opening weekend, and wanted to do an unboxing, taking some time to go over the components!

Orruk Megaboss: Unboxing and assembly impressions

This beakie looks outclassed...

In my mind, the orcs/orks/orruks really came into perfect form when Brian Nelson started to sculpt them, starting with a few Warhammer Fantasy models, then moving to Gorkamorka (Mad Max-style gang warfare game), before finally sculpting the majority of the 3rd edition Warhammer 40,000 range.  He was able to take the somewhat comical humanoid designs of Rogue Trader and 2nd edition Warhammer 40k and completely revitalize them.  He turned the orcs/orks into more simian-like creatures with long arms corded with muscle and hunched postures.  Beyond the orcs’ frame, Nelson gave them a very distinctive facial structure, with a flattened nose, small beady eyes and a pronounced lower jaw.  A lot of these features were already part of the orc aesthetic, but Nelson was able to combine those elements into something very distinctive and unique for Games Workshop. Brian Nelson made me love the orcs.  A number of other sculptors have handled orcs for Games Workshop since Nelson’s reimaging, but none ever fully captured their essence like he did.  The last few Warhammer 40,000 orc releases seem more like imitations of Nelson’s greatness, never quite reaching the same heights (despite being very good).  I had long hoped for the day that Nelson would return to sculpting orcs, and when I saw images of the new Orruk models for Age of Sigmar, my heart lept.  After seeing the expressive faces on the models, and the careful attention to scale, I knew that Brian Nelson must have had a serious role in their creation.  As it turns out, Nelson’s first sculpt for the Orruk range was the imposing Orruk Megaboss. Such was my excitement about the model that I was at my local hobby shop to get it the day it was released.