Drive it like you nicked it.

This is my looted Land Raider, Mark II conversion. It's another model from my old Ork armoured brigade. It may even be the oldest model in that particular army. Or at least the first to be completed and not then subsequently hacked-up, stripped or rebuilt.

And not only is this one of my earliest Ork vehicles, but the base model, underneath all the conversion work, is one of the first plastic tank kits Citadel Miniatures ever made. It was the Land Raider Mark I, originally released in 1988 as the RTB05 Imperial Land Raiders kit (plural, because you got two of them in the box, for just £12.99).

The 1988 kit was a very exciting release for young me. A seemingly huge tank, the likes of which had hardly been seen before in the fledgling WH40K game. It was so exciting that I was kinda awestruck by it. Scared to even glue the pieces together. And as a result they ended up sitting unconstructed and neglected until an incredible new Land Raider was released about 10 years later. One that had been tweaked and updated to give it a whole new look.

But I'm not talking about the current kit, the Mark III Land Raider. That wasn't released until 2000. No, the kit I'm referring to was the Mark II, brought out in Epic scale in 1998. The Mark I, had come out for Epic three years earlier, but the Mark II gave the tank a more aggressive profile, and heavy duty sponsons. I was immediately taken with it, and vowed to build a 28mm scale version. 

Here's another variant of the Epic Mark II, with a slightly clearer picture, and here's a very neatly painted one I've just found on Google. These are exactly the kind of images that inspired me to attempt a larger scale portrayal.

But attempt is the apt word here. Knowing my conversions skills weren't good enough to make a crisp, clean tank, I decided it would be easier if the thing had taken an ass whooping on the battlefield, and had then been salvaged or stolen by Orks.

So I grabbed one of the tanks from that old, neglected Imperial Land Raiders kit, and set about extending the front, cutting down the top, and replacing the tracks.

By the time I had finished the basic build, Citadel designer extraordinaire, Brain Nelson, had taken over the Ork range, injecting the entire race with a darker, more brutal aesthetic. It was a simple matter to use spares from his new kits to bring my Land Raider closer in line with his vision.

Not only did the new parts add instant Orky character, but they also served to further hide my shoddy workmanship.

The final addition was the makeshift gun emplacement, thrown together in what I think of as typical Orky style. The sandbags which make up the bulk of it were sculpted roughly out of green stuff, while the rail for the big shootas was just a piece of thick wire.

These days Forge World make a whole bunch of Land Raider variants, including a remodelled Land Raider Mark I, which now seems to be called the Proteus. So there are some easy but expensive alternatives if you don't fancy hundreds of hours of badly cutting up sheets of plasticard, slicing your fingers, getting glue on everything and generally making a bloody mess.

Although clearly no kind of Ork mekboy would ever pass up an opportunity like that.

ADDICTION CHALLENGE
REMAINING: 86

Waaagh battle tanks

If at first you don't succeed, cheat. That's probably how any self-respecting Ork would have it. Although with them cheat is likely to mean brutally eliminate the competition, whereas in my case it's just about posting pics of old models from my collection because I haven't had time to paint anything new.

So here are two more vehicles from my old Greenskin armoured brigade. These tanks sport killkannons and rotary big shootas, and are probably a little smaller than Forge World's Kill Blasta (or Bursta) tank. I guess I see them as kinda like an Ork equivalent to a Leman Russ Battle Tank without the sponsons.

I've been thinking about my Ork army a lot recently. When I originally put it together I only ever got about halfway through all the things I had planned. I still have a whole bunch of units to complete, most of which are going to involve at least some level of customisation. It's quite a labour-intensive endeavour, even if most Ork conversion work can be fairly easily achieved simply by gluing a load of off-cuts and rivets all over the place.

With the model below, I started with Secret Weapon's awesome 6x6 Rapid Assault Vehicle. It's a great model, so I didn't want to do anything too drastic. I think in the end I simply added an Ork commander (made from a standard Citadel Nob, with a head from Kromlech's Orc Veteran set), then glued a load of those aforementioned off-cuts and rivets all over the place.

And with the second tank it was even easier. I don't think I did a single thing. The original model said it all. It's the Maxmini Scrap Tank. I only needed to paint the sucker. So I tried to make both vehicles feel related by starting with a beaten-up, red paint job, but then use different patterns for detailing, to make each scheme feel a little more unique.

These were completed many years ago, so my Addiction Challenge score remains the same.

ADDICTION CHALLENGE
REMAINING: 86

I'm slowly posting a bit more about my old (yet continuing) Ork army, so if you're a fan of these muscle-bound, green menaces, you can follow the entirety of my thread here.