While I didn’t finish them for Squaduary as I had pledged, I finally finished all twelve of the Orc Blood Bowl players of The Mighty Squigs. Who says you haven’t seen a purple orc!
As I currently don’t have time for games of 40k, I find that board games have been easier to get the family involved. Blood Bowl fits this perfectly. I think I could even talk my dad into a match since he is a huge football fan.
When it came time to which team to paint first, it was simply a matter of which team looked like more fun. And what is more fun than orcs? (though I keep wanting to spell them orks!) Whenever I start a new faction, I look at what colors I haven’t painted and what would look good on these models.
I hadn’t painted any armies with purple, and I figured they would look pretty good on an orc’s green. Armed with my handy color wheel, I found that to finish the complimentary color trifecta I needed to add some orange as well.
With all of that, I present…
The Mighty Squigs Orc Blood Bowl Team
Since I didn’t do anything to modify the second half of the team (each set is six duplicates), I painted one-half with more purple and the second with more orange. As a full team, they provide a nice block of color, without being overly bright.
Black Orc
The Black Orcs were left a little darker than the other orcs to fit their rank, and their extra bulk is noticeable in these models.
You’ll notice, I didn’t pay too much attention to which areas were purple or orange on each set as I painted them entirely separately. I wasn’t focussed on being completely different, but rather have one lean more purple and the other orange.
Orc Blitzer
The Orc Blitzers are fun models as they have a lot of movement and the facemask looks cool on them.
Orc Linemen (lineorc?)
The three set of linemen are not as exciting, but they are still cool looking models. I like how they took the feeling of an orc and combined it with traditional football. Completely impractical, yes, but full of character.
I used the numbers from the orc decal sheet, and I placed the two large numbers on the skulls on the front and back. The third, smaller decal was placed somewhere else on the model. Sometimes one the thigh armor, shoulder pad, or even wrist blade guard.
Each was then weathered down a bit to make it fit in. The white decals were painted over with Bonewhite (an off white), and the base color was dotted and scratched into each number.
While the team is two sets of duplicates, they are great miniatures. Between how the armor is layered differently on each model, to the details in the face, each provides a story of its own and fits the position it is meant to fill.
Orc Thrower
The thrower is a great example of this. He has much less armor than the other players, with only plates on his front facing side. Instead, he has a flowing sash and loincloth that hints at traditional quarterback’s towel.
Painting the Orc Blood Bowl Team
I had meant to create a full painting tutorial of the orc team but didn’t end up taking enough pictures as I went. Part of this was because I was painting upstairs on the couch, but I also wanted to get them done.
So instead, I will have a rough painting guide for how I painted the team and the color reference list at the end (with Vallejo and Games Workshop paints referenced).
I started by painting all the base colors over the model and giving it a wash of Vallejo Dark Brown. Not only does this give me a sense of overall color balance, but also makes it easier to highlight. As the wash separated each color area, it is easier to see the edges.
I used Dark Green for the skin, Hexed Lichen for the purple, Hot Orange, Leather Brown, and Khaki, Black, and Gunmetal for the rest.
I used a combination of edge highlighting and painterly-style lines to highlight each area. By painterly-style, I mean that for the flat surfaces I added a few extra lines and details to make it look interesting. I wasn’t going for a smooth color. But rather something that would pop at a distance.
The finished miniatures have an extreme highlight that works well for my style and showcase the excellent details of the miniature.
The colors I used were:
Orc Skin
Game Color Dark Green -> Dark Brown Wash -> Game Color Sick Green -> Game Color Camouflage Green
For the mouth, I used Game Color Gory Red and Model Color Brown Rose. I brought some of the paint up the lips and before highlighting with Camouflage Green.
I painted the teeth with Game Color Khaki -> Game Color Bonewhite with a touch of Pure White highlights.
Purple Armor
Game Color Hexed Lichen -> Dark Brown Wash -> Citadel Genestealer Purple -> Game Color Sombre Gray.
While I have the whole kit of Game Color paints, it doesn’t come with a good mid-tone purple. So I went back to GW paints, and Genestealer Purple worked perfectly. The Sombre Gray provided a nice cool-tone extreme highlight.
Orange Cloth and Armor
Game Color Hot Orange -> Dark Brown Wash -> Game Color Orange Fire -> Game Color Gold Yellow
On the armor areas, I highlighted with Game Color Gold Yellow while the cloth areas I used Game Color Khaki mixed with Gold Yellow. This provided a softer look to the fabric, more worn looking than shiny.
Black Cloth and Armor
Game Color Black -> Game Color Cold Grey
The lighter gray is a bit of a harsh highlight, but since black is a minor color, it wasn’t as important to be ‘right.’
Brown Cloth (light and dark brown)
I used  Game Color Leather Brown ->Dark Brown Wash -> Game Color Khaki on the tThe dark brown cloth.
And painted the light brown Game Color Khaki -> Dark Brown Wash -> Game Color Bonewhite.
Up Next For the Team
Since I plan for this to be a family game, I need to build up a few teams for everyone to play. So not only do I have the human team from the starter set, but also the dwarf and Skaven teams on my work bench.
Yes, this means that the Stompa and INQ28 teams are on the back burner, but I will get done soon I promise!
One of the things I want to do with each team is adding the race’s unique flavor. So for the orc team, I had planned on converted a river troll, but after talking with Thor, I think a few goblins would be better additions. I need to pick up a box of the little guys and hack in some padding/spikes.
The Saphire Smashers
I have also started the dwarf team with some rough work in progress trial miniatures.
The dwarves are bright yellow as I just bought WarColour’s One-Coat Yellow and wanted to give it a try. First impressions: this paint will change how you paint yellow. No joke, it covers well. Even over the black primer it only two coats to look bright and smooth.
As the spot color, I’m going with a brilliant blue and thinking of Saphire Smashers as the team name.
The two miniatures above are all base colors and a wash of Dark Brown which is why is looks so rough. This helps me figure out if the colors I chose for each area is going to work. For example, I plan to paint their skin as a mid-tone brown and their pants a dark brown. But at this stage, they look too similar, and I will need to push them further apart.
Once I finish the Dwarf team, I plan to do all the bases. In part, so they are consistent, but also I don’t know how I want to do them yet. A beautiful grassy field? Mud and turf?
