Four Dreadtober Sons of Horus Dreadnoughts Completed

The Ork dreadnought is on hold while I decide if I want to paint it up for display purposes, lacking it, I had to find something to paint in order to fulfill my Dreadtober pledge. Enter Epic 30k. I had a lot of fun painting up a full unit of these guys, even applying panel shading on them as if they were 28mm instead of 6mm models. Since I had the paint out, I went ahead and painted up some land speeders, some original plastic land raiders, and three shadowswords for the force. The last shot is just a photo of what I have painted so far. Once I get some stands of infantry painted I will have a usable force. I've been holding on painting any infantry until I figure out how to base the minis. The crackle paint bases are serviceable, but rather dull. 

(ok I know 6mm dreadnoughts is not what Greg had in mind when he cooked up Dreadtober, however I found a way to make it work! You know what, I think I probably painted the most dreadnoughts for Dreadtober. Go me!)

30K Ork Dreadnought Size Comparison

I've been thinking out how to paint this taller than usual ork dreadnought, and I think I am going to go with yellow. Yellow is pretty common these days, but I think I can come up with an original recipe for it that works for this model. I am also considering a teal-ish green with cream colored checkers. Ultimately I think my tall Orks should look good with my 30k armies and Death Korps, so they'll get what is becoming my standard basing of destroyed concrete.

Stylistically, if I am to create a 30k Ork force rather than just a one off, I think I need add more realism and barbarism to the models. In my mind this breaks down to super detailing the kit and painting them darker and more realistically. I have a bunch of chain left over from one of my conversions. I think the Orks would make heavy use of it on their vehicles. I am tempted to channel a little mad max and have Orks riding on top of the dread like a boarding party. It might be too much, but I like the idea. Plus it would let me paint up some ork skin tones. Now I just need to find some characterful orks to add.

Dreadtober Ork Dreadnought With Re-Posed Legs

Dreadtober is a who holiday event, where hobbyists from all over the world build dreadnoughts. If you've never heard of it either then you are in the same boat with me. (I think Greg and Todd invented it) If you'd like to participate, and why wouldn't you, head over to FeedYourNerd to get more details and have your name/blog added to the dreadtober roll call. Todd over at SincaiN40k has been making all kinds of cool images for the event.

So this is my first Ork dreadnought. It is also my first Ork conversion. I haven't painted Orks in ages, and even had to add the Ork label to the blog for the first time. I am not sure what type of Ork dread this is, but when I opened the packages there were three little dreads, and one larger one. I grabbed the larger one, and dismayed at the stumpy legs, hacked them apart. One of the nice thing about Orks is that I don't feel totally compelled to do a clean conversion. Reasonably clean is good enough. This makes the build a lot less stressful.

So what Ork clan should this guy be part of? He will be an army of one for quite a while unless I paint that Stompa lurking in my closet.

*Edit added some photos of the dread with arms magnetized on. I think the added height the re-posed legs give really help the model. It still has the hulking Ork vibe, but looks like it could actually stomp around.