Finishing your own army is core to the Warhammer 40,000 hobby. In our Army Showcase series, Goonhammer contributors take a look at the armies we’ve been collecting for years, and the new ones we’ve just finished – what drew us to them, why we keep building and painting, and how they play on the table. This week, Charlie roars out onto the Fury Road with a wheeled armada of Evil Sunz.
The painter: Charlie Brassley
The army: Evil Sunz Orks
Points: 2000+
Collected: 2009-2012 for the initial bulk, final additions in 2017.
Instagram: @charliebrassley
In my previous showcase (on my Cobalt Scions primaris marines) I talked about lore and painting and heraldry, but today is a simpler day. A redder day. Sporting a straightforward play style and basic painting, today’s post is largely about the conversions I did in the pursuit of one simple rule: no two vehicles in the army can be the same.
Why Evil Sunz?
I was seduced by the image of a fleet of vehicles roaring through the desert at face-flapping speeds. Rust, dust, and a pop of red paint. Aaaaaaaaaahhh hahahaa.
You’d think the orkiest film ever shot (the madly glorious Mad Max: Fury Road) was a big influence, but this army had been largely finished before the film came out in 2015. The film may have inspired me to finish off the last few pieces, so there’s that. But the main influence was Gorkamorka, and appropriately enough, Lenoon’s recent Goonhammer articles on the game inspired me to write this showcase. Just don’t expect any insightful investigative journalism today, it’s just wall to wall vehicle conversions and sandy backdrops.
How they play
This army was born in 5th edition 40K. If you were going for Evil Sunz your main gimmick was to stuff a bunch of lads in trukks and go hurtling across the table. Fortunately the trukk kit is a fucking triumph for enabling conversions. The downside of a whole-ass army of trukk boys is that every game is kiiiiind of the same: you roar forwards and hit like a bus in turn 2, and if the enemy are semi-functional when the third turn rolls around, they win.
These days I’m collecting another ork army – Goffs – and deliberately using a much broader spread of units. Amazingly enough, my games are now a lot more varied. Even so, these speedy boys still see the tabletop even today, and in Apocalypse games serve as a two thousand point flanking manoeuvre in support of larger ork armies.
We’ll start with the trukk show, and after that, I’ll go over a few other conversions and standout minis in the warband.
Trukks
For this section I’ll hand over to a used trukk saleman to talk you through the suspension spring collection.
Wotcha! I’m Grinbad Oilsmirk and I’ll be your trukk salesman for the day. Honest trukks at honest prices! You won’t find better in Mektown. You definitely won’t find better down the road at Bozdakka’s Big Wheelz. Bloody thieves in there. You can tell because all their trukks is blue. The trukks in here? Top notch. They was made with a need. You know what need I mean, don’t you? Course you do.
Now you seem like an ork with teef. Probably got a mob of lads following you around, am I right? Need to get them into a good scrap without losing half of them on the way? Don’t worry mate, I’ll sort you out. Take a walk with me through the garage. Smell the passion. And don’t tread in what’s left of Pizzle, we ran over him this morning. ERGLI? ERGLI! WHY’S YOU NOT MOPPED UP PIZZLE? BEEN SNIFFING GLUE SQUIGS HAVE WE? SO HELP ME IF I DON’T SHOW YOU THE BACK OF MY HAND. Sorry about that mate, right this way.
First up we have the Klassic. No frills, unless you count the nitro and the kustom red rims. One careful owner. Nice and cheap. But I can tell by the way your nostrils is flaring that you don’t want bog standard. I isn’t saying you is cheap, you looks like a bigger than average nob who wants the best for his lads, am I right? Am I right? No, sorry, won’t nudge you again. Sorry. I know, we isn’t mates. Sorry. Nice choppa, that. Let’s move on.
This is the Beast. Liked it so much I even put me favourite skull on it. Heavier rig, with a high platform for a gunner so you can have dakka wherever you wants it. No guns actually mounted on it right now, but —well yes, our other trukks do all have guns. No, I en’t trying nothing on, this just gives you options. It’s not missing nothing, it’s about flexib… that really is a nice choppa.
We call this one the Scopa. It’s a recon rig. See the extra stowage on the front there? It’s also got a raised turret, perfect for long-range gitfinding. One nob, alone in the desert, the eyes and ears and nose of the warboss himself. I’ll even throw in some hand-held optiks if you like. You’re right, that IS a humie ram. Tough construction, very reliable. What? No, I weren’t saying you’re a pansy what only likes scouting not fighting. You want front line, top-end boss trukks? Over here mate. I don’t offer these other two to just anyone.
This here’s the Speedsta. Fastest trukk in Mektown. One of the newest, too. Big shoota fitted as standard, slim lines so it goes more speedy, and extra protection for the engine. Solid kustom ram, too. It’s got some serious tricks under those armour plates; first time we got it up to speed I could feel me face flapping in the wind.
You seem pretty taken with it, mate. Is that a tear in your eye? I know, we’ve all been there. This is probably the trukk for you, but I’ve got one more to show you: our heaviest. You like heavy? You like shooty? Right this way. Mind that oil spill. ERGLI! SORT THAT SPILL OUT. Sorry about that. Oops, mind the low cable.
Now this… this is the Tuska. You’ve got to be a real nob to buy this. Which you clearly is. Most people get distracted by the toothy ram, but I see you’ve got a good eye and yes, that is a driver-operated beakie rokkit launcher. Lotsa spare ammo capacity to make up for the lack of aiming. Then there’s the kustom engine – a right grunter – and that means it’s got the heft to handle the extra armour. The semi-ard case keeps your lads safer but still lets them shoot their guns in the air and shout “Waaagh!”
So what’ll it be, mate?
The konversion process
Half the joy… no, wait, most of the joy of playing orks for me lies in personalising the vehicles. These conversions mostly use some mix of ork vehicle parts plus plasticard (well, there’s also the looted land speeder storm further down).
Riveting
The thing about bits of unadulterated plasticard is that they look very plain. I endeavoured to avoid this problem by distressing the surface, carving chunks and knicks out with my scalpel, and then adding rivets by cutting thin slices of plasticard rod, sticking them on the tip of my knife blade, and dipping them in a puddle of poly cement on their way to the vehicle’s hull. At that point chemistry and suction is sufficient to pull them off the knife tip.
How to paint ork vehicles, speedy edition
There’s no standout paint jobs here – I was going for speed over quality – but here’s the method (using modern paint colours):
- Spray or paint the entire vehicle brown (Rhinox Hide is fine, as is anything slightly lighter and more orangey)
- Drybrush it with leadbelcher
- Lightly drybrush again with Necron Compound, focusing on the edges
- Paint the middle of any armour panels you want in your clan colour of choice (here it’s Mephiston Red), deliberately avoiding the edges so it looks like it’s chipped off.
- Pick out cables and tyres in Corvus Black.
- Add weathering powder that matches your basing scheme.
Da Uvver Wunz
Grotwagon
Zog’s lucky grotwagon must be lucky, because this looted land speeder storm still has its original blue paint. It’s also got some car body repair mesh added, along with sundry other bitz, to make a cute little buggy for the grots to ride around in. I used to run this as a looted vehicle, although the modern Crusade-only rules for those aren’t all that suitable, so I only really use it in narrative scenarios.
Bikes
Since these are vehicles, they too must be unique. The problem? There’s 12 of them. I achieved variety here by scraping a lot of details off, rather than adding them on. I also varied the amount of red paint; the hope here was to suggest a spectrum from basic bike bitches on their first ride, all the way up to seasoned bikers with kustom hogs.
Kerneevul
Before the longnamey macguffinbuggies were released, there was just the warbuggy and the skorcha. I had no interest in hybrid metal/plastic kits, so stuck with a warbuggy, but of course couldn’t resist the temptation to kustomise. I did convert a second one, but it was a victim of that bad batch of GW poly cement a few years ago, and fell apart in a tragic pile of cystallised joins that were too depressing for me to go and fix. Kerneevul still sees the table regularly using the Legends dataslate.
Da Battle Bus
Ah yes, the boss’ ride. Grimtoof always stands on the front, using his klaw to indicate the direction of travel for the warband (this is generally forwards). A key part of the look of the army is having lads stuffed into every vehicle, and Grimtoof’s nob bodyguard–Da Risin Sunz–can all physically fit on and in this battlewagon thanks to its second deck. It’s like one of those tourist buses, but more killy.
Grimtoof
The boss himself, or at least the Mk2 version, since the original was converted from the nobz kit and was adorably puny by warboss standards.
Wurrklank
Grimtoof’s main mek sports the savagely nerfed kustom force field (built out of a Land Speeder’s sensor array) and a gurt wrench, converted from a big choppa plus some sprue and plasticard. Not pictured: his oilers ‘Urt and Burny.
Group photo
Just to reassure you that I do in fact have all the orks to fill these rust buckets, here’s a family photo:
What next?
This army is 100% finished, despite the existence of new kits that are perfect for Evil Sunz. After several years of not orks, however, I was inevitably called back to the endless Waaagh – but this time, with Goffs, and bad puns. You can follow the progress of that army over on the Beard Bunker.
Grimtoof’s speedy boys do still see the battlefield even now, both as auxiliary detachments attached to my Goffs, and occasionally on their own. Sometimes, you just want to show the aeldari how to do fast armies the right way.
Do you have any questions or comments about this army, or kustomisation, or why Hef never finished a cross-desert rally in his life? Then drop a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
