To make my pennies go further, I got a Marauders commandos starter box to give me Kitbash options. I made a start with the Kommandos Nob mini. I could have built the Nob completely from the Kommandos box (above left) or completely as per the Mantic Games box (above right).

I went with a Spellcrow Orc head with beret, the Commandos resin body and the Kommandos chain axe. I used a WW2 Piat ammo box as a fuel unit for the chain axe.

I don't know exactly how the parts will share out, but keen to make all the cool specialists in the box with the GW parts only and the basic Kommandos with the Mantic Commandos. Hopefully with a uniting paint scheme they will blend together effectively.

Sadly my father just passed away, so threw myself into something creative that demands more attention and imagination than just a simple paint job.

I went with the bottom half of a Kinder Surprise pot this time as the other model looked a bit tall. A 40mm beveled base fits perfectly so that closed the top off nicely. Then add a hatch ring from a bits box and then fashioned a hatch out of card on top.

Really happy with the gore and the mad rocker launcher shoulder. If they were all shot at once I imagine he would be spun in a near fatal spin and unscrew leg and fall over.

I could have done more. I think maybe he should have had the same tusk type look that's in keeping with the GW minis, but the snipped up Wardog face allowing me to make fangs into tusks looks right to me.

I was hoping this guy would be shorter, but with his legs flexed more than the other model they came out at the same height.

Lloyd shot.

Body might be a bit bigger than hoped when the idea came to me.

Found a mix of Of Oil and Iron spare parts and Chaos Wardog parts are coming together nicely.

Once I find some feet and it has the "face" / vision ports etc. on the front this might be done.

I got quite far into the building and painting when it looked off. I checked the GW models and the teeth were lower set on the face. I think that will help and perhaps set the "eyes" further down as well. Will definitely go with only the bottom half of a Kinder pot for the next one as this has come out quite tall. It ends up being slightly more than a half but looks better. Also needs shoulder pads.

Much happier with this face and the shoulder pads are OK. Just need to base properly and improve the paint job slightly and he's done.

Kinder Killa Kan number 1 has come out great.

Already working on Killa Kan 2 but this has been a really fun start. Hopefully will make 3.

I am not sure how best to approach the camo in this force given the fun lore around Blood Axes using but not understanding the colours of camo patterns. After experimenting with lines of colour over black I have a much better idea. I immediately thought of The WWF Tag Team of my youth The Nasty Boys. Rather than paint spatter I am thinking of following the pea-dot and splinter pattern tutorials on painting but using wildly inappropriate colours.

My first Ork Boyz.

I love the purple camo.

I think I am going to enjoy this scheme and the project overall.

Kept the same Ork skin recipe from my Blood Bowl Orcs team. Though with a slightly different prime. I used blacK, a Leadbelcher zenith and quick spray of Deathguard Green over the minis.

For the skin I used a base of Death Corp Drap, then a Warboss Green, then a highlight of Ogryn Camo. The lips are any flesh colour to hand mixed with Ogryn Camo. I may come back and give the skin another highlight, but happy for now.

I got some transfers in the Kommandos kit that I dotted around.

The spring is from one of my diabetes blood sugar sensor applicators and looks enough like barbed wire to me. I can dot some barbs on there with super glue at a later date if the smoothness worries me.

Blood Axes. I like the sound of the less ‘head long charge’ type of Orks and being a bit sneakier. I will see if I can find any audio books on this clan. I know I want the character Snikrot and some Kommandos. Beyond that any list building will work around them and the Armageddon box contents.

I didn't want to pay the full price for the Ork character Snikrot so I found a 3d model very close to it instead. Is this IP theft? I don't know. It's very close in look and posing to the original GW model, but it's half the price, not a recast and it's the only way I will start to collect the force I want.

The Mantic Games Ork Marauder Commandos are a cheaper alternative to the regular 40K Kommandos, but they are missing some of the character of the GW models. I wanted two squads of Kommandos, but the Killteam is out of print and expensive and the regular box is out of stock in most places. I bought a box of Mantic Commandos...

...and picked up a box on eBay I was happy with price wise of the Kill Team Kommandos. I saw from unboxings that there are some spare and alternative parts that will allow me to upgrade my Commandos. The two boxes should allow me to make all the specialists and poses that I want without worrying about the price I have paid.

I was looking at some of my Of Oil and Iron left over parts and realised that my Kitbashed rigs are not that dissimilar to Killa Kans. Being new to this army I didn't realise this until I spotted them on a shelf in a GW store.

This isn't orky enough obviously, but the use of the legs and other component parts gave me enough food for thought to consider some Killa Kans as a fun kitbash project. Some of the bigger rigs in Of Oil and Iron have nice big gun options that would be appropriate even when actually designed at 15mm scale. I also have a glut of left over Chaos Wardog bits that will help flesh out the kitbash. The body might have to be something like a Kinder Surprise pot or something like that.

Typical butterfly hobbyist Doug. What do I paint first from my brand new bargain half box army?... Two kitbashed half Gretchen in barrels. Lol.

In 40k when paying for units on lists, I wasn't sure whether during list building if you pay by the model. Meaning if I field a 12 man unit do I have to pay for a 12, 15 or 20 man unit? If making extra minis in this way doesn't actually help in-game, I might use these as markers to say is the Trukk full or empty?

The overall looks a bit too grim and not enough comic Ork, but this will maybe set a tone for the force that I might like in the end.

The paint job helped me select the clan I am likely to fight as. I listened to some YouTube Ork lore videos as I painted.

The idea of camouflage being used, but not understood by the Blood Axes clan appealed to me. Camouflage patterns without the concept that the colours you should use and the environment it's meant to tie you too sounds fun.

There's a rule for spiky wheels that gives the trukk a melee bonus, so painted the claws (from a chaos wardog hand) nice and bloody to stress the point.

Went with a shiny makeshift gun to help me remember to shoot with it, to make it standout from the weathered metal around it.