Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Freebooter Roborg

As regular readers may be aware, some months back I relocated. Long and complicated story, that, but the upside is improved gaming and modeling digs . . . in theory. You see, I've done none of one and little of the other since moving. But hey, I finally got off my bum and carried a brand new post-move project to completion.

Long long ago, when I first started collecting GW's spacerly orkoids, I stumbled across a suplement called "Freebooterz." I was particularly taken with a unit built around a disgruntled orc mechanic (or mek) and medic (or painboy . . . don't ask). The shiny marines were, at the time, relatively free in what they could field. Big Green was considerably less so, unless you hired the services of piratical green mercenaries; the titular "Freebooterz.". Colorful fellows all. And they came in all sorts to fill whatever "defishuncy" might trouble your warboss's own merry band.

Typically, a warband was limited to a dreadnought or two. (Maybe a few, if it was fairly large.) But if you hired a "Dreadmob" . . . Sky's the limit. (At 40 points a "kustomer." Dreadlies require some "teef" for their not inconsiderable services.) The idea was that these two rogues did nothing but build oddball robots, constantly tinkering with them. I always wanted a Dreadmob. Had the doc and the mek pretty early. Took a while to acquire enough creations. (I wanted them to be . . . different. Not your usual orky examples.) Their first pair were "kustomized" from some strangely light and piratical Imperial machines providently found on the field of job lot commerce. (In the bottom of a box of orcs, appropriately enough.) Later I added one of Ramshackle's "Gorillagons." But I always have my eyes open for more. Below you will find more:

 
What you see here is the body of an Ironclaw "Roborg." Think of it as a sort of post apocalyptic pre-dreadnought. The pieces even bear a striking resemblance to other contemporary GW connected models: one of the hull options is a very close match to the squat hovercar, and the arms and legs are basically identical to those of the Megabot. I was able to obtain this one for about twenty bucks U.S., thanks to the fact he was missing some parts. To wit: he was short his left arm and his gun. But being fond of a good deal I figured I could manufacture appropriate green prosthetics . . .






While I've a long way to go to true mastery, I'll take that as a successful experiment. (Bonus: it will not match future Megabots or Roborgs, should I ever acquire a complete specimen.) Heck, I think he even painted up all right.




And here he is with the rest of the "krew." (And a couple of friends.)


Hope you enjoyed this small diversion. Thanks for following along. Hopefully the next installment will come a little quicker.

Sincerely,
The Composer