This army is currently on hold, but I shall be doing some more work in the near future.

Well, my current projects (Salamanders, Guard and Blood Axes) are coming to an end, so it was time to start considering what I wanted to do next. In the last few years, my skills in painting and converting have really come on, so I wanted an army with some X Factor.

Mindlessly flicking through my 2nd ed Ork Codex, I came across the old Snakebite models (I shall warn you now, I do interchange the terms 'Snakebite' and 'Feral' at random. While I know there is a difference, I don't believe there is enough of one to bother me).

Now, their colour scheme and dags were great, I loved the back banners, and the opportunity to convert a full army was too much to let pass. I had a long think over what units I could feasibly put in the army (I didn't want to be too over the top and include flying pteradons as Deff Koptas) and came up with the following list.

HQ: Warboss
Power Klaw; Slugga; Stikkbombs; 'Eavy Armour; Attack Squig; Bosspole; Cybork Body

HQ: Weirdboy
Warphead

Troops: Nobz
4 Nobz; Choppa (x2); Power Klaw (x2); Slugga (x3); Shoota/Skorcha Kombi-weapon (x1); Twin-linked Dakkagun; Stikkbombs; Cybork Body; Waaagh! Banner (x1); Warbike
1 Painboy; 'Urty Syringe

Troops: Boyz
18 Boyz
Boyz Nob; Power Klaw; Slugga

Troops: Boyz
18 Boyz
Boyz Nob; Power Klaw; Slugga

Troops: Boyz
19 Boyz
Boyz Nob; Power Klaw; Slugga

Troops: Gretchin
20 Gretchin
2 Runtherd

Heavy Support: Battlewagon
Zzap Gun; Deff Rolla; Red Paint Job; Stikkbomb Chukka

Heavy Support: Battlewagon
Zzap Gun; Deff Rolla; Red Paint Job; Stikkbomb Chukka

Heavy Support: Battlewagon
Zzap Gun; Deff Rolla; Red Paint Job; Stikkbomb Chukka

Total Roster Cost: 1498


Of course, as with all plans, I have had further ideas, which basically feature taking the Nob Bikers out, and putting in an unit or Nobs in Battlewagon and an Unit of normal bikes. The nobs came about because we were having a painting competition at my local gaming club, and the theme was a standard bearer, so I converted a Waaagh Banner for this. The Bikers is because I found a great idea for a conversion (which I shall go into in a minute) which I had to do, and as I wasn't doing Nob Bikers, I had to have normal bikers.

Inspired by George Dellapina's Cyboars in WD, I was going to convert them, but I had two issues. One, why would Orks who raise Squigs, ride into battle on boars, and two, how could those tiny legs carry them so quickly.

Then, I came across this forum (I was aware of it before, but had never used it) and came across this conversion in the blooprints http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=26906 and the prayers were answered.

Also, I have considered going to tournaments with these, and I know how much better a Mekboy with KFF would be than a Weirdboy, but Snakebites don't really have Big Meks (the only Wurky things are sluggas and grabba klaws), and as they are Squiggoths, not trukks, I decided to counts as and convert a Styboy.

Anyway, I shall post my basic ideas (directly from 'my ideas' document, so please ignore the curtness of the document) along with a couple of concept sketches and a couple of pics of my test piece and Waaagh Banner.

Current Linked Threads

I am adding this attachment to link to all the extra bits to the army, just to make it a little easier to navigate.

Squiggoth http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopic=44046

So, this is my ideas list.

Warboss

No definite ideas yet.

Wyrdboy

Need to base him on a Nob. Need to try and find a naked upper Nob Body, or sculpt one.

Left hand to be stretched out in front of him, fingers splayed, sparks of Green Waaagh Lightning coming from his palm. In his Right Hand he will have a Copper Rod with adornments.

He will be standing on something (possibly a Catachan), with his knee bent, giving a sense of forward motion.

His head wants to be straining, making him look like he is straining to contain (or unleash) barely contained energies. His eyes will be painted shut. His head needs some kind of covering, maybe a scary ‘Blanka’ hair style (or a hair style that has been hit by lightning, consider Kroot spines for this).

Nob Bikers

The Squig Mounts will be a combination of old ‘fat’ Dark Elf Cold Ones and Carnifex Heads. The front legs will be cut off (as Squigs only have two limbs).

The Riders will have their legs attached to the mount, probably by cutting them in three (2 legs and groin), gluing these to the mount and then Green Stuffing any gaps.

They need to carry suitable bling, and I would like some of them to have various means of urging their mounts forward (meat on a stick, electro prod, etc)

No Waaagh Banner, certainly at this point, as they need to be cheap so they attract vast amounts of firepower, leaving everything else to go forward unmolested.

Skorchas, will be modelled using Nid Rippers, chained or carried by the Orks, with a small wisp of smoke or fire coming out of its mouth.

Power Klaws are represented using Grabba Sticks, but could also be done using the Bear Trap from the Ogre sprue.

Nobs

They should all be mounted on 40mm bases (looks better, and allows room for more interesting bases. They all need substantial back bannas. Any Boss Poles will be represented by Grots carrying them.

Boyz

All need back bannas. Need more primitive choppas, no chainswords.

Grots

Maybe use Gnoblars as Grots, as they look more down trodden. Scratch build the guns, probably like the picture opposite. Mix some Squigs in there to further reinforce the Squig theme.

Battlewagons

The Battlewagons are going to be large Squiggoths, converted from Stegadons. They will be widened by up to 5cm, they will have a neck (the top of which will be armoured similar to the FW model) and there will be a tiny tail.

The Howdah will be made from plasticard and corrugated paper. If it does indeed look too small to carry twenty boys, then hand holds will be modelled on the side, so boys can hang on as it lumbers through the jungle.

The Zzap Gun will be a Wyrdboy and his two minders, built from normal Ork Boys. The Deff Rolla will be represented by oversized tusks.


Also here is my concept sketch for my Weirdboy (done at college instead of listening to my Costings lesson).

Click to view attachment

The idea is he is stomping forward, about to unleash a bolt of green lightning. After doing this sketch (especially the head) I get the image of Blanka Click to view attachment, from Street Fighter 2 in my head, so I may go with that.

And so finally, a few pics of stuff I have done. All C&C welcome (unless you are really mean and nasty).



My test piece Ork Boy. I haven't gotten around to photocopying the Banner page out of the old codex yet.



My Waaagh Banner Bearer that I painted for my club painting competition.



And finally, some progress on my Styboy. I shall post the concept sketch when I find it.

So, I am now hoping for lots of ideas and encouragement. Apologies for the poor photos, I shall try to do some more later.

thats looking pretty nice, i like the skin colour and style. Hope all goes well with the others and can't wait to see the weirdboy

whoow i like trhe bannawava

nice one and the boss? lets see him, eh?

it all starts wif tha boss

I have no idea what I am doing with the boss. I love the AoBR boss, but I don't think he is right for Snakebites.

Another Snakebite? Sweet! I've always loved the 2nd edition snakebites, too.

A few things:

the painted dags and the banner turned out great! excellent work! Definitely scream snakebite to me.

I don't think your squigs have to have just two legs. There are so many types of squigs they could have any number of legs.

A heavy unit of big guns would add to the Snakebite theme. Model them as catapults from 2nd edition line of models.

More grots? More burnas?

Anyway, congrats on a great start.

SNAKEBITES!!!

Thank you all.

I thionk you are right about Squigs, they don't need to only have two legs. I think as they grow bigger, they develop a second pait of limbs to help balance the extra weight. I would like the army to show the ecology of a squig, but that may mean sculpting squigs, and I am not great at sculpting, unless someone has another nice idea.

I had considered Skinks, but they are too slender. Maybe 5th ed Skinks are a little fatter?

I don't particularly like Burna boyz. If you could still take them as HW upgrades, I would willingly do so, but an I3 power weapon is not that much use in my opinion.

It just seems that everyone is doing Orks these days, and the only klan that doesn't get much love is Snakebites. There is a real dearth of Snakebite armies around to use as inspiration, so it is almost like a clean slate.

I'd be looking at the savage orks from the fantasy line.

I would, but I detest painting metal models, and they chip too easily.

I am going to throw a box of fantasy Orcs into the mix, just to get some thrown spears and such like in there.

I love your paint jobs! Excellent work! And, no, I don't think the AoBR Warboss is a bad start; just cut 'im up a little and make him a little more snakebitey. Give him a rustic attack squig a la the metal Warboss, and he'd work fine.

I have a few problems with your list thematically. First, I wouldn't take that many BWs, because they just aren't savage enough. Scratch-built "mtal" Catapults (made from plasticard, counts as lobbas) are not as effective, but would be a cream dream. Shouldn't be that hard to scratch build, either. Second, Zzap guns are advanced Orky technology. I don't see how you can justify having three of them in a Snakebites army. Also, why so many PKs? I would throw in a few Big Choppaz. Not as effective, admittedly, but great for fluffiness, in my mind.

This is my personal opinion. I just don't see Snakebites as the kind of clan to go around with three of the same giant tank with almost all of the nobz armed the same way, all with lots of advanced weaponry. I see them as the clan to just throw a bunch of mean boyz together. I also see them, along with Goffs, as fileding BIG BIG units. Again, personal preference... but I think it's always nice to sacrifice effectiveness for fluff and a Klan feel.

I always liked the idea of using fantasy orks. Ork boar boyz as bikers, Any big beast as a trukk or battlewagon. I used converted ogres as my gun crew with a lead belcher as a kannon and a glorified staff sling with a barrel of gunpowder for ammo. I would love to see how units of nobs with big choppas would do.

If you want a suitably mean squig ou could use the orkesaurus model from Epic, and the forgeworld Epic garagntuan squiggoth, the latter was in a recent white dwarf as a mount for a night goblin.

My ork army is based around a goff boss that has managed to unite a bunch of clans, and i am planning on adding some snakebites to it, heres my ideas to make your orks more snakebite-ish:

The boss, the one metal one(if your willing to paint metal ones) with the squig strapped to his arm, i think he would go good, cause hes got those bones on his loincloth, a horned helm (you can say the horns were from an animal he killed)

nobs:, instead of sawblades, you can carfully glue bits of metal, use the barrels from the 'umies vehicles, and make big giant hammers! and you could use the black orcs choppas by cutting off the blades and swapping them with the 40k nob choppas.

boys:, like everyone says use the fantasy orc regiment boys along with the 40k boyz just use the extra choppas from the fantasy set with the 40k ones, (but you might want to find some extra slugga arms) and lots of warpaint!! For the banners, by some thin plasticard rods/brass rods and pop on some of those umie skullz, nid skulls, beakie helmets

trukks/ battlewagons: you could use the 40k ones, but remember what the codex says: "The snakebites adorn their vehicles with animal totems" use ALOT of those animal skulls, the one from the fantasy orc regiment, the one from the biker boyz, the one in the new nobz box, the two horns from the battlewagon kit, and any others you can get. and paint them with alot of "earth tones"( snakebite leather fer da boyz!!) and warpaint on the vehicles I still like the stegodon idea!!

And remember what the books say, "dont be fooled by the snakebites primative nature, many great warbosses have come from the snakebites clan"

Mixing Warhammer Fantasy Battle orcs into the mix works very very well for a feral feel, as does adding other components from the Fantasy Battle range. Looking through the 40K range of plastics (friends bits boxes) for rags and bones to add will also emphasise the wild feel of the force. I've done this with my Death skulls to represent favourite trophies although they also have a lot of Imperial components added too. You could also add furs to the models using putty, particularly around the shoulders and neck.

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it.

So....

I am not a great fan of Zzap guns, but using Weirdboyz with Minderz to represent them just seemed fantastic to me. Also, with all the BWs, it is just for the look, all these great looming dinosaurs breaking out of the jungle, covered woth undreds of boyz.

For the Warboss, I remember a great GD model which had a poncho and a squig on a leash. I want something catchy. I may pick a cheap AoBR boss and try and bling him out, just cos he is a fab model.

I like Power Klaws, they are very Orky. I was going to originally have a huge set of scissors, similar to a grabba stick, but it was very hard to make it look 'realistic'. I feel you need Power Klaws if you have any real hope to crack open tanks, especially as 5th ed is getting very mech based.

I have been very tempted to resurrect some of the old 2nd ed gunz. Squig Catapults and Splatta Kannons could be very amusing (as could a Doom Diver). It is definitely something I may experiment with. I intend to be able to go to tournaments with this army and do fairly well (although I refuse to 'counts as' Ghazghkull, like all my friends have told me to).

I have also got a lot of snake swarm models from the Lizardmen sprues. One mob will have skull totems, one will have snake totems, and one will have feather totems (from Empire models).

I do like the Squig model on the Warboss, and I may nick it to stick to the Styboy (I imagine him surrounded by Squigs). I had also considered Old Zogwart, but he is expensive. I may just stick some snake swarms to my Weirdboy base so I can choose whether to use him or not.

Please don't feel I am poo-pooing ideas from anyone. All feedback is gratefully welcomed, and I will consider anything. (Except FW stuff, as I have a crap job and wife and kids to support).

Its actually pritty clever. Though I personally find Zapps unreliable, you could have a group of grots holding a chained weirboy in the general direction where the bolt is going.
Catapults could work as lobbas and so on.
I don't know about powerklaws, and when you think of it, its not very snakebitey at all 'cuss of their disstrust in technology, then again, I suppose you already knew that. A hard nut to crack.

for zapp guns what about some grots with a kite and a big key hanging off of it connected to a cattle prod. As for power klaws how about something like a mancatcher but with obsidian teeth on it so it is extra sharp or take the hand from a dinosaur or something similar that is obviously bigger than a normal orks hand or arm and make it look as if it has been grafted on. I am sure there are loads of nid or chaos figures with big icky claws like daemonettes that an ork could steal. I might do it myself. Lobbas could just be fantasy trolls with a bit of remodelling. Orks bred for years to be big enough to throw boulders. Alternatively 9 grots jumping onto a seesaw with a bomb on the other end. I love the idea of nomadic orcs in villages built ontol giant dinosaurs like the LOTR mumakil.

The hand holding a man-trap from the ogre bulls frame could make a reasonably convincing klaw. Snip.

Weirdboyz as zzap guns is pure genius if you ask me

Cheers

Gitgrod

Love the idea of weirdboyz as Zzap guns!

I don't think there's anything wrong with Stegadons as Battlewagons, go for it!

When my finances allow I'll be getting the smaller Forgeworld Squiggoth to use as a BW ..

Well, I am a pretty forgiving opponent, but IMHO, if you are going to do lots and lots of COUNTS AS and take it to a tournament, don't be surprised if you get sh ed on. I have found most opponents are more understanding of COUNTS AS stuff if they believe that you are trying as hard as possible to consider fluff and style over anything else (they will often get carried away by your excitement), but will be less enthused if your "bear trap" power klaw kills their Leman Russ or Land Raider.

Primitive orks play strongly to one of the inherent strengths of the Ork list, which is hordes and hordes of boys. A truly primitive Ork list would have at least 90 footsloggers and 30 or 60 grots. And you can totally win games that way; the list is solid, and you would probably get more sportsmanship points and be truer to your style.

The way this list is constructed now, you might as well make "Giant Squig Killa Kans" (or trolls in armor or something) and a Weirdboy KFF Projector on a copper tower. Sure, you could explain how it would work, and I would love to play you and drool over your army, but it's a tenuous tournament list, because it could really piss people off.

No offense. Just saying, for a tournament army, if I were going to go thematic (which I would), I would take it on the chin and just make a thematic army, rather than go for weird, non-fluffy stuff that you can backdoor into the list.

In all honesty, Snakebites are just as likely to mount up on giant squigs, as they are to foot slog it across the Battlefield. By that way of thinking, surely Goffs are more of a footslogging force, cos dey iz ard and don't need no weels!.

Sorry, I do agree with your points about shoe-horning units into the list that don't fit, but I do think it is a very unfair view to say all Snakebites must be on foot, or it isn't a real snakebite army.

Life has unofrtunately been getting in the way of my painting and modelling, but I have finished converting my first model, a Hunting Squig.

This guy will eventually be part of a Biker Squad, and possibly a future Nob Biker Squad.

The paint jobs are really nice and I really like them. Power Klaws are brilliant but not very snakebite like. A big attack squig however could be used as a PK, but I would lean towards big choopas to stay in the theme.

Squigoths are a great idea for battle wagons thou a Steg is proberly closer size wise.

Fantasy Orks make great 40k Orks - I've made a unit all carrying spears and call them my "spear ead". They look bigger and harder too.

Stay true to your theme and you'll be happier come the end.

Well, I have not had a lot of time to paint due to work, but I have finished painting my Hunting Squig,. I doubt I will get a great deal done until after Xmas (the joys of working in a supermarket).

Dude, that is an awesome paint job. I also really like the idea of an entire "counts as" army. I had been thinking about using some old boar models as bikers myself.

I do have one suggestion: the head looks too vicious to be a squig. If you have a whole mob of squig bikers, it may balance it out, but in my eyes, the squigs are one of the more comical aspects of the ork army. I think it would be perfect if you could find a way to make him just have one eye on each side, instead of three. Maybe even an eye patch on one side; that would make the modeling easier at least.

Anyway, keep up the good work bro.

Do try and stick with the theme as it does feel better as you do it. and for an entire counts as list it would get pretty annoying for the opponent. So i would personally stick with choppas and huge choppas instead of having PKs. the squig riders are great and so are th squigoth as BWs but maybe you could find the rules for squigoths instead and play them as squigoths you used to be able to find a feral ork codex on the gw website with rules for squith and boar riders for 40k in it im not sure if its there anymore or you can get the forgeworld rules for squigoths and use them. this might help get rid of the "counts as" and also help with the themeing of the army apart from that the models are great

nice,

Double foul :

One-liner and one-worder

Voodoo wonderful my magic

Not good

Well, now Christmas is out of the way, I can actually hope to get some work done.

Got my first Squiggoth (re: Stegadon) for Christmas, so I have slowly been working on this. I will link here when I get it posted up in a separate thread (stops things getting too cluttered. I will try and link all these on the front page).

Anyways, using the pieces from the Engine of the gods, I have built my first objective, a 'Star Gate' tellyporta pad. Some kinds of ancient tech that the boyz have jury rigged, now they are just waiting for a passing ulk so they can go and waaagh.

Click to view attachment

how did you make the hunting squig?

The squig was created by using the body of an old Dark Elf Cold One and the head of a Carnifex. There is a thread of the original thread in the blooprintz section (its not my idea, so I will credit the original modeller).

Here is the thread for my Squiggoth

http://www.the-waaagh.com/forums/?showtopi...046#entry592573

I am highly impressed with this outcome... While I am not a huge fan of the head you chose, I never realized how well that cold one body would convert into a squig-like model.

Part of me feels like the head and body don't match. I would have probably removed the antenna and then kept the 'scale' pattern all up the neck and onto the top of the head to pull it together. While I think the model looks good, the head does seem randomly attached when it could be so much more seamless into the model.

I think You will be fine for Squiggoths as BWs. That is actually pretty common due to 3rd edition Feral ork codexes being invalidated as well as Forgeworld being disallowed. Since the wargear matches up pretty well, I have seen that particular 'counts as' used a lot. For Deffrollas, as long as you do 'all or none' for your 3 squiggoths, you should be ok for that as well.

Now Grabbas as PKs? Prepare for resistance. I am not a fan of Squigs 'count as' PKs. Feral orks and Snakebites are not the same thing really. Feral means almost no technology and barley understand guns. Snakebites are fully functional Modern orks who choose not to rely on machines. At some point you just have to make peace with PKs because Ork weapons are *VERY* confusing to opponents already. The Stuff people *NEED* to know about need to be visible and easily recognizable. I am not sure I like 3pt items (grabba, that squig)used by a slaver to represent a 25pt PK land raider cracking weapon.

If you really wanted to avoid PKs, You seem to already be down the path of weirdboy-based tech... Why not make all your Nobs have some sort of 'magical' type PK? Make a glowing stone hand that looks like Hell'boy's gauntlet or something? Something clearly that is Fisty and powery. Can;t be confused for alternative or weaker weapons but isn't technology.

You have a fair point about the Grabba Klaw being confused with real Grabba Klaws. I may have to put some further thought into that.

As for Feral Orks vs Snakebites, the Feral Ork lists used Junkatrukks, which obviously are vehicles, but to be honest, I use both terms as though they are the same (I don't think there is a true difference (certainly not one that GW seems to recognise).

When I get round to finishing the Squig, the reins (or chains) will be attached to the base of his horns, enabling him to steer. Too many GW models have no apparent way of changing the steed's direction.

AS to stearing steads well trained riders are supposed to be able to stear with their knees, that way hands are free while their fighting, i can see orks being the same way. two hands are better for krumping than one.

Well, a few more things done over the last few days. First up, is my fully built Styboy.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

The whirlygig bit represnts the static electricity generator that is needed to power his grot prod. It takes a lot of power to put a suitable voltage into a Squiggoth. Note also the hypo on his backpack, to inject the steroids to make them grow.

Also, I have had requests for my Warboss. It is only early days yet, but I bought a AoBR Warboss off ebay (a fantastic model in my opinion) and I have removed the Power Klaw and repositioned the shoota arm. Also pictured is his Power Klaw that is in the middle of being built.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

So, I shall get the couple of models photographed that I have finished this week. I am aiming to have the army finished by the end of October for a tournament, so I am aiming at getting two boyz painted per week (which is doable at my painting speed) and the rest of the stuff in between.

I apoligise for a completly irrelevent post but...

I havn't seen/heard the word whirlygig for ages... brings back memories of playing spyro 3....


That powerklaw looks very, well, non-powerklawry. Is it to be some kind of hand-held krumping device? like pliers or something??

Heya - I was just thinking about your 'Weirdboyz as Zzap guns' idea. What if you had a great big tube (sorta like a didgeridoo) with one end strapped onto the mouth of a Weirdboy (or the Weirdboy could be holding it). The idea would be that when he overloads with Waaagh energy, he blasts it out of his mouth, but it's channeled by that tube into a focused beam or something. You could have minderz holding down the Weirdboy with chains to keep him on the squiggoth's howda .

Just thought it'd be cute to make it look a bit like an actual Zzap gun . As if the Snakebites got into a fight with a more technologically-inclined Ork clan and thought: "so, they want to shoot bolts of lightning at us, eh? Well TWO can play that game!"

That is a nice idea, I was wondering how they would direct the bolts of energy, maybe have his head strapped up to a large power cell (like on the end of my Styboys generator, sort of mad professor-ish).

Minor Update.

The army has stopped for the time being. The prospect of painting over 100 models has fazed me and I havent gotten around to doing very much (also, my Styboyz converted finger fell off and got lost, half way through painting).

I have also come to the conclusion that the Setgadon is indeed not big enough, so I now need to be looking for suitable dinosaur models. The Steg shall be converted into a looted wagon or something (with a primitive catapult / sling device for the boomgun).

But I havent given up, they shall see the table. I shall post some more when I get them done.

Well, it has been a while, but now I have decided to create five Battlewagons for my Blood Axes, I decided to totally change the composition of my Snakebites.

This is going to be the new list.

Warboss, Power Klaw, Attack Squig, Boss Pole

Weirdboy, Warphead

10 Kommandoz, Nob, Power Klaw, 2 Burnaz

30 Boyz, Nob, Power Klaw

30 Boyz, Nob, Power Klaw

30 Boyz, Nob, Power Klaw

20 Grotz, 2 Slavers

Warbikers, Nob, Power Klaw

Looted Wagon, Boomgun

Looted Wagon, Boomgun


1500 on the nose, should be interesting to use. Complete lack of anti tank, so I may need to do something about that. Any suggestions?