It seems lately the Corehammer Facebook group has been going from strength to strength, and with it, has had a resurgence of insanely painted minis. So we thought it was time we showcased a few of the top forces again in our old feature – Corehammer Armies. Today’s is Louise’s 40k Snakebites.
Hey Louise, give us a quick intro about yourself, how you got involved in the hobby, and how you ended up on the Corehammer Facebook group.
From the age of around 8, I’ve been aware of Warhammer via my pretty cool childhood friends. I never got big into it like them, but I was always aware that if I had access to money and time, this hobby would probably end up consuming me. Fast-forward to now, I’m a 22-year-old graphic designer stuck in Aberdeen with too much time, and I’m still working on the money part.
My presence in the Corehammer community stems from my love for hardcore music. I spent pretty much the entire summer of ’14 with some buddies listening to endless Spotify playlists and painting silly amounts of miniatures. They took it upon themselves to invite me to the Facebook page. I like what I’ve seen of the blog and community so far. You guys are cool.
How long have you been involved in the hobby? Is this the first full army you’ve painted?
My Orks are currently the only army I’ve painted, as I haven’t been painting Warhammer models for very long. When I get a bit too used to the sight of Orky stuff, I just shove in random fantasy bits, just to keep things fresh. I’d like to paint another army at some point, but for now, my Orks are plenty to be dealing with.
How long have you been working on this Snakebite Waaagh?
Only since last July, they’re all still pretty freshly spawned. I’ve only started making my army a bit more “savage” (adding fantasy bits) in the last 6 months, before that I spent a load of necessary time buffing it up with endless hordes of Boyz, Nobz and Grotz (all similarly covered in warpaint and furs). They aren’t photographed here, but believe me they’re numerous.
What was it that attracted you to the greenskins? Was it pure hobby or fluff choice, or was it something you wanted to play in games?
I like the fun that comes with playing Orks. Modelling and painting with Orks is a laugh, the lore is fantastic and running them against all things grim-dark on board is just delightful. There’s nothing more satisfying than the look on a Black Templar player’s face when they realise they’re deploying against a bunch of hulking half-naked brightly coloured Orks on pigs. Pigs, with guns and bombs strapped to them.
Can you talk us through each of your units and key character models, and give us an overview of why you chose them?
Skargrim Snakeater- This big guy is my heavily converted Snakebite Warboss. He was the Warboss of a savage tribe long ago when the Space Ork Snakebites found him on a feral planet. They decided it would be fun to give him powerklaw and a gun or two. This was a clear mistake, and he preceded to quickly krump the Snakebite Warboss, taking the position for himself. He is now on a mission to seek out long-forgotten feral Ork planets in order to recruit them for his unstoppable snakebite WAAAGH!! They say he got his name by eating a particularly troublesome snake that had bitten and killed his favourite Squiggoth.
Ragnarork – Skargrim’s right (or left) hand man and Boss-Nob of the Boar-Boyz. A strange mutant Ork with light hair and blue eyes, who was found in the cold mountains of a feral planet. He is also the official bearer of Skargrim’s pet snake, whose poison is used as a deadly weapon.
Ugsnaga – Skargrim and the Boar-Boyz’ mad shaman Painboy. More likely to turn your favourite Nobz’ arm into a hungry squig than he is to successfully re-roll his wound.
Wurrzag – The Snakebite’s elusive Weirdboy. Constant annoyance to the Warboss and his Boyz, due to his tendencies to teleport within 1 ft of them, vomit out a particularly unsavoury chunk of chaos spawn, then teleport away, with only his cackling remaining to suggest he was ever there.
Stompy- Skargrim’s (new) favourite Squiggoth. He loves playing in the Squig pen, chasing Grotz and collecting shiny ‘umies as presents for his master.
Can you talk us through your approach to painting these guys?
I like to paint my Orks bright. Really bright. Painting my Orks to look a bit like they stepped out a cartoon has kind of become a standard for me. I’m pretty sure it started with my love for the colour “Moot Green” and blossomed out of control from there, to the point that currently I am painting a literal rainbow of Squigs.
Do you have any tips for the less gifted amongst us who struggle with achieving acceptable results?
Thin your paints, start with a base colour, then build up thin layers instead of swishing a big wet splodge of paint around your Space Marine’s face. Also invest in a really good set of brushes, and keep them well maintained. I cannot stress enough the benefits of having a really good, well-pointed fine-detail brush handy at all times.
You have plenty of conversions in your army, how do you go about planning them and do you find the plans always work or do you end up improvising?
The joy of Orks is that sometimes not planning conversions is a good way to start. I always have a box or two of Savage Ork & Lizardmen bits kicking around, and whenever I get a new model I fish out as many arrows, shields and snakey-bits I can find, and basically stick ‘em where they fit! My Battlewagon particularly is a testament to ramshackle converting; I decided last minute that it would be funny to put a Grot in the kannon who just throws arrows at the enemy line. Converting is one of the great things about Orks.
Your style is pretty bold and vibrant. Was this a style you developed yourself or do you have any influences that you would like to share?
As I said before, I just kind of fell into my bold and vibrant style naturally after not too long. Seems about right, seeing as my art style has always been centered on wild colour schemes and weird characters. I guess the two ended up combining in some way. I’ve been told my painting looks very 90’s, I’m totally on board with this comparison too. 90’s painting was great.