Last week saw the release of the Flash Gitz, the most preposterously and excitingly overarmed Orks of all. Seeing these smug show-offs finally getting the miniatures they deserved fired me into action and I decided to dig my own converted Gitz out of the box where they were residing and get to work restoring them. Chaos fans shouldn’t despair though, although I’m currently riding a wave of Orky enthusiasm I’ve got a few Chaos projects on the go as well, so I’ll be back to posting about spiky warp-worshippers in no time.

This was the first Flash Git I made. I’m still not sure if I like him or not. At the time I didn’t really have a plan, or much idea of how to make a suitably snazzy gun, so I decided to make him a gunslinger, making up for having more “normal” guns by giving him two. He’s still one of the squad that I’m least sure I’m happy with (although I love the cheeky grot in his backpack).



This is more like it. I even tied him into my Space Marines army (then in its very early days) by giving him a suitable trophy. I decided that at least some of my Gitz would be former Bad Moons, known for having more teef than sense and a love of outsize weapons. Back then the rules didn’t call for one of the Gitz to be a Kaptin but I always reckoned the pilfering skills of this guy’s monkey sidekick might be enough to keep him one step ahead of the other ladz.



This one started life as a standard nob but as I added extra gubbins to his gun he evolved into another Flash Git. The Parrot Squig is another favourite component of mine.



Flash Gitz should have the biggest guns around and it’s hard to get bigger than a cannon. It also fits in nicely with the pirate theme of the Gitz. Take that ‘ummie scum!



This chap, with his outsize arms, was a bit of an experiment. My idea was that, wanting to increase his personal firepower, but already struggling to lift his own monstrously proportioned snazzgun, one of the Gitz decided to recruit himself an “assistant”. After one of his mates suffered “a little accident” and ended up minus his head he hauled the body to the nearest bad-doc and they set to work customising. Adding some vat grown arms allows the unfortunate “recruit” to carry his spare gun into battle whilst the inclusion of a cybork brain stops him from getting up to any treacherous high-jinks. His favourite grot perches on his shoulder to work the controls. Of course, grots being naturally disloyal, it’s only a matter of time before he starts taking on airs and graces and commands his Orky steed to blow their master to bits. For the Flash Git this element of risk only makes the relationship more exciting!



I also notice that the new Flash Gitz come with larger bases than the Nobs. At some point I may upgrade my Gitz to larger bases, especially if I buy new Gitz to add to the squad. If nothing else it might stop them falling over all the time under the weight of their guns.

Mek Guns/Big Mek

As I have over the last couple of weeks I’m also going to talk a little about the new Ork kits which have just become available for pre-order; the Mek Guns and a Big Mek. Unlike the Gorkanaught/Morkanaught – where all we had to compare it to was the Stompa – and the Flash Gits – an all new kit – the Mek Guns (formerly called Big Guns) and the Big Mek with Shokk-Attack Gun both replace miniatures previously available. In the case of the Big Mek that miniature is one of my favourites in the Ork range (and one that I’d never actually got around to buying for myself). Let’s take a look at it first. I certainly like the new body more, covered in cables, dials and other gubbins it goes a long way to making him look suitably like a master of all things mechanical. The head looks pretty gormless though (having said that the old head wasn’t amazing either). I’m also really not a fan of trailing smoke, fire, electricity etc on a model so that would probably have to go if I was painting one of the new version. Overall though, for the fairly minor hassle of clipping off the trailing electric currents and replacing the head it’s pretty exciting to have this most iconic Ork model in nice, easy-to-work-with plastic. By and large, I’m happy.

No such conundrum exists with the Mek Guns – the old models were nothing to write home about with their only real Orky character coming from the grot crews. Those however are utterly outshone by the grots that crew the new kit. The one wearing a welder’s mask is a particular favourite, although I’m also really taken with the spotter and the foreman leaning on the drum of cable. The weapons themselves are also cracking, really capturing the Orky vibe of high-tech equipment badly constructed out of scrap.

The old Big Guns came in three flavours; kannons, lobbas and zzap guns. The rules still allow all three options, as well as adding some new alternatives, all matching the faintly-ridiculous character of the Orks. Take the Traktor Cannon for example, a weapon capable of dragging aircraft out of the skies and smashing them to scrap in an instant. It’s utterly typical of the greenskins that such a weapon, which would grant anyone total control of the skies were it crewed by a team of disciplined soldiers, is instead left in the care of bickering grots.

As it happens I already have a Mek Gun in my collection, having made a Lobba of my own a couple of years ago. Obviously it’s a lot smaller than the new Mek Guns but I’m still rather pleased with it and its comparative lack of scale won’t really matter much in a ramshackle Ork army.



On a final note regarding the Mek Guns it seems there’s still no sign of any new Warbuggies being released, which is rather unfortunate as the current models weren’t so much sculpted as hacked out of the rock sometime in the early Mesolithic. However should none appear the Mek Gun chassis should provide a good starting point for creating home-made alternatives. Anyway, with the codex still to arrive let’s keep our fingers crossed for more cracking Ork miniatures next week.