Gubbinz: Shoutas

Unlike most of the gubbinz I was working on for this campaign, my shoutas weren't new.  In fact, they were some of the first gubbinz I built.  However, as everyone else was constantly pointing out, they took up half of the space on my largest vehicle, which meant that while Urzig could pack nearly a dozen mobsters onto his trukk, during the first campaign, I only had room for my driver, gunner, and two crew before I had to invest in another vehicle.  Since I wasn't about to make them any smaller, I decided to make them bigger and simply move the crew space on top of the speakers, which meant that my trakk would have the exact same crew capacity with or without the shoutas.  With room for eight Orks, including the driver and gunner, my trakk still has one of the smaller crew capacities, but pretty comparable to a standard Ork trukk.

There were a number of complications I had to deal with when constructing the new shoutas.  First, the addition of side speakers meant that instead of a single contact point in the bed of the truck, I suddenly had three contact points, two of which were simply balancing on the edge of the armor panels.  This was also where my old spikes sat, which meant that not only was this somewhat precarious, it might have a slight variation in height depending on which gubbinz my trakk had equipped.  Thus, trying to model the shoutas to match the exact shape of the trakk while still sitting flat and not tipping (which would be extra important with models potentially perching on top) would have been difficult if not impossible.  It also would have made it pretty hard to use the shoutas for any other purposes in the future.  To deal with all these issues as much as possible, I decided to make the side speakers magnetized so that they could be detached and so that they would have a bit of leeway when it came to alignment.

The side speakers were built out of plasticard, just like the main tower.  Magnetizing them was actually fairly easy, because my original shoutas had a built-in maintenance hatch.  My original design for the shoutas actually had all the electrical components sticking out the back, with cables, coils, and batteries going in every direction.  This proved far too ambitious for the amount of time I had, so I slapped another piece of plasticard over the hole and called it finished.  Popping the hatch back open made fiddling with the inside a fairly simple procedure.

Since I was making my shoutas even bigger and more ridiculous, I decided I wanted to go for even more of a Fury Road feel than the originals had.  This meant trying to get a much bigger diversity in terms of speakers and other noise-making devices.  Since I had recently acquired a bunch of plastic golf tees for making my boosta rokkits, I decided that they would make some good air horns of the variety often seen on top of semi trucks.  The only problem is that the top of the tees didn't really have the right curve to be a horn, so I decided to drill the hole out with a my Dremel.  It took a while to get the curve right, but after a bit of work and a lot of plastic dust, I managed to get something resembling what I wanted.  I had intended to mount them on the top of the stack, but there wasn't enough room to fit them between the loudspeakers I already had, so I mounted them to the side with some small plasticard supports.

I also wanted to add a few horns to the side speakers, so I decided on a pair of tubas and some bullhorns.  The tubas were made from some thick wire and bits of plastic syringe, while the bullhorns were another experiment with using the golf tees.  Neither were particularly easy to work with, but with some patience and a lot of green stuff and glue, I was eventually able to make something that looked fairly decent.

I actually ended up being somewhat dissatisfied with the shape of the tuba bells, so after the campaign, I went back and carved them into a shape that looked more like a tuba that had been dented and repaired multiple times.  It was a bit ridiculous to go back and carve them after they'd been painted, but I like the end result much better, so I suppose it was worth the effort.

I decided that while I was adding new stuff to the shoutas, the main stack could use a bit of a remodel as well, so I sliced up a bunch of plasticard tube to add some speakers of a different size.  I also added some plasticard rod to break them up to look more like a stack of multiple speakers.  It was a fairly easy modification, though filing down each of the rings to have a nice rounded edge was a bit tedious.

I also decided that I didn't want the side speakers to look identical to the ones in the main tower, so I decided to make the upper half look like it was covered in a wire mesh.  Since it was such a tiny piece, I was kind of limited in what I could use, so I ended up going for a chunk of screen door.  The nice thing about the screen is that I could stretch it to have an elongated diamond pattern, rather than just a square.  The downside is that it was really difficult to work with on such a small scale (a recurring theme of this build).  I attached it to some small pieces of plasticard sheet with super glue and wrapped the edges of the mesh around to the back.  Unfortunately, because I was doing everything on a diagonal, after cutting the screen to the shape I wanted, some of the wires in the screen were very short, especially in the corners, so the whole thing started to unravel.  I was able to keep it mostly together with some glue, but I also had to weave some of the wires back together after falling out, which was more trouble than it was worth.  I think this sort of thing would work better if I just left a bit more of the screen to wrap around to the back.

The finished shoutas were a fairly eclectic assortment of different pieces, and while they didn't actually increase the overall size of the trakk when compared with the previous shoutas (at least not if I've already got the spikes on), they make the vehicle feel massive.

I also managed to acquire the big battery from the Mek Gun kit, which came pretty darn close to my original design for the back of the shoutas, and it just barely fit through all the bits at the rear of the trakk.

Also, since I had that big blank area on the back of the shoutas, I decided to give them one final touch to personalize them for Grizwoad and his mob.

I opted to carve out the glyph from plasticard, rather than just paint it on freehand.  I like the way it turned out, though even with my poor freehand skills, I'm not convinced that doing it this way was any easier.

So now my shoutas are crazier than ever and my big trakk looks even more like the Doof Wagon than it did before.  Maybe sometime I'll actually get to use it in a scenario that has the "Revvin' and Shoutin'" rules...

Mini-Campaign: Da Final Race

The final scenario of the mini-campaign was, as had become customary, a race between the four mobs.  I had finally earned enough teef to take all my spiffy new (though sadly still half-painted) gubbinz, which made my big trakk quite the imposing figure on the racetrack.  I also had my trusty flamecar, which I had made fasta earlier in the campaign.  Urzig had decided to go with two bikes as his entries, which meant that the Nob had to watch from the sidelines this time.

Right out of the gate, the bikers took an early lead, with Gabby and Toast keeping pace in their trakk. 

My big trakk, unfortunately, barely managed to lurch a full car-length forward before a thruster malfunction.

Seeing an opportunity, Marvolork quickly moved against Grizwoad.  As the bikers flew past us, Marvolork's big trakk pulled along side Grizwoad's, a somewhat risky move considering how my big grabba had made short work of his vehicle earlier in the campaign.

Unfortunately for Grizwoad, Marvolork was able to drop a boarding plank and stomp aboard his trakk in full Mega-Armor, which he had won during the previous race.

Meanwhile, the bikers were scrambling to avoid the tar pit on the far side of the first curve, a considerably more deadly hazard than the usual cacti.  At this point, one of Urzig's bikers had pulled ahead of the pack, out of range of Toast's skorcha which meant that the spanner had to pull out his trusty shoota to have an hopes of taking him out.

Back at the starting line (none of the trukks had even managed to get to the first turn at this point), Marvolork had made short work of Grizwoad and his crew.  Even with their new squigs, the Morkers  were, sadly, no match for Mega-Marvolork.  Grizwoad was skragged and Slash was hurled unceremoniously onto the racetrack.  Grubmitz, who was still driver despite Spike's many attempts to get his position back, was also knocked out of the trakk.

With its driver incapacitated, the track drifted forward aimlessly, crashing into the steep canyon walls and blocking the narrow pass leading to the first curve.  This meant that Marvolork and Chad would have to take their vehicles around the outside of the track, making it even less likely for them to catch up with Urzig's bikers.

By this point, the lead biker had pulled far ahead of Gabby and Toast, making full use of the free thrust that bikes get.  The gun emplacements shot wildly at the speeding biker, but couldn't hit him.  He would make sure that this was the only shot they got, zipping well out of their range by the end of the next turn.

With little chance of making it to the finish line, Marvolork went full-Urzig, charging toward Chad's trukk (which had spun around backward, still within spitting distance of the starting line).

With the biker now long gone, the gun emplacements turned toward Gabby and Toast, who fared far worse than Urzig's boy.  Gabby was blasted out of the vehicle, dashing any hopes of stopping Urzig's mob from taking first place.

The biker crossed the finish line with no competition.  The big vehicles were still in a jumble by the starting line and every other racer had spun out or crashed and was still trying to recover.  Although my mob still won the campaign by a considerable margin, Urzig's decisive victory in the race gave him plenty to brag about.

And thus ended our Gorkamorka Not-So-Mini-Campaign.  I think that all of the rule tweaks we made between the two campaigns really helped balance things out, allowing my mob to come back from being in dead last to having a huge lead, though even that didn't stop my mob from getting trounced now and again.  I think we overdid it a bit on the racing.  Ending every session with a race was probably too much, though I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we've increased the diversity of available scenarios a lot since we first started playing. Now there's plenty of other scenarios that can easily match Da Big Race in terms of hilarious orky mayhem.  The Tellyporta scenario was a blast, despite (or perhaps because of) the massive casualties each mob took.  I was also impressed with how well balanced the rescue mission was.  Despite having a triple-digit advantage in mob rating, I only just barely managed to hold onto my prisoner.

Next time I'll have to make sure I have a proper fort built...

Mini-Campaign: Tellyportas

The next scenario in our campaign surrounded a mysterious tellyporta pad that had been discovered deep in the desert.  Built long ago by a crazy Mek, the pad connected to another one far from the skid in an unexplored region rich with scrap.  Naturally, all four mobs were eager to plunder this new source of riches.

Naturally, all four mobs were eager to plunder this new source of riches.

Marvolork's bikers were the first through the pad, though they were followed closely by Chad, who brought his whole mob through the tellyporta.

Meanwhile, Marvolork, who had acquired a spiffy new suit of mega armor, charged toward Urzig's mob, determined to keep the other Gorkers from reaching the pad.

Not wanting to miss out on all the scrap, I sent Abby Jr. and Shifty through the tellyporta.  The speedy little trakk tore out of the immaterium just inches from Chad's trukk and flew off toward unexplored territory.  Unfortunately, they didn't make it far from the pad before Chad's entire mob opened fire on them, immobilizing the trakk and dashing any hopes of quickly grabbing some scrap.

Back on the near side of the pad, Marvolork and Urzig, once again, had demolished each other's vehicle in a head-on collision.  The resulting carnage would cause both mobs to bottle within a few turns.

In an unexpected turn of events, Chad was knocked from his trukk onto the pad and tellyported back to the other side, where Grizwoad and his mob were waiting.  Although Chad's thick armor and Nobby toughness would allow him to survive the ensuing hail of dakka, he became trapped in the tellyporta, going back and forth between the two pads and perpetually being shot to pieces before he could actually stand and run off the pad.

Never ones to fret while their boss is getting the tar beat out of himself, the rest of Chad's mob continued to cruise the deserts on the far side of the pad, shooting down the last of Marvolork's bikers and gathering as much scrap as they could.

Unfortunately for the overconfident Gorkers, just because the scrap was uncontested, it didn't mean that it was safe.  One pile of scrap happened to be right on the lair of a giant desert scorpion that was eager to make a meal out of Chad's boyz.

With most of the other mobs now fleeing the table, I decided that it was probably safe to send another vehicle through the tellyporta...

...I was wrong.

The trakk exploded during transport, flinging its occupants through the air and emerging in a heap on the far side.  The smoldering wreck essentially blocked any other vehicles from using the pads and ended any hopes of the adventure being profitable for anyone.  I believe Chad's mob ended up winning, though I don't know that anyone did much better than break even after all the repairs.

So, in summary, everything exploded, everybody basically lost to varying degrees, and it was one of the most entertaining scenarios of the campaign.  I can't wait to try it again.

Mini-Campaign: Rescue Mission

We were finally able to finish our mini-campaign back in June.  Since we ended the first session on a cliffhanger with Grizwoad and his Morkers taking Chad's gunner hostage after da Big Race, the first game of this session was a rescue mission with Chad and his boyz attempting to free their comrade from Grizwoad's fort.

Unfortunately, the fort was one of the many things I wasn't able to get finished in time for the campaign, so Grizwoad's mob had taken up temporary residence on top of da Kop while they waited for their new lair to be completed.

When the Gorkers struck, the only mobsters defending the camp were Grizwoad, Slash, and Snikshok, my shooty grot.  Despite being outnumbered, the Morkers were confident that they could deal with Chad's trukk from the safety of their makeshift fortress.

As soon as the trukk got close to the camp, the Gorkers let loose with a barrage of stikkbombs that pummeled the entire Kop, taking Grizwoad out of action and even knocking out the tiny grot cowering on the far side of the defenses.

Slash quickly rushed over to block the Gorkers from scaling the rocky walls of their camp, but a second volley of stikkbombs made short work of the burly Runtherd.  By the time Chad's boys entered the camp, the only remaining defender was a somewhat dazed grot, desperately trying to stall for time.

Fortunately for him, the smoldering remains of their temporary stronghold had caught the attention of the rest of the mob, who came rushing back to repel the invaders.  The two smaller trakks arrived first and charged toward the trukk with guns blazing.

Wasting no time, Chad's boyz released their captured comrade and made a break toward the open desert, climbing down the rear cliffs on the side of the mesa furthest from the approaching trakks.

This time, however, the tables have turned and it's Chad's boys who have to try and stall the trakks long enough for the rest of the mob to get away.  The trukk, up against a wall of solid rock, has no room to maneuver and gets shot to pieces.

In a valiant attempt to slow the trakks' pursuit, one of Chad's bikers rushed in and dropped an oil slick right in the path of Toast and his flamecar, only to be hit at point blank range by the trakk's skorcha.

Just as it seemed that the biker's bold maneuver might have bought the fleeing Gorkers the time they needed to escape, Spike and the big trakk came around the other corner of the Kop, cutting off their escape and ending the rescue mission in a hail of dakka.  Grizwoad would keep his prisoner and Chad would have to hire a new gunner.

Mini-Campaign: Da Big Race

The final event of the Mini-Campaign, as usual, was Da Big Race.  Unfortunately for Marvolork, the Meks were still trying to stick the engine back inside the Skwagmobile after it's encounter with Grizwoad's big grabba, so the Dook of Skwag was forced to run two bikes as his entries - a first for da Big Race.  The two Gorker nobs ran their usual trukk and bike combo, while I tried my luck with my two trakks.  I also managed to scrape together enough teef to install shoutas in the back of my big trakk.  Because shoutas are awesome.

As soon as the race began, the bikes took an early lead over the other vehicles.  Although there was a bit of the usual chaos, the fact that the racers didn't have to swerve around the smoking wreckage of Marvolork's trakk on the way to the first curve meant that the start of the race went uncharacteristically smoothly.

Despite the lack of the usual catastrophic crashes, however, the bigger vehicles seemed to be unable to keep up with the Marvolork and Urzig's speedy bikers.

What no one realized is that while they were all having the Meks make their bikes fasta, I was the making my trakk fasta.  The Meks only squeezed another two inches of movement into my thrustas, but it was enough for Gabby to catch up to Marvolork's biker and start tailing him.

Just as Gabby finally got a spot of luck, the bikers' luck seemed to run out.  A series of thrusta malfunctions and spin outs befell the lead racers, sending nearly all of them careening into the corner of the racetrack.  As we headed into the straightaway, a single biker lead the pack with Gabby on his tail.

Since most of the excitement usually happened on the first half of the racetrack, we decided we needed to spice up the final turn a bit.  We did that by placing a few gun emplacements with 'eavy shootas on the cliffs overlooking the last half of the track.  Fortunately for Marvolork's lone biker, the shootas weren't able to hit him.

As Marvolork's biker began to pull out in front, the rest of the pack started to catch up to Gabby.

This time around, we had not one, but two large bombs near the finish line.  Fortunately for the biker, he was able to avoid the blast as the first one went off and carefully make his way between the crater and the nearby sand dune as Toast fired wildly in his direction with his shoota.  Sadly, Gabby wasn't able to get close enough for Toast to use his beloved skorcha.

And so Marvolork's biker won the race, scoring the first race victory for Da Dook's Blastas.

Gabby and Toast took home second place for Grizwoad and his Chop Squad, despite Urzig's attempts to stop them.

Finally, Spike and Grizwoad managed to take third, but not before plucking Chad's gunner right out of his trukk using their trusty big grabba.

And thus ended our epic, full-day campaign.  The plan was for it to be a one-off, but now that Marvolork has scored his first big race win, it looks like we might continue this campaign so Marvolork can use his prize - a rare set of Mega Armor.  That also means we might be starting off the next session with a rescue mission so that Chad can get his gunner back (or at least try).  That also means I need to start building a fort so we can have a proper rescue scenario.  Lots to do.

Now it's time to get back to painting grots...