BFG Scratchbuilding: Ork Brute Ram Ship

Impulse buying is hopefully something i do not do (much) as an wargamer due to the general unavailability of stuff in Romania however what i do certainly do is impulse changing the gaming system that i want to play, and i think allot of you can identify. Long story short i stumbled unto a Battlefleet Gothic site, started reading on the awesome space battles and i got attracted more and more towards this ancient yet golden Ruleset of Spaceship battle. The main appeal to BFG is the Gothic part of it, with towering battleships exchanging shots from afar while cruisers and escorts dash about launching torpedoes and attack craft, avoiding the devastating broadsides of the enemy ships.

Come to think of it BFG”s main appeal is how it actually portrayed space battles as being nothing more different then the naval battles of old (think 16th-17th century) where each captain tries to bring the majority of its weapons to bear while maneuvering against the enemy. Ah, you will say, so there is tactics involved in this BFG that you are talking about? Well, not so much for me because i always enjoyed playing “Da Green Ones”. Orks in BFG are perhaps the embodiment of getting whatever scrap you have together, equip it with the biggest engines and gunz you can build and then go against the enemy full speed ahead, perhaps even ramming if you have the chance. They also have a certain appeal that will make them shine in some people’s mind (mine included): they can be easily scratchbuilt out of assorted bits from all kinds of kits. So i was lucky enough to have a fellow wargamer trade me his bits box (oh my what a treasure trove it was) for stuff won’t use in the near future and off i went to build my first Ork ships. I figured i’d start small so here is my take on an Ork Brute Ram Ship.

Keep in mind that even though this is an Ork fleet and it’s ramshackle and crude i still wanted to have a standardization of the pieces i use just to easily reproduce the result in the future. Yeah, I’m like that. And I’m sure that if you like my models you would be delighted to know which bits i used. Right, let’s get down to business.

Obviously an Ork Brute Ram ship is designed to clash with the enemy vessel dealing immense damage in the process and crippling ships many times its size. It was quite easy to identify that a Warhammer 40k chainsword would be the perfect ramming device. A pair of bolters will provide the sides of the ship.

Cut the chainsword’s grip and the bolter’s ammo clip and trigger (both can be used in the future, especially the ammo clip as random assorted bits for future BFG ships).

For the body of the ship my eyes fell onto a Zombie Tombstone (yes, a zombie tombstone from WFB). I proceeded to sand away the cover (which shows a skeleton on it) and i was quite pleased with the overall shape.

Next it was an easy step to glue the chainsword to the body.

And to further glue the sides to the body. Things were beginning to take shape.

Now i was in the search for the suprastructure of the ship. The pieces i got are a short barrel for a 50mm gun from a Panzer III PSC kit and a random bit that can’t identify but it definitely comes from W40k.

Up they go and they look just right.

The model was not looking quite finished so i added a few more detail. First i took an old tank sprue from PSC. You know those round injections marks on it? Well, that can be quite a good engine. So i cut 3 of those and stuck them to the back of the ship. I also glued a longer piece of sprue on the underside of the ship behind the chainsword as it looked a little bland. And finally the stand was also provided by a longish (4 cm) sprue piece glued to a 20mm round base.

And voila the finished Ork ship!