A very exciting day for me! It’s my first guest post on Tale of Painters💪. I have been a big fan of the site and artists for such a long time, it’s a real privilege to be able to contribute, albeit in my own small way. To kick off and to celebrate every Orks favourite month, “Orktober”, I would like to share my Beast Snaggas army and showcase photo. “ITS CRUMPIN’ TIME!”
I have always been a HUGE Ork fan. In fact, I started my hobby journey as a kid many moons ago (1989 long before many of you were even born, I expect!) and Orks were my first army. I spent hours and hours studying the incredible GW Ork artwork by Paul Bonner and enjoying the wonderful and very colourful ‘Eavy metal paint jobs in White Dwarf Magazine. This was truly a golden era for me in my hobby journey.




Beast Snaggas are some of my favourite Ork models ever produced, they have many design parallels to the infamous Snakebite Orks! and as every decent self-respecting Ork knows “The Old Wayz is always da best”. Beast Snaggas are feral Orks and love the thrill of the hunt, they are grizzled warriors full of war wounds and scars obtained from fighting with the biggest toughest enemies they can find.
Collecting my Beast Snaggas army
The Beast Snaggas Army box set was released in 2021 (where has that time gone!?) and included the following minis.
- 1x Zodgrod Wortsnagga
- 1x Nob on Smasha Squig
- 3x Squighog Boyz
- 1x Bomb Squig
- 20x Beast Snagga Boyz




These models gave me a great start to build my army around. Although for me the inclusion of Zodgrod Wortsnagga (in a gaming sense) seemed to be the odd one out here. Clearly he is a classic model that has been refreshed and enhanced and looks fantastic, but he is a Runt Herder and there are no Grots for him to lead in the set? So, although he is indeed an H.Q choice, he is a bit of an outlier synergy wise in the playable army set. With that in mind I have added a few more units to my force including:
- 1x Beast Boss
- 1x Hunter Rig
A point to note about assembly. Most of the models go together very well, however, I did struggle with the cable ropes on the Hunter Rig and managed to snap one! It was a fairly straightforward repair with some green stuff, but it was disappointing and frustrating. So, if you plan to get one of these just take a little time with this part of the model and perhaps do a few more “dry fits” before you commit to gluing in place to avoid my mistake.




One of the most important and enjoyable things about miniatures is the personal narrative and story we can develop with our painted collections. I find this creative story telling aspect very enjoyable. All the choices of my army compositions and paint jobs are narratively driven. Sure, it may well not be “optimal” for gaming purposes, but it provides me with a theme and a golden thread to grow my collections. I have played a few games with the Beast Snaggas and they are great fun. I have lost a few times, and I think part of the reason for this is my poor deployment and that I struggle to make it into combat against “shootie” armies, or when I do finally make it in, I don’t have enough key units left to do the damage I need to do. I plan to revisit the force and grow it in the future to see if I can address this issue!
How to paint Beast Snaggas Orks
This post covers a whole army, so as you can imagine there are a whole bunch of colours used in the painting of the force. I thought it might be helpful if I picked two interesting key recipes to share. I was particularly pleased with the way the Squig Hogs turned out. I feel the bright blue/white (fantasy “shark” like) Squig Hogs work really well.
As a general tip when painting my Orks, I use a zenithal highlight on all my models. This basically means that I prime the model black then do a quick prime of white from above so I can easily pick out and see where the shadows and highlights are going to be on the figure before I begin painting. Plus, I like my Orks to be bright and colourful, so the white offers me a brighter base for my colours to work from.


My paint recipes
Ork Skin
Base: Vallejo Model Color Medium Olive
First Highlight: 50/50 mix VMC Medium Olive & VMC Golden Olive
Second Highlight: 50/50 mix VMC golden Olive & VMC Lime Green
Wash/targeted shade: 50/50 Gutrippa Flesh & Contrast Medium
Bring out any edge or fine highlights with the second highlight to finish.
Squig Hog Skin
This is slightly different as we are going dark to light in approach on this mini.
Step 1: Paint the model white, I used GW White Scar rattle can.
Step 2: Base Sotek Green. This is the darkest layer so paint this on the top half of the Squig Hog leaving the under-belly white.
Step 3: Blend Sotek Green and Temple Guard Blue gradually adding in more white paint to help transition nicely into the softer purer white under belly.
Step 4: Shade, use thinned 80/20 Fenrisian Grey to shade the white belly and add shadow to the white.
Step 5: Highlights, you can then highlight the blue skin to taste using mix of Temple Guard Blue and Blue Horror.
Abbreviations: AK = AK 3rd Gen, COM = TT Combat, GSW = Greenstuff World, P3 = Privateer Press Formula P3, RMS = Reaper Master Series, TAP = The Army Painter Warpaints (OoP), TTC = Two Thin Coats, VGC = Vallejo Game Color, VGA = Vallejo Game Air, VMC = Vallejo Model Color, VMA = Vallejo Model Air, VMechaC = Vallejo Mecha Color, WPA = Warpaints Air, WPF = Warpaints Fanatic


So, there you have it. What do you think about the force? It would be great to get your feedback and pointers if you play Beast Snagga Orks, or if you have played against them, how can I use them more effectively?! I look forward to enjoying more of the hobby with you and the team at ToP over the coming months. Happy painting everyone!
Dunk
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Amazing work! Absolutely love the colour scheme and palette 👍
Thanks 😉
nice work! good to see some high quality painting
thank you, appreciate the positive feedback 😉