(The_Real_Chris @ May 12 2008,17:30)
QUOTE
I am after 5000 odd points for each list (and an orkemedies force).
I would draft up the army lists, keeping in mind a rough idea of what you have available. Once that's done, count up the models needed for the lists and adjust as needed.
If you like mixed-clan armies, then formations can serve double duty. A KoS is the same in Freeks or in core Ork lists, for example. A Warband and KoS can be turned into 2 SF warbands by adding trukks. I'd say you could hit 5K core and Freek army lists with just 6-7K total points of models, not counting titans.
Ferals are a bit more divergent. Boyz and Trukks/Junkas can do double duty. Wildboyz and Trappas can be broken out with just paint jobs if you want. Everything else sort of needs dedicated minis, but you've got enough boarz for a Uge mob and enough squiggoths to outfit 5 normal warbands with plenty of spare transport capacity.
With just a single Ork army you'll have more than enough non-Gargant units than you'll need for an OGBM list. The biggest issue there is just coming up with the Gargant mix you want and doing the conversions.
Of course, I'm sure you've thought about all that...
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With respect to basing up minis and quick conversions to "stretch" stock into other applications:
For Ferals, I based my Wildboyz and Trappas differently to make them easier to distinguish. Trappas just have no heavy weapons. For the Wildboyz I cut up a bunch of Chaos Beastmen for axes and shields and mixed in boyz, converted boyz and the old Wildboyz models. Each Wildboyz stand has 3 models with axe, shield or both and 2 regular boyz. With those conversions and distinct paint jobs you can stretch normal boyz a long way for the ferals.
Kommandoz mix in nicely with the old Madboyz models for a stand of various "dancing" poses all together. Like the Wildboyz, 3-4 of those and a few generic boyz can stretch into a huge number of madboyz stands (not that you need a whole lot).
I've mixed in a few SM-era boyz with grots to stretch them. The SM-era are noticeably smaller than the later boyz minis and are about the same size as the grots. Mixed in you can't even tell the difference until you pick them up and look closely.
I find that 3 Shokk Attack Gunz on an infantry base looks good and I use them as "counts as" oddboyz. You could fill in with boyz if you wanted a more full look, or even put 5 of the Shokks on a larger infantry base (15x40 or 20x40). If you really wanted to get fiddly, you could get a bunch of tiny beads and glue them on as a squig herds waiting to be warped across the battlefield.
I've cut up old SM-era plastic buggies, which are abundant and super cheap, to make trailers to convert buggies and trukks into Skorchas. Cut everything off down to the wheels and glue a piece of cylinder onto it as a fuel tank and you have a trailer. Use wire for the hoses and attach it to the buggy/trakk. Add whatever bitz detailing you want.
I haven't done it, but it seems like it would be pretty easy to mount a Wyrdboy tower on a Squiggoth.
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