In Warhammer 40,000, the alien Orks share a psychic connection that sometimes inspires their ‘mekaniak’ inventors to create physics-defying war machines. This effect also seems to extend to real-world Ork players, as in the case of two Ork players from different continents who have, independently, created custom Ork kitbashes inspired by Star Wars podracers.
All the Warhammer 40k factions attract their fair share of crossmedia kitbashes; the hobby has a proud tradition of Hello Kitty Space Marines, Gundam T’au battlesuits, and Xenomorph Tyranids. But the Orks’ infinitely varied technology make them easy to meld with other sci-fi franchises.
When Germany-based Nils shared his Ork podracer on the r/Warhammer40k reddit, Florida-based Sebastian Marrero immediately responded with one of his own. Wargamer asked them both how, and why, they created these custom Warhammer 40k models.
Caliko started with “a defective Deffkopta” model from eBay that he had planned to turn into a walker. When he clipped the tail off he immediately recognised the resemblance with a podracer.
The conversion itself was simple: “the turbines are made out of plastic champagne corks, toothpicks and wire”. He estimates it cost $9 (€8) “plus two bottles of champagne”. He spent about four evenings on the build, spread out over the best part of a year.
Marrero says he “was already a bit of a Star Wars fan having done an AT-TE/AT-AT looking meka version of a Gargantuan Squiggoth“. He had some spare engine parts from a Stormraven and the lightning from the Skaven endless spells, and when “some wires crossed during a hypnagogic state” he had the idea to suspend the contraptions in front of a racing pod, which became his first Ork podracer.
Since then he’s built a second racer, pictured above, “from Fire Prisms, Venerable Dreadnoughts, the gun from an Imperial Knight, a Runtherd, a heavy weapon team for the missiles, and some textured plasticard from Greenstuff World”.
Which podracer would win in a Boonta Eve race, though? Caliko asks if his opponent cheats: “If not they’ll lose, because mine sure does!” In a distinctly un-Orky show of sportsmanship, Marrero agrees, because Caliko’s racer “has red wires that’ll make it go fasta”.
If you’re a Star Wars fan first and Warhammer 40k fan second, did you know we have a guide to the best Star Wars board games? Check it out!
Source: Wargamer
