I have a large number of Warhammer 40K Ork miniatures, a gift from an old college friend of mine intended for one of my children. They have been sitting in a box for literally years, and as I was trying to kickstart my miniature painting mojo I grabbed an Ork Boyz sprue and quickly assembled them.

I decided to just paint one to see how the color scheme would look. As I was mid-painting, I showed the miniature to my wife. I had not painted his boots, so they were just the white primer. Surprisingly she said, “I really love the look of the white boots–they are a great contrast to the rest of the model.”

So I decided to keep the white boots, and add a similar color to the stock of his gun. Given his appearance, I decided to call him “Spatz.” If I were to paint more of them, I am tempted to call them “Spatz Boyz,” and start a whole Ork clan. Orks are often strange, superstitious creatures, and I am imagining that their decision to wear white boots convinced them that they gained some martial benefit (not extra speed, since it is red ones that go fasta).

I decided to stick with my goal of sixty miniatures for the year again. There are a lot of other projects that demand my attention, so ratcheting up my painting isn’t practical.

But we are on our white-booted way! Thanks for reading, and comments welcome.