Managed to wrap up a Plagueclaw Catapult last night.

This kit is simultaneously GW’s most ingenious kit and most frustrating.  That you can make both a cannon or a catapult out of it (or, if you’re Squeek Vermintide, both at the same time) is really impressive.  That you can make either in so many different combinations is brilliant.

But, holy crap, do I hate putting together this kit.  Last time, I really learned that you do not mess around with the sprues: don’t start clipping until you’re ready to start assembling and don’t start assembling it until it’s painted!  (The need to paint then assemble is something that really frustrates me.)  Also, painting all of those little metal bits can get pretty tedious.

Anyway, it’s together, painted, done.  Took me the bulk of the weekend to do, but I really needed to stay focused to have it ready in time for Blob’s.

I can’t stand seeing this kit with a giant piece of warpstone as the counterbalance.  It just doesn’t make any sense!  So, instead the rock’s painted like… rock.

I’m pretty pleased with how the ammunition came out: like a ball of really unhealthy poo, people parts and dead rats.

Also, in other news: USPS wildly overestimated how long it would take for those bitz to make it out… they showed up today!  The conversion’s done, so I’ll have all afternoon tomorrow and Friday to paint it up!

Blob’s Park is giving me a bit of heartburn.  I’ve got a 2,500 point list that I’m happy with, that I’m comfortable with, that I’ve done pretty well with.  Most importantly, it’s painted.

Blob’s Park, woefully, is 2,800 points.  I’m not entirely sure why the bump, except that there must be some nonsense you can drop with 700 points of Lords or Rare or something that they want to see.  For me, though, it’s another 300 points that I’ve got to get painted.

This is unfortunate, because just throwing more points at something always ends badly.  C’est la vie.

Anyway, my goal was to get up to 2,800 with adding as few models as possible.  I had a plan that involved 6 Globadiers and a Doom Flayer, but then inspiration hit and I decided to bridge the gap by throwing down a Warlord with a Wizarding Hat.

One model?  Room for a clever conversion?  Ability to use one of those sweet, sweet book lores?  Yes, please!

After some noodling and doodling and digging around for parts, I considered and then had to dismiss, modeling it as a brain jar.  That’d have killed… but it wasn’t to be.

So, I went with my initial plan: a big ol’ hat made out of paper hardened by superglue.

I had Warlord Spinetail sitting in the bits box: I used his sword and arm in my War-Litter, so I might as well do something fun and goofy with the remainder.

I used a Stormvermin arm and an Ungor hand.  I was shooting for a cool, “Behold, I am a master of the arcane arts!” pose… instead, I ended up with a pose that’s a bit more of a rude gesture.  I guess I’m okay with that.

Also: I kind of hate the Spinetail model.  The sword is awesome, but what in heck is up with his right eye?  I don’t even know what’s up with that.  I just. don’t. know.  Ugh.

Here it is, finished.

I gave it the Lore of Shadow symbol, since I was considering using that on the Warlord.  It’s way more purple than is appropriate for Shadow (I guess that makes it Death), but at least it stands out in a way a grey hat couldn’t.  That’s probably more important.

Uuuunfortunately, while pinging the CGL for advice on what Lore I should give this sucker (Shadow?  Beasts?  Metal?), I found out the item’d been FAQ’d… and FAQ’d hard and in an uncomfortable place.

Reference Section – Enchanted Items, Wizarding Hat
Change “[…]randomly chosen spell[…]” to “[…]randomly chosen Battle Magic[…]

Sooo… I don’t get to choose the Lore.  I’ve got a 13% chance of getting the Lore I want.  Maybe a 50% chance of getting a Lore I can really use?  Blech. That’s not nearly as useful.  In fact, it’s pretty dang terrible.  At that point, it could be a fun item, but it sure as all get-out isn’t worth 100 points.  Booo.

Possibly the worst common magic item?

Well, it’s done.  The mini’s built and painted.  

I’ll get around to how I’m padding out the list later.  (Probably after the tournament, since it looks like it’s closed-list.)  Do you guys think I could call him a Warlock Engineer? I’m not as crazy about this guy any more.

I’m waiting on the glue to dry on the board; I’ll go back over everything thoroughly with some watered-down wood glue to fix everything in place.  I’ve found that this does miracles for adding durability to ballast (and pretty much everything else).

I’ve finished “sculpting” the stalamites.  Each is a 6″ nail run through a 50mm base with successive layers of joint compound slathered on.  Not really sure when I decided to use joint compound, but the results look (to me, at least) considerably more natural and believable than the styrofoam stalagmites I’ve made before.

The joint compound’s considerably flakier, however, so I’m reinforcing everything with several coats of, again, watered-down wood glue.  After enough of these, the outside will be extremely durable.

Once all of that’s done (hopefully tonight) and dried (hopefully tomorrow AM), I’ll start painting it.  That should go pretty quickly: airbrush on the basecoat then a couple of layers of drybrush.  Varnish that, then water effects and done.

I’ve stretched my non-existent photoshop skills to the limit to pull together a clever, attention-getting sign to place by my display board.  I’m going to keep that close to my chest until the tournament, though: more because I keep dicking around with it than from any coyness.

Finally, I’ve loaded up most of the display case: my Daemons on one shelf and my Dark Angels spilling off of another.  The top shelf’s being saved for my Skaven (who are, understandably, a bit too busy psyching themselves up for the NoVA to spend time in the display case) and assorted one-off models that I’ve done.

I’m really surprised to not see much discussion of the amazing new Forgeworld Skaven kits.

It’s just the token, a round wooden chit to give it a base, and some left over Arcane Ruins.  It’ll probably go on the center of my display board, I think.

It’s done!  I’ve talked a bit about it before, so I’m just going to photodump!

Finally finished that large batch of Plague Monks I’ve been stuck on for a few weeks, now.  Lesson learned (well, confirmed): smaller batches = faster accomplishment = more motivation = more done.

• I’m running a tournament at GPC tomorrow (that I should have advertised here, but it filled up so quickly… there was no need).  It’s ostensibly a NoVA Open prep for the handful of us that are going to play Fantasy.  Hope it’ll be fun, but it definitely makes me want to run a looser, goofier tournament some time soon.
• Storm of Magic came out: I’m super-stoked to play it.  I desperately want this thing to catch on so I can convert up a bunch of silly Skaven crap.  Say one thing about me, say that I like to convert up silly Skaven crap.

I’ve decided not to do Armies on Parade with my Daemons.  It’d be nice to do, and I think they’d do well… but I can’t bring myself to build a second display board for them.  I mean, blah.

While waiting on some wash on the Furnace to dry, I broke out the graph paper and started sketching out the plan for the Skaven board that I do need to build.

I’ll be planning to mount this to the same breakfast tray I use with my Daemon board, which means I need to account for where I’m going to bolt the board to the tray.  That’s what those nipple-looking things are: where I’ll drill through the board and then disguise it somehow.

Planning to have a tiered hill fill the back left quarter or so.  I’ll try to make it look natural, while making sure I’ve got 5″-6″ on each tier (so I can fit a ranked unit on it).  The back right will have a few stalagmites and a river will run down the right side.  Characters (who aren’t surfing on a Plague Furnace) will be gathered around a block of warpstone or a well (like this) or something.  Alternatively, I could scoot everything forward and build a neat looking, rickety bell tower I’ve been noodling over (using the Warp-Lightning Cannon frame and a left over Screaming Bell bell) in the middle.

Here’s the plan, with details inked in.  The shape of the tray’s in red.

Thoughts?