A Miscellany of Ingenious Scratchbuilds & Kitbashes:

[Padrissimus]

Yeah, the engines are what I like best too. Must make some more, and now I have a skaven player in the campaign I should! Still, I am surprised you didn't think the zombie hair wasn't the best work I'd done!

[Stroezie]

I guess the engines just appeal more to the megalomaniac in me

[Padrissimus]

24. Cathayan House, simple scratchbuild

Cardboard box


Covered with walls and with roof supports


Planks across roof (nice bit of loft space!)


String glued on (!)


String trimmed and with a fascia added


Painted, with some soldiers from an occupying force guarding it


Used in a scene with its brother in an old campaign

[Padrissimus]

25. Goblin Pike Block

I reckoned that greenskins fighting in Tilea might attempt to emulate the enemies' fighting style. So with this in mind, I started adding extra lengths to their sprue-standard spear shafts. Thus they just scrape in as a 'kit-bash' regiment.

Here you can see the original (small) unit ranked up ...





I had an old Grom figure already painted to lead them and made a musician out of an old GW boardgame figure (I forget the name of the game as I never played it!). There are some metal figures near the front, including two that are actually historical viking figures, but with gobbo heads stuck on their shoulders!



I thought Grom looked just right in the front rank ...



I added some uniformity by giving as many as possible helmets, either the fur-lined ones or the basics.





Here they are in this original, modest sized form on the field of battle …



Having fought with them a few times I realised what was missing .... more goblins! So, I increased the unit from 25 to 40. Now they looked like a major unit on the field of battle.





Except, of course, even with campaign rules (slightly weakened pike rules) they were still goblins, and so inevitably are incredibly rubbish in battle. Who cares, though, when they look good! And, as the pikes make them look impressive, they have a habit of drawing enemy fire away from other units!

[Padrissimus]

Possibly the most embarrassing yet ...

26. Treeman, Treekin and Dryads, scratchbuilt from twigs!

Twigs = Treeman


Three Treekin - two old treemen now serving as lesser creatures, and a bunch of twigs. Bet you can't guess which is twigs ...


Dryads. made from pure twiggery. I got the base size wrong on some, but hastily corrected it before a battle ...

[Belligerentparrot]

Pure genius! 

[Bloggard]

brilliant 

[Padrissimus]

27. Pike, pike and MORE pike!

I love pikemen. Erm, no, not in that way. What I mean is I love tiny models of pikemen marchin’ around the top of a table. They hurt my hands and arms if I am careless, but I just don’t care!

My campaign is set in Tilea, the Warhammer worlds’s version of Renaissance Italy, and so by definition I needed (and need) pike, pike and more pike. Earlier in this thread I showed my goblin pikes (yes, even greenskins are ‘pike-ateers’ in my campaign) but here I want to show some of my other, human, pike regiments.

These first pikemen were part of the Viadazan (‘peasant’) Crusading army early in the campaign. They are painted my usual 'cell shaded' style, and in enamels – something I have only just recently stopped doing.

These models are odd figures (to my eyes) and not to too many people's tastes. They are from Wargames Foundry's 'Casting Room Miniatures' range. Here they are unpainted …



Foundry don't even include them in their normal catalogue, but have a separate site for them, so maybe they aren't so sure about them either! But as they are Tilean, and are equipped just right, I had to get them for the campaign. I like them exactly because they are a bit 'different'.



Because they're militia, they wear every colour under the sun. Somehow this fact seems to 'tie them together'.



I made the pikes out of brush bristles – no painting needed (except for the tips I glued on the top) and when they bend no paint chips off!



Here’s a couple of shots of them ‘in action’ as they attempted to cross the bridge at Pontremola just before the fateful battle against the vampire Duke Allessandro Sforta. They were delayed a while due to the draught animals of a wagon becoming contrary …





Before I painted these my only pike regiment from (I think, but my memory might be wrong) Old Glory. I only have pics of them from story pics of parades (and I am too lazy to get them out and re-photo them). First from one of the ‘Animosity’ campaigns, as a previous iteration of the Compagnia del Sole …



Second on parade in Remas during the current campaign (after re-painting several bits to get their livery right!) ...



And third in battle during the ‘Border Princes linked the Solland Effort’ pseudo campaign, here as two regiments of the ‘Black Company’ …



This next pic, due to some weird google algorithm and their appearance on a particular forum, used to come up in the top ten pics when ‘Warhammer Fantasy’ pics were googled. I was proud of that! I also like the picture, which seems posed but was from an actual game (my Middenhiemers are the enemy)  …



Not yet satisfied, I wanted (and the campaign demanded) yet more pike, so I painted these guys – mainly Artizan, with a few Perry Miniatures thrown in for a smattering of extra variety. This pic was the first batch, as yet unbased …



Here is the whole regiment, carrying a Verezzan flag, I think  …



They did, however, make the earlier guys look like they were carrying ‘baby’ pikes!





Here are the Artizan/Perry on the march for Lord Lucca, off to join Lord Alessio’s allied army in the holy war against the vampires (theses are some of my favourite campaign story photos ever) …





Even the Sartosan pirates in my campaign like to use pikes during their land battles, and thus this (half) converted body of Wargames Foundry pirate pike (which I reckon allows me to put this whole post here in this thread) …



These were a devil to rank up and required some careful planning. They have ended up quite a disorganised bunch …





Here’s a last shot of massed pike from a recent battle – the Battle of Norochia (or the Valley of Death) …



Now, tell me you don’t like pike too!

PS: I am, right now, working on a regiment of 30 halfling pike. Pics soon, hopefully!

[Padrissimus]

28. Ogre Characters Kit-bashed from Rank and File Models

These models feature in Mangler the Merciless's campaign army - aka ‘Mangler's Band’. (He was an NPC mercenary.)

For several years I had an Ogre battalion which I used to bolster my friend's Ogre army (to the size he required for a campaign) and as Dogs of War units in several of my other armies. Finally, I decided to add what would be needed to make the battalion up to a 2000 point Ogre army. I’m too cheap to buy metal, I decided to convert Bulls into the various necessary characters (and, as seen earlier, scratchbuild the army’s machines.)

First some WIP photos. My first Butcher looked like this.



Here are two maneaters - one with a longsword, other with a brace of handguns. I was happier with the latter cf. the former.



Here is the tyrant, who could double as a great weapon bearing Maneater instead. I had yet to add a coat with metal plates. I really want it to look like heavy armour and I could see he wasn't quite there yet.



Here he is with more armour - scale mail! I used plasticard pieces and hoped it would look like proper heavy armour when painted up.



My second Butcher.



I intended to paint these characters in the same style as my existing basic units, so that they all look like they fit together.

Here's my basic Bulls (not fancy like my picklehaubers!):



And my Ironguts:



And my favourites, big xxxxers with guns:



I re-did one of the maneater's hats - the one with the big hat. It looked like it was tottering comically on his noddle, so I cut it off, scalped the guys’ head deep(!), and put the hat back on, so that it looked like it fitted, in a kind of Spaghetti Western style.

I know my cartoon style is not to all tastes, but it's my long-preferred tabletop quality method and I'm sticking to it. I also know that compared to many my painting looks pretty 'basic', but the figures 'pop' in army or regiment photos, and can be recognised easily in bat reps. (I am hoping I can continue to achieve it cleanly now I have finally switched to acrylics.)

Now the painted figures. In order, here are my Tyrant, Army Standard, Butchers (x2) and Man-Eaters...

[Padrissimus]

28(B): Ogre Baggage

I probably should have added these to the previous post as they are kind of ogre characters. They are very definitely kit-bashes so they belong in this thread.

The first one I made was part of a 'Pleasant Surprise' gift exchange. I had to make something to suit the recipient forum member's collection. I checked his posts and found this image of his ogres ...



I thus realised that if I painted the ogre my way, grey-flesh in a cartoon style, it would not fit in. Thus began one of my first forays into acrylic. I only used it for the flesh, and stuck to my usual style with the rest.

I used bits of a metal scrap-launcher kit I had been given by a mate, also real chains, polyester thread, real leather for a scabbard and various other bits. The result (from various angles) ...







I boxed it and sent it across the sea.

I decided I very much liked this idea as a unit filler - two ogres for the price of one. So, not having no skis left, I made another version for myself using a little wheeled carriage.

WIP ...


And here completed and used in a story picture in my campaign ...

[Padrissimus]

Have I gone off on a tangent that no one is interested in?

What sort of thing would be more interesting? I'll see what I can find!

[Elk101]

No, not at all. I like the ogres hauling the carts. I never warmed to the latest ogre figures as much as I did to the earlier ones, with a few exceptions in the character models. What's your take on the newer figures?

[Padrissimus]

I like them. And not just because they are cheap and easily available. I like the look of them (their basic form as 'low fantasy' types) and the fact that as plastic models they are more easily converted. I have done quite a few things with them (many seen in the thread above), using the basic models to make my own characters, thus saving money and coming up with something more unique and with my own 'twist'.

I even made a hunter out of the basic plastic bulls. So -

28(C): Ogre Hunter

Here he is modelled, using various bits and two bows to make a powerful looking bolt thrower ...



It was for some forum competition, thus the next picture, which means he is 10 years old!



Painted, close up.



And some angled shots.



Here he is in an early campaign story having a chat with his gnoblar scouts ... (pre-base hiding days) ...





So, Elk101 - d'you like him?

(I bet some other folk are shouting "Don't encourage him, Elk!" at the computer screen!)

[Elk101]

I do yes. I sold all mine, but I regret selling the gnoblars.

[Padrissimus]

I don't know how to sell painted figures. I just don't have the capacity to do so, to the core of my being.Thus my bloated collection!