Homeworld for Wayward Space Dwarfs

Devoted to the Preservation, Collection, Conversion, Painting, and Resurrection of Space Dwarfs.
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Monday, January 30, 2012

Thunder Chiefs Rough Rider Bikers on Parade, Part 2

It's conversion time for the Thunder Chiefs

Now all of the Squats Motor-Bike options have been used. Zigmunt "Revnant" Zobair needs to distract attention from that. A Big Antenna and Chaos-Shield Wheel Covers work for the back

Revnant (Squat Biker 6) has gotten a bit more dramatic in the front. The Headlights bit has been used, but used to chain half a Necron to the spokes

Hopping along is a damned Eldar Striking Scorpion, head attached to puny chicken-shaped robot body (from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mouser)

Biker Lemmy "Babyarm" Kilmister rebuilt the entire front of his cycle, using an all-terrain gripping track in place of the front tire, and an imposing horned skull for steering

Babyarm (Squat Biker 2) also replaced his puny pistol with a nice spiky Kroot rifle, and has taken the term "head light" quite literally

Kenneth "Ken" Haringsbeens has totally tossed aside the Squat Cycle Construction Manual, producing an all-terrain half-track able to squish the defeated (Pit Slave 3) beneath its bulk

Ken has managed to use parts from Warhammer 40K, WFB, Epic 40K, Warmaster, Necromunda, and Inquisitor to create his man-crusher

Our master mechanic is Squat Biker 5, with spindly legs swapped from a Dark Eldar Warp Beast and muscular arm taken from a Lizardmen Saurus

Using just 1 Squat bit is Otzo "Spinne" Sluitdiep. Spinne's tracks and front wheel share the same Ork-source as Ken, and Spinne's half-track is mostly Orky in origin

What is not Ork is a melange of mostly Chaos and Imperial parts

Spinne is also a paella of parts, based on an Epic 40K Knight Paladin, with limbs from a Chaos Dreadnought Power Scourge and elsewhere

We also keep piling on the Pit Slaves
(#1 this time)














On the road to Sturgis

Thunder Chiefs Rough Rider Bikers on Parade

Now that all of the Hungry Ghosts Rough Riders are finally revving up their bikes and readying their explosive-tipped hammers, we will have a retrospective meditation on the Thunder Chiefs

Thunder Chiefs Captain D.R.T. "Dirty D" Zobdafi

Captain Dirty D rides a converted Exo-Armor Trike

The Captain himself is the Squats Warlord Biker with the Necromunda Pit Slave Buzz Saw Arm
(counts as Power Weapon)

Next is Melta-Gun Specialist Darrin "Flombo" Flomberg riding the Squats Motor-Bike Mk2, accompanied by giant rat

The Squats Mark 2 cycle appeared only in White Dwarf 149

Spc Flambo is the Squat Hearth Guard Biker with Ork Bionik Shoota Left Arm and half an Epic Ork Battle Wagon Turret on the right

Now Flamer Specialist Greebo "Longhorn" Hijar, riding a lightly converted Squats Motor-Bike, 3-wheel variant

Longhorn's Flamer is the Imperial Guard Catachan version, with Cadian Fuel Pack for extended firepower

Longhorn is the Squat Guild Master Biker with Gor Beastmen Horns

Dane "Klawful" Kakkerlakker follow on the 2-wheel version of the Squats Motor-Bike

Klawful is Squat Biker 4 with Las Pistol embiggened by a 'donation' from Chaos Cultist Demogogue 1. No points for spotting the Genestealer contribution to the Hungry Ghosts Fund. Like Longhorn, Klawful avoids use of the standard Headlights options

Klawful is accompanied by a Giant Rat who shares his taste for pointy appendages and wings

Juan "Blanco" Raja-Pala has received the least converting of the Thunder Chiefs. As hinted by the name, this Squat Biker was modeled after Games Workshop Master of Miniatures John Blanche

Blanco (Squat Biker 3) also uses the standard Squat Bike in 3-wheel mode

Raising the front wheel and adding a Giant Metal Skull is a simple but effective way to make the bike look different from the others


Sunday, January 29, 2012

Thunder Chiefs Rough Riders Number 10: Trollo Foutengeur

The Hungry Ghosts Thunder Chiefs Rough Riders squad is finally complete with the addition of Trogoth "Trollo" Foutengeur, a shameful 19 months after his primordial gestation in the bits box. Trollo here raises the question, though he is clearly 1 miniature for gaming purposes, what does he score as for miniature painting progress? 1 base = 1 mini? Trollo's bike's wheels are sliding over the edges, and our Pit Slave is barely hanging on. Vehicle + Driver = 2, Pit Slave is large angry base-flocking? Vehicle + Driver + Victim = 3, and we have a mini-diorama on the cavalry base? Is this best left as an argument for Legolas & Gimli?

Anyway, we've gone completely Road Warrior with this Biker. Like a spiky bat out of hell, Trollo is waving his shotgun in the air in a mad attempt to plow down his foe from the Cursed Earth using his bike's engine pipes before getting his head blown off by what even our Chaos Squats must recognize as a freakishly large pistol.

Trollo's Land Rocket starts with the very-pointy Spiked Skull Battering Ram from the Warhammer Siege series. To maintain the round shape, the rear section of the Ram is surrounded by 2 curved toothy jaw-plates from the Ogre Hand with Bear Trap, by getting rid of the hand part. To maintain proper skull levels, the gap in the top was filled with the Skull with Spike bit from the GorkaMorka Wrekka Trukk.

The front part of the engine was made to spread out to the sides, similar to the handlebars, Trollo's arms, and his seat back, with a tilt upward for a triangular shape. The central dome is the rear cover of the plastic Dwarf Cannon with a nice curved spike from the decades-old Skeletons sprue. Once again, smoke launchers are called to duty as exhaust pipes, this time a double-stack of the Space Marines Dreadnought launchers.

The bulk of the front engine section, wheel, and axle is made from most of the Seat from the 2nd version of the Blood Bowl Dwarf Death Roller (minus the long pipe). As we can see, the Seat provides a nice set of pistons and pressure chambers, while the front wheel fits into the bottom gap between the Ogre-trap-jaws. On the other hand, substantial regions of the Seat have a wood grain pattern which needed to be hidden with a nice Shovel (metal from the old Dwarf Miners Equipment sprue) and some greenstuff to strap down the shovel and attach the front an rear halves of the motor-trike.

Trollo from the right, with Dwarf Beer Stein close at hand. The curved studded engine pipes about to pummel our Pit Slave are from a 1990s Chaos Warriors Musician Horn bit. Both hide the wood grain pattern on this side. The rear wheels and chassis under Trollo are from the Ork Hop-Splat Gun. The handle bars are the top half of the Ork Bike Front Wheel part, with the front wheel and spokes used for fellow Thunder Chief Ken. With a similar rivet pattern, a conveniently sized curve, and a reasonable amount of skulls, Chaos Terminator Trophy Racks have been placed behind the rear wheels.

The Trophy Racks also fit right in between the wheels and the rear section of the engine, which is a Space Marine Servitor Heavy Bolter Backpack with some plastic bits to make it more interesting - ribbed thin tube from the Rogue Trader Eldar Arms, thick tube from RT Ork Power Axe, curved canister from IG Flame Thrower Backpack; Explosive Tipped Axe from the usual source, the Empire White Wolves sprue.

Trollo's fearsome-but-luxurious winged skull seat is from 1990s Vampire Counts Lord Melkhior, bent to Squat-height with the bottom nicely sliding under Trollo.

Trollo himself is one of the Squat Pirates with no official name. His cyber-arm and shotgun are from the Necromunda Pit Slaves Chief. His wooden peg-leg was replaced with a metal peg of long-forgotten origin. Aside from his fat belly, we gave Trollo some more 3-dimensionality with another Eldar Guardian Arm tube added to the Pit Slave Arm, some little belt pouches, and a Khorne Berserker grenade conveniently placed right below the lit cigar.

Armless Trollo was supplied with a right arm from the Confrontation Human Bare Arms sprue (hurray for GW proportionality!). It has been made less bare with the addition of an armored shoulder plate from a WFB Empire something-or-other, supplemented with a small backpack bit from the Mordheim Accessories sprue and some cloth-streamers waving in the wind, chopped off of an Empire Knight Head.

Trollo also violates the all-Citadel regulation with an Antenna attached behind his ear, from a very old Dark Horse Miniatures Robotech Veritech mecha. His foot pedal is just a lump of greenstuff.

A closer look at Trollo's prey - this one is Necromunda Pit Slave 2. That pistol is bigger than his head (huzzah for GW proportionality!).





Oh, I also added a
big-ass Horn in the
center of Trollo's forehead -
Look Mommy, Unicorns do exist!
















Trollo versus the Eldar. The inclusion of an action-posed enemy on the base makes things a little weirder on the table-top, compared to the usual use of corpse-position additions. This Eldar War Walker appeared in White Dwarf 323, as part of the new round of Eldar made for 40K 4th Edition (eBay, not painted by me, color-scheme is not nearly complex enough).

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Thunder Chiefs Rough Rider Trollo and Other Distractions

The last Thunder Chief is finally done...who we first met back in June 2010...but it's late now and so it's bait-n-switch time for a look at some of the endless little project that derail the Hungry Ghosts Supply Train.

A bit more progress on Storm Trooper Lammoth, who we've seen before, though not with Dark Eldar Talos scraps scattered about.

The Draconian, Space Marine from Chapter Krynn. That Dragon-horn head just kept looking at me from the bitz bins, can't remember where it came from...High Elves? Bretonnia? Swirly pattern makes me think Dwarfs, but it's just time to accept that there are now more plastic bits of Warhammer minis than my brain can contain. That said, though, he's got a Lizardman Saurus Arm with a Rogue Trader Eldar Meltagun lengthened with part of an Epic plastic Imperial Paladin Knight Titan cannon arm, Paladin also provided the Right Leg, Tomb Kings Chariot Crew Tabard, Blood Angels for the rest of the lower torso, Adeptus Mechanicus Chest bits, Dark Eldar Scourge Wings, Necromunda Pit Slaves Shears, metal Chaos Marines Shoulder Pads, and a hidden Tzeentch Horrors Tail 4.

Plus scenic diorama of the Warhammer food-chain: Ogre absent-mindedly (is that redundant?) drops a slab of ribs, ribs attract baby Steed of Slaanesh, Snotling thinks it's smart enough to net it, unaware that Draconian is going to snip its head off and flash fry the lot of them as soon as he turns around.

Scout tank, mostly from the big jug of not-Citadel bits I bought, Warzone Cybertronic Light Recon Vehicle with some anti-grav looking bits and Empire Steam Tank Engine for a turret.

Chaos Motorcycle- Warzone Imperial Hedgehog Necromower parts with (I think) some of the 2nd version of the Cybertronic Eradicator Deathdroid.

Chaos Cycle Rider in Squished-Bug Position - GW AD&D Rust Monster body hiding under Genestealer Patriarch Back, various 90s Chaos Spawn Limbs, Chapterhouse Alien Tentacle Head, Legs of a Heresy Leaping & Creeping Critter that I think is out of production.

Space Dwarf Experimental Aircraft- GorkaMorka Death Kopta parts, Scrunt Pilot, Tyranid Trygon/Mawloc bits.

Hungry Ghosts version of Nork Deddog, made from little Dark Horse Miniatures Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Terror Bears with a Cities of Death Lamp-Pole to give them the Ogryn-height. Feasting upon a Space Marine Casualty and a Squat Head. So cute when they have brains on their fuzzy widdle paws and mouwfs.

Chaos Squats Conversion Beamer Heavy Weapons Team, The Elephant and The Porcupine.

The Elephant, plastic Squat body enhanced with Chaos Terminator head (just in case anyone needed any more proof that their heads are too small), some plastic Dwarfs, Empire, Dark Elf, Tau, Space Marines, CSMs, and Dark Eldar bits (see if you can find them all).

The Porcupine. If anyone offers you some shiny new Necrons, Dark Eldar, and Tyranid bits, say Noooooooo!

Nothing says Conversion Beamer like Necron bits.


I forgot that The Elephant also had a bit of the old Wood Elf in him.

Oh, it is late and I am as low on the sanity points as when GW gave the green light to add the Jokaero to the Grey Knights army list. Hurrah for sense of humor! WTF? for inappropriate place.