Shootout at Hallow Pass: Part 1, ideas, layout and beginning


"After rapid progress through the Guzbek Mountains, the Ogre horde came under suprise attacks from unseen enemies. A constant barrage of gunfire mowed down the front ranks of slaves; some Ogres even felt some minor stinging. After the first wave of fire wore off, the Lead Belchers were moved forward to return fire. The shootout at Hallow Pass in the Guzbek Mountains had just begun...."

With a few Ogres under my belt I have slowly worked on visualizing the ideas I have about the army. Creating a mental picture and working on a context is crucial for me as a builder; i could never otherwise find the patience and stamina to finish up an army. It's one of the reasons why I am not drawn to Space Marines: I have a hard time coming up with an original story that's mine; instead I am writing someone else's...get it?

Anyway, I haven't named my Ogres or come up with a story line, but I have decided on my Ogres being slave herders. During their nomadic raids they gather up many prisoners. Some get killed, others don't. Some become food, others are a useful asset for the ongoing war effort. This whole concept will exclude any Gnoblars; all of those will be replaced with slaves. Here are the slave chariots that I already built and count as Mournfang Cavalry. The how-to link is here.

Now I wanted to build four Leadbelchers. In the kit there are Gnoblars that do useful stuff like carry barrels with gunpowder or light the cannons. Instead of them I wanted to use only slaves. Furthermore I wanted it to be a diorama-like rank of 4 with individually magnetized models that can be taken off when killed while leaving the scene visually intact.

OK: here are the 4 bases.

 I glued them onto plastic card and tightened up the edges.

Then the scene: 4 leadbelchers with two slaves. I glued all the ogres together, except for their cannon arm. That really has to stay off until the body is painted, otherwise it's too hard to get to it. I used some tak to position the arms. Then the slaves. Here's the first one:

The top is actually from a Gnoblar on the leadbelchers sprue. I cut his waist a bit, added a human head and a Mantic Zombie set of legs

Here's the second one, he is holding a big bag with ammo for the shooters:

Body and head from the Empire Flagellants, arms from the Mantic Zombie sprue. The bag is actually part of the Leadbelchers sprue and so is the weaponary: normally it's supposed to go into the barrel of one of the guns, but I liked it sitting in the bag, ready to be handed to the shooter.

 And here is the end result of this part:

That's as far as I got! In Part two I will add apoxie sculpt to the base to create an interesting landscape and show you the magnetizing. Coming soon!

Mike

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