A Tale of Four Oldhammer Gamers: Plague Cart

Hello all! I have had quite a prolific weekend and managed to get a large number of models near completion. Sadly, the light is diminishing rapidly so I must reluctantly clean off my brushes and pack away until next Saturday. But, blogging is possible in any weather, so he we go...

Last month the leaderboard looked a little like this:

Warlord Paul = 8 points

Steve Casey = 5 points

Chico = 5 points

Orlygg = 4 points

And yes, that is me languishing and the bottom of the table! Not wanting to remain there for any longer than I have to, I got to work building up my rank and file for my Nurgle army. Using the list in the Lost and the Damned gives you a great deal of options, and my eye immediately fell on the units of plague skeletons. I have a large number of undead models sitting in storage as well as an embryonic undead army, so why not kill two birds with one stone and paint up some skeletons!?

Nurgle's daemonic number is seven, so any units I build will need to be grouped by this amount, or a multiple of. I selected seven suitable skeletons and set to work prepping the models. It was then my eye fell on the section for plague carts, and it appears that any player who fields plague skeletons in the Nurgle army can have a cart for FREE! So my Nurgle warband would soon be seeing seven skeletons (lead by a skeletal champion) and a plague cart to boot!

Only I hit a snag. I ran out of decent light today before I could finish the skeletons. But the plague cart that goes with them is, at least, complete. The plague cart usually costs 100 points (and even though I technically don't have to pay them) can act as this month's commitment on its own. I hope to have the skeleton unit complete well before the end of the month, but this post can be my insurance policy just in case!

I must confess to being a big fan of this model. The plague cart is a truly iconic Warhammer model that sadly disappeared from the game some years ago. The beauty of the plague cart is that it can be used in ANY game, thus making it essential to any serious old school Warhammer player. If you are not au fait with the rules let me paraphrase. The plague cart can appear on any battle field and usually travels in a straight line across the table, passing through most obstacles. It causes fear and reanimates fighters slain nearby as it trundles its way wherever! A choice piece for any GM and a regular 'event' in my games of youth. 

Initially, I tried to paint the model entirely with drybrushing but the results were less than spectacular. So I returned to my tried and tested bone recipe - using the Foundry Boneyard triad, which is excellent. I completed the undead ox first but realised that I was in danger of producing a model that just looked like a cart made from bones. How would the eye differentiate between the ox, the wheels and the pile of bones in the back?

In the end, I used a red/chestnut ink wash over the corpses in the back of the cart, before highlighting in my usual way. This gave the bones here a bloodstained look that I really took too, and I used the same technique on my other (as yet unfinished) skeletons. 

The wooden cart was very simple to paint. Just a brown undercoat washed over with black ink. When dry, I drybrushed over with my brown basecoat and highlighted with the darkest shade of boneyard. Very simple. 

In the end, I decided to paint the grim reaper rider like a ghost. If you read the background of the Plague Cart it states that the vehicle is actually ethereal so I wanted to make reference to it on the model. Again, he was fairly easy to paint and I used a dark blue/green mix as a basecoat and added the lightest shade of boneyard gradually to create the highlights. 

To conclude, I am really pleased with how the model came out and it has become one of my favourite ever Citadel miniatures. I discovered a new way to approach the painting for bone that I am keen to try again too. With a point for this post and another point for delivering my 100 point entry for the month in the guise of the cart itself, I now have six points. 

Hopefully, I can earn a few more before the end of January and knock that Paul off the top of the table! 

Orlygg

Acceptable in the '80s: White Dwarf 94 Miniature Releases Retro Review and Plague Cart Rules

I really enjoyed the retro review I did regarding the work of Bob Olley and I discovered that there are plenty of Olley fans out there but some agreement that some of his work is a little, what's the word, passable. So I have decided to continue. We are sticking with the same issue as before, White Dwarf 94, and I have reproduced for you all the releases of that month. 

Talisman Dungeon 

First off, a double set; Talisman Dungeon and Mercenaries. Let's start with the models released as part of the Talisman range. I have recently (by which I mean this week) seen a fairly complete set of these models going for about £100 so they are clearly still a popular series of sculpts. Now, those of you who don't know, Talisman was (and still is) a board game in which the players taken of a character type in a quest to gain possession of the Crown of Command. Though the game can be played without metal miniatures, such was Citadel's nature in the 1980s, a set of models was released for the game and the many subsequent expansions. I came late to the party, purchasing the third edition of the game when it was released in 2008, and played many games of it with my wife and it remains to this day the only GW game that she will play. 

The miniatures in the range are varied and well sculpted, I own only one of this series, the red robed inquisitor in the centre of the page, and are full of character. They would make fantastic character models for third edition games as well as interesting painting challenges in their own right. My favourite model? Most definitely the Sprite. I love the tones of green and flesh on this piece and it is certainly a scheme I would like to copy some time in the future. 

Mercenaries

The second set are entitled Mercenaries and are again nice a varied. With fourteen models in this set they would make a very characterful unit for third edition. I have a particular fondness for NOB who seems to be positively waddling forwards ready to engage his next opponent. Sadly, I have never seen any of these on eBay nor do I own any of them. I suspect many of these sculpts were added to the later FIGHTERS range but I have no evidence of this at present. There is little fantasy on show here, which suggests the hands of the prolific sculpting force known as the brother's Perry. The obvious nod to medieval dress would have made these models useful for historical forces as well as fantasy ones. 

Nick Bibby's Giants

Ahh! Nick Bibby's giants! I am a big fan of Nine Fingers and have said so publically before. I think that the model has a wonderful dynamism and its body is perfectly positioned. I cannot say the same for the other sculpts in this range. Wither Wattle, who bears a strong resemblance to a young Bob Naismith, is okay and obviously shares much in common with the Nine Fingers sculpt in terms of positioning but I just cannot stand the model of Bottle Snottle! Its the really, really crap hand, massively out of proportion to the rest of his body, that puts me right off. He looks like he has spent a long, long time in prison with a giant stack of 'magazines of gentleman's interest' and little else to pass his time. The fact that his weapon, a rather fetching stone headed club,  seems rather incongruous to the rest of the model cements the fact that this model is always going to be passed over in my collection.

Plague Cart and its rules

The Plague Cart on the other hand is an absolute must for my Undead army. I have slapped a bid down on this beauty more than once only to be pipped at the post. The wheels may be familiar to keen eyed enthusiasts, for they are the very same ones that appear on the skeleton chariot that I have been working on recently. The model has some interesting rules too.

The cart can be used in any game. You roll a 2D6 at the start of each turn; on a 2 or a 12 the chart appears on the middle edge of the left or right table edge (an equal chance of either). It then moves in a straight line across the battlefield at 4" per turn, leaving through the middle of the opposite table edge. The insubstantial cart may pass through obstructions and even units of troops. It causes fear in all living creatures with 6", and terror in any living creatures through which it passes. It is immune to non-magical attacks. As it goes, the spirits rise from the slain, following it wailing and moaning.

The Plague Cart may be summoned by a level 3 Necromantic spell, summon plague cart (cost 12mps) passing across the battlefield. It gains the following powers when it encounters an undead army.

1) Undead creatures with 12" are immune to instability.
2) Any living humanoid slain with 12" rises as a zombie behind the cart with hand weapon and appropriate rules. Each model is marked (perhaps with plasticine) and is under the control of the undead player.

Plague Cart

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	3	0	4	4	5	3	0	-	-	-	-

Spectral Driver

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP
4	4	0	0	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5

Special Rules: As a normal spectre, the creature is armed with a scythe.

Command Groups

These command groups are ideal for pairing with the rank and file troops of the plastic Warhammer Regiments, a relationship that I have always felt was a deliberate one on the hands of Citadel. I love all the sculpts in this range and own one of two of them. I have the goblin shamen, the elf standard bearer, the skaven champion and elf the musician. I would certainly be interested in obtaining the rest of these models, especially the goblin leader which I feel to be one of the finest gobliniod models Citadel has ever produced. The dark elves are suitably militarilistic and the skaven leader is an absolute classic sculpt of Jes Goodwin that was, until relatively recently, still available to buy from GW.

The paint schemes or these models is also highly inspirational for me. The distinct blue and purple of the dark elves, the bright greens and golden yellows of the elves, the dirty, heavily shaded browns of the skaven and the sickly greens of the goblins are THE colours I like to use in my paint pallete. This is because this page of White Dwarf is one of the best examples of the colour scheme and painting style of three of the most important third edition armies.

The Gob-Lobber and the Gob-Lobber Appeal

Classic '80s Warhammer through and through! The second of the Perry engineered sculpts on today's post. The addition of some gruesome goblin heads turns this from being just another catapult into a wonderfully zany weapon that just begs to be fielded in all dwarf armies. Some of the crew members were recycled for use in other later dwarf war machines, though others were only available with this set - such as the dwarf cook with a pig on a spit (sadly not pictured here) and the pipe smoking commander.

I am lucky enough to have won this particular war machine recently. If I remember correctly for the rather cheap sum of £7. Sadly, I didn't win the crew that went with the machine but they tend to crop up quite often so its only a matter of time until I have my hands on them too. However, I am missing the wheels! I was wondering if any Oldhammerers out there could do me the kindness of lending me a wheel from this model so I can take a cast of it and create some greenstuff copies. If you could, please contact me and I'll be eternally grateful!

Orlygg