John's Catapult - Wheels

So now back to John's Catapult.

Here are the wheels for which I have a cunning plan.

Stick around and all will be revealed.

Gamling mounted with Royal Standard (2)

Here's the second of the two Gamlings.

I did have a stab at free handing the horse motif on the standard but soon chickened out.

Maybe one day!

The horse ic coloured with Dark Flesh rather than Mornfang Brown.

This meant that the leatherwork had to be shifted up to Mechrite Red.

 The banner edging too, I altered from Mechrite Red to Khorne Red.

The splintered shield is a spare from the recent Morannon Orcs.

The highlighting on the horse ended up with Vomit Brown.

Again I've varnished though I've left the banner in case I do ever have the nerve to try for a kinky horse.

Gamling mounted with Royal Standard

I've two of these models, bought from Ebay, I guess, and, for several reasons, they are a bit beyond my ability to make them look good.

This is the first of the two and I've plucked up the courage needed to try for some sort of horsey design* on the kinky green flag.

It's still a bit ragged round the edges but I've got to the point where every attempt to improve it only makes things worse.

The other area I'm a total failure at is the detail required on his armour.

Note though, that as usual, I'm showing a view from the other side of the model.

There's quite an amount of detail there and it's damn near impossible to find an image showing it - until now!

* At the ever ready advice from John, at the siege equipment workshop, I used a simplified design for the banner.

It's similar to the one he mailed me, though his actually looks like a horse!

Yes, it's gloss varnished and I am aware the spear point is missing.

Second Mordor Catapult

 This really is a second catapult, not just the first with an extra helping of muck and rust.

Note that one wheel was damaged on the way from the Black Gate, hence the different colour of the timber.

As these giants launch their payload, the beam swings up and crashes into the cross beam.

This batters the whole contraption forward at an angle so that the blade at the front digs into the ground.

Which is why we have mud and even a sod of grass collected on the front.

Talking of angles, how on earth did they aim the thing?
All I can assume is that they used crowbars to lever the back end, either right or left.

See below for mud, tuft and replaced wheel.

Weapon swap 2

 Here are the other two pairs.

The drills I ordered have not yet arrived so I'll get back to the second catapult next.

Weapon Swap

 Here be they weapon swap Morannon Orcs.

Actually, the first two pairs are not weapon swap, merely suffered an adjustment to be made to their weapon's position.

The fellow on the left is always the new one, the one on the right is the original painted some time back.

 In each case I've tried to make as many changes as I could within the restrictions of 'dark armour and items of red clothing.

In each case I've changed the skin and hair colour and altered any clothing that is not red.

These two pics are genuine weapon swaps.

Simple enough by sawing them both off at the wrist.

I've not used pins.but placed the join using a small amount of plastic cement and when firm used super glue's ability as a gap filler as extra strength.

Too much plastic cement softens the join and leaves it weak.

A back view might give a better idea of the clothing and hair changes.

First Mordor Catapult

 Here's the first catapult off the blocks.

The light brown base coat washed a couple of times in Nuln Oil seems OK, I'm just unsure about the rest of it.

It's very tricky to paint once assembled, especially this one as I've mislaid the small gizmo that keeps the arm in position.

This means the damn thing constantly flaps about and gets between your eye and the brush.

I think the metal needs more rust and grime.

The wheels I did a more conventional way, painting them with Mournfang, a light drybrush with Balor Brown and then a wash with Nuln Oil.

Both rocks are worked up from a base of Mechanised Standard through dry brushes of Dawnstone, Fortress and a light brush of white.

Then the iron bands, tyres and the bucket etc were painted black and then Boltgun.

Mordor Catapults Sprayed

Here are all three catapults with their base spray.

I've used a light brown from Cobra (half the price of GW) with the intention of washing the woodwork in Agrax or Nuln Oil to bring out the grain.

Behind them are the first batch of weapon swap  Morannon Orcs, also sprayed in the light brown as an experiment.

I'll be using Warplock Bronze on some areas rather than an all over covering of Boltgun Metal, as previously.

Both experiments will be interesting. (But shtupid!)

John's catapult 2

The excellent Mordor siege engine workshop known as John Curtis, duly handed over his scratch built Mordor Catapult.

A fine job of work John - many thanks.

I'll endeavour to give it a decent paint job and recruit a likely Troll and team to operate it.

Castle walls, watch out!

 Incidentally, as I understand the rule book, it is suggested that one of these contraptions can be reloaded and fired in the same time as an archer can set an arrow and loose his shot.

Even more ridiculous is that the addition of a Troll doubles this rate of fire.

I've yet to use these in battle but would guess that one shot every eight moves would be more realistic.

I'd also suggest that without a Troll, only scatter shot can be used.

Show me an orc (or three) who can stagger over with a damn great rock and heave it into position in the 'bucket'.

So, John. When do you start on the full sized one?

Catapult Crew 2

Here's the crew for John's scratch built catapult which I hope to get a look at tomorrow morning.

I think they are rather smart.

Perhaps too smart for Orcs?

And too colourful?

Perhaps another coat of Nuln Oil?

I've tried to switch clothing colours around so that they are not too like the first crew.

I originally thought to use Gorbag (minus his Mithril Shirt) with two random orcs but then, what would I use these guys for?