Dwarven Artillery Review!

Hi!

As I am now the proud owner of quite a few dwarf pieces I thought it would be a plan to review some of them so am starting with the artillery!

Dwarven Great Gun

The model comes in two pieces, the main body of the cannon and the dragon headed maw. As per usual with Grendel models there seem to be few, if any mould lines and no air bubbles. The cannons detailing is fantastic from its mighty sculpted dragon head to the runes placed around its length.

The Mighty Cannon

This is a model I am really looking forward to painting as it will look fantastic once its completed! For those players of Fantasy Battle this would make an excellent siege cannon for the dwarves as its far better, not to mention BIGGER than any other cannon out there! My only complaint about the kit is the lack of crew figures. I think I will have some real difficulty finding crew for the kit as no one produces an artillery crew by itself and I dont want to have to make do with GW plastics. I may well have to make do with performing some conversion work on some existing dwarves!

The Good Stuff:

Its HUGE!
The model is really nicely sculpted and really matches the concept art from the book.
The intimidation factor for ones opponents would be great (especially if you plan on fielding a battery of them!

The Bad Stuff:

It may be a bit too big for some people!
The lack of crew is very annoying!

All in all though the great gun is a fantastic piece of kit and well worth the money (It's only £5.99!)

Dwarven Mortar

This is another nice kit, its pretty huge and has a ton of complicated looking cogs and gears to allow it to swivel and turn in a pleasingly steam punkish sort of way, there are lots of nice details ranging from the runic script on the turntable to the crewman having a telescope perched next to him! Again the model is fairly free of defects and bubbles. The kit comes in two pieces, the turntable and the mortar itself.

A Mighty Mortar

The model is described as being a dwarven mortar and while everything seems to fit this description, the crew model lets it down as it looks far too human proportioned to fit as a dwarf. I plan on enclosing the position so its not too much of a problem but its a shame that so many nice details are having to be covered (for example the crewman is cranking the turntable and the already mentioned telescope)

The Good Stuff:

Its a nice big mortar position and is very original looking.
Lots of detail that will paint up nicely.

The Bad Stuff:

Only one crewman and he's not even a dwarf!

Again its real value for money and will paint up really nicely but the not dwarf crewman is a real shame! I could actually see this model as a dwarf made machine being fielded by a human (and possibly evil) force.

The VORTEX SPELL EATING MACHINE

This is a very nice piece of kit and possibly one of the most unusual looking contraptions available to the dwarves! It comes in five pieces, three legs, the base unit with main machine and the dragon skull on top. The kit I got is second hand and a bit dusty with a few bits of loose resin needing cleaned out of the crevices but is otherwise free of defects.

The model is absolutely packed with details ranging from arcane dwarven technology to odd jewels and even a very portly dwarf crewman peering through a viewing device and lots of intricately sculpted detailing. The whole machine looks a bit Flash Gordon to be which is a plus!

The Machines Front

Rear View With Crew

The Good Stuff:

The model looks amazing and totally original!
Its got a crewman who looks like a dwarf!
Will paint up amazingly!

The Bad Stuff

Not currently covered by the Leviathan rules.

If I wasn't painting goblins at the moment I suspect I would be painting this model as its fantastic! I suspect with its combination of technology, magic and engineering it would make for a really challenging project to paint it. Although it doesn't currently have rules in Leviathan I am working on a fan supplement which covers magic and a ton of new units for each faction so hope to be able to use the machine as part of my dwarven army at some point!

If and when I get round to painting it I suspect I will try and use some magnets with the kit which will allow it to turn to fire rather than being a static piece!

All the best!

Leviathan Repaint Part 13!

Hi!

Well heres the finished lesser goblin wartower!


The Wartower!

I added the banner poles with a crows nest to identify it as a command element and the addition of a plastic gargoyle from my bits box and a couple of old Citadel snotlings to make it stand out a bit more. As a side effect the crows news will allow the lesser goblin crew to attack even a titanosaurs howdah in close combat!


Spotters!

I decided to keep away from an overly bright banner (I had originally decided to do a bright yellow and green pattern) as I felt the somewhat grubby brown better suited the lesser goblins. The pattern is based on the simple stickmen imagery from the concept art and features several small figures (presumably lesser goblins) and a larger horned and clawed figure of Gorath!


Another Shot

Well now that the lesser goblin wartower is done I suppose I need to look at getting some more of my stuff painted and judging by the poll which I have been running over the last month or so people want to see goblin infantry and a Gorathosaur. As my Gorathosaurs are still in Worcester I will have to settle for some goblin infantry for the time being. Hopefully I will be able to add a couple of pics of my goblin archer unit over the course of the weekend (Its going to be a nice change from painting really big resin models!)

All the best!

Leviathan Repaint Part 12

Hurrah!

The painting is almost complete now with only a few small bits to complete him, namely the three lesser goblins occupying the crows nest and the banners! Im hopeful of completing the best by tomorrow which will leave me with the finishing touch of adding a plasticard base.


The Completed Howdah!


The Revolting Crew!

Ive taken a pic of the lesser goblin wartower next to the centipede to give an impression of the scale too:


Beasties!

I will try to get an updated image of the completed project posted some time tomorrow!

All the best!

Leviathan Repaint Part 10

Hi!

Well Ive finally got the warbeast finished!


Warbeast Side View


Another View of the Beast!


Rear View!

I managed to drop him which broke off several spikes but a quick application of superglue seems to have sorted it (after a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth!)

Next up its the howdah!

All the best!

Leviathan Repaint Part 9!

Hi!

Well the Durham wargames show was quite a success! I managed to pick up a few more goblins and more importantly some orc crew for my warbeasts!

Many thanks to Andy (aka Manic-miner on the Scotia-Grendel forum) for trading me a horde of leviathan goodies! I now have a very respectable number of dwarven vehicles to unleash mayhem on the hapless orcs (or more likely the goblin shield!)

The show itself was quite interesting to have a rummage round and special mention goes to the fantastic pirate game being run upstairs there. I wish I had taken my camera as the board was visually stunning!

But without further ado heres a couple of pics of my lesser goblin wartower:


Not Much Progress!


Almost Visible Beady Eyes!

As you can see Ive only managed to finish the head and thats taken me almost an entire week! I blame this on the sunshine and barbeques and not my lazyness. Still I think that the rest of the beast itself should be doable in a single session while the howdah is going to be the most time consuming as its literally packed with detail!

The model itself is really starting to pull together and despite my half hearted attempts to strip the previous paint off it, it doesnt seem to have suffered too badly. The detail is still there and really shows up with the application of a layer of ink. Hopefully by this time next week when I nip off to Newcastle for my hols I will be able to finish him (at least thats the plan!)

All the best!

Leviathan Repaint Part 8

Hi!

Well painting is finally underway! Thus far Ive just undercoated the wartower, stuck on the basecoat of yellow and given it a layer of orange ink to bring out the scales.


Painting In Progress!

After the ink has dried I plan on giving it another was of red ink in some of the recesses to bring some shading into it. After that its time for the black armoured plates!

Hopefully I will be able to get a couple of updates to this post during the course of today!

All the best!

Mid Day Update!

Hi!

Heres the latest pic of my painting process with the black scales having been blocked in and the shading added to the yellow areas:


Black Stuff!

I hope to have the yellow areas highlighted by the end of this evening and then start work on the scales and spikes...

Leviathan Repaint Part 7

Hi!

Well Ive just finished working on the wartower and once the greenstuff has dried will have to set about painting him!


The Constructed Wartower!


Another View!

I decided to simply add some scales to the carnosaurs head rather than going for anything more complex as it would have added yet more time to the project!


A More Complete View!

I have given the unit a twin standard pole to mark it as a command unit and theres a small platform for a lesser goblin to stand on one side and a strange little gargoyle to perch on the other. At present I still need a metal lesser goblin to take the position (I plan on getting hold of a snotling from GW to fill the slot!) but am going to make a start on the painting as I really want to get on with the task!

All the best!

Leviathan Repaint Part 6

Hi!

Well Ive finally got the spikes added to the wartower!


Spiky!

I think I need to add a couple more on the flanks of the carnosaur to make it look a bit better but thus far its going quite well! I am also pondering on giving him an armoured crest like a triceratops to further re-enforce his heavily armoured look (it will allow me to add more spikes and horns on him but we shall see how he looks once the howdah has been added!)


Another Spiky View!


More Spikes!

The next stage as already mentioned is his head but Im still unsure as to what to do with it so I plan on doing a bit of experimenting with him today to see how he develops. The howdah also needs looking at as I have to add banner poles and a crowsnest which isnt too big a job and just maybe I will be able to start painting him tomorrow!

All the best!

Leviathan Repaint Part 5

Hi!

Well Ive almost finished up armouring the wartower and all that needs doing now is the spikes (I plan on using sculpey and making the spines separately and then fastening them on with greenstuff as its cheaper than doing the whole lot with greenstuff)


More Armoured Plates!

Apologies for the pic quality! I am leaning towards a darker colour scheme for the tower as the armour will look better if its toned down from the usual yellow and black. He may yet get some sort of stripe effect but we shall see!

Ive also painted a goblin archer for the game as Ive now got enough bits to form a unit 10 strong to give my orc horde some disposable firepower! I will post a pic once Ive got more of the unit finished!

In other news Ive just bought a pile of the old Chainmail miniatures from Dungeons and Dragons as theres some really quite nice sculpts for everything from orcs to dwarves and even a few elves! I really plan on cracking on with the painting over the holidays but as my maximum speed seems to be about three a day for infantry and a warbeast can take up to a week its just as well Ive got nearly four months off!

Im also selling off some old 40k ork stuff to help fund the project so please feel free to peruse the ebay link!

All the best!

Leviathan Repaint Part 4

Hi!

Ive started adding some armoured scales to the carnosaur and will be adding the spikes that will run down its flanks ending in a clubbed and spiked tail. At present I am unsure whether to give him a naturally armoured head or some sort of metal helmet (suitably adorned with spikes!)


Armoured Plates!

In other news Ive started work on some suitably post apocalyptic fantasy terrain in the form of some mutated trees! I will try and get some WIPs of them as I go but at present they are looking a bit bare!

Hopefully the lesser goblins will be ready to paint by the weekend and after that I may have a go at some goblin infantry!

All the best!