[Archive] JMR's renewed Chaos Dwarf blog - 26 Jun - Altar of Hashut

Archive [Archive] Showcase & Army Blogs
81

JMR:

At last! I got my hands on some plasticard! I’ve immediately continued work on my Doom Harness. Here’s some progress shots.

Please excuse the poor lighting :frowning:







One of my slaves has ruined part of the left wheel (near the boiler) by spilling glue. (Wasn’t my fault, honest.) Rest assured that the slave has been punished accordingly. :hat

On the back I’m working on a slave shovelling coal into a furnace to keep the engine going. I’m considering chaining him to the boiler or something.

Finally, a shot of some chaos-dwarf iconography I’ve added.



Still a lot to do!

I want to attach some sort of dozer blade to the front of the machine. I’m currently figuring out what shape I actually really want. Suggestions are welcome!

82

Admiral:

It’s looking pretty good, but it could be even better if you remove some of the obvious skaven triangular symbols on the wheel. You could also add a little detail to the rear platform and maybe even the rune of Hashut in the form of rivets. I think you should do a V-dozer blade, like this one: http://z4.invisionfree.com/Boot_Camp/ar/t7647.htm

Perhaps it could be studded with spikes, covered by gore and nailing some severed limb and an unfortunate enemy to the blade?

83

Grimstonefire:

It’s very picky I know, but I’d very carefully slice down either side of the arrow points on the detailing at the front to make sharp points. If they are rounded at all they might look a bit like mushrooms.

84

Kera foehunter:

I had a great time watching this project.

Sad that its over so what is your next project??

85

JMR:

It's looking pretty good, but it could be even better if you remove some of the obvious skaven triangular symbols on the wheel. You could also add a little detail to the rear platform and maybe even the rune of Hashut in the form of rivets. I think you should do a V-dozer blade, like this one: http://z4.invisionfree.com/Boot_Camp/ar/t7647.htm

Perhaps it could be studded with spikes, covered by gore and nailing some severed limb and an unfortunate enemy to the blade?

Admiral
I'm absolutely going to remove all skaven icons! Adding rivets is also on the list of things to do.
I'm at the moment building a dozer in the shape you linked. I think that shape is the best option. So, thank you!

Adding gory stuff to the dozer crossed my mind too. I find adding limbs or corpses usually looks too over the top or corny though, so I'll probably stick with some blood stains or something. Either way, that's of later concern for now. Still plenty of other things to figure out :D
It's very picky I know, but I'd very carefully slice down either side of the arrow points on the detailing at the front to make sharp points.  If they are rounded at all they might look a bit like mushrooms.

Grimstonefire
Good spot! I did that bit when it was getting kinda late and I was getting tired and I also did it with a different technique than I usually use. Conclusion: it didn't come out too well. I think I might redo it using plasticard. Should be easy enough.
I had a great time watching this project.
Sad that its over  so what is your next project??

Kera Foehunter
This project isn't nearly over! Not at all! Everything you've seen is still very much WIP.
86

vulcanologist:

This looks great! I especially like the gobbo on the front! Was it a major job cutting the plasticard to shape for the wheels?

87

JMR:

Huh? That’s not the front xD That’s the back!

The icon in the wheels actually wasn’t that much work. I had already made it once in wood though, so I guess that helped a bit. But all in all, no, didn’t take that much effort.

This is the first time I’ve worked with plasticard, by the way. It’s actually pretty easy to work with. You just score it with a sharp knife a few times and you can snap it off. Being able to work with this stuff opens a lot of doors. Just look at the Astragoth-robot Grim built a while ago or all the stuff Nicodemus built. The possibilities are endless when you are good with plasticard. (Which I’m not!)

88

vulcanologist:

Just testing! :wink: no really it looks really cool! Really original idea and very well executed too!

89

cornixt:

It still looks too much like the original Skaven machine for me.

90

JMR:

Another few progress shots.







The dozer blade took me surprisingly long to make, especially the pistons. It’s blue-tacked on, so it’s pretty much touching the ground. It’ll be tilted a little bit so that it doesn’t touch the ground when it gets attached for real.

It’s funny with projects like this. For every step I take, new questions pop up. I now need to figure out what I’m going to do with the skaven lightning generator thingies on the sides, for example. I’ll probably just cut them off almost completely.

It still looks too much like the original Skaven machine for me.

cornixt
Myeah. It’ll always be a dude driving a mono-wheel contraption. So on a very basic level, it’ll always be similar to a Doomwheel. I like the idea of a mono-wheel contraption though. Just need to make it look like it’s made by Chaos Dwarves :slight_smile:

91

Admiral:

You’re welcome. :wink:

That’s starting to look brilliant! You could maybe add a bull’s head to the ring hub on the side to chaosify it? And perhaps add some runes or symbols to the dozer blades, as well as rivets or spikes? A chimney or two with chaotic details, belching smoke or not, would perhaps bring the monowheel closer to the Chaos Dwarfs?

As for the likeness to the Skaven Doomwheel - which is certainly seen in the plank wheel - you can always claim that out on a campaign, one of your Hellsmiths salvaged useful scrap after a battle with the ratmen, and built a fearsome warmachine around the inferior Skryre Doomwheel chassis. You take what you have got.

92

JMR:

I’ve just finished a 1500 point battle vs. Furrie. Both of us took lists to try stuff out.

Furrie’s list:

  • 39 Deamonettes + Herald
  • 6 Flamers + Tzeentch Herald
  • 6 Screamers
  • 1 Fiend
  • 1 Fiend

My list:
  • 50 Spearhobs
  • 20 Extra-hand weapon Hobs
  • 27 GW Dwarfs + Pyrophant
  • 1 Bull Centaur BSB
  • 1 Arcane Artillery
  • 10 BowHobs


I was very curious about the Doom Harness. I didn’t really have a plan while making this army.

I won’t type out the entire battle, but I’ll pick out some highlights.

In general, I hung back while Furrie advanced towards me. His Seekers vanguarded close to my battle-line. Furrie got first turn and moved up.

I pivoted my Doom Harness to face his Seekers, rolled for movement… double 6! Curses! That means I lose my Harness at turn one! Luckily, it reached the Seekers. It got to do 3D6 S6 hits instead of 2D6, because it rolled a double for movement. And lo and behold… I roll 3 sixes for the number of hits!! So, the game had only barely started and I already exploded 2 units - the Doom Harness and his Seekers. Crazy.

Turn 1 and 2 saw Furrie attempting to cast Dwellers while having Throne of Vines up, but failing both times. In my turn 3 I get my Bull Centaur Elder in combat with his Flamers + Tzeentch Herald. My Bull Centaur Elder is pretty much invulnerable with a 2+ ward save vs. Fire and he finally managed to destroy the unit in the final turn.

I manage to destroy his Fiends with my Bull Centaur Elder and my BowHobgoblins. Furrie’s horde of Deamonettes doesn’t manage to reach combat due to a failed charge in turn 2 and a Flame Cage preventing a charge in turn 3.

In turn 4, I cast a 3D6 fireball at his unit of 6 Screamers that are threatening my entire line, including Artillery. I manage to Miscast in the worst possible way and get to place a S10 large template on half my Chaos Dwarf unit and the nearby BowHobgoblins (but hey, who cares about Hobgoblins?). Not very healthy. I also manage to get my Pyrophant sucked into the realm of chaos in the process. Luckily, my 3D6 Fireball is enough to knock out all 6 Screamers.

This leaves Furrie with his horde of 35ish Deamonettes to finally reach combat with my Chaos Dwarves. My Dwarves lose the combat, but thankfully hold (no general left at the time). This allows me to flank and even rear-charge with my two remaining Hobgoblin units, sealing the battle.

Result: His army is wiped out. About a quarter to half of mine is gone too, mostly by my own hand.

Conclusions: Being able to pick off “chaff” with things such as Hobgoblins with bow, a lone Bull Centaur Elder and Fireballs is nice. Flame Cage can really save your ass, especially if your opponent heavily relies on one particular unit reaching combat. The battle probably would’ve been different if Furrie managed to cast Dweller’s Below once or twice. Then again, me miscasting and the Doom Harness crashing also had a large impact on the battle. Random chance can really be a big factor.
I’m still curious about what a Doom Harness can do if it doesn’t crash on turn one…

93

Thommy H:

Haha, my book is so broken. Why were his Seekers deployed that close to the Doom Harness? It kills almost anything it touches! What scenario were you playing that had enemy units deployed within 12" of each other?

94

JMR:

Ah, you’re right. I didn’t get first turn. My bad. He Vanguarded 12" and then moved another 5" or so.

My first 5 dice all rolling sixes was crazy though. What are the odds? :hat off

95

Thommy H:

1 in 7,776.

This message was automatically appended because it was too short.

96

JMR:

I’ll let you know how the thing performs in the other 7775 battles, then :wink:

97

Thommy H:

Haha. Did Furrie have a chance to read up on the Doom Harness before the battle? Because there’s almost nothing his Seekers could have done to stop it - it eats light cavalry for a mid-morning snack. On average, it would have annihilated that unit in two turns anyway. If they’d engaged it, half would have been dead before they even had chance to strike back, then it’d mow through them in the next turn, probably killing the rest. You have to kill it with shooting or magic, or hope it destroys itself without causing even more havoc - as it did this time…

98

JMR:

Haha. Did Furrie have a chance to read up on the Doom Harness before the battle? (...) You have to kill it with shooting or magic, or hope it destroys itself without causing even more havoc - as it did this time...

Thommy H
I explained the rules to him before the battle. I can't really comment much on his tactics, although I don't think either of us expected that the Doom Harness would move 12".
The second part of your quote is very much so true. Don't tell Furrie though ;)

-

I've worked on my Doom Harness again as well as nearly-completed my Palanquin bearers, but I forgot to take pictures of them.
For the Doom Harness, I've kinda reached the point where I just want the damn thing done with now. Quality may suffer from it, but it needs to be done at some point. It's amazing how much time it costs to do small stuff, such as adding rivets or doing "just a minor touch-up" with green-stuff.

Here's where I'm at now:


I'm toying with the idea of adding chains and/or rivets to the big hashut emblem in the wheels. Comments or suggestions for this would be welcome.

The front of the dozer blade:


Toyed with the idea of adding half a chaos star here, as you can see from my drawing. I might do something along those lines with free-hand painting.
It took me forever to find suitable spikes/blades to put on the dozerblade. I still want to add some smaller spikey bits to the top of the blade, but I'm not sure what to use.



The back of the machine is mostly finished (I think), just need to add some coals. I'd like to have smoke coming out of the pipe. Guess I need to look into how I can best create a smoke effect.

I've also been trying to get rid of the wood grain on the wheels without destroying the rivets, because I really, really don't want to have to add rivets to all those wheel parts. The machine's right wheel has received more attention than the left one. The left one only got a small treatment of liquid greenstuff, which doesn't really cut it.

Comments are most welcome!
99

The Odor:

JMR: I did some smoke a few weeks ago and I took some rough cotton (almost wool) and dosed it in spray adhesive and then you can shape it with your fingers. A bit tricky and messy but the best way that I have found. If you feel generous you can buy one of these: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat670009a&prodId=prod1330001a and take the fire out of his hand and try to do something with it.

100

Thommy H:

Looks awesome! What parts is the Hobbo on the back made from?