16) Achievement Unlocked: Squirmin Vermin

For the Tunnel Buddies, I used a red scheme, and I am very pleased with the result, but they still need one thing to make them complete.

A nice, classic, hand painted banner. Fortunately, my vintage metal GW Doom Wheel model came with the original box, and the box has a black and white banner pattern printed on the back. GW used to do this back in the day, so that hobbyists could trace or photocopy the line work onto a piece of paper to hand color with paints. Unfortunately, this is a practice of a bygone era, as miniature companies nowadays mold banners out of plastic, instead.

I'll post some updated photos once the banner is completed, but I really needed to move onto the Brood Mother ASAP, because I wanted to use both units for Sunday's game, so I could learn how they work on the tabletop. For now, the Tunnel Buddies are bannerless, as I was working on the Brood Mother instead this week.

I've spoken fondly of the Doom Wheel miniature in the past, and how my original one was the crown jewel of my miniature collection many years ago. One thing that I did with this new build, which I am very pleased with, was that I flipped the wheels around. You see, the contraption is driven by rats running in the wheels. If assembled as directed, you can't see the little rats running in the wheels, because they are obscured by the spokes. By flipping the wheels around, the rats can now be clearly seen, and their hard work can be appreciated by all. I didn't put the scythe/trident/lightning rod/steampunk nonsense on the hubs this time, simply because I had to fit three models on one base, and it was already a tight fit. Instead, I capped each wheel hub with the same fancy upholstery tacks that the red warrior horde has for shields. Little details like this help tie the different units together.

The more modern Mantic Tunnel Runner models flanking the old school wheel received very minor conversions to better match its aesthetic. I added pieces of popscicle sticks to them to represent wooden planks. This makes them a little less sci-fi and a little more fantasy.

Overall, this is a pretty intimidating unit. If I was a trooper in an infantry regiment, I sure wouldn't want to get run over by hamster wheels the size of monster trucks. On paper, this unit hits very hard. It is the closest thing to heavy cavalry that the Ratkin have available.

Last Sunday was Father's day. We had dinner with my parents. My mom made enchiladas, and they were wonderful. My Father's day present from my kid was a nice set of citadel model paints. These are very nice, very expensive paints.

I put them to good use this week, painting the Broodmother.

The Broodmother miniature is very special, because it is a 3d printed "Rat King" model that I found on the internet. The miniature has seven heads. One in the middle, and three on each side of it. I painted the central head like my dear old rat Tiamat, and the six smaller ones to look like each of her six babies that she had a week after we adopted her. That rat family is long gone, but they lived very happy, very spoiled lives with us. We were originally going to adopt out those babies, but I didn't want to break up their little family, so the five girls stayed with Tia, and the one boy moved in with his father. Those little rats were so special to me, because I knew them from the day they were born. I think it was the event that made me a true "Rat Dad", because I raised, socialized, and trained those rats, myself. I held them when they were tiny fuzzy blind little helpless babies, and I held them when they died, one by one, elderly and frail, years later. This miniature makes for a lovely tribute to my little rat family.

I used a blue scheme for Brood Mama Tiamat, because she then balances out the red I used for Scud Light, when the troops and characters are arrayed on the tabletop.