Citadel Skull chucker Painted

Long time readers might remember that I picked up the Skull Chucker at RECON in 2023? Back when I was just starting to collect Oldhammer minis?

The Skull Chucker came in MD8, Machinery of Destruction,  Undead War Machines. The set also included a skeletal chariot, and came with it's own backstory (you can find it on Stuff of Legends).

It might have taken a while get around to it, but Dark Shadows has given me the impetus to get it done. I need three war machines, since, following Boðvoc's introductory scenario, I'm defending the shores of Albion against the marauding dwarves. 

Machinery of Destruction,  the Skull Chucker

Painting the Skull Chucker 

After stripping and re assembly, painting was straightforward.  I used the same method that I use on ordinary skeletons.  

I'm not sure it's quite as effective on such large bones, but it certainly fits in with the rest of my undead. 

I added some thread, which doesn't quite look right now I've painted it; a combination of colour choice and it not matching the sculpted rope detail on the catapult arms. At least I can repaint it at some later date. Perhaps I should have completely covered the existing detail?

The catapult with it's ammo

From the side

Rear view - skulls go here!

The Crew

These were painted the same way as all my skeletons.  The minis are nice, with little details like the shackles on some of the crews' ankles. 

Presumably the big bone is some something to do with a winding mechanism, and the pile of skulls is fun.

The Skeleton Crew

The crew again

Rear view

While I'm not completely happy with the painting, especially the actual Skull Chucker, I'm delighted to actually own this Oldhammer gem and it's great to get it finished.  It was a lot of fun to do.

What's Next?

At some point I'd like to make a base and magnetise everything, but that's not immediately necessary. 

I need two more War machines in our next game; they're already finished, just waiting for their post to be finished.  They are quite different from the Skull Chucker, so they'll get their own post. 

Undead aside, I'm continuing with the Scrapjacks, and I have a few bits of other stuff in progress,  such as some more Rangers. 

More Morley

Following on from the last post, I should mention these two skeletal musicians. 

These are from the Skeleton Command set (4514/2 and 4514/3), all sculpted by Gary Morley. Like the zombies, they were released for 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles, so Middlehammer rather than Oldhammer by most folks' reckoning, but I like them, so that's all that matters really.

Two Skeleton Musicians

These were a kind gift from good friend T'Other One, who has a huge collection of undead of all kinds. (Check out his blog, appropriately called Vault of the Undead). Luckily for me, these were surplus, and I eagerly snapped them up. 

Many thanks, these chaps will be joining my growing undead horde. I'm short of one skeleton for my Necromancer's personal guard; the more ornately equipped one will be just right. The other chap will work nicely among my growing horde.

Recent Purchases and a Find

More Zombies

When I painted the most recent batch of Zombies I was impressed by the Gary Morley minis.  

These were produced for fourth edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle (1992). They might not be quite the Oldhammer aesthetic, but they are nice minis nevertheless, so I kept an eye out for any more. 

While browsing evilbay I found some at a reasonable price, so I've three more to add to the collection, a command set, and what I originally thought was one of the ordinary zombies.

Three zombies and a 'bot

The chap on the left isn't actually a Gary Morley sculpt. In fact it's not even Citadel.  I finally IDed it as one of the Marauder Skeletons (MM 50 06/B) sculpted by Aly Morrison. It might technically be a skeleton, but it sure looks like a zombie to me; in fact several of the MM50 skeletons would do as zombies (check them out on Lost Minis Wiki)  

It fits in well with the GW look of the time, and it's nice to have another 'martial' zombie.

The two members of the Zombie Command will go nicely with the recent mob, though the standard bearer could paint up as a skeleton, having less flesh on it than the Marauder 'skeleton'.

They're currently all sitting in the Dettol bath and will get added to the painting queue soon.

'bot for Scrapjacks?

And finally, a robot.  I found this clanker while clearing through a box of stuff. It one of a handful that I bought back in the 1980s.  It's actually a cake decoration,  and originally had flexible arms and pincer claws.  I bought a few to use in Rogue Trader games,  though never got beyond removing the arms.

I'm showing it here because I think it would be ideal as a maintenance bot in Scrapjacks.  Sadly,  only one isn't really enough.  I do have more,  somewhere,  but probably not another five.  And I do wish now that I hadn't removed those pincer arms.

I may paint it up anyway, it should be fun. I might find something suitable to replace the missing arms.

What's Next?

I'm busy painting stuff (as well as rehearsing), Scrapjacks and things for the next Dark Shadows game. 

Edit 

A Google search shows the following information about the little robot.