As I mentioned in my Skull Chucker post, I've finished a couple more war machines, bringing me up to the required three for our Dark Shadows campaign.
In my various job lots of random undead, I found enough crew members from the Grenadier bolt thrower (one with some sort of trigger lever and one with a spare bolt), for two machines, but no actual bolt throwers.
It can't be too difficult to scratch build a couple of bolt throwers?
The Skeleton Crew
Warlords of Erehwon has a standard war machine crew of three, so I'll add a couple of orc skeletons with axe, also from my pile of random skeletons; they might be dwarves, raised to add some lingering knowledge of siege machines to the army?
The crew were painted just like all the other skeletons I've done recently, in fact, I'd already painted one of the loaders a while ago, though I didn't know what it was, so repaired the broken bolt as a spear.
The Scorpions
I had various plans for the bolt throwers; I considered scratch building something from some old Halloween toys; war machines made out of bones, very tempting, but I couldn't come up with a design that worked with my materials.
As a stop gap I thought I'd build and paint a couple of the old Warhammer Bolt Throwers that were available (with different crew) for both Dwarf and Orc armies.
But while hunting through a bits box for an elusive wheel, I found some Scorpion models (the Roman bolt thrower, not the arthropod; though come to think of it, I've got some of those somewhere too). I think these are from Irregular Miniatures, sadly no longer in business, though I've no idea why I ended up with them.
There are enough pieces for three Scorpions, but I've only got the crew for two, and I don't see me needing lots of war machines anyway.
The models aren't the most detailed, but they are fine for what I want. I added some decorative bits from the newer Skeleton Regiment shield sprue, just to tie them in to the undead force.
The scorpions and the crew are all on individual bases. One day I'll make bases for each set of crew and war machine, with magnets and everything. For now though, they'll do.
So that's two bolt throwers for my undead. How will they perform, along with the classic Skull Chucker? Read The Mists Recoil to find out.
What's Next?
I'm well on with the actual 'jacks for Scrapjacks, and I've started on the robots. I'd like to get the game ready for play soon.
I've a few bits that need painting for the next Dark Shadows game (make that at least two units, plus bulking out existing units).
And beyond all that, I need to plan for the next face to face Dungeons and Dragons game in July.
Busy times.
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