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WIP: The Deff Weava'z (Photo Heavy)

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13 Jun 2022 22:03 - 13 Jun 2022 22:28 #333669 by Virabhadra


"The unnatural chambers and corridors of the Silver Tower are lair to myriad monstrous beings. Around any jagged corner or winding crystal stair, the Gaunt Summoner's captives might encounter terrifying enemies the likes of which they have never seen. Tzeentch delights in endless variety, and so the denizens of the Silver Tower are as uncountable and diverse as the scintillating grains of sand upon all the shores of the Mortal Realms. So vast is their number that the Gaunt Summoner has forgotten many altogether, leaving them to wander the tower at will. Any attempt to comprehend the profusion of strange creatures said to infest the Silver Tower would drive a mortal mind to madness." (Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower Guidebook, p.32)

"Not all the denizens of the tower are there by the Summoner's will. Green-skinned invaders proliferate in the dark, sprouting like fungus and spinning their webs to ensnare the unwary that they might be devoured. Magical beings there are too, capricious manifestations of the tower itself. These freakish creatures serve no master but the Silver Tower, and help or hinder as the whim takes them." (WQ: ST Guidebook, p.33)

"Grot Scuttlings infest the Silver Tower's dark depths. They are wily and tribal, half-arachnid beings whose poisons and webs are the bane of the unwary. Though individually weak and cowardly, when massed in great swarms the Scuttlings can overwhelm even the greatest of warriors, before dragging their venom-bloated corpses away to dangle in their carrion webs." (Age of Sigmar Grot Scuttlings Warscroll)

"Those little critters were really fun to make. Goblins are a classic dungeon minion, as are spiders, so we decided to combine them together. The story goes that these grots started eating a weird fungus that grew on giant spiders, which, over time, caused them to mutate. It just goes to show that you are what you eat!" (Architects of Fate, WQ: Silver Tower design interview)

For a good, long time, the only Age of Sigmar models I owned were the set from Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower line. I have the original box, Shadows over Hammerhal, and Cursed City, as well as the Hero Cards and Chaos Adversary sets. It has been a great approach to the hobby for me, as I like having ability to hobby with a wide variety of miniatures. When I learned about WarCry recently - a low model-count skirmish game that catered to someone with just my kind of hodgepodge model collection - I was ecstatic.

I've always loved goblins, in every medium, and Silver Tower's Grot Scuttlings are no exception. I've accepted that a proper AoS 2000-point Scuttling army is out of the question (for someone in my financial situation, at least), but here was an opportunity to make a complete warband using models I basically already had. I was clipping sprues a little while back and some Sneaky Snuffler bits landed next to one of my already-assembled Scuttlings; the idea kind of grew from there...

What I've quoted above is essentially all of the canon information that exists regarding these guys, so I don't think my warband's fluff conflicts with the official lore. In a nutshell, these are Moonclan Grots who wandered into an unthinkably deep cave and eventually discovered themselves roaming the byways of a Silver Tower.

It is unclear whether these Grots found the metamorphic mushrooms growing atop typical deep cave spiders or if the species was unique to the Silver Tower; either way, there's a distinctly Tzeentchian whimsy to the Scuttlings' mutations. Their ongoing consumption of the spider-shrooms makes them ever more sensitive to the skeins of fate and radically boosts their natural affinity with these arachnids. (Hence, "weavers" of both webs and the arcane.)

While there is no mention of Scuttlings ever making their way out of the labyrinthine Silver Tower, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine just such a situation:

"Before the champions a dank cavern spread out, weird fungal growths glowing softly amidst the gloom... Small and twisted figures scuttled in the dark, skittering along ceilings and flitting between shadows. Moment by moment the tensions swelled, the muffled cackles and frantic shushing less restrained, until the champions felt they could endure no more. It was then, with a great shriek, that the Scuttlings sprang their ambush. Vile nets of sticky strands splattered down from above, ensnaring the champions as the Grots burst from hiding to attack." (WQ: ST Adventure Book, p.14) "Without warning, one of the champions set foot upon a flagstone that sank ominously into the floor. A terrible roar arose, and the Grots cried out in alarm as the ground fell away beneath their feet. Revealed below was a thundering whirlpool of shadow and smoke, a hungry maelstrom of darkness that swallowed them up without a trace." (WQ: STAB, p.23)

But this was not the end, for that terrible vortex was in truth a portal. It was a gloaming gateway, a passage through the ether, and as they were spat unceremoniously from its Stygian depths, Kaklin Snotpokkitz and his coterie of mutates found themselves in a no less strange and altogether more dangerous snarl of arcane passageways: the Eightpoints.














Aside from painting a squad of Dire Avengers about 10 years ago, I have minimal experience with "the hobby." Kitbashing some of these pieces was equal parts nerve-wracking and exhilarating because I didn't have a reference - I just kind of kept cutting until things looked right. I still have plenty of spots to clean up and smooth over with Liquid Green Stuff and I'm inexperienced enough that pretty much any C&C would be helpful at this stage. Thoughts?

A handful of design considerations:

- Rule of cool.

- Roughly 20 models - a full warband roster, give or take a monster and some thralls. I still have a handful of regular ol' Scuttlings to assemble and I don't know how many stabbas / shootas I'll eventually decide to use. I'd like to be able to make playable lists!

- Each grot model combines two of the following: A) four eyes, B) four legs, or C) two goblin arms and two spider claws. I gave them all three where I had room and used heads with hoods where I felt the conversion would be too difficult.

- The Spiderfang models in the AoS range (the Webspinner Shaman and Spider Riders) are cool in their own right, but I didn't use them for two reasons. First, they are festooned with bones and feathers that clearly distinguish them as forest goblins, whereas My Dudes are supposed to be Moonclan grots. Second, the Spider Rider mounts are cut sheer where the rider is supposed is supposed to sit and I don't have the chops to freehand epoxy new midsections for them.

- The metal spiders all came from older edition of Warhammer. They "count as" Squigs. I love how much personality they have. The tiny spider leashed to the Snuffler is a C29 / Creepy Crawlie, one of Citadel's oldest miniature lines.

- My brain hurts trying to come up with a way to hang the Squiq Hopper upside down over a 32mm base. I guess I could have the spider climbing on the underside of a giant mushroom, but I don't know how I'm going to find a mushroom the right size online.

- The spider on top of the massed pile of webs counts as my Netta. It will be much easier to distinguish when the webs are all painted.

- That Bounder Boss's spider appears to be descending gently IN DEFIANCE OF GOD'S WILL. I have no idea how I managed to get that to stay.

- I will lavish the Arachnarok spider with all sorts of little mushrooms when I can find more to glue to him.

- I'll use the Oldhammer tarantula as a thrall of some kind, maybe as a Fellwater Troggoth. Haven't thought too hard about it.

- I don't have a great reason for converting the fanatic, they don't even have stats. See rule #1. Like the grot hanging upside down, it just makes me smile. I think one of Zarbag's Gits might have rules I could use?

- Many of the Grots have kept their given names, but those stirred most profoundly by the Silver Tower's currents of Tzeentchian energy have co-opted Arcanite names (the ones they are able to pronounce) to reflect their new identities.

- Haven't even thought about paint schemes. I like the blue-green skin the Grots have on their WarCry box artwork as opposed to a traditional green skin, and I think the cobalt tarantula looks cool. Somewhere down the line...

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Any input appreciated.
Last edit: 13 Jun 2022 22:28 by Virabhadra.
The following user(s) said Thank You: drewcula, birdman37, charlest, Nodens, Ah_Pook

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