Charioty Begins At Home

So many chariots popping up on this blog, it's starting to look like Joe's Used War Machines Yard...

High quality maiming at low, low prices!

I've been dallying with the idea of a Savage Orc Boar Chariot ever since I made that fateful decision to beef up my original army. Online opinion seems to be divided at such a thought: the majority seem to think that complex war machines (such as the Wheel) are unsuitable for stone-age savages. Whereas I think chariots represent an appropriate level of tech for a pre-iron age tribe.

And should I cast my mind back to my War (What Is it Good For) Studies (Absolutely Nuthin') BA degree, I would say that chariots appeared as tools of warfare long before cavalry did. So if you can have Savage Boar Boyz, you can damn well have Savage Boar Chariots.

(So there you have it: three years of university education to produce the same level of understanding as Civilisation III)

The basic chassis is the plastic Boar Chariot, although I did away with the crew and converted some metal Savages to ride shotgun. As I wanted them to make a splash, I chose to convert Boss models. They had their clubs removed and replaced with the old, brutal-style Boar Boyz spears.

In terms of accessories, the Big Boss model got the plastic jawbone (partly to disguise the fact that I'm using the same piece as an actual Big Boss, and also because it was too in-character savage to pass by), and his left hand was crying out for a whip to be added.

Don't tell me that you're not humming the tune to 'Rawhide' right now.

When I had finished converting, I liked the models too much to have them share the same chariot, so I went out and got another one.

Keep rollin', rollin', rollin'...

I added various things to 'savage' up the chariots, and make them distinct from each other (I don't see orcs as being assembly-line folk). Using the new Savage Orcs Boar Boyz sprue, I added shields and a new banner. The sheepskull yoke of the chariot is a pair of drums that were split. A few additional plastic skulls for character and  the most obvious metal fastenings covered up with greenstuff (as draped-over furs) or fuse wire (for twine attaching the flint scythes).

The last big addition were the boars themselves: I liked the look of the new models (despite GW's best attempt to put me off with their 'Pigs In Space' paint job), and so used the ones from the Boar Boyz box set (my reason for buying it, although the other bitz have come in handy) to try out in front of the chariots.

And I think they look great: they're big, muscular and snarling. There's some real energy in the way they're leaping forward and - as the clinching argument - when Mrs Stylus saw the original boars on the chariot she asked "Why is it being pulled by dormice?"

Squeak squeak

The drawback is, that as these new boars are so bloody big, there had to be a few sacrifices with the chariot set-up: the harness has gone, so has the stabilising. bar. I've tried to compensate by adding a belly-belt around each boar (just masking tape that I'll paint as leather) and some greenstuff as animal fur 'padding' to the yoke, so there's some plausibility to how the cart gets pulled. Essentially, I'm banking on the fact that orc chariots are supposed to be a bit ramshackle.

The skull on the right is his SatNav.

The other drawback: now I've added some of the new boar models, there's no way I can field any of the old ones for my Boar Boyz...

10 painting days until the WoofBoot, and the army's still not finished. I should really get at least one character done really. I hear they're important...