Meet The Mangles

Ahhh... the classic Neighbours family: Joe, Mrs, that hippy, and Bouncer. Bouncer!

You know, after Kylie and Jason, this was probably the show's most popular blonde.

In the quiet hours of painting, and when I'm not reliving 1990s soap opera exports, I've come to the conclusion that the Mangler Squig is one of GW's sharpest marketing moves in recent years...

It's a nice-looking model, it has some killer rules ... but £36 for what is essentially a throwaway exocet missile? Scandalous!

However, the two-squig model separates effortlessly, and with the addition of another 60mm base, you suddenly have two Mangler Squigs, and one in the eye for our Nottingham overlords!

Hence the genius part: GW have got me paying £18 each for two 65pt units, and convinced me that it's a really good idea.

But I can't begrudge them much: I love the look of the models and have been hankering to paint them for a long while. With a little Christmas money to splash around (and the threat of the entire range going down the End Times pooper), I decided to treat myself.

Round bases. I'm way ahead of y'all.

It also represents another first for me. Old leadhead that I am, I've never worked on a resin model before. Much has been written in criticism of Finecast, and my experience was mixed-to positive.

It is as light as plastic, but holds its details like metal. I guess that's the entire point of resin, so it damn well should do.

The cast itself didn't have any major flaws (a relief, after the stories I'd heard), although the legs did not seamlessly attach to the body. The trouble was, I got the impression that they were meant to - muscles and sinews had been sculpted on both sides of the join, but they just didn't match up. This wasn't a problem that couldn't be fixed by green stuff, but I feel that, on older models, they would have anticipated a mismatch and tried to hide the join (along a natural edge - like a collar or sleeve). Here, they just assumed it would all cast perfectly, which is a bit too cocky for its own good.

I don't know if I need to pin all the connections, but I certainly tried where I could. The chains that attach the goblins were just too damn fine to drill a pinhole, but superglue seems to be keeping it place.

On the subject of adhesive, I initially thought that this was a huge flaw in the resin: nothing would make the legs stick on. I then updated my mouldy tube of superglue and it seems to be working fine, so I'll give that the benefit of the doubt.

The worst part of the finecast were these strange solid lumps behind overhanging details (such as fingers or teeth). This wasn't flash or mould lines that could be easily trimmed away, they were actual chunks of the model that would need to be sculpted away, or ignored and painted over.

Anyway, I got through it - and here is the first Mangler - Porcini!

"Quit napping on the job and get this squig under control!"

Should anyone be wondering how effective a Mangler Squig can be, on his first outing, Porcini accounted for a Nurgle Giant, most of a Daemon Prince, two Trolls, 4 Cave Squigs, 2 Squig Herders, 2 Fanatics and a little bit of a Warshrine.

In tonight's episode, the Chaos Marauders learn why it's not a good idea to just walk through a Mangler Squig as if it's not there.

And now we come to Chanterelle. Usually found standing on top of another squig (actually standing on top of the night goblin on top of another squig), this beauty now gets a 60mm base of its very own.

Penny-pinching aside, I would have probably split the bases anyway. One atop the other makes the model look too important, too much of a centrpiece, when it's actually just another piece of random mayhem in the greenskins army. It also reminds me of a two-scoop ice-cream cone that's starting to droop.

I was initially worried that the sculpters might have done something crafty to make splitting them more difficult (made the top squig's leg the same cast as the bottom squig's head, or something), but the two pieces were completely separate - the top one even comes with a peg in its foot that fits perfectly into the hole of a 60mm base - almost as if it was planned...

This handler demonstrates the 'Baloo vs Shere Kahn' fighting style.

I stuck with the same recipe for painting them as I used for the lesser cave squigs. I added another layer of highlight, but I knew I was onto a good thing, so didn't mess around too much. Luckily the details of the model does most of the work for me.

• Skin: Khorne Red base, Agrax Earthshade wash, Blood Red hightlights, Reza Rust highlights
• Teeth, claws: Ushabti Bone base, Agrax Earthshade wash
• Tongues: Mournfang Brown, Agrax Earthshade wash, Tallern Sand highlights
• Eyes: Bilious Green, Green Ink wash
• Chains: Black undercoat, Ironbreaker drybrush, Typhus Corrosion wash, Reza Rush highlights
• Ropes: Balor Brown base, Agrax Earthshade wash
• Fungi: Bronzed Flesh base, Flesh wash, Ushabti Bone highlights, Agrax Earthshade wash, 

The goblins were the same as the Squig Handers (I love that skin tone), albeit more fiddly.

• Skin: Elysian Green base, Drakenhof Nightshade wash, Rotting Flesh highlights
• Eyes: Black undercoat, Blood Red dot
• Teeth and nails: Ushabi Bone, Agrax Earthshade wash
• Robes: Black undercoat, Shadow Grey highlights
• Weapon handles: Tallern Sand base, Brown Ink/Agrax Earthshade wash, Tallern Sand highlights
• Weapon heads: Black undercoat, Ironbreaker drybrush, Typhus Corrosion wash, Reza Rush highlights
• Belts and pouches: Balor Brown base, Agrax Earthshade wash

There seems to be no official way to attach the goblin handlers - the instruction leaflet differs from the website example. But it's meant to be random anyway, and the instructions were intended for a double-decker squig (the goblin hanging off the back, for example, would now be scraping along the ground if glued in his original position).

Although one position was non-negotiable: the goblin getting half-eaten...

"For the love of Gork ... somebody give him a breath mint!"

There is meant to be a fourth handler, prodding the squig from behind, but when I added him to either base, he made it look too cluttered. Not that there's much on the base in the first place (other than a few resin mushrooms and my ongoing experiments with crackle paint), but there is a nice silhouette to the bounding squigs that I didn't want to mess up.

All done ... can everyone say 'Ker-Splat!"?