Just Deserts

 The Tomb Kings fill out their menagerie!

My Old World army continues to plod along with all the haste of an immortal soul, but I still have hopes of completing it this year.

Moving into the Special and Rare options, I couldn't face any more skeletons, so it was time to paint some beasties!

The first up is the Tomb Scorpion, which is not a sculpt I was overly impressed with. But it won me over with its Ambush ability (I'll take anything that can leap out of the sands), and some residual memory of the monsters from Clash of the Titans.

A trio of Carrion birds (I guess you can't copyright 'vulture') are up next. This funky trio add some badly-needed speed to the Tomb Kings army although, as I discovered, they can't actually do much when they reach the enemy.

They look great though, being classic Trish Morrison/Cardy sculpts. I understand there were originally only two versions, but GW managed to find a third one (or just work out a new way to slap the wings together).

Working with all of these metal/resin models made me realise how spoiled I've been with plastic miniatures. I really didn't enjoy the superglue-and-pinning routine they needed, although my RSI was spared with the purchase of a Wowstick (an automatic pin drill - yes, it's called that).

Tomb Swarms were something I never really considered (although I've been won over by their efficacy in my last battle), and I didn't like what the official models had to offer. 

Fortunately, many of the Tomb Kings kits come with random bugs as extra that are clearly meant to be bits of tomb swarms (hats off to GW - they're not always so generous). And so I found some spare bases and set to converting.

I also had random bits left over from the Sepulchral Stalkers, that looked suitably rubble-like. Added to that were snakes from a lizardman set, flying bugs from that Age of Sigmar Drycha, and the obligatory skulls.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to cover 'Johann the Fleeing Man' with scarbs (my own homage to Omid Djalili).

I had a number of locust-type bugs, and so used a whirlwind piece of terrain (originally intended for my MCP Storm) to give them a sandstorm to fly around in.

All in all, it was a cracking little hobby project. I only intended to make four bases, and ended up with six!

Last, but certainly not least, was the Khemrian Warsphinx. My understanding that the other version of the kit, the Necrosphinx, is the superior option, but I wasn't going to turn away from a sphinx with a howdah of skeletons on its back.

Painting him was straightforward (as was most of the army),but I'm starting to feel the fatigue of an entire horde of bone/beige/bronze and gold. One more push, and I can lay this one to its eternal rest.