2 More Thunder Chiefs Rough Riders

Two more Rough Riders today, the first is Lemmy "Babyarm" Kilminister. With this biker, I decided to go with a lots-of-heads-and-eyes theme. I started with Biker 2 and the regular Squat Bike Body and small wheels in the back. Instead of using the regular Squat Bike front wheel section, I hit the bits box to create something new.

The front tread used on the bike started out as the rear Robot Tractor Unit from the early 1990s robo-monstrosity, the Blood Slaughterer of Khorne. The skeletal face piece is from the Lizardmen Saurus on Cold Ones sprue, the Musician's Drum, with the feathers cut off. The handlebars were positioned to look like ears or horns, and are made from a Wood Elf bow broken in two. The ropey design at the ends goes well with the ropey designs on the drum bit, and it's always fun to use pieces of the enemy for evil ends.

I set this model up so that the skull face of the drum aligned with the gaze of the bike rider. Then to increase the eye-head design, I took one of the Headlights from the Squat Bike piece and attached it to the top of Trooper Kilminister's head. I have always enjoyed the floating robotic eye look.

Carefully scrutiny of this biker's left side will show the withered little third arm that give him his nickname (the rest of his name derives from the Heavy Metal God he resembles). The Babyarm originally belonged to a Chaos Troll from the 1990s version of the Epic Chaos sprue. Yup, Space Trolls, with Space Clubs. It also came with Space Minotaurs, with Space Axes. And people say Squat Bikers are silly.

Here is Trooper Kilminister from the right side, showing his superfluous arm and robot eye from another perspective. While building this army, I've tried to express the original spirit of Chaos in Warhammer (or it's Melnibonean predecessor), where Mutations and other Gifts from the Chaos Gods may be helpful, harmful, or neutral, in game terms, though they may have quite the impact on one's social life.

From this side, we can also see the Chaos Squat version of the Rough Rider Explosive-tipped Lance-- the Explosive-head Hammer. The hammer comes from one of the Empire White Wolves arms, with the strap made from greenstuff. I also added an extra exhaust vent on top of the pipes in the rear, from one of the Space Marine Backpacks.

To continue with the many heads-and-eyes look of the bike and rider, I added two spears with shrunken heads on them to the base, set at an angle like Tpr Babyarm is knocking them over. They come from some Champion's Back Banner bit, from some evil WFB army that I can't remember, since so many of them love severed heads. The heads are painted the same color as the biker's skin, to remind us that these are Zombie Biker Chaos Squats.

Here is the view from the right side, Trooper Kilminister has exchanged his little bolt pistol for an oversized Lasgun made from a Kroot gun. One constant annoyance about the Squat Bikers is that the bars that their feet rest on never actually fit close to the bike, requiring some epoxy additions or the ability to not be bothered by the gap. I fall into Team Epoxy.

This Rough Rider is Juan "Blanco" Rajapala, made from Squat Biker 3 and the regular Squat Bike bits. I haven't done too much with this one, just added some extra bits here and there. Too make the cycle more exciting, I've used the Robot-Skull Face bit from the Chaos Defiler Weapons sprue, and positioned it so it's speeding over some Imperial defense sandbags. The rider has gained a Roman style crest to his helmet, not from Citadel, but I don't know where it comes from. It kind of makes him look like the line going from the front wheel to the tip of the crest is about as long as the line from the front wheel to rear wheel, providing some triangular symmetry.

From the right side, Trooper Blanco also has an Explosive Hammer strapped on, and his tobacco pipe is visible (another useful extra from the WFB Dwarf sprues). I added another Space Rat to his base, in an action-pose striding across the sandbags. He provided an excuse to add some bright red to the duller colors of the front wheel and sandbag, and his brown fur goes well with the metallic tone of the bike's frame.

Since this is the "John Blanche Squat" I painted him like he is wearing some 20th century denim jeans, as in the self portrait of John Blanche below (from White Dwarf 130-something).