Storm Trooper Lammoth, Plasma-Packing Marauder

It has been a shamefully long time since we had a new Hungry Ghost post, and the last one was a bit of an infomercial. But the Hungry Ghosts have moved from Kastle-Khorne-by-the-Sea to the Tower of the North End to Allstone Rock City over the past few months. So busy-busy-busy etc., but dribs and drabs of painting has also occurred.

 So yes, number 9 for the Burnt Scorpions Storm Troopers squadron, Sruïhoth Lammoth. Lammoth is a plasma weapons specialist, finishing off the allotment of special weapons troopers allowed in the squadron.

Lammoth has had a bit of converting. He started life as the eloquently named MM90/5b from the Marauder Chaos Dwarfs series, the model with the separate crossbow.

(http://solegends.com/marauder/mm90cdwf.htm)

The crossbow has been eliminated, replaced with an ornate Plasma Gun. It fits over the arm-stub so no harm was done to the basic Marauder body, leaving Lammoth with a Plasma Gun for a right hand. Those wise in the ways of bits will immediately notice that we have an Epic 40K Imperial Knight Paladin cannon-arm as the base of the weapon. It has an Eldar Fusion Gun tip with a couple of crescent-shaped additions from a Goblin standard (I think).

The plasma-fuel is supplied by a pair of well, fuel canisters also from the Eldar Fusion Gun. Organic-looking cables are attached to the fuel tanks, organic appearance supplied by being Skaven tails.

As it happens, those wriggly cables feed back into Lammoth's arm, leaving some question as to what exactly is fueling the Plasma Gun. One of the little mysteries of Chaos. The protruding appendage on the elbow is part of a Dark Elf Warrior arm.

Lammoth is a bit short even for a Dwarf. Since I decided to leave the WFB big-hats Chaos Dwarfs out of the army, I converted Lammoth to give a nod of the head in that direction. His hat is one of the heads from the Empire Wizards sprues, with the head bits carved out. It has a nice skull on it. This mini was sculpted with a weird bump between his squinty eyes, which was supplemented with some curved horns attached above the eyes (Orc-origin).

 Lammoth was also sculpted with what has been described as "weird hair tufts sticking out of his helmet". They are still weird, but have been overshadowed with an Orc Hair Squig flowing majestically in the wind. And fezzing up the hat.

By this point, we can see that Lammoth is getting a theme of curved/arc shapes that complement his innate facial features and beard. Lammoth has also been painted with the Fire Dragon Crimson-Go Fasta Red-Blood Angel Orange-Hobgoblin Orange scheme that is a frequent feature of the Hungry Ghosts.

This scheme was mixed with areas of Beaten Copper with a purple ink wash to it to blur the boundaries between flesh and metal. Contrasting blue breaks up the pattern and gives a bit more visual interest. The blue was used on areas that were more easily identified as humanoid body parts, the arms and the boots, making them seem to be less linked to Lammoth, distorting his form a bit more.

From the left, we can see the same blue used for Lammoth's other arm and boot. 

The Beaten Copper returns for the furry vest he is wearing.

So hard to resist making things complicated...Lammoth's left arm features the hand part of an Eldar Guardian Arm (Rogue Trader version). Another metallic tuft of fur is at the joint of the Eldar hand and Dwarf arm, with another thin cable running along the underside of the arm, also taken from the Eldar Guardians. To have more things sticking out, I slapped a Tau Fire Warrior helmet antenna on Lammoth's left elbow.

As Lammoth is concealing a Las Pistol under his Plasma Gun, the cable and antenna result in the left arm having the features of the right arm, but scaled down.

Which leaves a lot of empty space on the base, which is unacceptable at Hungry Ghosts Central. Time for another Giant Space Rat. This time the rat is painted in the same color scheme as Lammoth, his metallic head spike mimicking Lammoth's arm-tenna and the Chaos Spawn Eyeball protruding out of the rat's head and over the boundaries of the base.

By now, most loyal readers will have noticed Spc Lammoth's other friend, projecting upward and outward proudly devoid of flesh. The curved branches next to the skull provide a pleasant echo of horns, as the skull re-emphasizes the skull on Lammoth's hat. 

You can never have too many skulls.

 This Chaos Dwarf was sculpted in an odd hunchback posture, with his shoulders about level with his eyes. The posture of the skeleton gives an inverse curve to Lammoth's spine. It also makes his Big Hat seem smaller.

The skeleton tree comes from the Wood Elves Dryads sprues, and has been planted in an unfortunate human's boot, melding life and unlife.

The projecting curved branches complement the bulging cables on Lammoth's right arm. The alternative color scheme was just because I felt like painting some wood and bones in a more naturalistic tone than the zany color explosion that the Hungry Ghosts tend to have.

Some views from above show how crowded the base has become.

And how big that rat's mutant eye is.

Plasma Gun in its full glory.

Burnt Scorpions Storm Troopers Squadron Assembled

(with Chaos Spawn Inquisitor mascot)

Accompanied by Gunnery Sergeant Chhattisgarh

Lammoth with Bragollach and Udûn

Who couldn't love that face?