writes:Thanks to our good friends at Old Guard Painters, who painted up this Dwarven war wagon for TMP. I had them paint the parts, then I based and assembled the painted parts.
This 15mm model comes from Black Raven Foundry, which is associated with or a brand name of 19th Century Miniatures. It is an all-metal kit. The wagon itself consists of bottom, sides, middle deck, roof, and front ramp parts, plus four wheels. (There are also four wheel decorations or blades, which I chose to leave off.) There are also two beasts of burden, two ballistae, and crew figures.
The model does not come with assembly instructions, so be sure to study the parts before assembly. For instance, the front ramp needs to be sandwiched between the side pieces; it then can be raised or lowered. I couldn't get the roof piece to fit properly, so I drilled it out to get the best fit I could get.
There's no indication on the model as to where the two ballistae should be placed, so I studied the picture on the manufacturer's website and took my best guess. One goes on the top deck, firing when the front ramp is lowered; the other goes into the little structure on the back. (The ramp, by the way, can be opened or closed, but won't stay in the up position.)
The crew figures and ballistae can also be ordered separately, and so have standard bases (rather than being designed to fit flush on the wagon's deck). I placed them where I thought best; to be honest, they are difficult to see once the wagon is assembled.
When I gave Old Guard Painters my painting instructions, I asked them to leave the shields plain green, with the idea that I would add runes later. Which is in fact what I did, but in retrospect, I should have sent them the rune designs and let them paint the shields – they would have done a better job!
I based the model on a 3mm wooden 2" by 4" base from Litko, with FlexSteel (also from Litko) on the bottom for storage purposes.
This model will make a dramatic addition to my 15mm Dwarf army.