Snotling Pump Wagon

Snotlings are among the most adorable minis Games Workshop have ever made. They're tiny, green, dumber than bricks and utterly useless in battle, but like so many of the 1980s GW figures they have tons of character and provided a laugh by buggering up all the time.

Upon seeing this model on Etsy, I could actually hear a host of angels heralding me while I pressed the "add to cart" button back in August last year. I mean, look at it. It's magnificent. And it's one of those models that really shows the advantages of 3D printing. Back in the day this wagon would have been a hefty lump of pewter that you could use in a mugging. It would have had more mould lines and flash than actual details and you'd probably need three feet of greenstuff to fill all the gaps. But now it's a light, crisp print that was simple to glue together and looks fantastic.

After priming it black and then going over it with a coat of Wyldwood contrast, I hit the wood with drybrushes of various browns, including Burnt Umber, Mahogany Brown, Chocolate Brown, Dryad Bark and XV-88, probably not in that order. The whole thing was washed with Athonian Camoshade to give it a bit of a green tint and then I hit all the other bits.

Oh wow, I overdid the contrast when editing this photo. Anyway, all the metal parts were painted Iron Warriors and washed with Nuln Oil before being highlighted with Leadbelcher. The straps holding this contraption together were given a coat of Khaki and some Buff, and washed with Agrax Earthshade. 

The bellows being pumped by the two unluckiest snotties were painted Khorne and Mephiston reds just to add some colour, and all the snotlings themselves are Waaagh Flesh with highlights of Death Guard Green. It's basically the same scheme I used to paint my Night Goblins.

The moon idol was basecoated with Averland Sunset, washed with Iyanden Yellow and highlighted with Dorn Yellow. Its bandanna is just, again, Khorne and Mephiston reds.

Once I was at this stage I painted up a couple of skulls and glued them to the tops of the front poles.

The snotties on the top front platforms were separate figures, and there was a Defcon 9 level panic when I couldn't find them. Happily they were enjoying a nice rest on the floor under my desk, and once I'd got them painted they were superglued in place.

When it came to basing the wagon, sticking it on a cave base seemed pretty silly. I got a 60mm base and used the usual Stirland Battlemire for a nice muddy look, then added random patches of flock, some tufts and a few small stones from the drive.

One real issue with this model is gluing it to the base. As the wagon rests on spikes and not a large area of wheel, I had to just hope that the total contact area of about two square millimetres would hold. Thankfully it's not come off the base... yet.

I absolutely love this model. It really sums up how much fun Games Workshop could be back in the day, and the thought of this thing steaming into battle crewed by seven snotlings with the combined IQ of a dead haddock just cracks me up.