"When men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go..."
Jefferson Airplane,
White Rabbit.
Prompted by a comment on the Tears of Envy blog, and in a
desperate attempt not to buy any miniatures for a little while, I decided to
repaint my Alice in Wonderland inquisitorial delegation.
I first made these models about ten years ago. I have no
idea why it seemed like a good idea to make 40k Alice back then, but it still seems like a good
idea, and I still don’t know why. Perhaps Wonderland is in warp space or, more
likely, warp space is in Wonderland. Perhaps I should go ask Alice: I think she'll know. Anyway.
Inquisitor Alice has seen it all. Nothing can surprise or
bewilder here. She has passed through warp portals, consorted with the lords of
chaos (over tea) and defeated not just demon princes but red queens.
Alice was converted from a flying sister of battle torso on
an Eldar warlock’s lower body. It's hard to see, but her bolt pistol says "Fire Me" on the side.
Many daemonhosts attack their enemies with blasts of
warp-force. The Cheshire Cat (or Grynx) uses the pure weirdness of its smile to
mangle the brains of its enemies. Many who have seen this strange, teleporting
being remain fatally confused, unable to banish the image of the cat from their minds
long after it has disappeared.
The Caterpillar is a wise, if slightly over-medicated, savant, who
draws inspiration from his hookah. He hovers on a xenos device and appears to
be some kind of alien. His ready supply of medicine can enhance the accuracy of
his comrades, much like a Jokaero engineer.
The cat was a GW model mounted on part of a plastic dryad.
The caterpillar is a kroot body and arms with a Necromunda Millasaur’s legs. His
head came from a chaos model, and his base is a Tau drone.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee are two modified ogryns, who
provide long-range support with their gun arms. Whilst poorly-equipped in the
brains department, they can be very handy, provided they can be persuaded not
to bash each other.
When I first made them, they counted as gun-servitors. Now
they would have to be acolytes, armed with storm bolters. The Tweedles (as
played by Ray Winston on a bad day or Donald Trump on a good one) started
off as fantasy ogres, and their guns
come from an Immolator tank.
If you can keep your head when all those around you are
losing theirs... you’re probably the Queen of Hearts. Monarch and executioner,
she serves Inquisitor Alice as a handy enforcer – although cutting the heads
off the creatures of chaos isn’t a guarantee that they’ll stop so much as
change.
The Queen of Hearts is an old dark elf sorceress with new
weapons, made from Warhammer and sisters of battle bits. She functions as an
acolyte.
If Alice brings order to the Warp of Wonderland, the Hatter
exists for chaos. His complete lack of logic marks him out as a true servant of
chaos, as demonstrated by his frequent demands that “All change!”
The Hatter (who looks quite a lot like Harpo Marx and
slightly like me) is mainly made from old plastic Empire militia bits, with a
storm bolter glued on and a hat and teapot made of Green Stuff.
And finally, I thought I’d add a new member to the crew.
This is going to be the Dormouse, who lives inside a giant teapot. I made him out of a
plastic rat from a skaven set. The teapot is largely leftover parts from the
Wolsung giant golem, with a funnel and handle made from Necron and Dark Eldar
bits.
