Sunday, 10 August 2025

Queen of Hearts, Caterpillar and Dormouse

 The Wonderland books don't really have heroes or villains, especially. Most of the time, Alice wanders into a new place, meets some weirdos and tries to talk sense to them, usually with bizarre and comical results. There isn't enough plot or time to develop many characters in depth.

On the other hand, the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland does seem keen on cutting everyone's head off. That's not normal. And (amazing segue alert) nor are inquisitorial minions in Warhammer 40,000.

My own version of her - slightly more glamourous than the John Tenniel pictures - was based off an old metal dark elf sorceress, who I'd chopped up in the past. This version got a new hand and an axe from the Frostgrave demon set, and to my surprise a left hand from a Mantic ork. I sculpted a heart on her crown with green stuff.




I painted her red and cream/white, as suits the look of the warband and her background as a playing card. Her face is slightly greyer than normal, for a bit of contrast.

I expect that she is just about to deliver her catchphrase - "Off with his head!" - while doing the decapitating herself. Times are hard and you just can't get the staff.




I also had a go at tidying up a couple of my old conversions for this warband: the Caterpillar and the Dormouse.

The Caterpillar is based on an ancient metal Necromunda milliasaur model, with a kroot body and arms, and a chaos warrior's head. He's sitting on a "toadstool" made from a Tau drone. The hookah he smokes was made from pieces of kroot rifle and some kind of dwarf contraption.




Finally, the Dormouse himself was a tiny detail from a skaven kit. In the original Alice In Wonderland, he ends up in the teapot, so I gave him a massive mechanical teapot in which he rides. I expect that the spout functions quite like a flamer.

The legs and ball of the teapot were left over from a big robot kit from a steampunk game called Wolsung. It looked really cool, but I don't think it still exists. The spout, handle and other bits came from Necron and Dark Eldar leftovers. I suppose there's a bit of a nod to The War of the Worlds in the tripod structure, as well. I think he'd function as heavy support!




So then, here is the whole warband so far. I'd quite like to do a white knight (presumably a friendly space marine), and maybe some other character to get it to ten. 





1 comment:

  1. Sir, I was already enthralled with the Queen, but you outdid yourself with the others. This is fantastic!

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