Today I got my three Forgeworld Heavy Mortars completed for my Catachan force. These little guys were a joy to build and paint. I say build, there are about four parts to them including two wheels.

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Forgeworld Heavy Mortar

Anyway, they are great little models to make. Tabletop wise I’m looking forward to using them. They’ll look awesome and fit the Guard very well, so cosmetically they’ll work well.

Gameplay I’m unsure, just about as unsure as you can be with the Guard.

They’re D6 shots each, re-rolled thanks to being Catachan. BS4, Strength 6 and AP1 with D3 Damage. Ideally, I would want to run them with Yarrick or Harker to get the re-roll of ones to hit.

They come with three crew and one needs to be within 3″ of the Mortar in order for it to fire. The crew and Mortar are separate units. But the crew can only ever be targeted if they’re the closest unit. Importantly though, they are not Characters, so Snipers cannot target them.

I took a lot of photos during this build and paint, they are all below. There are a lot, but it shows every step of the process! Including making puddles. I may do another article on that on its own.

Painting Forgeworld Heavy Mortars

I painted most of these models in sub-assemblies because once together the underside of the mortar and inside of the wheels will be hard to reach.

I primed everything with Mechanicus Standard Grey, from a Games Workshop spray can.

The carriages, inner wheels and barrels were then base coated in Castellan Green and Leadbelcher using a brush. No airbrushing on this model.

I then went over and made them look as much like my Hellhounds as I could. And they included reading my own article on painting my Hellhounds – to remind myself about what I did! I skipped the tan and black stripes though, as the models are small and I think that may have been too much busy for the models.

Once the base paints of Castellan Green and Leadbelcher were in place I used Agrax Earthshade on the grooves and recesses of the green. And Nuln Oil on the Leadbelcher. This was enough for the metallics and I did not want them too bright.

Finally, I used a dry brush of Castellan Green and then Loren Forest over the gun to give it some depth. It worked well I think. I finished it off with Stirland Battlemire as mud on the wheels and such to get it looking like it belongs on the base. Typhus Corrosion was used to do the drips of mud.

Completed Forgeworld Heavy Mortars

Basing Forgeworld Heavy Mortars

I went for 80mm round bases for the Forgeworld Heavy Mortars. After measuring them this felt like the right fit. I think, technically they do not need a base for games – because they do not come with a base. But I like the idea of the base and it gives them some context on the battlefield.

I have documented the process for the bases heavily in my Creating Puddles article.

Here is some work in progress shots of the bases…

My next project is my Cadian Baneblade!