There’s no such thing as a leach belcher ogre tyrant. But why wouldn’t an ogre tyrant grab a
huge canon to pulp his foes? The canon I’m using here is the long one from the leadbelcher kit.
I started by snipping off the arm that’s attached to the gun, and shaving down the remaining area to
smooth it a little. I did the same with the hand at the midpoint of the canon. One issue the canon
has though is that despite how long it is, it’s still only about two thirds the height of the
spear, and so for the tyrant to be gripping it at a reasonable height I’d later add something
for it to sit on. Before that though I snipped off the top and bottom portion of the spear,
careful to leave the hand intact. To create a handle on the cannon for the
tyrant to grip, I cut out a pair of plasticard sections and carved out a groove at the bottom
so they’d fit against the cannon barrel. Luckily, like Orks, Ogres aren’t much for making
things pretty, so I didn’t need to worry about making it too sophisticated. I glued the first
above the first, and the second beneath it so he looked like he was plausibly holding the handle.
Later I’d cut out and glue strips of plasticard around the cannon barrel to make it look like
they were connected to the handle. All that done, I glued the arm and cannon in place, then slipped
a few layers of plasticard beneath to hold it up. Stuffing random weapons into their canons as shot
is one of the things I love most about the Leadbelchers, and for this leadbelcher tyrant
I initially wanted to have him gripping this bundle of weapons from the Leadbelcher kit.
This would’ve been really difficult to do for a number of reasons though; first,
the hand gripping his hammer handle isn’t open enough to hold the bundle of them, and secondly
there’s no second half to the bundle, so I’d have had to make one out of a bunch of plasticard rods.
I wasn’t confident this would work well, so I decided to instead have them bristling out of
the cannon barrel. Irritatingly, they don’t actually fit as they go to one of the other
canons from the kit. Instead of trying to whittle them down one by one until they’d fit, I instead
simply filled the canon barrel with procreate, then glued a shortened version of the bundle
into place which works pretty well and isn’t too noticeable a cheat. The weapon bundle actually
really helps with the silhouette of the tyrant, as it’s roughly the height of his original spear.
While I was on the spear, I also decided to swap out the stacked plasticard.
Since this as a full fledged tyrant, I thought he deserved something more than just a rock or stone.
To replace the plasticard I’m using this dead orc from a stormcast kit.
He’s already nicely bloody and hacked up, and with just a little carving fit well under the cannon.
Moving back to the left arm, I brainstormed other ways to alter it to reflect his lead
belching nature. This is the pistol from the Mournfang kit that I thought might work,
but unfortunately it’d clip through the floor, and the angle didn’t actually look that good.
Another option that I started on was rolling out balls of procreate so that
I could attach them with a chain to make it look like he was holding chain shot.
While I was letting them harden though I had the better idea of having him hold a torch.
I snipped off the hammer head from the arm, and glued in place the snipped down end from
the spear. To add fire, I’m using part of the incense flail from the putrid blightlord kit.
The smoke pouring from it is really beautifully sculpted and positioned
correctly looked like it was being grabbed by the wind in the same direction as his clothes.
The one issue is that the sphere portion of it is a little too intricate and gothic for an ogre,
but maybe it’s some kind of stormcast relic he got off the battlefield and likes to use to light his
cannon. Either way, flowing elements like flame or smoke is a great way to make miniatures feel
dynamic and alive, so even if it doesn’t totally make sense it’s a good trade off.
While I really love the original tyrant head, serious and darkly grumpy, my leadbelcher tyrant
as a whole was still looking a little too much like the original. Replacing heads is always a
good way of changing the energy and personality of a miniature, so I decided to swap it for this head
from the leadbelcher kit, though I carved off his topnot to leave him bald and less goofy looking.
Why he would need both a torch and a brand to light a canon is a little beyond me, but
ogres aren’t exactly known for their restraint. To get this new head to attach at roughly the same
angle as the original required cutting off one of his glorious fu-manchu mustachios and carving into
his left jowl. The result worked well, and gives him a meatier energy than the original tyrant.
While the butchered orc had been a good idea, it’s too small and his wounds don’t really
match up with those that would be inflicted by a canon, even one stuffed with random weapons.
To replace him I picked this stormcast. To get him to fit in the correct spot I snipped off his
right arm, and dug a crater into his chest so that the butt of the cannon would have a place to rest.
And with that my leadbelching ogre tyrant was complete. In all I’m pleased with how he turned
out. He’s still recognizable as an ogre tyrant, but with enough key details changed to shift his
character and illustrate his leadbelching ways. I’ve got some more ogre conversions on the way,
so like this video and subscribe if you’re interested in seeing those when they come out.
I’m also putting this model up on ebay, so if you’re interested in buying him
head over there and bid whatever you’re comfortable with. Thanks for watching.