BAs the carts of the Imperial Teamsters Guild made their stately way through the streets of Karr-Keel, gathering up the birthday dead, they were accompanied by marching bands and other entertainers sponsored by the guild to keep the crowds of intoxicated revelers looking on the brighter side of life. Unlike the professional musicians who came to Karr-Keel to compete for the Mayor’s favor, the Teamsters’ marching bands were mismatched groups of baggers, loaders, and haulers with enough skill with their instruments to put together a rousing tune and the stamina to keep playing while moving about throughout the city. Bagpipes, drums, trumpets, mouth harps, they played at the same time, if not always together, and added to the air of revelry. Of all the Teamsters’ marching bands in Karr-Keel, the most popular was the Load Shifters. Known for their high energy, driving sound, and carefree physicality, the Load Shifters were three brothers, Angmoos, Melmoos, and Smegmoos. Angmoos, a bagpiper, was known for his silly hat, short kilt, and ability to play while body surfing. Melmoos, a trumpeter with big hands and a silky smooth voice, handed out strings of beads to partygoers who gave him articles of their clothing. Smegmoos, the drummer, was a sight to see. Sweating and heaving, he walked alongside his brothers with a bass drum strapped to his back, a snare set hanging to his front, and a cymbal hat on his head. Together, they crashed, banged, tooted, and squealed their way to the Great Fire, a wall of sonic insanity. Together still, they haunt the ruins of Karr-Keel, whipping the restless undead into a frenzy for yet another night of revelry.

And the last two of the set are finished! It's always a great feeling when you've finished a project. I actually finished them a while back, but I figured if we were going to get a good set of picture of the whole set, there was no reason for me to take a few pictures of the last two.


The flesh tones on both Angmoos and Melmoos were painted in roughly the same way, based on Fernand Pepin of the original batch. How did make a minor change to each one. On Angmoos, I used a Coelia Greenshade wash to give him more of a teal green appearance, while Melmoos received an Athonian Camoshade wash.


I also added a bunch of, erm, fluids coming from Angmoos' bagpipes. I just felt that it was appropriate that something disgusting was combing out of them. To get this effect, I super glued some fishing line to the end of each pipe. Once that was strong enough to hold the line down (which ended up taking several applications and days due to Virginia Humidity!), I used Vallejo Water Effects gel to get the globular effect. Once that was dry, I just layered on Nurgle's Rot and Vallejo Slimy Green Dark to color it.






This was also my first attempted at plaid. I followed a tutorial I found on line that basically suggested a dot in the center of each line made from a mix of the two colors. I didn't need anything too in-depth as I didn't want to overpower other aspects of this model at this scale. I think it came out convincingly enough. I also went with the colors I did and the black jacket in homage to the Rowdy Roddy Piper, professional wrestler extraordinaire.


Not much to add about the process for painting Melmoos. Similar process to the rest of them, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!