Having an blast

Well, and arbalast actually.  Technically I guess it is actually a ballista, as arbalasts were hand held ( Arbalest vs Ballista ).  However in the world of Pannithor, arbalests are war engines, and the Trident Realm just got their new one, mounted on a giant toad!

This kit consists of a dambuster sprue (you can see everything about that here, I won't repeat myself about with that review), and the resin war engine and operator.

The war engine and operator come on 4 resin spruelettes.

Assembly is fairly straightforward.  First is the operator - a riverguard model that looks to have it's head and arms fully compatible with the plastic riverguard kit (see that one here ).  The head and right arm are easy to do, but I recommend waiting to glue the left arm until you can make sure you are positioning it correctly, as it holds the firing lever.  Of course you can use any of the heads from the plastic sprue, and probably any of the left arms, including those on the dambuster sprue.  B6 or B9 on the Dambuster sprue, or A4 or C4 on the riverguard sprue.  Also note there is a tab on the bottom ofthe right (raised) foot of the riverguard operator - I am assuming this fits somewhere.

For the mount, the base fits very well to the dambuster body, with the larger end forward (slide it back and forth a bit, and you will feel where it sits naturally).

If you look at the base mount, you will see two cut out marks on the front edge - this is where the front guard fits in.  Plus you can see the divot near the back on the port (i.e. left, facing front) side where the foot of the operator goes.

Next then is the body of the ballista.  The bar along the bottom fits into the slot in the base, and the front should be pointing through the front guard.  You will want to carefully clean the bottom bar so that it fits.

There are small slots in the sides of the ballista body for it's arms.  One is a small rectangle, the other is two small round holes.  Unfortunately, these pins are where the spruelettes connect to the arms, so you will need to be VERY careful when removing and cleaning these, or the pins can be easily trimmed off.  (putting your supports connecting to small connecting pins is not a great design).

The tip of the spear fits into the hold in the front.

Now comes the left arm of the operator.  For this I recommend putting the machine on the dambuster (you don't have to glue it yet), the positioning the operator with the tab in the foot in the hole.  Now position the end of the firing lever into the space in the middle of the port side of the machine,  and glue the arm to the shoulder.  With your fifth hand then . . .

Actually it isn't as hard as it sounds.  Dry fit the parts, then put a bit of superglue on the shoulder of the operator.  Now position the arm in the bracket and against the shoulder and let it set.  Of course you may end up needing a little gap filling unless you have steadier hands and better eyes than I do.  It is also easier to do with two hands, instead of using one to hold a cell phone to take a picture!)

At this point we only have one piece left - the large quiver of spears.   Looking at the two pictures Mantic has of this model, and in neither of them can you see this quiver.  I would expect it to be on the side of the dambuster.

The problem is the butt of the riverguard operator is missing.  Not just flat - is is a huge whole where his cheeks should be.  My only guess is this is where the quiver is supposed to be attached - and to cover the utter lack of junk in the trunk of this model.

And there you have a mobile war engine monster with a ranged attack.  I've only tried it one game so far, and then it only shot once before being charged.  So I definitely need to work at being more effective with it!

A special thanks to Mich Cie for helping me figure out what to do about the missing butt, and the spear tip that I thought was a miscast!

Because it is all fun and games . . .