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"Just like the Pied Piper, led rats through the streets. We dance like marionettes, swaying to the symphony of destruction" - "Symphony of Destruction" - Megadeth.
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***JUDGES!*** - Please visit my IP 2015 - Round 2 photobucket page for better/bigger/more/prettier pictures!
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Though there are countless different versions of the story, for hundreds of years the Pied Piper of Hamelin has been a literary representation of the plague - not unlike the fairy tale version of the grim reaper! Who better than the piper to sound the song to bring about the end of mankind? The Piper is the commander of rats, avatar of the plague, and the taker of children.
As the rats crawl out from beneath the earth and move to flood over the lands below - we will surely realize that this is the end of the world, as we know it.
That lyrical verse by Megadeth was one of the first things that popped into my head as soon as I heard the theme for this round. I had been putting off this project for some time so I was more than happy to have an excuse to bomb through it. Wyrd Miniatures, as I'm sure you know, make a ton of references to pop-culture or real-world characters/themes. My hope was to take the Pied Piper reference and really sell it!
Keeping in line with everything I hobby - this is a functional submission - I will use it as an overly obnoxious 50mm Avatar model... buuuuut the house is attached by a magnet and can be removed to be put on a 30mm base (with a cylindrical spacer for added height/weight) to be used as my master, as well! It is way sturdier than it looks, believe me. 
Expect to see this master at Gen Con!
TRIVIA and DETAILS!
I'm a sucker for detail and I like to put as much references and fun little details into my stuff, as possible. Therefore, I'd also like to draw attention to a few points of my submission that may be easily missed:
- When the piper returned to the village of Hamelin to take the children, he wore green - as a hunter would. I have followed suit in appropriately nurgle-tastic fashion, as well as integrating some red/yellow and gold trim to keep him suitably "pied."
- The coat of arms on the shield on the opposite side of the house is the actual coat of arms of Hamelin, Lower Saxony, Germany.
- The flag that is being flown is an inverse of the St. Georges Cross. This is the flag of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1200 to 1350. The story of the Pied Piper is said to originate during the late 1200's.
- "Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands, millions of them, and everyone a life." - a nice, conveniently relevant Bram Stoker reference!... okay, fine... Swarm of Rats, as well - for all you Magic geeks.
- The middle tier of the model is basically a really blunt reinforcement of theme. The end is certainly nigh and that baby is what you can expect as a result! Of course, the idea is: Rats = Plague = No more people... just ask the 200 million people who died from the Black Plague in the 1300's!
- Along with the obvious large cut-out section so you can see the rats in the base that will crawl up through the bricked passage and eventually erupt from the top - there are a couple other smaller cross-sections on the backside - I collaged in a couple small pics to better display the effect.
I really tried to focus on scenery effects (water effects/mother-flocking and an interesting display base) and some freehand for this submission. Hope you enjoy!!!