---

A Gobbla Cage on Wheels? Quick Baggage Train Kitbash Idea

hobby tips · kitbash · conversion · Orcs & Goblins · Greenskins · Warhammer: The Old World

We love those little hobby conversations that start with one random image and, five minutes later, turn into a full kitbash plan.

This time, the topic was a baggage train idea for Warhammer: The Old World: take an unbuilt Orc Boar Chariot, use just the platform and pole, and turn it into a trailer carrying a cage for Gobbla — Skarsnik’s very bitey squig.

And honestly? We’re very into this kind of project. It’s the perfect mix of using spare bits, making something characterful, and building a piece that will look great on the table even before anyone asks whether it is strictly lore-accurate.

As Michał very helpfully summed up the lore side of things: he knows absolutely nothing about it, so for him it’s all vibes anyway. Which, to be fair, is sometimes the healthiest possible hobby mindset.

The core idea

Stas came in with a very solid plan:

• use the Orc Boar Chariot platform
• keep the draw pole so it reads as a proper wagon/trailer
• build a cage on top
• put Gobbla inside

That already sounds like a brilliant Goblin contraption: loud, unsafe, and one bad decision away from disaster.

So, how do we make the cage?

The best answer in the chat was also the simplest one: build it from popsicle sticks or toothpicks, then paint it metallic.

We really like that solution, because it hits the sweet spot between cheap, easy, and suitably ramshackle. For Goblins especially, a slightly uneven build is not a bug — it’s a feature.

A simple approach

If we were building it, we’d keep it straightforward:

1. Make a rectangular frame from toothpicks or trimmed craft sticks.
2. Add vertical bars with more toothpicks.
3. Leave one side as a door or hatch, ideally looking badly secured.
4. Glue the cage onto the chariot platform.
5. Add extra details like:
   • chain
   • rope
   • crude locks
   • spikes
   • scrap plates
6. Paint it as rusty metal, even if the underlying material is wood.

That last point is important: once it’s primed and painted, nobody will care what the bars started out as. If the shape reads as a cage and the paint job sells old, battered metal, the effect should work perfectly on the tabletop.

Why this works so well for Greenskins

This kind of conversion is especially forgiving for Orcs & Goblins. Clean symmetry is optional. Wonky bars? Fine. Crooked door? Better. Structural integrity that raises questions? Ideal.

A Gobbla transport cage should look like something built in a hurry by creatures who are much more confident than competent.

That gives a lot of freedom when choosing materials:

• toothpicks if you want thin bars
• popsicle sticks if you want chunkier framing
• a mix of both for a more cobbled-together look

If you want to push it further, you could also rough up the surface with a knife before priming, so the painted “metal” looks pitted and beaten.

The hobby lesson here

We like this idea because it’s a good reminder that not every conversion needs a complicated shopping list or a box full of specialist bits. Sometimes the answer really is:

use the spare wagon, build the cage from toothpicks, and trust the paint job

That’s peak hobby engineering.

If we end up seeing this one built, we absolutely want photos — because a Gobbla cage mounted on an Orc chariot trailer sounds exactly like the kind of nonsense that deserves to exist.