Mixed Stone Ruin Process

 After working for a long time in the Greystone Village format I started thinking that I needed some other complimentary stone colors to liven the place up!

This is a step by step of the process used to get to the end state you see on the left.  

This is a very fast process but gave a solid result.

The model is a ruined doorway from the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter Fantasy Scenics set.

I undercoated this with Krylon Camo Brown paint/primer.

Picked out some areas of color with 4 basic colors.

Stormy Grey (Reaper(R)), Grey Mist (R), Handle Wood (R), and Krylon Camo Brown. (This is the undercoat color and was not re-applied... just left "bare")

 Stormy Grey is a very dark grey, Grey Mist is a lighter grey with a fair bit of blue added. Handle Wood is a very light brown that is almost tan and the Krylon Camo Brown is a very dark bark brown.

Base coats of the greys were brushed on damp while the handle wood was wet stippled on to give the uneven coverage an irregular rocky texture instead of weak brush strokes.

First highlight layer:

Sky Gray (R) Drybrush over all grays.

Sunny Skin Tone (Vallejo (V)) Drybrush over all browns except the "ground" part of the base.

This starts tying the different colors together so they will look like they've been standing in a pile together for a long time.  The underlying color differences are reduced a little but still have a variegated appearance.

Lining:

Sewer Water Wash (Secret Weapon (SW))

Line all rocks and cracks edge the divots. This is fast and easy and uses a mid size brush with a decent tip just wipe off any excess that looks like a brush stroke.

Damp brush Saddle Brown (R) over the "Ground"

Of course more could be done with the ground but this is a generic game piece that to look at home in a dungeon, a jungle, or in the frozen wilds so it remains neutral here.

Final Step before sealer!

Lightly drybrush the whole model with Splintered Bone (R) focus a little extra coverage on the tops, edges, and broken stone to make them pop.

Splintered Bone is a bright off-white color.

Reaper Dwarf for scale.

RoC Chaos Dwarf Whirlwind

This guy accompanied many a Chaos Horde into battle in the 80s. The model was showing its age and I thought I'd do some touch ups, rebase it and generally do some long neglected maintenance.  Lets call him Hagar.

First things first... Hagar needed to be removed from his old cardboard base. Typical of the 80s the base was flocked, had a couple of raw pebbles glued to it, and... unusually... a hob-goblin child (Grenadier iirc) added for scenic context.  The little Hob isn't visible here but will show up later as I'll recycle it onto the new base.

Having divested Hagar of his old base it was time to give him a new one. This base was from Reaper (R) and was layered with White Pumice (V). Grooves and hoof tramples were made before the pumice dried also a couple of Citadel (GW) skulls, and the Hob-Child... which is still hidden behind fat old Hagar!

The base was given a coat of Flesh Wash (Secret Weapon (SW) and brushed with Sunny Flesh (Vallejo (V) brushed with Sand (V), and a final top dust of Splintered Bone (R).

I used Wet Mud Weathering Powder (Forge World (FW) set with Glaze Medium (V) to get the churned mud beneath the machine that tracks out the rear of the model.  This dried very flat so I used Satin Varnish (V) to give it a wet look.

Static Grass (mud) was the final bit on the base.

The Hob-Child can be seen sitting in the tattered remains of an orange shift crying as Hagar drives obliviously past her.  Fortunately she was spared the mowing doled out to everyone else!

For Hagar and his machine I retouched rather than re-imagined.  The metal parts of the machine were treated to my usual yellow or white metal work ups and the skin was painted Sunny Flesh (V), Flesh Wash (SW) and Basic Flesh (V).

The shield was updated from a faded gold to a more solid color with Brass Casings (SW), Flesh Wash (SW) and Silver (V) highlights. Baby Poop (SW) was spot washed to add color to the shading. Fresh Blood (R) highlighted with Phoenix Red (V) was used to accent the eyes and color the gums. Teeth were changed from base metal to off-white using Graveyard Bone (R) highlight with Splintered Bone (R).

Wood was Flesh Wash (SW) and Sunny Flesh dry-brush to reinforce the old wood color and make the grains pop.

Hagar's horns were redone as they had faded to a nondescript gray over the past 3+ decades.  Handle Wood (R), Flesh Wash (SW) brushed out with Graveyard Bone (R) and Splintered Bone (R).

Some lining with Soft Body Black (SW) wrapped up the project.

Its great to have Hagar ready to renew his assault on the tabletop! The modern oval base should make a good fit with newer games and not be to much trouble when he returns to the fight Oldhammer style!

Back to the desk!

 

Common Goblins

In spite of the name the common goblin is the scourge of many a fantasy realm.  I though it was fitting to muse about the GW version which may be the most common goblin of all!

After painting the horde of Night Goblins from The Battle of Skull Pass I found some loose sprues of the goblins that were included in the WFB 4th edition starter set.

These goblins were produced in huge numbers and the game shop I owned at that time ended up buying these goblins back from some of the more frugal customers so they could get the rules at a better price. I then sold these as loose sprues for a dollar per sprue or about 25 cents a gobbo alongside the candy bars and chips at the checkout. Everybody won and this pile of gobbos... 12 archers and a block of 48 spear... represent all that is left from those broken up starter boxes.  Pretty good rate of resale!

I think of these as "Common Goblins" not only because they don't have all the special effects that make the Night Goblins or Forest Goblins so dangerous but also, in no small part, because this whole pile consists of exactly 2 sculpts... one archer and one spear... and an assortment of shield designs.

These goblins represented the worst of what the hard plastic revolution had to offer.  Monoblock and conventionally sculpted for regular metal casting they took no advantage of the many features that have made hard plastics so popular in the decades since these gobbos made their appearance in 1992. I know, I know, my backlog is a little bit ridiculous but hey! I AM getting round to it!

 They have very sharp spears... and were very inexpensive to produce but otherwise could have been cast in metal.  Now days the hard plastics deliver sculpts that are simply impossible to do in metal... the weight to strength ratio makes models that really appear to fly a regular item... and so much more!

 These stalwarts though will continue to serve.  I've painted them as part of a marauding horde dressed largely in the tunics of the places they have visited... and looted!  The archers I'm calling Redcaps... and harken back to my favorite edition of WHFB which is to say 3rd edition... where its very possible to build elite troop types even for the lowly Common Goblin... The Redcaps will make fine missile elites for the horde. 

Next on the desk is an old Chaos Dwarf Whirlwind that I'm reviving. Some repairs to make and a change of base from a cardboard rectangle that is coming up at the edges to a plastic oval. Of course other new stuff will be added as well.

Back to the desk!

Post Apocalypse Military Checkpoint, Void Elf Executrix Troop, Kings of War Objective and Scenario Markers.

Busy and eclectic week! First up is the WiP tray drying off after a quick sealer. On deck is a Military Check Point in MDF from Antenocitis' Workshop, a goblin casualty from The Battle of Skull Pass (WFB 7ed. Starter set), and a double dose of objectives and accessories terrain from Mantic's Kings of War 3rd Edition Scenarios and Objectives Pack.

The objectives pack will also be handy to replace some of the cardboard counters from Gloomhaven... stay tuned for more on that!

The Army checkpoint is part of the Post Apocalypse, pre-painted, line of MDF terrain from Antenocitis' Workshop. The little guard hut is presented in its pre-painted and weathered condition but I decided that the road barriers needed a spot of paint as they were plain black out of the box.The alternating red and white striping was aided by the barrier arms being pre-scored.  A yellow work up and a red cap tops of the post.

I've been particularly addle-brained the past couple of weeks and, when constructing the barriers for the Army Checkpoint I used some included spare parts to double the size of the counterweight in spite of the instructions being rather clear that only one plate was required... the more the merrier right?

 

WRONG!

As you can see the extra bit makes the barrier arm non-functional as it impacts the support post very early in its lift... woe is me!

Since there was nothing else for it I decided to have a crack at removing the extra bit with a pair of side snips.

Cha-CHING! the offending bit popped right off and took the glue with it.  One of the advantages of having sealed the part before construction began. Fortunately this was the case with all four arms.  They came away clear and I was able to finish the assembly without further mishap.

The finished barrier arm ready to control movement on the tabletop!

An observation... this kit was more difficult for me than most of the kits from this range... The parts did not go together quite as seamlessly.  I think I needed to build a jig to help with that but part of the problem was that I had to use a different glue than I am used to.  For the other MDF projects I have been using Super-phatic glue which is kind of like the superglue of wood glues. Since it sets so fast I've been able to skip a lot of clamping, banding, and jig making.  I built this kit with Gorilla PVA.  Its a good glue and sets up reasonable quickly... about like a tacky glue... bit not the fast hard set that I was used to so I ended up collapsing the posts a few times and having to rebuild the whole thing on the fly.  Unfortunately it shows on some of them.  I started clamping after the second collapsed assembly so half of them are ok and half of them are a bit ragged.  But they are post apocalypse and have not yet been weathered so... they may yet be battered into submission!

Here is an assembled checkpoint being willfully ignored by a troupe of Void Elf Executrices from Raging Heroes.  I've been using them as Ynnari but continue to refer to them as Void Elves. 

This is the Executrix troop that completes the Executrix command unit I did about a year ago. Fortunately I had done the base coat before the big move so I didn't have to do a lot of color matching... that won't be the case going forward though!

Who said death worshiping Dark Elves have to wear black or red anyway! I mean the power weapons have that Dark Side red light-saber glow... that should cover it!

Mantic's Kings of War objectives... Dragon Egg, Weapons Cache (dead gobbo by GW! 'ow did that git in 'ere ennyway!?! ohh cool static grass)

Runestone and messenger/courier bag... against a stump... with a pistol and a musket... that looks to have ended badly...

Supply crate and ammo pile for a cannon.

Thats all for today...

Next time the Gloomhaven initial unlocked characters and the Kings of War objective treasure chests that didn't make it into this post.

Back to the desk! 

 

Joan of Arc 15mm Core Game, GW Forest Goblin Spider Riders, an Epicast Stomper Tune-up in progress and fun with static grass!

The Joan of Arc game is so ambitious!  Its a board game, a Tanletop Mini Game, its a Historical Game, its a Fantasy Game. It has an RPG and its almost an action RPG right out of the box... It even has aerial combat because.... Angels and Dragons... whew!  Its gonna be a fun ride!

From the core box: The Tarasque, The Unicorn, The Archangel Gabriel, 4 Angels, 2 Bullock Wagons.

As you can see you can go full on fantasy right out of the starter box... I think one of the scenarios is a werewolf hunt even... or you can stay with the historical scenarios. Its a great transitional game.

These were all sprayed a dark camo green primer (Rustoleum), damp-brushed with white craft paint and washed with Secret Weapon (SW) Washes.  The wagons then got a dry-brush of Sunny Flesh (Vallejo(V)) to make the wood pop.

Below is the tray ready for re-interment in the game box... In this Golden Era of Mega-Games I'm going to have to put some thought into how to condense the numerous expansions.

The angels got sky themed bases to go with the sky tiles in the aerial combat portion of the game.  Sky Blue (Warpaints) Stipple with white, wash with Blue (SW).  White robes are layered Graveyard Bone and Splintered Bone from the (Reaper) Bone Triad.   Gold is Brass Casings (SW) Flesh Wash (SW) dry-brush Silver (V).

 Being easily distracted by shiny things... I was unable to simply put the static grass applicator back into its box and decided to fix a long standing problem... namely my ancient 40K second edition Epicast Stompa!  Its never stood well on its own and is heavy enough to take out models it happen to fall on...doh! So I thought I'll just slap a base on it and its "problem solved!" ... 

...then I noticed that the old second edition paint-job looked really, really, dated so... doing something I very rarely do... I decided to do a bit of an update.  These are the pictures of its original state except for some black lining I started to do before remembering to snap a photo.  I'm going to preserve some elements of the original and bring it up to date without starting from scratch.  Well, that's the plan anyway!

The completed Forest Goblin Spider Riders. Ready for an Oldhammer rumble!

Speaking of a rumble I literally hate this new Blogger interface!  Its more primitive than its predecessor and seems specifically designed to be rigid and unwieldy.  For example I'd like to put this sentence at the bottom of the page... but I can't do that without actually removing the picture below... fabulous improvement... This update would normally have taken be about 15 minutes to compose on the fly but I've been at this now for three hours and still can't get the words and the pictures to go where I want them.

MADE
  OF

 FAIL  

WiP Oldhammer Orcs and Gobbos

 Starting to think about painting again and began by tackling some projects that are lingering around the desk. I dislike having unboxed, unpainted, minis hanging about unless I'm working on them so when I came across an old Battle for Skull Pass box... stuffed with some extra bits I thought it would be a good way to knock some rust of the painting skills and clear some open box minis.

In previous, pre COVID-19 posts I knocked out the Night Goblins and Dwarves from the set... sans a Baggage train that is still sitting on the desk...

 Today I went to work on the Forest Goblin Spider Riders from the set and delved into the odds and ends that had hitched a ride in the box.

Like the rest of this project these are, in part, an experiment with painting directly on the plastic.  So far there has been no problems with adhesion but how durable this approach is remains to be seen.

The spider bases were dry-brushed Stormy Gray (Reaper (R)), dry-brushed White (Apple Barrel craft paint (CP) washed with Sewer Water (Secret Weapon (SW)), Stumps are Sunny Flesh (Vallejo (VP)) with a wash of Seraphim Sepia (Citadel (GW)) Stones are Sky Gray (R) and sky gray lightened with White (CP) tiny spiders are Marigold Yellow (R) Brushed with Sunny Flesh (VP).

The spiders were intimidating to look at but turned out to be fun and easy.

The whole model was dry-brushed White (CP) then the Yellow areas were washed with Yellow Snow (SW), the Eyes painted Hexwraith Green (GW), and the legs/carapace washed with Armor Wash (SW). These were painted on the sprue and the clip joins touched up with Sky gray (RP).

This is a fast Tabletop finish that did not involve much cleaning of mold lines etc.  The casts are relatively clean with almost zero flash.

 For odds and ends there was an Orc Chariot and an Orc Command Group.

The chariot was tricksey to build and seems to have a lot of optional extra bits... added to the bits box of course... For the Command Group one extra set of legs and a boar were in the box and would have permitted a single model to be mounted... I opted to save the bits for later and went with a foot command of Champion, Standard Bearer, and Musician.

Skin was US Army reflective green (Panzer Colors line of Vallejo) and a Thrakka Green (GW) wash, Strong Tone (Army Painter (AP)).  Blood Red (GW) eyes and Standard Horn... this Horn will be revisited for shading before being wrapped up...

Rusty metals are Brown Rust (SW), Strong Tone (AP) and a drybrush of Silver (VP) thinned with Armor Wash (SW).

Hair effects are Rust Brown (SW) Heavy dry-brush of White (CP) wash with Just Red (SW).

Blue Orc Banner... Monster Brown (AP), dry-brush White CP, Wash with Blue (SW) light dry-brush with Sunny Flesh (R).

Exposed wood of the Chariot using Monster Brown (AP) wash with Dark Sepia (SW) dry-brush Sunny Flesh (VP)

Still on the desk: Part 3 of Hab 3, Joan of Arc angels and wagons, Raging Heroes Executrix unit. That should make enough space to set about a revamp of the work space and better organizing the pile of stuff waiting its turn.

Antenocitis Workshop Asian Wall Set v2, Neo-Tiki Motel Office WiP, and the Accidental Dwarf Army

 Antenocitis Workshop has a couple of new prepainted MDF releases in their Made for Infinity line. 

They are well designed and are sized to be LoS obstructions even for 40K. These will be great with the Asian Restaurants or the Neo-Tiki Motel that Antenocitis also have on offer.  The wood color is actually laser charred and not paint... which makes this kit have a strong odor of burnt wood even before opening the box.  This dissipates eventually and I hit them with some Dead Flat sealer so they can be handled more casually.

 Our trusty Burna Boy is checking out the rental office of the Neo-Tiki Motel. This is a small building with a GIANT sign that services the Neo-Tiki Motel.  This is a WiP and the Neo-Tiki Motel have detailed interiors sold as a separate upgrade pack that contains both interior sets.

  The Asian Wall Set v2 makes 11 wall section and one (working) gate.

The Prepainted MDF has a covering that is a single color with details laser cut in so its not completely or 'finely' painted but it does make a great surface for adding in those extra details if you like without it looking so much like painted MDF.

 It is recommended to varnish or seal the prepainted MDF to reduce smudging from handling.  I had not though of that and wish I'd seen the recommendation before working on Hab 3 from the Forward Base line.  Once the clear acrylic components are installed sealing becomes more tricky! Its a learning process.  My current plan is to seal the interior upgrade pack before removing the components from the MDF sheet and then do any extra detailing after that... resealing if required.  The reason being that the clear acrylic doors and windows really need to be installed before the model is assembled.  Otherwise there is a significant risk of damaging the MDF.




While we're talking about Hab 3 I'm making some progress on the resin bits.  I'm interested to see what the difference is between the old resin accessorized offerings and the new "all MDF" versions.











Lastly a couple of pictures of the Accidental Dwarf Army that is on the painting desk because I has a paint mix error that resulted in me digging out The Battle for Skull Pass box set and... since I was doing the goblins to eat up the erroneous paint mix I , of course, had to do the dwarves because they were there!










These will initially get some use as Imperial Dwarves in Kings of War but will certainly find their way back onto the table in my Oldhammer games.

These guys are a uniformed army while my Freeholds will be built from Atlantis Miniatures Dwarfs and then there is the giant pile of Mantic Dwarfs to grapple with...





Back to the desk!