With a long weekend here in New Zealand, I've taken the opportunity to finish up some 3D prints for the table.
The first is the Watchtower which I've mounted on a hill I made out of high density foam.
I used my Grasstech Static Grass applicator and got a nice upright effect on the grass. Tufts and garden rocks finish it off.
The tavern is mounted on hardboard. I have then used fine gravel, static grass and tufts to complete the base.
The Printable Scenery stuff comes up well. Now that I've finished the pieces I had printed I'm ready to move onto some other pieces. Hopefully over the next few weeks I'll have some new prints to show.
Just finished the Ruined Townhouse from Tabletop World. I was trying to achieve a burnt out effect where the house has been at the centre of a battle - imagine the landed gentry house on the hill being blasted.
It has been mounted on a small hillock of dense foam with local rocks glued in. I then used a mix of GW Burnt Grass and Dead Grass on the inner part and their Terrain Pack Grass on the slopes. A mix of tufts have been used to finish it off. The hedges were picked up at a bring & buy sometime in the last year. To finish it off I added tufts and then got out the airbrush to char the hedges and further scorch the grass.
Probably about 10-12 hours from start to finish.
Happy that it creates a characterful piece for the battlefield.
One thing that I recently started doing - after 18 years back in the Hobby - was to keep a paint diary.
I bought a $3 notebook down at the local bookshop and use it to keep a record of various paint recipes I use. I'm not sure why I never did this before as it is a pretty common trait among army painters.
The obvious benefit is that it lets you recreate the same colours at a later stage if you wish to add to or replicate a unit.
For instance with my terrain I've tried to keep the same unifying colour for the shingles on buildings. Now I have it copied down so that I don't have to guess as to the paints or choices.
It's a simple tool but one I think will make life easier in the long run.
Saturday saw the first game with The Herd as per the previous blog post.
Apart from that I started painted the Ruined Townhouse and have got all the base colours down. From here it is the detail - and there is a lot of it. I'm looking to try out some of the Secret Weapon Miniatures' weathering powders I picked up at Adepticon last year. By my reckoning I should be finished later this week.
The other task I did was construct the models from "Gorechosen".
The game comes with four as well as rules for two models in the Age of Sigma Starter Box. Higgins provided me with those. In addition I have the model from the front of the White Dwarf re-launch issue. This gives me 7 pitfighters in total. From here it is just a case of painting them up. The White Dwarf as rules for Skarr Bloodwrath and Valkia and if I see either going cheap on Trade Me I'll pick them up.
So those are the two projects currently in play. Once they are finished I am going to complete multibasing Goblins and then move to doing the same for Orcs.
So The Herd hit the table for the first time yesterday.
I was very happy with the way my band of goats, dogs and pigs looked on the table - models and bases look quite shick.
Their opponents were Higgins' Orcs and given the "newness" of both our armies we decided to play Kill. The first thing I noticed was the lack of a shooting phase - my only action being Bane Chant - and that creates a whole new dynamic. The speed of the Herd plus the removal of a phase makes it a very good fast play army.
In the end we ground out a draw - I killed 1440 versus his 1330 - but already I was picking up some things in my list. The first of these is that chaff really is chaff. My Beast Packs have 6 attacks, killing things is not their role. They function purely as screens and you should never expect them to inflict damage.
The second takeaway was that Fury on the Brutox is invaluable. Twice it got him out of "tricky" situations. When the best Defence in the army I used is 4+ then you are going to take a lot of damage. Coordination is therefore absolutely critical, the army is the proverbial Glass Cannon.
After using the combined arms of the Ratkin, I can see I will have some learning to do.
With the basing of The Herd finished and wanting a break from multibasing the Goblins for a week or so, I'm ready for my next project.
I am going to paint the Ruined Townhouse from Tabletop World.
One of the first pieces they ever made was a Ruined Coaching Inn and I missed out on getting one - to my eternal chagrin. They retire their moulds after a certain number of production runs. Grrrrrrrr.
I love this new piece and am really looking forward to painting it up. The detail on the model is fantastic from pieces of rubble/clutter to the broken structure.
First stage will be to wash it thoroughly in detergent to remove any lingering mould release agent. I then intend to undercoat it and lay down base colours with the airbrush. The model comes in four pieces so I'm looking to at least get the base colours laid down before I pin it together.
I'm hoping that this is the start of a run of ruined buildings by TTW - and if so, who knows, I may get my hands on the elusive Coaching Inn!
A big thanks to Ken Dunford (KeninYorks) from Brisbane who provided me with two Night Goblin Shamen.
Much appreciated, Ken! Though I understand that there was an ulterior motive in keeping them out of the hands of past-ETC Captain Chris Wilcox who has been known to run nine of them!
Getting towards the completion of The Herd.
Over the weekend I constructed the bases for the flying units in my army.
The first of these are Mantic's Gargoyles where I have put Goethe a single Regiment. I asked Sam to paint them in fleshy bestial tones to fit the Beastmen nature of the army.
They come on little rocky outcrops which I've cut down and incorporated in the base. I think these are probably some of Mantic's better models and I was happy to include them in The Herd.
I asked Sam to make the wing membranes flesh coloured and I think that works well complementing the brown.
The second unit is a Regiment of Giant Eagles.
This is made up of the Giant Eagle from The Hobbit and a Giant Raven from Mierce.
The birds both have a wide wingspan and to insulate against breakages they have been magnetised and mounted on clear Perspex flying stands from Litko. Their stands are very robust without being obtrusive.
Because of the wingspan the Raven is on a lower base, effectively swooping just above ground level. The Eagle follows close behind.
The remaining units in the army are Beast Packs and Centaurs. I'll get them up in the next few days.
After the last update I decided to use some Agrellan Earth on the bases and this resulted in the cracked mud effect.
From here the last part was to apply the vegetation. Throughout the army I've used tufts that are affixed using PVA. I have a selection from a variety of manufacturers including Silfuor, Army Painter and Citadel. In my opinion tufts are better than static grass when you are trying to achieve broken ground.
I think the overall effect is quite realistic and in this case complements the Herd army. In the next 24 hours I'll be posting some more detailed pictures of the final units and a shot of the overall army.
This is the last post on "How to do" the bases. Hopefully it has shown how straightforward and easy they are to achieve with just a little effort and will inspire others to try the methodology. There is an old adage in miniature painting "faces and Bases" and spending time on either can make a unit "POP". KoW, with its multibasing is ideally suited to this tenet.
Last week my copy of "GORECHOSEN" arrived. This is GW's latest boxed game and represent "brutal arena combat" i.e. Pitfighting.
I picked up a copy as I thought it might be a nice quick game to play in an evening or at a tournament between rounds. The re-launched White Dwarf had a character for the game on its front cover.
Opening up the box you are greeted by a plethora of components - cards, counters, markers, booklets and a playing board. As well as that there is a plastic box insert to keep things tidy and four mini sprues of models (plus round bases).
A lot has been made on the net as to what great value this set is. Certainly the components look sturdy, well made and attractive. But the thing most people point to is the inclusion of four sprues if various Khorne characters. The common refrain is that buying these separately would cost 2x the game price and therefore the game is great value. I can't help thinking that there is a certain amount of "Battered Wife Syndrome" at work there, in respect to GW pricing.
Still it is a very nice looking game and by all accounts fun to play.
Here you can see the individual player cards plus the rule book. There is a separate pamphlet included on how to construct the models and paint them..
All the components fit into the box insert and there is space to put your painted models.
Glancing through the rules I see that there are rules for the inclusion of other Khorne characters into the game. The WD also included extra rules and cards for various AOS Khorne models. Luckily my good friend Higgins has multiple AoS box sets and is going to throw me the requisite character models.
Overall I'm happy with the purchase and will be assembling and painting the combatants over the next few weeks with a few to giving it a run.
I like this move of GW to release these type of games as they can fill a niche in providing a fun timefiller. You can pick the game up from GW for $105 NZD or from a UK seller for around $50 NZD. Give there was no urgency for me I used the later route.
On the home stretch now!
With the rocks and earth painted the next stage is to add some character. The first of these is to add some ink to the rocks to give them some discolouration. You can go as far as you want with this. I was reasonably happy with the rocks so just gave them the light touch.
The second is to add some water to the ground to simulate puddles. I use Realistic Water from Woodland Scenics but mix some GW Shades in. I then apply with a match or for larger depressions- live dangerously - and pour it in.
This comes up well and provides the base on which to mount the models. In some cases I will add GW Agrellan Earth - their crackle paint - but I'm not sure yet with these. I probably will Om the edges but will wait until after the models are added.
So the exciting part - fixing the models. I pin then to give extra rigidity. In this case my wolves are resin and a little bit brittle so that extra step is more troublesome. Still I think in the long run it is probably worth it.
I can get four wolves comfortably onto a Cavalry Troop base, easily meeting the MMC while still looking good.
The next stage is to go back and paint the models fixing point (see the back leg of the front right wolf ) and then decide on Agrellan Earth.
After that the fun part begins - using tufts.
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