Terrain Talk Pt. 17 – Great Big Ruins

Having been a bit quiet on the blogging front of late – basically, most of my job involves doing risk assessments in schools and right now there is SO MUCH MORE risk to assess – I was looking for a quick and simple (yet satisfying) project to get some hobby in and decompress a little.

Step forward Midwinter Minis with this video by the adorable duo of Guy & Penny creating a complete set of terrain and coming up with a method of counterracting all the problems that working with polystyrene usually creates. Go watch it before you read on, because I just nicked this whole sale and followed their instructions.

We begin with polystyrene that I just haven’t been able to bring myself to throw away.. must be fate!

Tarted it up a bit with cat litter – daubed PVA and then scattered the stuff over it, and then shook the excess off.

Then, the clever (and extraordinarily messy) bit! The magic mix – 1 part cheap black craft paint, 1 part water, one part PVA and one part flour. Healthy does of salt in it to kill the bacteria (apparently). Again, check the video out to see Guy and Penny do it properly.

After undercoating with the magic mixture, a coat of cheap grey spray primer.

Sponging on warmer greys (white, black, brown & yellow mixed together)

Black wash from thinned down black craft paint mixed with water

Drybrush with very light cream/ grey (I used Wilko’s Granite Dust)

And done! Stippled on brown craft paint for mud effects and added flock – shown here with Hive Fleet Imprudens ‘Nids and Orks

And there we go! Total project time about four evenings, result a good looking and pretty durable set of terrain pieces, able to be anything from a Stalingrad tractor factory to a 40k temple… not too shabby! And probably quite timely as well, with the festive season coming up I imagine most houses will find themselves awash in polystyrene packaging in the next couple of weeks, so put that stuff to good use and keep it out of landfill…

Stay safe and thrifty out there, and here’s wishing you all the very best Christmas your tier restrictions will allow…. One day we’ll be looking back on this and laughing, so let’s keep it together!

Crossing The Rubicon Nostalgius Pt. 3

Second tactical squad done! Who wants to have a look?

Sarge gets to get all up close and personal with the flamer group, having all the fun while the veteran marine gets stuck with the boring missile launcher team..

Veteran marine is the only non-“I love my bolter” pose, I swapped him in for variety

Not going to belabour this too much (belabour… my favourite new word, thank you Wyloch’s Crafting Videos…. peace be upon you and come back to us soon) as the paint scheme is exactly the same as the first squad, the only difference is the black kneepad and the red nozzle ends on the backpacks, as per White Dwarf 139 pics. These kinds of tricks are quite handy for differentiating the different squads without disrupting the overall look of the army. The banners are from the magazine itself – I printed out the page, painted them following the outlines and freehanded the squad numbers.

If you look closely I kind of screwed up the transfer application on the sergeant’s shoulder pad (thanks to Whittlesey40k for those) but from two feet away these lads look pretty respectable, certainly fitting my rose-coloured recollections of the early 90s and the glorious vibrant primary colours that defined the grim darkness of the far future…

The full force so far, arrayed in the grim darkness of my kitchen where there is ONLY WAR

I do love the banners. I mean, who wouldn’t want to wage war in bright vermillion with a humongous flag strapped to your back?

So there we go, Devastators up next… or shall I do some Orcs? Hmmm… meanwhile, Jim’s been hard at work with some big chunks of polystyrene that he’s been making a lot of mess with, looking forward to seeing that….

The vaccine is here! So it can only be a matter of time now before Warhammer World reopens, and I shall be taking these lads to visit their spiritual home for a 30th birthday treat.. Meanwhile stay safe out there, stay sane and stay thrifty, we’re nearly there!