Deuteros

The Hive #5 – Neurogaunts Half Squad

I’ve been painting these on and off for a very long time, but I finally have the first five Neurogaunts from what I assume would be a squad of ten, including a larger Node.

These have been painted with oil paints, following my old green and sand colour scheme. I painted the neurocytes hopping a ride on their backs in the same colour – they’ve been symbionts for a while – but with purple tiny legs. I still have to nail the purple: I’m highlighting it with pink rather than white to avoid chalkiness, but there’s still something off. This will become more important with the brain beasts and the genestealers, which will feature more of that colour.

Oils make the shading of the skin quite simple. Here I’ve gone for a mix of starker and softer contrast, to have some variance in the unit.

Keep in mind that I will probably mix unit fillers with ferns and jungle plants in the unit, like I did with an older Termagant brood: this should help make the “basing” more interesting – otherwise, I don’t think I have much space on the bases as they are to add much. They have their little alien thingies near their hooves, but that’s not quite enough overall. The sand for the time being is left natural, like I did for the rest of the army, but I’ll consider going over it with a thin oil wash to give it some more depth.

Next in the Hive project will be one of the bigger bugs…

For those who are still interested, here’s a few more individual pictures.

Overgrown Terrain #2 – Tank

Here’s the second of the overgrown towers, this one really deserving the name.

The base is a tin can, with some bands of cardboard to change it a bit, but I think one can still tell. I went all the way with moss here, with plants, clumps sprouting from the nooks in the metal, and some vines creeping downwards. In real life the moss looks brighter than in the picture, and I like the overall effect better. I still like it on photograph, but I’m a little afraid that it may be too messy and too far from the ordinary to please veteran modellers…

It may still need some streaking and some extra texture and variations on the surface of the tank, and maybe something to help unify the variety of materials that I used on the ground…

Even though the result may be improved, I still like the idea too much to let it go. I’m planning to continue to experiment with overgrown versions of buildings, walls, and later maybe vehicles, to create a 2 x 2 feet table which could be use as either a sci-fi jungle, a post-apocalyptic landscape, or an eco-punk variant of necromunda. I’m building a wall section and a larger ruin at the moment to test things out.

What do you think? Any suggestions moving forward?

Overgrown Terrain #1 – Concrete Tower

It’s been a long time since I last posted, but I’ve been painting and modelling still. I should be about to finish a few projects that I can begin to share.

First, one of two generic towers that I started to work on to show the kid what could be done without buying expensive brand-name terrain, with just some scrap material and, in this case, cheap aquarium plants.

The ground is done with rock salt (not ideal, it does melt a little if you use water based paints on it) and “dollar store” structure paste. The grass is flock plus a couple of types of moss that we gathered while hiking. The structure itself is a large plastic bottle, cut in half, primed and weathered. The plants took the most time, with me painting the individual leaves at least for a couple of them.

Main flaw of this one is that you better not try to think what the purpose of the building might be. It’s just a concrete pillar with no doors, standing there a little slanted. In the future, I’ll take the time to plan ahead and make sure the building makes a little more sense.

The tower will serve as los blocking terrain and elevation when the kid plays with small soldiers, post-apo heroquest, or the like, and I’m working on a simple set of rules for a less militaristic, eco-punk inspired, game I can propose to him – something like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind meets The Drowned Earth (which has interesting rules for movement).

Next will be another tower, then some tyranids, and a new Torakage – hoping it won’t take months before I’m able to post again!

Native Americans

Long break due to travelling, but I have something a bit different for a short post.

These are two old Native American soft plastic figures, around 50mm in scale, probably from a rather old set that belonged to my father.

I’ve used oils and the Zorn limited palette, as I could not bring many colours with me. Both have been speedpainted, taking roughly one hour each, focussing on the features that stand out the most.

Next I’ll be coming back to finish the new tyranid models I had started, and I’m counting on moving on to some of the big bugs after those…

Malifaux Ten Thunders #3 – Purple Torakage wip

I haven’t been posting for a long time, but I’ve been painting more or less regularly.

Here I want to share a couple of work in progress pictures of the second Torakage in the Misaki set for Malifaux. The next one I will paint in a deep blue colour similar to the first, but for this one I wanted to try something different.

Keep in mind the picture is taken from a low angle, to let you see the masked face a little better. I have tried to create a similar sheen effect as I had done with the Prussian blue in the other figure, but I did not spend as much time on this one, so the result is not as good. Still pretty decent for tabletop.

The hair arguably still has to be finished, but as it is it could be an example of a very quick technique where the highlight is done by exposing the white of the undercoat, and / or gently removing paint with solvent (water if you are working with acrylics) from the highlight areas. With an extra glaze to tie everything together, the hair took about three minutes to make.

For the bases, I am thinking of wooden flooring made with cut and scratched cocktail sticks, but unfortunately it will have to wait since I don’t have the material with me abroad, where I still am.

Next, I’ve been working for quite some time on an entire unit of neurogaunts. Maybe I’ll have something to share in a couple of weeks…

HeroQuest Revival #20 – Group pictures

A few group pictures of what constitutes (for me) basically the end of the HeroQuest project.

I have painted all the furniture and heroes and a bit more than half of the monsters. The rest is there for the kid when and if he’ll find the interest to spend more time with the brushes.

With this in a way I complete a childhood dream: I was so deeply fond of HeroQuest and the effort my mother had made to buy the box, and I played the hell out of it, but never had the courage, the energy, and the skills to get it painted. Now what I could not at the time do for myself, I’m so happy I could do for another.

What do you think of the bases? I went for an “abstract” look: black rim, white line around it, and a simple blue-grey gradient for the surface. I think it fits them being “pieces” in the game and being moved on differently coloured tiles. Also, I could not really see myself modelling or painting tiles on all those bases…

Anyway, I’m super happy about how everything came together. Next, I’ve been working on another Malifaux figure…

The Hive #4 – New Termagaunts

Back to the hive for a moment.

Last year I took a deal on the Tyranid half of GW lastest (? I can’t keep up with them any more) two-player starter box for 40k. Pretty nice miniatures, which also really motivated the kid to get interested in minis.

This is technically a speed paint job, at least for me, being under two hours. The colours are nice and vibrant – an update on the last iteration of my critter ‘nids – and even the carapace comes through as having enough shading, unlike in the picture. I could go with some spots or stripes later.

I think I’ll leave at least some of the termies to the kid to practice painting, and I’m planning to bring with me in my usual period abroad the new neuro-something gaunts, which I really like.

Bases will be like the previous models in the army, sand with painted aquarium plants, and I am also building a couple of pieces of terrain to go with, which I hope to finish and share here before I leave.

Millennium Falcon #1 Clean base

Here’s something quite unusual for me.

It’s a Revell 1:72 Millennium Falcon kit I got to my companion’s son for the holidays, which he went completely gaga about.

So far, we’ve done the gluing (actually most of the kit just snaps into place and is quite easy to mount), a two-step priming with dark grey and off-white, which also gives a gradient from the front to the back of the ship (not very visible in the picture), and coloured a few panels following the scheme provided in the kit.

Next, I’d have to add some subtle shading and highlights and some dirt and battle damage. Problem is, I’ve never done anything like that and I’m quite afraid to mess up what is a very playable and rather nice-looking result so far.

I’m planning to make some tests on older vehicles and some new terrain on, then maybe come back to this in a while. But in the meantime, let me know if you have any recommendations or advice.

Next, a different kind of space…

HeroQuest Revival #19 – Speedpaint Dread Knights

Here’s the three remaining Dread Knights from the set, painted in just three steps, under 20 minutes of effective paint time, with an hour waiting time between step two and three.

The first step is to cover the whole figure in metal paint, plus painting the cape with a thinned down coat of oil paint.

Step two is to cover the whole armour parts with a thick wash of dark grey and a little brown.

Step three, after some waiting time, is to remove part of this wash with a paper cloth, sponge or old brush, to restore some of the metal paint as highlight.

Here’s the first miniature painted by my partner’s son – pretty good for a first time, I’d say.

It is perfectly possible to use these steps as prep work for a better paintjob that can be done at a later time. One could add manual nmm highlights on the whole armour, add some off-colour in the shadows and highlights of the capes (which are too bright at present), and tint parts of the armour to add some tonal variation.

Next will be… something completely different.

HeroQuest Revival #18 – Speedpaint Abomination

Here’s a red fish Abomination I painted in less than two hours, mostly using the easy blending possible with oils and the paint removal technique for some of the highlights.

Not much more to say: quick paintjob, short post. Next, the other speedpaint project on the not-Chaos warriors, and the first full miniature painted by the kid.