Terrain is everything - some awesome terrain 10 pages worth

Quick one, I saw this thread on Warseer, some truly awesome terrain and 10 pages worth [so it makes up for the short post :) ]. I particularly like the Dawn of War Sentry Turret and the Atmosphere Processors. Loads of extra details to make them more realistic and step-by-step guides to do-it-yourself

Check it out:

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?250009-Bunkers-barricades-and-battlefield-bits

MOAR from my mate Liam - Scratchbuilt Thunderbolt

A couple of years ago my mate Liam shared some awesome scratchbuilt Flyers, back before Flyers had become the battlefield dominating must-have we know and hate today ;) Here's the finished little beauty

Anyway, he recently sent me a link to his progress pics that may be of interest to those out there who are anal enough to want to build their own, so here you go:

 

Hopefully you made it thus far and the pictures were satisfaction enough for your 40k addiction. I will let you into the secret that he's also sent me the links to his work in progress shots of his award winning Chaos Space Marine army too, so they'll be coming soon as well.

'nids part 80 - Tyranid Bastion pt1.

That's right folks, a Bastion - the logical progression from my Tyranid Aegis Defence Line. Of course if I do the Bastion then the logical next step is a Skyshield Landing Platform and then a Fortress of Redemption but lets not run before we can walk.

Occasionally I'll draw myself a little sketch of what I'm after and so my first attempt tried to match the proportions of the existing Imperial Bastion but this is going to be completely scratchbuilt. I'm all for Tyranid infested Imperial terrain but a completely scratchbuilt affair holds appeal for me because it will be unique, match my army, be a challenge and will cost me nothing [importance not in that order].

However, recently I've seen a variety of Xenos bastions that use the GW moonscape as a base and as I have a couple of spare pieces I thought they might be a potential stepping stone. Unfortunately this would mean the dimensions for the Bastion would change significantly. Using the base below I managed to do an area measurement of the dual crater and as you can see the slightly larger yellow circles have the same rooftop surface area as the Imperial Bastion, coincidence? On the one hand this is awesome on the other it means I can't use the crater edges completely to show my Bastion 'rupturing' through the ground.  

In some areas I'll be able to do it but overall I'd hoped to take advantage of the model but the tower will have to taper from the base and if the crater is already the area I need it will have to expand the crater beyond it's dual circular edges. Also, this will be Obviously be a different plan view and instead of a square shape will be more rectangular. Let's hope this isn't an issue, Tyranids are bio-constructs and nothing in nature is perfect so making a square shape would be unnatural.

So this is the revised concept sketch, however mounting the 'heavy bolters' on it's compass points will be difficult given the Chitinous towers already situated there. What I may do is make the towers sit slightly angled opposite each other that way the left and right weapon can be in the East and West positions and then the North and south guns will be asymmetrically opposite, one in the right hand Southern wall and the other in the left Northern wall. With 'sphincter doors' [as seen in Advanced Space Crusade] in the left Southern and right Northern.

And in case you need more reference, the ruler is just short of 17cm in height, which will be around the height of the battlements. I will create a foamboard skeleton something like this shape ‡ [or perhaps with three crossbars] rotated 100 degrees [to give the diagonal] with the two crossbars running out to the crater edges. I'll include the Chitinous Towers in each piece and then build on the ends using various plastic components that will be covered in Milliput. The other more organic areas... G.O.D. knows, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

 Another procrastination from my Dark Angels eh? ;) I'm sneaky like that!

Tyranid Bastion | Foamboard core template

Lord of the Rings - Moria Goblins Finished!

I'd originally intended to do a step-by-step for these guys but I also intended to do them quickly so those decisions proved to be mutually exclusive. After I primed them black I did the bases first. I thought as there was more area to the base than figure any overspill from the dry brush could be covered easier afterwards than try and paint round the model.

 

After a quick base of craft brown acrylic and subsequent lighter brown drybrushes I used my Vallejo BoltGun equivalent, the green that was supplied with my LoTR starter set [not bad considering it's 12ish years old] Mechrite red on the clothing and browns on various bits of leather.

I then washed it twice with my Army Painter Strong Tone [Devlan Mud replacement]. I was after a much darker effect than a single wash - to try and replicate the darkness of the movie goblins, even though I've introduced reds and greens. I'd intended to do one set of highlights but I was already feeling these were too bright and so many times I've just wanted to 'wash and go' with my painting because I believe they actually look good without the highlighting anyway. My only annoyance is that archer with the helmet. I'd pulled a stone off that was too big and it brought a lot of sand with it. It blended OK with the browns but I suddenly thought a dark pool of water would look good too so filled it with black - no it looks exactly like someone pulled off the basing sand to reveal the slotta base beneath - DOH!

Maybe some clear varnish will solve this. As overall I decided just to 'let go', this was always an exercise in speed. Doing something for the fun of it and things that work OK will suffice, no need to over-egg this pudding.

One last thing to do was add some grey teeth that were washed and some bulging luminous yellow/green eyes. One concern is just how obvious the mold lines are in these close-ups. luckily they're less evident to the naked eye but it's slightly annoying.

I'm really chuffed with the end result, to think these were still on the sprue a week or two back and had been languishing for a decade or more and now I've painted them up. Can't wait to have a little go on PeteB's Goblin Town board with them.

When we get chance to have a game I'll take some pics too. His Goblin Town has come out really well, supplemented by coffee stirrers. He's achieved a really realistic wood effect, I'm sure mine would have been much more cartoony.

Here's one of the before shots when I'd done the basing sand.



'nids part 79 - 'alien protection walls'

By popular demand I am creating some additional 'alien portection walls' and as I've shown before the fruit pot skeleton is in place. Having compared my line to the official proportions this set will consist of 3 long pieces and 4 short ones [aliens don't follow the metric system]. Below is one nights work with my favorite Terracota Milliput. Now I'm not sure if I should have added the holes in the front but it's too late anway.

Day two and I've completed the other halves of the long section and the backs of the two short ones.

I think the detail is pretty much the similar to my originals. When I come to try and cast them each set will have a random duplicate of the one of the long sections and two pairs of the short ones, still a long ways off though.

Terrain is everything: The Mandulian Chapel: Tyranid Terrain: Digestion Pool Part 1

Saw this and had to share, immediately.

The Mandulian Chapel: Tyranid Terrain: Digestion Pool Part 1

And while you're at it go here too:

http://www.terragenesis.co.uk/infopages/page493.html

Oh, and my own interpretation is still available here

Lord of the Rings - Moria Goblins

Oh no I didn't! Don't worry [or perhaps do worry] I haven't jumped ship to another game. During my last game with PeteB he revealed he'd bought The Hobbit for him and his son to play and then decide to build Goblin Town but expanded it greatly through the use of coffee stirrers [does GW know McDonalds and Starbucks are making Goblin Town expansion parts? Perhaps they should sue...].

Anyway, round about when the Lord of the Rings films came out and GW brought out the game they made a deal with one of those weekly 'part works' magazines. Y'know the sort -

'Mad about Galleons in issue 1, £1.99* you will receive a small cannon for a marvellous scale reproduction of a galleon. Each issue will include all you will ever need to know about Galleons including schematics and historical pictures alongside a new component to create your own Galleon. * Subsequent issues RRP £5.99 '

With 60 issues your Galleon works out costing £360, if you can be bothered to stick with it for that long, and you'd have been better off just nipping to the model shop to satisfy your Galleon needs. I digress, well the wife bought me the cheap introductory magazine that came with 12 Moria Goblins, 4 tiny pots of paint, a paintbrush and a single dice [cheap basta...]. This was before I got back into gaming and I think it was a joke that may have backfired on her since. I'd subsequently used the dice and brush but with an invitation to have a go on PeteBs Goblin Town I dug out the Moria Goblins with a plan to get them painted in time to take round [yes I know it's more procrastination from the Dark Angels].

So I glued them together, took about 15 minutes and I'll be basing them the next night before I prime them black but with a quick zenithal Red Oxide to hopefully add some weathering to metallic elements. Then I'll paint the bases, quick once over with the paints provided, Devlan Mud [or equivalent] wash, pick out the colours again for a bit of highlights and they should be done. 

I'm hoping this will be quick job, but that's what I thought of my cultists. Anyway, I'll keep you updated.