I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I’ve reached the 15pts milestone! Barnabas and his buddies are merrily traversing my Zuzzy mat in search of fun and adventure.
Some close ups of the individual models:
Barney and his bestest buddy:
Bull Snapper:
Gatormen Posse:
Puddles are still WIP but you get the general idea:
Bad news is that is currently the 20th of May, making me over a week behind schedule. And I’ve only just started on the next level.
Additionally, the delivery of my second Wrastler got delayed so I had to rearrange my paint schedule somewhat. However, a little opposition and mis-estimation only makes my spirit and determination stronger! With fierce brushstrokes and an iron will that won’t buckle under the pressure of things such as L.A Noire being released I will press onward until the bitter end!
I had to adapt a little under the circumstances. My new list of manageable chunks now looks like this:
25pts: Wrong Eye & Snapjaw, Feralgeist.
In order to keep the flying ‘gator theme Wrong Eye and Snapjaw will join the crew at 25pts instead for the extra two-handed throw. They all have a little paint on them but I’d be really suprised if this block is done by the 25th.
35pts: Reposed Wrastler, Swamp Gobbers.
Initially I wasn’t going to repose the second Wrastler but in the end I decided that since I’m already painting to the best of my abilities I should also do something with my second big guy. I found a great tutorial by gentleben over at BoLS that I intend to blatantly steal. There’s some green-stuffing involved but shouldn’t cause a tremendous amount of overhead.
50pts: Thrullg, Croak, Croak, Bog Trogs.
The rest. I might go for a minimum unit of Ambushers and go with a Totem Hunter instead to ease the work load but we’ll see what happens. I’d rather have the Croaks at an earlier level to get access to some ranged but what can you do.
Anyway, when I posted the figs over the PP forums a few people asked me about how I did the bases so I made a step-by-step tutorial:
Making the base
I assume you’ve already got basic hobby tools like a scalpel, drill, glue and so on. The additional stuff you’re going to need is:
- Field Grass
- Sheet cork
- Sand
- Scale Link etched brass foliage
- Vallejo Still Water Effects
- Vallejo Smoke
You’ll also need some paints. All colors are P3 unless otherwise noted. This is what I use but you can substitute for something similar. The general ideas is to use a lot of earthy greens and browns. I use:
- Battlefield Brown
- -Booststrap Leather
- -Beast Hide
- ‘Jack Bone
- Gnarls Green
- Ordic Olive
- Iosan Green
- Traitor Green
- Vallejo Lemon Yellow
- Menoth White Highlight
- Citadel Gryphonne Sepia Wash
If you’re not familiar with Scale Link they have some nifty basing material. Their sheets of foliage will last you a long time and are pretty easy to work with. I prime mine all at once when I get them so I don’t have to do that every time I need a leaf on a base. For these swamp bases I use Bracken Fronds and Tropical Tree Creepers.
Use some pliers to cut out what you need. I press the creepers against the end of my brush in order to round them out and give them a little volume so they’re not all flat.
The field grass is a little too long to use as it is so I take a small tuft, twist it, bend it in the middle and dip the “roots” in super glue.
When dry you simply cut off a big enough piece with a scalpel. Here I’ve drilled a hole in the base that the tuft will fit into.
Voila!
The land parts of the base are made with a thin sheet of cork. Only a few millimetres high so that it barely extends over the rim. The swampy parts are based with a little sand but you don’t need to get total coverage. We’re just going for a bit of texture that will show through the water effects later on. I try to strive for a good balance between land and marsh so my guys don’t get their feet damp while still having enough room to show the wet parts.
I also loot nature for some grade A twigs I can use as logs and stumps. The damp shade they provide is great a place for your fantasy foliage to flourish from. Just play around with it and have some fun when you create the world where your pewter men will battle.
Here’s what I came up with for Wrong Eye & Snapjaw:
I have glued down some sand that will later on become moss on top of the twigs. The pins sticking out of the base are there to mark where the guys will go later on.
Let’s basecoat that sumbitch. Land parts and twigs get a coating of Battlefield Brown, moss gets Ordic Olive, swamp parts gets Traitor Green’d, foliage is painted with Iosan Green and the ends of the twigs get a little Menoth White Highlight.
Land parts are now drybrushed heavily with Bootstrap Leather followed by a lighter layer of Beast Hide and finally some ‘Jack Bone around the edges. Moss gets highlighted with Ordic Olive plus increasing amounts of yellow until satisfied. The broken ends of the twigs get a wash with Gryphonne Sepia for a more wooden appearance.
Plants are shaded with Gnarls Green and highlighted with Iosan Green plus yellow. The lowest parts of the reeds gets muddied with some Vallejo Smoke. This is the last step before applying the water effects so if you want to seal your base then here’s your last chance.
Mix a little (very little!) Vallejo Smoke in your water effects and apply over the Traitor Green. You definitely want the green to show through on the more shallow parts. Don’t put it on too thick, it’s better to do several thin layers than to get it on all at once. If you plan to do a lot of bases like this it’s handy to have an old cleaned dropper bottle around with this stuff premixed.
After about three or so layers we’re done!
I’m sure Wrong Eye and his buddy Snapjaw will love their new stomping grounds. Speaking of that, I need to get back to coloring them. See you again at 25 points!
