Trench Warfare - part 3.

 

With the Trench Build continuing on, in the rare moments I'm having to hobby at the moment I took the opportunity to clear something from the desk and had an entire painting session drybrushing the hell out of these pieces to get the finished and table ready.

So in order, we have piece "1A", front:

And rear:

This is piece "2A", from the front:

And the rear, showing off the sandbagged area:

And piece "3A", the larger firing step area from the rear:

And "3A" from the front with the scorch marks:

In order to match my own collection of miniatures, I long ago worked out a generic desert formula for bases which I liked and use on everything of mine (other people's miniatures vary in basing style and that's fine, I just like all my stuff to match).

So from the previous post where I had taken the trenches to the dark wash stage, I start with a drybrush of Baneblade Brown and then go straight up to a highlight/drybrush of Ushabti Bone.

I occasionally hit the very highest of ridges with a VERY LIGHT drybrush of Ulthuan Grey, but very very lightly, just to emphasize the ridge.

Craters and scorch marks start with a base of Abbadon Black and then get drybrushed in order of Corax Black (Heavy) Mechanicus Standard Grey (Medium), Celestra Grey (Light) and finally Ulthuan Grey (Lightest touch).

And because I couldn't resist when I laid them out, I dug out the platoon of Fraser's Krieg army which I have finished so far and added them to the trenches fora few photos:

And this panoramic photo along the finished trenches, very cool:

I'm starting on piece "4A" which will make this section four feet long, and an alternative "2A" piece which will have a bunker added and can be swapped out depending on the narrative of the game.

I can live with the slight gaps in the slope between the modular pieces as these are mainly for gaming, and some I'll take a battering as tike goes on, plus I don't think it's that noticeable once things are in motion.

I think the only addition I want to do in future is to add some grass tufts along the slope, so it's not as barren/desert looking, but I'll need to find a colour set which I am happy with for the overall look and a bulk seller of them.

This is set "A" as I want to build set "B" which will run across the opposite side of the table eventually and enable me to play games between the two lines.

Running assaults across no-mans land, trench raids, etc.

The next piece of terrain I have started is a shatter wood on a hill, based off of some historical photographs off the internet, and I'm going to need yet more Craters to populate no-mans land with.

Until next time, have nice day...

"Tiny" a Bloodbowl spectator and sometime unwelcome player.

 

A quick post of a model I have been working on for Duncan.

This is Tiny, a hardcore Blood Bowl supporter who follows whichever tram has the shiniest kit when he looks over.

Obviously he's a giant from GW, but Duncan converted him with the huge sign, made out of plasticard planks, distressed with a Dremel for woodgrain texture and then a layer of green stuff roughly flattened out for his sign.

The Beer-Hat was cobbled together with barrels, GW rope bits from the old Empire sprues and some stiff wire for the drinking straws.

I took the time to follow a skin tutorial off of eBay in order to get a bit more life to it, with a purple wash in there for Shadows rather hen using straight Fleshshade or such, it gives a different feel straight away.

As well as stippling the highlight colours on rather then drybrushing to get some more texture.

The tattoos started as freehand with Talassar Contrast Blue, and then stippled over with the main skin highlights to make them seem weathered and faded like real tattoos.

For the various rags which make up his trousers, I took various Empire trooper colours and some generic leather browns, and added in the blue-white stripes for some fun.

Washed down with Earthshade and layered back up messily to get a dirty, old feel to them.

So there he is.

The base and banner are purposely left blank, as Duncan can base him to match his team/giant army for AoS, and the banner can be added to when he settles on a design for it.

A fun project which was a good diversion from my main 40k grinds at the moment.

Until next time, have nice day...

Trench Warfare - part 2.

 

Trench Warfare continues as the first three sections of trench have now been completed, giving me and entire three foot stretch of trench to cover my table with side to side on the short length.

These are all very generic coded throughout to be used with multiple games systems, as that was always the endgame with these.

Lots of coffee stirrers were chopped up for the wooden duckboards and revetments holding up the firing step.

I also had several plates of nothing but sandbags printed for me, and have been using them by the dozen each time I picked up a piece of terrain.

I also tried to make each section have a bit of a narrative element but fit in with the next pieces along.

For example, section 2, shown here, has a crater blown in the frontline, but has been shored up quickly with a couple of lines of sandbags until the engineers can repair it properly.

Meanwhile, section 3, shown here, is a larger firing area suitable for heavy weapons teams to set up a strong point.

I also added little details, like the extra supported firing step and the planks with securing's fastened over them,.as if the engineers were disturbed during a maintenance session and left them there to fight the enemy off...

Section 3 in full from above.

After the build was finished, I took some brown spray paint for priming and giving everything a cohesive look.

This step also has the added bonus of locking in any loose sand and ground cover which hasn't quite been grabbed by the layers of PVA glue.

And painting begins, sandbags get a bone/off white base, anything wood got a Baneblade Brown basecoat and military equipment gets a neutral Death Guard Green base which is a lighter NATO style green.

And finally the entire terrain set gets washed with a homemade black-brown wash to shade everything and get it ready for drybrushing up to finished level.

And we leave them there for now, the next update (hopefully) shouldn't be as long in coming.

Until next time, have nice day...