Lockdown 2.0 Daily Project Log Day 70: Ork Watchtower!

 Hi!

Following on from my post of the other day with my discovery of the Fortnite Port-a-Fort toy at Home Bargains, I decided to get it painted asap as I want to use it in my upcoming game this weekend!

The only extras I added to it was a small shack I added to replace the oversized doorway and a piece of cardboard to cover the hole in the roof.

It's so sturdily constructed that I didn't even need to use any glue on it and with the addition of grubby washes and drybrushing, it's looking rather good and kind of reminds me of a sci-fi version of the old Battlemasters tower.

The upper level is big enough to add small buildings on or some sort of heavy gun or communication gear and I foresee it being really handy in any Orky themed game and I'm sorely tempted to pick up one or two more to use the individual components in future projects as its proved to be a really easy piece of kit to work with that is also really cheap!

If I had a bit more time, I'd probably jazz it up a bit and add more bits and bobs, substructures and interesting gubbins to really make it an interesting centrepiece for any scenario but as I need it for this weekend's game, I kept it pretty simple.

For a toy, I'm really surprised by the level of detail as its got loads of really nice bits and bobs on it with the only soft area of detail being the upper levels wall but it is easily covered by lots of grime in a properly Orky style.

In other news, I'm trying to finish off as much as I can for the upcoming game and have more Gretchin complete but doubt I will have all five Blood Angels done as I'm just too slow at painting but I think I have enough to make for a really fun game. 

Excitingly, theres also a Warzone Eternal update heading our way soon and tomorrow will also see Chronopia getting an hour long update on HeinzCon and I'll post any information I find out here as soon as I get them!

Until then, All the best!

Lockdown Day 46

Hi!

Here's the new Scrap pile I finished yesterday evening:

Scrapyard Terrain

I'm really pleased by how the terrain I've made seems to be really tying the artwork and setting together with the miniatures to get the look that I had always envisioned for my Rusty Robots game.

As with the last piece of scrap, this is made from play mat foam, polyfilla and lots of cardboard scraps. I also added some doodads using wire to add a bit of ramshackle interest into the piece.

Whilst these are pretty generic rusty browns, I will be adding some more colour with some of the scrap piles having tribal colours on them and I've really enjoyed adding the odd glyph here and there which really stands out on the browns.

I have spent a bit of time this morning cutting up the rest of the foam that I had lying around which will give me enough to make a fair amount of scenery and hope to keep plugging away at it over the coming weeks to give me lots of interesting scrap for my robots to fight over.

I've tried to make the scenery multi use so buildings can be stacked on top of the scrap piles and the scrap piles can be combined together in interesting fashion to create larger terrain pieces. Once the next piece is done, I will be cracking on with getting my Black Tribe finished though as they will allow me to get some battle reports put together too and I'm rather excited by the prospect as well!

I plan on making most of the terrain pretty generic to begin with to represent a typical scene from anywhere in The Scrapyard but as each force gets built, there will be some tribe specific stuff to liven things up, be it Pipe Forests, Tox Pools, Pirate Ships, Trading Posts or Forges.

Hopefully I'll have the first Black Tribe robot painted and ready to go by this time tomorrow so watch this space but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 44

Hi!

I've sent quite a bit of time building scenics today for my Rusty Robots project!

I've got a couple of buildings done already so I figured it was time to take a look at some other sorts of terrain, specifically some hilly ground to make the battlefield more visually appealing.

Initially, the action will be taking place in the Arid Rustlands and Red Mesa region so I'm looking to putting together some desert themed terrain but of a decidedly Rusty Robots variety!

After rummaging around for a while, I discovered I had a pack of foam activity tiles and decided to see if I could turn them into some compacted scrap piles which will double as hills.

Rusty Pile of Junk

I'm quite pleased with the results as the superglue I used didn't melt them but created a solid bond and then a coating of das clay and polyfilla gave a hard surface.

I then gave the whole thing a quick coat of paint to give the next step something to bind to. I then added lots of pieces of cardboard to give the effect of metal plating and then another coat of paint to prime it followed by lots of brown washes, drybrushing and little bits of detail.

As a test piece, I rather like the result and have got another couple of hills under construction at the moment. When combined with the other terrain gubbins I have at present, it gives a decent skirmish type battlefield effect covering about a square foot of board so I'll need to make a bunch more to kit out my 3'x3' board!

Before

I also need to get on with painting my Black Tribe marauders and have managed to prime them this morning before getting distracted by terrain so we shall see how things go in the next few days as I crack on with my assorted bits and bobs.

Red Tribe Forge

In other news, I've been thinking of having a bit of a blog post about what has inspired me to get so much stuff done over the last forty odd days or so and what I see myself working on over the foreseeable future as I've really rediscovered my love of sculpting and want to keep up the good work so to speak!

Arid Rustlands Scrap Hoodoo

I'll try and post my initial thoughts tomorrow so watch this space and in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 34

Hi!

Here's the latest additions to my Rusty Robots project!

The Lone Star Oil Shack

I put together the Lone Star from two small cardboard boxes and a lot of cardboard, some plastic gubbins and plasticard that I had lying around and am rather pleased with how it's turned out!

The Lone Star Oil Shack is the purveyor of the finest hot oil anywhere in The Scrapyard and as such has managed to avoid getting shot up too badly by any of the squabbling tribes. It has proved to be a handy neutral meeting place for robots from any tribe or none to come and have some Black Gold Roast Oil and relax before heading out into The Scrapyard for a hard day's foraging.

It has proved so popular that new branches, each identical to the original have sprung up in many communities and there is rumblings from older robots that it is putting old fashioned Greasy Spoons out of business and attracts entirely too many Hipsterbots.

I wasn't sure what colour to paint the Lone Star initially but just let it go and quite like the blue and red combination alongside the rusted metal as I imagine the robots who inhabit The Scrapyard to use whatever paint they can find lying around and slapping it on.

It also gives me a higher vantage point for robots to take potshots at one another and will need to build some outraged Hipsters to inhabit it and maybe some Scutter's to carry beverages to its patrons...

I also found some old Games Workshop plastic barrels to act as some scenic debris and painted them up quickly too:

Rusty Barrels

Nothing too fancy with the paint, just a drybrush of grey and then lots of washes of various browns and a wee bit of mustard to highlight.

My settlement is starting to come together now as I slowly construct suitably rusty terrain for my Robots to fight over:

I think I'll need to add some civilians and more buildings, be they workshops, shacks of various sizes or whatnot but it's rather therapeutic just bodging terrain and I keep getting more ideas too which is always fun!

K-12 and Co prepare to imbibe a cup of J0-e, finest blend Oil

I've got more gubbins to post tomorrow so watch this space but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 29

Hi!

I seem to be on a bit of a terrain kick at the moment and spent this morning putting together some quick scenics for my Rusty Robots!

Red Tribe shack

I found a whole load of small cardboard boxes that I picked up from Hobbycraft and The Range a while back with the intention of making 15mm scale scenery but with my current obsession with old projects, I decided to turn some of them into buildings for my Rusty Robots to squabble over.

Made from a cardboard box, lots of small pieces of card and some rivets made from cured greenstuff and a small ceramic mosaic piece that I had lying around, I quite like it!

 Shack and Steam Vent

I went for a heavily rusted and corroded finish with lots of washes of various browns and oranges to get the look I wanted then decided to add a freshish coat of red paint to the structure and last minute added the white detailing which I think makes it pop a bit more pleasingly.

 Three Fingered H0-eK guards a vital shack of valuable scrap

I spent quite a lot of time on it, despite it's ramshackle appearance and have now started a slightly bigger two story affair that will be a bit more ornate than such a simple abode.

While it's quite a simple shape I hope that the ton of cardboard gubbins has broken up the shape a bit and given it the appearance of a structure that fits in with my Scrapyard and I now have plans to put together a bit of a shantytown...

 Danger signs!

I also finished off a Steam Vent that I put together about a decade ago and forgot about.

Steam Vent

Game wise, these will replace forested areas and I will be making quite a few more of them in the not too distant future as well.

In other news, I'm hoping to finish off another True Atronian tomorrow and have also had a bash at sculpting one of my own as I love the style of them. I may yet have a go at working through a horde of Kuld, small ravenous denizens of the frozen north

Jaari, Elvirox, Kuld, Ki-Kak, Vidaar, True Atronian

I really want to get a second warband put together to fight against my True Atronians and the Kuld are a really interesting option with their horde of rather mindless eating machines but we shall see how we go!

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 28

Hi!

Here's the latest addition to my 6mm fantasy project:

 Pigpen Hill

It's an Irregular Miniatures pigpen and a Dark Age house of some description that I've had lying around for at least ten years. I was gifted it along with a bunch of other Irregular fantasy stuff whilst I was still at university and embarrassingly it's taken till now to get it done!

I'm rather chuffed with how it turned out on it's mdf base and tiny hedges and fence made from cardboard and will need to get some bumpkin militia types to defend their homesteads from Goblin raiders.

 Gobbo's after the prized porkers of Pigsty Hill

After the success of this piece, I shall be grabbing the other pieces I painted badly back in the day and giving them similar treatment so that I have some entertaining and interesting objective pieces for my tiny armies to fight over.

Close Up

It's a really fun little project to put together and is giving me quite a lot of entertainment putting together. I hope to be able to put together a small force of Wood Elves soon to fight the Goblins I already have and will see how a 2'x2' gaming surface works for fantasy gaming as I look forward to playing out the Battle of Pigsty Hill!

In other news, I have been working on a few other bits and bobs that I've had lying around for almost as long as this piece and my Rusty Robots should have their first scenic item painted up and ready to go in the morning once the sand has dried on it's base.

I seem to be having quite a bit of fun with scenery at the moment and look forward to seeing what else I can come up with from my boxes of stuff in the coming week!

All the best!

Lockdown Day 17

Hi!

Today I have finished a bit of scenery!

Mighty Magic Mushroom

I picked up a box of nine plaster mushrooms in three different designs from Lidl last year for about £3.00 and I've finally got round to painting one. The detail isn't fantastic but they do the job for scenery.

I just realised that I based them with brown/desert colour when they are more likely to be used with Leviathan which has my black and brown basing but hey ho!

I've also got a quick pic of my Goblin army thus far:

I'm really pleased with the progress I've made on the little guys but do think I need some more infantry to really flesh out the force a wee bit. I may need to scratch build some of the rarer Gobbo gubbins, be they pump wagons, Doom Divers, or Squigs but we shall see how I get on!

Hopefully I'll have a bit of an update tomorrow with some of the other gubbins I have been working on but I can't believe how much progress I've made over the last two weeks of being locked down!

In the meantime, All the best!

A Return to Flintloque

Hi!

I can't believe it's already half way through August! I've taken a bit of a break from all the 15mm scale gubbins that I've been painting over the last few weeks to crack on with my small Flintloque project.

Grigori Dracsul and Zombie Musketeers

I'm rather enjoying painting the chunky sculpts that I have such fond memories of and must admit that I'm sorely tempted to pick up some more Flintloque gubbins once I've finished painting my way through the Deadloque boxed set that I picked up earlier this year.

Now all my scenery collection consists of 5-15mm scale stuff so playing a game of Flintloque would be a bit of a challenge so I had a rummage through my bits box and found an old Grendel Artillery position and have had a crack at painting up the Mantlet:

Grendel Mantlet and Undead Musketeer

I must say that the Grendel resin scenics pieces are utterly fab! The detail is nice and chunky and it takes very little effort to bring out the best in the kits. This piece was mainly done over the course of an evening with several drybrushes and washes and really looks great now it's finished. The application of some snow effect really made it fit in with the frozen Witchlands aesthetic of Flintloque too.

I still have the spotters position to finish and will post a picture of the complete set once I get the chance but In the meantime, I have also finished an old plastic Darkworld treasure chest for use as a scenario objective:

Chest of Grave Dirt

Game wise, it will be Grigori's daytime retreat for when the sun makes a rare appearance and is full of grave dirt for him to recuperate in. I used black glitter which doesn't really show up too well in the photo but gives quite a nice magical finish in the flesh.

Looking at my progress, I have a single Zombie musketeer to paint but he's going to need a bit of tlc as he's got quite a bit of flash and mould slippage going on which will see me doing a bit of carving to clean him up and then the whole Undead force will be finished!

 Grigori and Musketeers

I find it fascinating that I'm more than happy to paint up these chunky fellows while more modern 28mm sculpts leave me dreading picking up a brush. I suspect the forgiving nature of the sculpts appeals to me as it's awfully easy to bring out the best in them and get a finish that is deeply satisfying.

Stalinov and Skeletal Militia

As already mentioned, I've been looking back fondly on the old sculpts and I'm rather tempted to pick up one or two more for the Peninsular campaign with Wheelingturn's Orcs but I'm trying to restrain myself as I still have the Elven survivor miniatures to paint from the Deadloque box but I do recommend folks give them a try as once you get past the slightly crude and cartoony sculpts, they are rather good fun to work on!

Hopefully I'll have the Undead finished by the end of the month and hope to finish off one or two odds and ends that have been sat partly painted on my shelves for quite some time so watch this space!

All the best!

15mm Scale Skirmish Gaming

Hi!

As I have limited gaming space I have been limited to playing games in a small area, at most 2x3' so have had to adapt my games to suit and have found using vinyl tiles ideal. I first got the idea from PROJECT QALPHA who has used them to great effect in the past.

I mount mine on a cork tile to give them increased strength and grip on a table and as they come in a variety of interesting stone patterns I dont need to do anything else to them:

Vinyl Tile Board!

With the addition of a few pieces of terrain I have an interesting board to game on which can be easily dismantled and put away ready for the next game.

As I have also got a limited gaming budget, I tend to play games that have a limited number of models and over the coming weeks I hope to start posting some battle reports using a variety of rulesets using my miniatures so folks can see what they look like painted and on the board as well as giving you a bit of a review of the rulesets themselves.

Hopefully I will have something to post soon!

All the best!

Designing Dur Zamor

Hi!

I've begun thinking of putting together a keep to base the upcoming campaign around. I had considered scratch building something but having perused the SCOTIA GRENDEL website I found the following bits and bobs which will come in handy:

Dwarven Keep

Dwarven Stronghold

Dwarven Gun Turret

Dwarven Outpost

Dwarven Tower

Dwarven Gateway

Although they are intended for 28mm scale, they will make excellent chunky fortifications in 15mm scale too! With just a little bit of work they should be perfect.

Unfortunately I did have the gateway but stupidly sold it when I moved house. In the short term I think I will make do with ordering one of the towers which will make a good outpost for the main keep of Dur Zamor and an excellent objective for the Orcs to assault.

It could even give access to the Underlands, the vast maze of tunnels and cavern systems that lie under the Axeblade Mountains and could result in an Orcish invasion of any of the other Dwarven keeps or settlements in the region.

I particularly like the fact that the whole lot are modular so could be reused and combined to create a wide variety of different layouts!