Amid The Ruins – Part 9

I showed a load of scatter terrain recently and commented that I also had a large ruin from the original Warcry starter that I’d been intending to get painted for quite some time. Time to get it finished then eh! 

Of course just because it’s done at last doesn’t mean I can rest on my laurels, there’s still all the terrain from the Catacombs and Red Harvest sets to tackle. I’ll see about attacking one or other of those soon, although I also have various bits of 40k terrain that I’d like to work on too. However before I get onto any of that I took the opportunity to set out all of the fantasy terrain I’ve completed. As it turns out I’ve got enough for a little town – albeit one that seems to have fallen on hard times! As ever clicking on the pictures will let you see them full size.

So there we have it, a whole ruined township ready for my various tribes, gangs and warbands of the Mortal Realms to beat each other up over. I must admit it was a real thrill seeing all the terrain assembled properly (not to mention finding a few models to decorate it with), I really recommend mustering everything you’ve got completed as a way of boosting your enthusiasm for a project. More will undoubtedly follow but for now I’ve removed one of the biggest unfinished models from the desk – and of course immediately filled the space with lots of other things which are already clamouring for attention…

Amid The Ruins – Part 8

More scatter terrain is always useful so once again I’m working away at adding more odds and ends to populate any fantasy landscapes I end up playing games in. This time we have the entrance to some kind of underground vault or sewer, from which some dread beast will undoubtedly emerge to wreak havoc!

Meanwhile a couple of bits of fallen rubble provides something for heroes and villains alike to scramble over or lurk behind.

Hang on a moment, this is just a base with no model on it! What are you about Wudugast?!

Well you see, I’ve had this base sitting around for ages. I think it came with a Stormcast Eternal, probably one from Warhammer Underworlds (I’m sure I could check but let’s not get sidetracked). I thought the big chunk of fallen statue looked cool, but also that it was too big and so drew the eye away from the miniature so I kept it aside. I had planned to use it in a piece of terrain but again I never found anything quite right. Then it occurred to me to just paint it up “as is” and use it as an objective marker – defend/defile the fallen statue of the long dead hero – and so that’s what I did. 

Another quick and straightforward one, and another fallen statue, is this Dwarven hero, taken from the Stone Trolls (or whatever they’re called these days). 

Another handy bridge for those averse to death defying leaps. 

Every heroic adventurer likes to talk tall about the nobility of his quests but really most of them are just looking to rescue a damsel with an impressive chest. In this case the damsel is absent but hopefully the chance to get their hands on these two large chests will make up for it. 

Lastly we have a small ruin to add to my collection. I should have enough for a small ruined town by now! 

I do have another, much larger ruin, which has been waiting for paint for far longer than it should have so I’ll aim to make that my next terrain project. 

Mean Streets – Part 2

Undoubtedly the biggest project I’m currently working on is my collection of Underhive terrain. It’s something I discussed at length when I first started this series but to recap, as it’s been a while, I’ve always dreamed of having my own set of terrain but until recently I had neither the space nor the money for it. If I’m honest with myself I probably still don’t but, with a bit of creative storage and careful budgeting I’ve decided to go for it anyway. After all if you’ve been planning something for over a decade it’s probably time you just got on with it right?

I wouldn’t really consider myself a gamer, for me painting and modelling comes first and any dice rolling, if it happens at all, is a very distant second. That said when I do play games I want them to be as evocative and atmospheric as possible. Nice though it would be to create all the landscapes I can imagine games being set (a crumbling dwarven mine infested with Skaven and Night Goblins, the wraithbone spires of an Eldar craftworld, the ever changing madness of a daemon-world within the Eye of Terror, the verdant gardens of Nurgle, a shrine-world covered in statues so vast that tank battles can play out in the Emperor’s cupped hands, a Blood Bowl pitch with cheering crowds, hotdog sellers and a commentator’s box, the inside of a Tyranid bio-vessel, and so on) practicality tells me I can only really have one board for the foreseeable future. Thus, as my predilections lie towards small scale skirmishes in the 41st Millennium (mostly Necromunda but there’s room for some Kill Team/Inq28 shenanigans in my life too), what I need is a slice of decaying industrial hell, layer upon layer of toxic, crumbling factories, a place so rough the apocalypse would improve things and streets so mean even the rats won’t go out after dark.

Needless-to-say, although I’ve painted a huge number of models over the years, terrain is still pretty new to me. I’ve been chipping away on this project for about six months now, and the learning curve has been steep, but Azazel’s latest monthly challenge (which calls, appropriately enough, for terrain) has given me the push to get one of the bigger pieces done at last. (Those unfamiliar with Azazel and his famous challenges – where have you been? – should take a look at his blog, and I urge you to join in – this is a phenomenon not to be missed). Anyway, let’s take a look at the building shall we.

As might be expected I got a lot of things wrong here, there’s certainly things I won’t do the same way twice, and places where I made a lot of work for myself that I really didn’t need to but on the whole I’m happy enough and hopefully I’ll be able to apply what I’ve learned and things will continue to get easier and smoother.