Step by step: Basing a giant scorpion

 Hi everyone!

Today, I'd like to share a new step in the building of my 1/72 Mythological Egyptian army - the previous episode is here.

You certainly know that 1/72nd scale is much less used by wargamers and role players than 28mm or even 15mm. Aside from the fact that you can't find a player for miles, one of the consequences is that the number of manufacturers is rather small, particularly regarding Fantasy. And so, it is difficult to find mythological creatures for your 1/72 army.

Is it ? If I have a figure of creature in 28mm, it can be considered as a giant creature in 1/72. And if it is a giant creature in 28mm, it becomes an extra-giant creature in 1/72. Ok, that's easy, and I've soon discovered that many gamers have had this idea already. But what if you want to be able to use your creature in 28mm AND in 1/72 ? You will probably need different bases (unless your system is very open regarding bases, or you don't care). And even more if you have figures on round bases that you want to use with wargame rules that work better with square bases.

So you have to adapt and create a new base in which you can insert the original mini. That's what I've done to get a giant scorpion in my 1/72 Mythological Egyptian army. Let's have  look:

 This scorpion comes from the 28mm Conan range by Monolith. All the figures in this game are sold on round bases (35mm in diameter here), and I since I'm playing that game, I don't want to remove that base. And the other hand, I need to put it on a 60mmx60mm base for a Fantasy variant of l'Art de la Guerre. So I've cut a round 35+mm hole in some balsa wood (very easy, even with an ordinary cutter), and I've stuck the outer part with wood glue on my MDF square base.

No no, Mxxxxrix isn't my sponsor :D

 

The hole in the balsa wood is a bit larger than just needed, inserting the figure will be easier

Then I've stuck a few stones (gravel) with wood glue on the balsa, and now we wait until it's dry.

When dry, I cover the base (except for the hole) with some desert sand by AK. It gives the base a nice sand texture, but I don't like its color. No major problem of course.

 

When the result is dry (yes, you spend more time waiting than anything else, so it's better to do several things in parallel), I cover with a better sand color in my taste, GW's Zandri Dust.

And I add some dry grass - my desert must not be completely sterile!

 

Last step: I need to dry brush the sand with a mix of Zandri Dust and White Scar.

 I'm happy with the result, and I have at last a good method to base my whole Egyptian army. Last picture, some 20mm Romans in front of the scorpion for the scale: it is a giant scorpion, indeed :)

 

 

Here you are. I hope you will find this modest tutorial useful, and that you like this cute scorpion - by the way, he resembles those that live at my mother-in-law's house in South France, same color and size. The real ones are completely harmless :)

See you soon! 

 

First try with artificial water

 Hi everyone, let's go for something completely different, something I've never used before: artificial water.

First time here? If you have a look at the rest of the blog, you will soon realize that I don't base my figures very often. The reasons why were already explained in several posts in the past, you can read some here. But I must admit that a well based figure is much more interesting to watch, so I wanted to improve my rustic technique. I've been watching several tutorials on the subject these past days, and my eye was caught by the representation of swamps, particularly putrid swamps... a good place for zombies :)

So I bought a bottle of still water, mixed some with black and green washes, and poured the result on a painted base: grey rocks, dark brown sand, some dark green grass and a light green area for the water itself. The result is this (28mm Mantic figure):

 

Since it is a first try, I'm rather pleased with the result, but it's far from perfect. Several problems:

 - I didn't fill the gap between the figure's round small base and the square base itself, so it is still visible under the layer of artificial water

- I stuck some adhesive paper on the edge of the base to prevent the artificial water from running off, but the surface of the water twisted along the edges - I had to cut the excess when dry to have a flat result

- I didn't think of simulating the mud created by the zombie advancing in the water

I'm not sure to know how to remedy these problems, and even less sure if it is reasonable to base complete regiments this way... but it was real fun to do :D

Hope you like this small experiment, any advice is welcome :) 

The Green Horde: Skullz standard bearer, and other reinforcements

Some news, at last! Not that I stopped painting, but it has become increasingly difficult to take decent pictures: no time, no place, no good light...

I take benefit of a few days off to show you some new figures for the Green Horde. First, some Orc warriors from the 80s:

 

Among them, the standard bearer has its own story. This figure is the standard bearer of a famous Regiment of Renown, Harboth and the Black Mountains Boys. 

 

I've just recently discovered its existence, after some comments here and on the LAF forum. I had painted a Citadel preslotta Orc, and I was told that it was very similar to a standard bearer by the same manufacturer. Indeed ? Never saw this fig before, but I began to search for it, and with luck, found it on a second hand website, sold by a guy named Nico,  living in Lyon like me! So Nico, if you read this post, you know that I have painted this very nice Orc, at last, and I hope you find it not too badly painted.

Here you are both figures side by side:

Next figure is Maniac, a C15 Orc, a range sculpted by Alan and Michael Perry and released in 1985.

Though rather old, these Citadel figures are really nice, and I wish to find (and paint) more of them.

 

During last summer, I've also painted some more archers from various manufacturers. From left to right: Citadel, Citadel (an Orc of the White Hand, from 1980's Lord of the Rings range - he changed side for the Red Eye apparently), Grenadier, Old Glory and Reaper Bones.

Last but not least, I added 5 more Wolf Riders to my heavy cav unit, including a standard bearer and a drummer. All figures by Grenadier, except for the second one from the left who is a RAFM rider on a Grenadier horse.

They will certainly be impressive on the battlefield.

A few close-ups:

I hope we will find time to play at least a game during Christmas :)

The Green Horde: a Wizard on Wolf

The Green Horde is not a sleeping project, but as the stats of this blog show, the summer period and the painting don't seem very compatible, with various reasons depending on the year: the heat, the summer break or the excess of work...

Anyway, I'm still painting, and I'm focused on the Orcs on wolves. Several are painted but only one is completely based so far. Since he is an important character, I thought that he deserved a post just for him.So here you are, the Orc wizard on wolf:

As some of you already know, this character is an old Grenadier figure by Nick Lund. I chose to paint his wolf white, and his cloak black for contrast, and also to stick the the army's color scheme.

The same wizard, surrounded by his troops.

And a few more pictures from different angles.

See you for the next chapter!

The Green Horde: some more green warriors

Hi! The production is getting very low regarding minis (the usual spring effect), but I could paint another batch of Orc warriors, gathered into a troop (10 foot figures according to Kings of War).

 

Let's have a closer look:

Hum yes, his shield was red in a previous version

 

As you may know by now, I don't like to paint twice the same mini (there are exceptions), and I like to mix figures from different brands, and even different centuries :). Some of these figs were bought a long time ago (in the 80s), and some only a few months ago. Some are new and the others second hand, which is why I can't always identify them with certainty. There are several online sites that provide info about all those figs, and I must say that the research for knowledge is one of the most interesting things regarding those 25/28mm figures :)

The two figures below are recent plastic figures by Reaper Bones. The grunt on the left was sculpted by Tre Manor, the guy on the right was sculpted by Bobby Jackson for the Bones Black range (source: Reaper Miniatures website).

 

The following Orcs are much older: they are metal figures from the 80s by Citadel.  The first on the left is a Black Orc from the N11 series in the Chronicle range. Sculpted by Nick Lund and released in 1985 (source: Collecting Citadel Miniatures).

The following are preslotta figures: the second from the left comes from C16 range released in 1984 (source: The Stuff of Legends); the two on the right come from the C15 Armoured Orcs series released in 1983 (source: Lost Minis Wiki).

 

The next two are from different manufacturers. The first one is a Grenadier figure sculpted by Nick Lund and probably released in 1990 for his game 'Fantasy Warriors' (source: Lost Minis Wiki). The second one is an Old Glory Orc sculpted by Bob Naismith. I couldn't find a release date, but I'm sure that I bought this figure during the 90s.

 

The last two figures are produced nowadays by Ral Partha. The lancer (Light Orc Impaler) on the left was sculpted by Bob Olley probably during the 90s and is part of the Gargantuan Orcz ,and the guy on the right is an Orc Champion by Kev Adams, initially for Heartbreaker (sources: Lost Minis Wiki and Ral Partha websites).

I hope you like them, and also that the explanations about the origins of the figures are of interest :)

The Green Horde: They have a giant Troll !

Hi everyone! Here you are the latest (late) addition to my Green Horde, a giant Troll. 

He is a mercenary, interested in fighting, looting and eating. He is particularly ugly, for his pallid,wart-covered skin isn't used to the daylight - nothing surprising for a cave-dweller. He is so big than even the Orcs are afraid of him, leaving some space all around. And they are probably right, because he seems to laugh as he realizes that there's some blood on his mace and his hand.

This troll was on my workbench for a very long time - 'very' meaning more than ten years. It is a resin figure that I bought second hand, so unfortunately I don't know who the sculptor and the manufacturer are - if any of you have the answer, I would be interested to know and update this post.

I must say that I needed a break after all these green things. I don't paint very pale skins very often, I hope it is credible.

He will be played as a punching troll (110 pts) in my KOW army.

 

 

See you, sooner or later :)