Relicblade’s latest Kickstarter is starting fulfillment. One of the new factions is the Lostwood Enclave. Half of the Lostwood models were previously part of the two-player starter, but half of the models are new.
Arboleth Sentinel
The Arboleth Sentinel is Relicblade’s take on the treeman. I decided on a highly weathered gray look, using Secret Weapon’s acrylics. I had a hard time getting my highlights to look right, so I cheated and just drybrushed. The textures really lend themselves to it.
Wild Elf Pathfinder
I’m generally not a huge fan of sculpted smoke like on the Pathfinder, but it’s used to good effect to allow a dynamic pose while maintaining a solid connection to the base.
From time to time I’ll reach into the hobby vault to feature models painted before I started this blog.
Over the years I built a couple of objectives for 40k. They’d probably work for any scifi setting in a pinch.
Barrel on side objective
This and the next are pretty simple applications of a Tamiya WWII oil drum kit with a few 40k flourishes. Nothing too exciting, but it gets the job done.
Standing barrel objective
The last one is the exciting one of the bunch. I did this one for a campaign involving my Dark Eldar, on a planet with some latent Necron action. I had purchases a bag of random bits, from which I found some Necron parts to assemble into this vaguely interesting shape. The orange and black matches my Dark Eldar. My thought is that it’s a Dark Eldar power pack activating some Necorn artifact found on the planet surface.
The March Game Kastle paint competition model was a Flames of War Sherman tank. I decided to do something a bit different this time and use it as an excuse to go all in on a diorama.
I roughly followed the instructions from Real Terrain Hobbies. I formed the basic land shapes with stryofoam, then covered it with with Sculptamold plaster. I was surprised by the plaster taking several days to fully harden. Maybe I put in too much water.
Once the plaster dried, I primed it with cheap craft paint, then covered the surface with AK scenic texture. The planks are painted coffee stirrers.
Before gluing down the tank, I drilled holes in the bottom. I was worried that the air in the middle might make it want to float away while the resin was curing. I probably didn’t go deep enough for it to matter in the end.
Next came the water. I blocked in the area using foam core covered with packing tape, hot glued into a simple box. I used Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium to fill the cracks. The main body of the water is Envirotex Lite, with a few drops of green paint mixed in. The wake is more gel medium mixed with snow flock. I used raw gel medium to make the little ripples.
Once the gel dried, I found that it messed up the surface finish. The gel medium was not nearly as glossy as the surrounding Envirotex resin and you could see the brushstrokes. So I coated the whole water area again with gloss Mod Podge, and used an airbrush without paint to blow it into slight rippled before it dried.
I don’t have a fancy static grass applicator, so I just blew on the freshly glued grass, like I normally do for bases.
This project took a lot more time than I wanted it to, but it was a fun excuse to try some terrain / diorama building. I’ve got plenty of plaster and resin left over. Maybe I’ll use it for some actual game terrain someday.
I’ve been (very) slowly building up a collection of post apocalyptic miniatures. Well it’s high time for some terrain. These jersey barriers from Secret Weapon are perfect scatter terrain. They’d even work for a modern setting, just one off the beaten path a bit.
Jersery Barriers
I also used some new Vallejo scenic acrylics for weathering. The yellow lichen is sponged on, and the grimes streaked with a wet brush.
