Terrain: Foam Experiments

I’ve been meaning to experiment with foam insulation sheets for terrain for a long time. I finally decided to give it a go, with rocky chunks for Lunar and Rangers of Shadow Deep as the focus.

These blocks are intended to plausibly exist either as lunar rock formations (possibly including placement by astronauts) or as barren rocky ground. I cut a bunch of blocks of foam with a hot wire cutter, then trimmed them to vaguely rocky shapes.

These are similar, but with an earthy vegetation base, clearly don’t belong on the moon. I think all the rocks are a success, although they may not be masterful.

This barrow hill I consider a failure. Though I’m not tossing it just yet. I started doing the brickwork texture by just pressing with a pen, but that lead to tearing. For the rest I cut it with a hobby knife then opened up the gap with a pen, which worked much better. The hill part isn’t very smoothly cut either. By the time I got to paint and surface texture I knew it was a loser, so didn’t spend much time on it. I’ll have to give it another go and try to refine the shape more.

Dark Eldar: Incubi

From time to time I’ll reach into the hobby vault to feature models painted before I started this blog.

These Incubi are from the much-hated Finecast era of Games Workshop, complete with both bendy and crack-prone swords. Still, they turned out mostly okay.

The helmet and horns were one of my early successes with a wash and drybrush to get decent shading. The glowing eyes look good on the table, but don’t stand up well to closeup photos.

Incubi squad

Dark Eldar: Kabalite Warriors

From time to time I’ll reach into the hobby vault to feature models painted before I started this blog.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted old work. Lets show off some old Kabalite Warriors.

Kabalite Warriors (green, group 1)

The Dark Eldar was my second 40k army, after Space Marines, of course.

Kabalite Warriors (green, group 2)

I painted the base edges color coded to match squad-specific sigils for their transports. The thinking was I could easily track which unit was in which transport, especially since that could change as the game progressed.

Kabalite Warriors (red, group 1)

Looking back years later, I still like the bright edge highlights, though I wish it were more evenly applied. Sometimes you can really see the paint.

Kabalite Warriors (red, group 2)

Rangers of Shadow Deep: Tor Varden

The Lower Level

Dralthar had made his way past the bridge guards. Now it was time to retake the tower Tor Varden.

The first chamber contained a grisly sight. Whatever it had once been, it was now a shaman’s workshop. The furniture was all covered with gore from unknowable experiments. In the center, the ork shaman was putting the final touches on some unnatural flesh golem.

Dralthar charged in, quickly cutting down the shaman. But Roger, the rescued soldier from the bridge, fell to the shaman’s guard, out of the fight.

The next room contained an armory, along with more ork warriors. In the fierce combat, Shivertusk and Laura were both wounded and out of the fight. Now it would just be Albert the Conjurer to assist Dralthar. Once the enemy was defeated, Albert searched the room, finding both the captain’s log and some fury leaves.

The final chamber in the lower level was a makeshift torture chamber. Several civilians were chained up along one wall, while an unarmed soldier was being whipped by an ork sergeant in the center. The solider used Dralthar’s sudden entrance to try to escape, but the ork sergeant cut him down.

Dralthar fired one shot, hitting the sergeant straight in the eye. Dralthar and Albert managed to kill the rest of the opposition.

Dralthar gathered up his wounded companions, patching them up for the upper level. Laura stayed to guard the civilians while Dralthar led his team upstairs.

The Upper Level

Up on the tower top, a Shadow Knight along with an ork soldier stood near the wood pile, with another helpless solider chained atop. Surrounding the tower, on wooden scaffolding, three ork archers stood by.

Dralthar took a hard crossbow hit, while Roger charged in towards the wood pile and was cut down. Shivertusk, undaunted, spread a philtre of fairy dust over his blade and engaged the Shadow Knight. The magic of the fairy helped Shivertusk to destroy the knight. When Shivertusk looked up, Dralthar, and Albert had both been laid low by crossbows. Now it would be up to him to finish retaking the tower.

Flames lit up in the distance — the beacon towers of Tor Dargos and Tor Hammel. But they had a sickly green glow. Shivertusk managed to shake off the ill effects.

Shivertusk hid around the corners of tower, baiting the archers into coming closer. When the time was right, he leapt out, and took each and every one down.

Now alone, Shivertusk gathered his companions, including his leader, Dralthar the Ranger. The tower was taken, but at terrible cost. Both Albert and Roger would never fully heal from their wounds. But they would still be needed to keep the Shadow Deep at bay.

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