Scaly Horde Finished

This past week I finished the last two models for my starter Scaly Horde warband for DeepWars.  Both were quite fun to paint - the Abyssal Gark and the Steel-Jaw Placoderm fish.

Starting with the Gark, I chose a colour scheme that was somewhat inspired by a crown of thorns starfish - a bluish body with red spines.  I figured his belly needed to contrast, hence the cream colour.  I tried to make a spotted transition between the colours, and it kinda worked but not as good as I had imagined in my mind.  It was good practice though!

All in all I am happy with the result.  The armour on the right arm and the crystal trident are my favourite parts.  It was also fun to try a different paint scheme from the official pictures.


Next up was the Steel Jaw Placoderm Fish.  This beast of a model painted up quite easily.  The details are quite pronounced which made drybrushing and highlighting quite simple.  I chose a few colours at random, and here was my result:

I don't think I would want to see that while snorkeling for treasure...

Here is a group shot of the finished Horde.  Next up, I will start to chip away at some Fortune Hunters to oppose them.

Hope you like it!

Kelp Forest for DeepWars

Life has been quite busy around the Timbor household of late.  That is primarily due to the arrival of a new little goblin, thanks to the hard work of Mrs. Timbor!  The family is well and fine, but it does leave less time for hobby work.

That being said, I managed to finish something fun this week - another piece of scenery for DeepWars!

I was out at my local Petsmart, and they had a bunch of aquarium plants on sale, so I picked up a few for the various DeepWars terrain that has been floating in the back of my mind for some time now.

The Kelp Forest terrain is used in games set in the Shallow Sea environment, and provide cover for your troops while also counting as a difficult terrain (I can imagine a massive tangle of kelp would be hard to navigate if you are not an otter).  These pieces were pretty easy to manage, so it should not be too hard to recreate if you so desire.

To start, here is a nice group shot with some of my Scaly Horde figures hiding amongst the leafy branches.

I made two pretty much identical pieces.  The materials used:



- plastic aquarium plants
- green floral wire
- sand borrowed from nature
- hot glue and PVA glue
- large tree base from 4ground terrain
- a few crystals from Anarchy models
- some craft paint

A couple closeups:

 

I really like the 4ground tree bases, as the plants are removable for ease of use during gameplay:

So there you have it, I hope you enjoy my latest addition to the DeepWars table I am making!

Clal-Chk Scientist

For the next figure in my Scaly Horde warband, I painted the bizarre and complex At-Atck, Clal-Chk Scientist.  This was a challenging figure to paint for a couple reasons.  First, this odd insectoid is unlike any other figure I have painted, so common anatomical landmarks become useless when trying to define where one appendage/colour ends, and another one begins.  Secondly, the intricate details on this model means for picking out lots of tiny colours with a small brush, combined with lots of inking and washing to preserve colour contrast.


Luckily, Eric at Antimatter Games was able to describe the anatomy in a bit better detail.

Being some sort of bizarre insectoid creature, the Clal-Chk is encased in a chitinous exoskeleton.  Therefore, the chitin protects him while underwater, and all he needs is a breathing apparatus.  This is the gold/brass plating that covers his head and torso, while the arms and legs are his regular appearance.    His breathing apparatus is a symbiotic bio-lung, depicted by this tentacled beasty on his back with the tubes coming out of it:

I am quite pleased with the result, although this round of photos did not turn out as nicely as I had liked.  Maybe one day I will get a better camera than a point-and-shoot!  Here are a couple side views to get a better idea of the model:

 Thanks for stopping by, comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Draconid Sea-Demon Shaman

Here are the photos for my recently finished Draconid Sea-Demon Shaman.  This is my second model for the Scaly Horde faction in DeepWars.  This guy was much easier to paint than the Dagathonan, as I did not use any special patterns on the scales - just blocks of colours with your standard highlights and shading.

 The staff was particularly interesting to paint, as it contained a couple crystals and some engraving in the whale bone.  I added some light blue effects to simulate the glow from the engraved runes and the crystals, along with some reflected light on his arm:

Lastly, the skull in his left hand was given some glowing red eyes, with the glow extending out across its brow somewhat.

All in all, this figure was very fun to paint.  The details are very crisp, which makes highlighting quite simple.  My only grip with this figure is that the figure MUST be pinned to the base.  With only a small metal nub attaching it at the tail, this hefty metal figure would be falling off at any slight bump.  I added a nice length of paper clip, along with some greenstuff to keep it extra secure.  That's just the price we pay for the glorious heft of metal models! :)  Enjoy!

DeepWars Ruin Finished!

I took some time this weekend, and finally finished the paintjob on my sunken ruin for DeepWars.  I am quite pleased with the result, although I had thought of trying one last wash with a darker grey to tone the colours down a bit.  For now I will likely not, but if you think it is a bit too bright, I would appreciate any suggestions.

The painting was fairly straightforward - I started with a base of flat latex exterior house paint.  I mixed black and white to the colour I wanted.  Subsequent layers had differing amounts of cream added.  After I was satisfied with the stonework, I painted the sealife.  Many different shades of purple, pink, green, red, blue, yellow, orange, green (did I miss any, lol?) were applied to give it a sense of diversity.  Mostly it was a base of purple, and other colours drybrushed on.  Although I did apply some blue washes to the whole structure.  The sand was done as my gaming mat - a base of brown with purple, green, and blue, followed by another drybrush of brown.  Final touches were applied with bright blue-green to simulate the shining effect of the ethers in the Shadow Sea.

Onto the pictures!  We will start with overall shots:

Next, a few closeups of the encrusting life:

A better view of the stairs and platform:

Top view with the corals:

And a final parting shot with my painted miniatures so far - the Dagathonan Salvager and the newly finished Draconid Shaman (who will get his own blog post shortly!)

I am very pleased with the way this piece turned out.  I think it has a nice shallow reef feel to it, and the plaster/glue trick really looks like coralline algae!

As always, comments and suggestions welcome!

DeepWars Dagathonan Salvager

I finally got my first DeepWars miniature painted!  My first warband is the Scaly Horde, and as my first paintjob I chose the Dagathonan Salvager.  This fish-man was fun and challenging to paint - the small details really bring it to life, however.  I chose to paint a brown/orange pattern inspired by the fu-manchu lionfish, as seen in this internet photo:

I also assembled the model completely before beginning with the painting, which made things more difficult due to the pose of his arms and spear.  Nevertheless, I am satisfied with the result!  Unfortunately, the Dagathonan lacks the Fu Manch appendage, but it is still a lovely model!

The backpack was particularly tricky for me to get to a satisfactory colour.  After painting it brown initially, I changed it to more of a linen colour, using Foundry's Raw Linen palette.

Next up will be the Draconid Sea Shaman.  As always, comments are welcome!