Scenery Week (?!) Pt. 3: Forge World Barricades, Or, Freenery... Free Scenery

Forge World are very generous in the excess resin that they send out with their kits. Having gathered a few of their lovely models over the last couple of years I had a bag of the off-cuts sitting around because I wasn't keen on just chucking the stuff away. So I decided to create some bespoke 'Forge World Barricades' as part of my scenery project... which is certainly now more than a scenery week!

Here they are in their original state, just stuck on some spare bases:

And here they are now, in the midst of painting and weathering:

Not a bad little freebie really and they'll fit right in with the whole abandoned toxic factory complex that this is all beginning to come together as. Frenery!

Scenery Week Pt. 2, Going Old School With Plastic Cups And Boxes

I must've watched a lot of Blue Peter when I was a child, something that clearly instilled a spirit of creativity within me that has bubbled to the surface this week. Although none of these pieces involve the classic 'washing up bottle' they do draw on the same home-made ethos. Or perhaps home-bought, as all of these things come from IKEA, with the addition of things found-around-the-house, plenty of glue, and finally some metallic paint and washes. Here are a few 'before' and 'after' photos, though I should note that the 'afters' are still works in progress, as there's plenty more weathering to attend to.

Scenery Week Pt. 1, GW Moonscape Craters WIP

Sometimes I just feel like I've lost my painting mojo, sit in front of a model and have no idea where to start or even which end of a brush is which. Long breaks don't help. When this happens I try to look for alternative hobby jobs to get my hand in and confidence back. This past week I've been working on a scenery project for 40k with just this aim. And here's some of the first examples. 

I've had this moonscape for a while. It's now OOP, which is a shame because it was great value. I like the new Quake Cannon craters too - they have tons of detail - but they don't cover even half the area of these older scenics. Here I've simply primed in Army Painter Necrotic Green and then given them a liberal coating of 50/50 Antelope Green and Paynes Grey inks from DR. Next up will be a light dry brush with a mid-grey then a couple of lighter colours, some washes into the recesses and static grass around the edges. Nothing revolutionary yet very psychologically soothing. It does remind me that I need to finish Castle Davenheim sometime though... Oops. 

Zoat Mercenary Army For 7th Ed 40k

This post has been long in the making. Here, in their mid-stage development, are the first wave of warriors for my Zoat mercenary army for 7th edition 40k. I've been tinkering away in the background whenever I could find the time over the last month or so, and it is with great pleasure that I now showcase my grand project-in-progress.

As I've mentioned before I'm using the current Tyranid Codex as the basis for their rule set. So in the picture below we have the Zoat Tyrant (Centre - Hive Tyrant), Zoat Guard (Left front - Tyrant Guard), Zoat Warriors (Right front - Tyranid Warriors), Zoat Destroyer (Tyrannofex - Left rear), and Bio-Devourer (Right rear - Haruspex). 

The narrative - which still needs a little work - will follow on from Rogue Trader and the fluff that the Zoats had back then. These are mercenaries that at some time in the past escaped from the clutches of the proto-Tyranids, who were developing increasingly nasty new bio-constructs of their own, meaning the Zoats had come to the end of their usefulness to the Hive. They stole and now reproduce the genetic material of the Tyranids, enhancing their own bodies and weaponry, while breeding a menagerie of foul battle creatures.

Most of the conversion work here has been quite simple - a little greenstuff and some additional bits, plus a few wires to bring a SF look to the fantasy models. Also useful in this regard were the scenic bases. I've decided to take the plunge wholesale and get scenic bases for all projects from now on: they've not too expensive, are very effective if selected carefully, and also keep me from purchasing new model lines and starting new projects (possibly)!   

The hard yet pleasurable painting work begins now. I'll leave you with some close ups of all the models... as my mind turns to further potential recruits...