Yearly Archives: 2014

Deathworld Fauna – Part 1.1 – Scotia Grendel Dungeon Crawler (Leech)

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Back in March, I found two out of the three figures from the Scotia Grendel Dungeon Crawlers kit that I picked up bout 15-20 years ago. (Damn that makes me feel old!) Because of the way that things seem to work in my life and on the painting desk, the frog-thing and millipede-thing have been MIA for a couple of months now (they might be in the shed, perhaps?) and I ended up finding the leech-thing, conveniently already glued to a 60mm base with some putty ’round the edges. Not wanting to tool around too much rebasing and agonising over the scheme – since that’s a great way to never get anything finished – I decided to get that sucker painted.

So here it is:

Scotia Grendel Dungeon Crawlers Giant Leech

I figure this thing can work just as well as a 40k-sci-fi alien leech as a D&D-style fantasy giant leech. So, you know, whatever. I went with green and mustard yellow since the underside was sculpted with a bit of contrasting texture, so I thought I may as well transfer that to the palette. Same deal with the pinky-purple tongue and the bone teeth, again so they stand out.

Scotia Grendel Dungeon Crawlers Giant Leech

 

A nice thick layer of polyurethane varnish on the model keeps it looking suitable shiny and yucky. I also added some Vallejo realistic water mixed with some transparent yellow to create the slime effect on the side of the model where the slime-holes(!) are located, and some realistic water without colouring onto some of the mouth-parts and tongue.

Scotia Grendel Dungeon Crawlers Giant Leech

I found that the figure looked too small for its base, and to help fill in the empty space without going overboard – or adding in fantasy or sci-fi-specific extras, I just went for some of the larger tufts that I had sitting around in the packets. Often those are the hardest ones to find a use for and they end up on scenery, since they’re too large for use on almost all miniatures.

Scotia Grendel Dungeon Crawlers Giant Leech with Warhammer High Elf for scale.

Finally, a big-hat Warhammer High Elf for scale. I should really finish this guy’s unit off. I bet it would take less than half a day if I ever manage to pull my fist out…  Actually, I’ve got some scenery that just needs finishing off that could be measured in probably less than half an hour…

Full disclosure – I actually painted this thing a couple of weeks ago but didn’t get around to posting it. After a pretty productive two weeks or so of painting I’m in a bit of a ..not burnt out, but kinda taking a rest. Also, my wife bought me a PS4 as a belated birthday gift, and so I’ve been running around Mordor after work and on the weekends instead of sitting and painting like I’m “supposed” to…

 

Bolt Action! 28mm T-34/85 Tank Platoon

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Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

The T-34/85 platoon shows off their freehand slogans.

Well, I finished my first official Bolt Action models – a platoon of three Soviet T-34/85s. It took a little longer than I’d originally planned/hoped, since I wanted to get the markings more-or-less right, while still making the models look good. I found some information that the red star was used sparingly, (and that a white star was even used at times) and that individual unit markings were often left up to the company commanders, so after a fair bit of looking around, I decided that the red star added an attractive bit of spot colour to the models, as did the Guards Tank badge. I also added some freehand slogans, which was a lot of fun.

I chose to use freehand for the slogans because I wanted to have something a little more unique than the decals provided, and because I really enjoy doing things like that. I also freehanded the ID numbers on the obverse side of the turrets (but not the diamonds). I did those in freehand because I’ve seen many images where they were clearly painted on by the crew as well. I felt making them deliberately a little wonky also works well for what they are. I can paint more uniform than that – though not nearly as perfect as a stencil, obviously!

Now, LOTS of pics.

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 321 “Crush the Fascists!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 321 “Crush the Fascists!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 321 “Crush the Fascists!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 321 “Crush the Fascists!”

The commander is removable, he’s blu-taced into the hatch for a bit of variety, and for use in games where the “lead” tank might matter – to keep it obvious for the players.

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 322 “For Moscow!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 322 “For Moscow!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 322 “For Moscow!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 322 “For Moscow!”

One thing that really got me going with these tanks was their simple assembly. I often find myself getting distracted when working on models that have overly-complex assembly, as my favourite part of the hobby is really painting – and specifically completing painting – the detail work. Followed by gaming (which I don’t get to do nearly as often as I’d like). Modelling and assembly can be fun, but as much as I love multi-part HIPs figures and so forth, I’d be just as happy to have almost all figures come pre-assembled so I can just get to the painting. These really are very simple kits, so the assembly for all three was done in a day so I could get onto the fun of painting them.

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 322 “For the Motherland!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 322 “For the Motherland!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 322 “For the Motherland!”

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

T-34/85 322 “For the Motherland!”

These kits aren’t super-detailed, and won’t win any prizes in any modelling shows – nor will this paint work – but for the purposes of gaming they’re just fine. I also found I enjoyed painting these up with their military greens, rough damage and weathering more than I’ve ever enjoyed painting any 40k tanks.

And now – some action shots!

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

A glorious unit of Soviet tanks retakes the ground tainted by the fascists just a couple of years ago!

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

The sun shines on our glorious boys as they heroically push back the opressors! За Родину!

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

Commander of the unit, Starshina Yarik, beckons to his platoon to look beyond the dusty dragon’s teeth at their destination.

Warlord Games Bolt Action T-34/85

A ruined building provides no obstacle for the Heroic Liberators!

So yeah, I had a little bit of fun here. It also shows off some of the terrain I finished recently to provide some sense of their scale with the Bolt Action armour.

I guess now I need to get hold of a platoon worth of German Armour, so these guys have someone to fight. Panthers? PzIV? Both? Hmm…