Inspiration-credit for the models in this post goes entirely to Thomas, from High Times on the Eastern Fringe. When GW released their (apparently now discontinued as a standalone set) Shardwrack Spines kit a couple of years ago, my reaction was somewhere between indifference and thinking that they were a bit shit. Over time, I saw a few that looked decent through to good, such as the ones on Sho3box’ blog. Even then, though – I still had no interest in the kit.
Then I saw Thomas’ ones. And all of that changed. I thought his made what I thought was basically a shitty kit look pretty fucking amazing, to be quite blunt. Not too much later, he posted up a tutorial on how he did them, and the wheels started turning. A little while later, I bought two boxes, and then did nothing with them for a year or more. Last year (2018) I got started with the spray cans, but then got delayed for months because I didn’t want to buy two or three pots of Rakarth Flesh to do the drybrushing. Later, the Killzone: Death World Forest box came out with a few more, so I picked that kit up and then got the new ones up to the same point.
After we had some time, Marouda did a Bunnings run for me and matched a close-enough square of Rakarth Flesh into a sample pot of house paint, a couple of tubes of craft paint (white and when normals call “cream” and we hobbyists call “bone”) and then last week, I finally got it going – with Thomas’ instructions as my guide on the PC screen – and a couple of days later, we were done!
Clearly, these are really only of much use for Sci-Fi and Fantasy gaming rather than Historicals or more grounded gaming, but I’m good with that. In closing – thank you once again to Thomas – because of you, I now have a solidly decent-sized set of very spiky terrain. If anyone stabs themselves badly while gaming with them, I’ll be blaming you for that, too!
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Must admit not seen these before, but your painting of them is top notch as always. Can’t say they would be on my shopping list though !
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah, it took Thomas’ post for me to be able to see where I could (or would) use them in my own games!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Those look pretty awesome. They make me want to do up a set using a bunch of Agrellan Earth for a cracked bark effect. And yeah, I need to pick up a Death World KZ box before they’re completely gone. The Barbed Venomgorse is only available in KT sets as well, now.
LikeLiked by 3 people
KZ Death world is a great terrain kit. I need to get some paint on mine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll need to assemble mine sometime. Not sure if I’ll get to them this month, though as there’s SO much terrain I’m planning to work on this month, there’s no chance of be getting to it all. Maybe I should just wait and see how you do yours!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ll probably paint them in the same style as the Shardwrack Spines, maybe have another colour for the different “flower” bits.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ll wait and see how they turn out, though I may actually paint them in more of a traditional jungle scheme so I’ve got some extra stuff for that table.
LikeLike
You could do that, though I’d question if it’s worth going that far/doing that much work on these. Interesting that they’ve completely removed the individual sets on all of them!
LikeLike
Just speculation, but the impression I’ve got is that they just do single, large production runs of the stuff made in China, and when it’s out, it’s out. I suspect the last of it was re-boxed in the KT sets.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You could be right. I know a lot of their, shall we say cheaper plastic products are made in China rather than the UK.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, when I first saw them I thought they were shit too. You and Thomas have really changed my mind on them though – you’ve got them looking excellent (and honestly I would have previously thought that was impossible!)
LikeLiked by 3 people
Credit for these looking good has to go to Thomas – I just copied his ones!
LikeLiked by 2 people
They do look rather spiffy, awesome paint job, never seen or heard of them before.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, they are (were) a pretty forgettable release. I’d basically forgotten them instantly myself until that one post of Thomas’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh man, thanks for the kind words. The fact that you decided to paint your Shardwrack Spines in “my” scheme. Well, I cannot think of a higher praise. I’m humbled.
You made them shine!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Very welcome mate, and you deserve every bit of credit for these. I literally would never have given the kits a second look if not for your posts, and I’d have a couple of them just sitting unpainted and unassembled in their KillZone boxes. Much like the other Deathworld terrain is right now!
LikeLiked by 2 people
The kit looks quite with the GW paint job. I’m glad I gave it a go.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very nice mate & your experience matches mine exactly – I thought they were shit too, but I really enjoyed working with them! Funny old world 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
They work well with and incorporated into the Stylite bases. Turns them into something completely different. Much more Mortal Kombat!
Thomas’ dry scheme here also really changed them up for me visually, reminding me of the Blades Edge Mountains in WoW, though with a blue-purple twist.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I like these! Maybe I need to be doing fantasy and sci-fi! Those colours work so well for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You could always branch out and do a small skirmish force rather than committing to a huge army! Agreed on the colours – that’s why I ripped them off!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Pingback: Back to the Pet Store #1: Desert Bluffs | Azazel's Bitz Box.
They look great. Far better than the ‘studio’ paint job.
Cheers,
Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Pete. And once again I will defer to Thomas for the paint scheme. 👍
LikeLiked by 2 people
Very cool and look alien as hell.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah, and managing to do so in a good way. 👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sweet, look really nice. The stabby part is kinda funny…don’t know how many times I have stuck myself whilst assembling Blood Bowl minis. Very rarely that ever happened with the old stuff I was used to….but probably a good thing, as lead injections are not the best.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, the days of units of WHFB spearmen. Goblins with spears. Or elves with spears, or….
LikeLiked by 1 person