Mixed Bag 16: Clean Up on Aisle 16!

Since I last updated this blog I've been chewing away at finishing up some projects that have languished on my painting table or in my bitz box. These are projects that I always meant to do, but got side-tracked from completing - I have to say that it feels really good to have these projects done.
First up was a trip to Warhammer Age of Sigmar-land.

These five Blood Warriors have been on my desk for an eternity, but now they are
ready to bring destruction to the foes of the Blood God for an eternity! These guys
bring me to two ten-man units of Blood Warriors for the whole army.

Staying in a fantasy theme, I decided to turn my paint brush to my Oldhammer High Elves. I've had a unit of Dragon Princes that I've been nattering away on for months - doing one model at a time - mostly because I just found painting them somewhat tedious. Its not a bang on the sculpts, I think I'm just coming to a conclusion that I really don't dig painting cavalry!

These cats took way too long to get on the field, so I'm sure they will die horribly
on the battlefield without making an impact. FUN!

Next was a command section and a handful of bowmen to round out a new High Elf archer unit. Once they were done, I decided to finish the Elf Prince mounted on a Griffon that came with the Isle of Blood starter so long ago. I plumbed for a wild green color - I wanted something different and reflective of the Chaos-ey nature of the monster. I realize it's not going to be everyone's cuppa tea, but that's was kinda the point. 

SCRAAAW!

Finally, having picked up the new 40k Apocalypse rules-set I decided to try and round out my Nurgle army for some giant games. This led to the assembly of a third Foetid Bloat Drone. The Bloat Drones are pretty powerful units - nearly on the level of some tanks - and were a quick way to add some firepower to my army while only having to raid my bitz box. 

Three happy little daemon engines all ready for a good time!

This brings my yearly total for models painted to 241 so far. Still a bit to do to get to 365, but not too shabby. 

Cheers!

Quick "N Dirty Hobbit Holes

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

With the addition of some more models to my Halfling army, I realized that I'd need some bespoke terrain for them - to act as scenario objectives and/or add character to battlefields that the little legion would play on. I wanted to create some cheap and fast Hobbit Holes for my army to live in. I saw that Games Workshop was putting out some nice resin facades to build off of eventually, but I just didn't want to wait or spend the money. I looked for a good tutorial online for building what I was looking for, but I just didn't find one. So I guess I had to do one myself.

The material list isn't too long and mostly consists of stuff I had lying around. You'll need:

     -  Some 2" thick insulation foam.               - A plastic drinking straw.

     -  A blank CD to act as the base.                -  Some scrap cardstock/cereal box cardboard.

     -  Some balsa wood strips.                          - A push pin.

     -  Various flock/plastic flowers/tufts.          - Xacto knife and a box cutter with an extendable blade.

     -  Hot Glue gun.                                          - Wall joint compound

     -  Wood Glue or Elmer's Glue

Step 1: Cut a slab of foam about 1/4" deep, 5" long and 2" high.
Using a ballpoint pen, I drew out the windows, door and stonework for the
front of the house.

Step 2: Using a sharp Xacto blade, cut out the windows and door.
I also removed some of the non-stone area to recess that a bit and bring
the stone forward.

Step 3: Glue some scrap card onto the back of the front piece.
It'll give you something to glue the door and window bits to.

Step 4: Using a hot glue gun, I attached the 2" foam to the CD as a
base. I then used a box cutter with an extendable blade to shape the hill
until it matched the approximate curve and height of the front piece.

Step 5: I then attached the front piece using hot glue. Any gaps or joins were
hidden with some wall joint compound. I then glued a bit of drinking straw to the hill to
form a chimney. A few thin cuts of foam were added to make a walk.

Step 6: I added a door and cross beams using balsa wood.  A dress maker's
pin was used to make the door hand. I also soaked a piece of balsa wood in
water until I could bend it into a curve along the top edge and then affixed it
with hot glue. A small cap was added to the chimney with some cardstock.
Finally, sand was glued down to the front porch area. 

Step 7: I primed the whole shebang with a bit of flat latex black house paint.
Then I painted the whole thing up in a pretty standard way.

Step 8: I then flocked the hill to match my game boards and added some
tufts, clump foliage and flowers to really make the hole feel homey.

And that's it. Each Hobbit Hole took about an hour to make and cost me pretty much nothing as I had all the materials to build them laying about already. They aren't the most amazing pieces of scenery ever made, but they will really add something to the games I end up playing with my Halfling army. Hope this inspires!

Cheers!

A few nights work and I have my own little Shire to defend!