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!

Terrain Blitz!

I've been pretty quiet on this blog for the last few weeks, but I haven't been idle. Mostly it seems like I've been assembling and painting a couple of terrain kits for Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000. So with out further ado, here we go!

When the second edition of Age of Sigmar was released, I picked up a set of the new battlefield objects that was produced. The kit comes with seven objective markers with a lot of character. I've based and painted up six, I've still got one to do but its a big floating thing and I still haven't figured out how I'm gonna base it. These were nice kits, and allow me to get some characterful markers on the board with no fuss.

Each sculpt is really characterful and assembles quickly.

Well, except this weapon pile. This went together weird and took a
few passesof dry fitting to get right. 

I'm not sure why a wizard left his spell book/jar trunk here, but
its a lot of fun.

The interior of the sarcophagus is also well detailed.

Then its a jump over to the 41st millennium to work on some terrain. Games Workshop has re-issued some of their older terrain and I jumped on getting a few that I'd missed out on - the Skyshield Landing Pad and Honored Imperium. These kits were the polar opposite of one another, but in the end I'm happy with both.

This kit was a nightmare to assemble. Its super flimsy and tries to be clever with its engineering rather
than being robust. I'm happy to have it as a nice narrative objective for my games, but man was I happy
when this thing was done. Total pig of a model.

The blast shields raise and lower. Why? Why not! I guess!

Honored Imperium, on the other hand, was quick to assemble and a lot of fun to paint. 

I also made a decision my wallet will regret for years to come by picking up a copy of the new Adeptus Titanicus. I've already begun assembling a Warlord Titan, so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks. I plan on working on this slowly, so I can savor the priceyness and keep pace with what I'm suspecting will be a glacial release schedule.

A game of Titanic Prices in the Age of Austerity. 

Cheers!

Mixed Bag 12: Revisiting the Death Guard

I knocked off a few projects this week and started a big one as well. A lot of my painting was focused on revisiting my Death Guard army for 40K. I had purchased a second unit of Tox Troopers from Anvil Industries to use as cultists as while back and it was high time that I got them done. These are great little sculpts and are a lot fun to paint up.

This gives me two units of 10 in the army and should form a nice speed bump for blunting assaults.

I also did some quick scenery work on some 3D printed crystals that I picked up off eBay a few months ago. I gave them coat of teal spray paint and then dry-brushed the up to white along the edges. I should probably pick up a second set, as I had intended them to be used as objective markers in Age of Sigmar - but the kit only comes with 5 models and I need six. Regardless, they will add a nice pop of color on my grey Hell-scape board. 

The build lines are pretty atrocious, but I can accept them for crystals and for the fact that they retail for about $12.

The vast majority of my week was taken up with building a Nurgle-esque Renegade Knight as an ally for my Death Guard. I've added a lot of bits and some putty work to him, and I think its gonna be a model I can really be proud of when all is said and done. 

I covered one shoulder pad with a ton of skulls from GW's Skull kit. It was a lot of work, but the
effect was really worth it in the end.

I've replaced the close combat arm with Skaven Plague Engine censor generously given to me
by my buddy Rob. I think it really set the tone for the model for me and damn if the spikes on all
those chains don't really hurt to handle!

The head is a 3rd party piece from Shapeways. I added the horn on it so it was a little more
Plague Bearer-y in its appearance.

I mounted the missile launcher on part of an Empire Celestial Hurricanum platform to give the
Knight more of an imposing and Gothic feel. I plan to create some billowing smoke clouds coming
from the engine stacks and this should be a nice visual counter-balance to the pulpit.

I managed to paint up the lower half of the Knight this weekend. I'm really happy with how its all heading.

The tumors on the knight were made by applying expanding insulation foam. After they dried, I smoothed them a bit with some green stuff and sealed them with a coat of white glue before priming. Protip: if you do something like this, put a little foam on some newspaper and use bit of wire to transfer it to the model. DON"T just squirt it onto your kit or it will
end in tears.

This week will probably see me focusing a lot on the Knight, but I think it'll be a while before he's finished up. 

Cheers!

More Gangers Set to Explore the Under Hive

In April of last year while I was at Salute, I picked up a couple of blister packs from Lead Adventure's Astropolis line and had every intention of painting them up immediately. Welp, nearly 10 months later and I've only now gotten around to laying color onto them. D'oh!

These are really fun models and with Necromunda being the latest hotness, I'll use them as part of my Salvage Crew Hive Scummers. 

First up are a pair of the ship's crew - Initiate Boslo and Iron 'Ed. I'll probably end up
counting these cats as Juves - that'll be a good reason if they seem undersized to GW sculpts.

I really dig all the little gribblies on these models. They make them feel "lived
in" and a part of something bigger.

My cybernetic contingent will consist of Bacotron 9000 and Karlborg P-34.

I figure Bacotron can be a stand-in for the upcoming "pets" and Karlborg…
well I don't even know what the hell is going on with Karlborg. Are those car
batteries for hands? 

Finally here is Skull Head-13, some kind of combat servitor. The core
of the model is a leftover Sector Mechanicus skull crane, with an Ork Killa Kan arm
and pair of melta gun arms from a Contemptor dreadnought.

I love the little power socket in the back. Once the rules for "Brutes" are
released for Necromunda my plan is to use this guy as a stand-in
for one. 

I had a ton of fun doing these guys. I really love how they capture the wacky yet nightmarish feel of the 40K universe and they are perfect additions to kind of projects. Also, in less sexy news; I finished up a set of Bulkhead doors I bought as an expansion for Necromunda. These combined with what I have and the two Ryza Pattern Ruins I have should allow me to damn near create my own Zone Mortalis board. I just need to create some cool corner pieces to join them up. Efforts are being made on that front. Top men are working on it. Top. Men.

Cheers!

Mixed Bag 9: The Bag is Full!

I haven't updated my blog in almost two weeks. Not for a lack of hobbying, but more because I wasn't sure that each thing I was working on would really make a single compelling post. Instead, I've opted to just throw it all together in a super post. Not much of an improvement, but it feels less like spamming junk out into the world this way.

The first thing I cranked out was painting up the scenery that comes with the latest edition of Necromunda. I still haven't touched the gangs yet, as I'm using the Orlock legacy rules for my Hive Gangers in a local campaign. I'm sure I'll get around to them - they are super nice models and it would be fun to approach them in a way where I'm not looking to build them for optimum game play.

The Foreman gets ready to beat down a slimer from below!

I'm really looking forward to the rules for a Genestealer Cult in Necromunda. Hoping that comes sooner rather than later.

All the barricades. I kept these all in a similar color scheme to what I have done for my Ryza Pattern ruins. That way, I can use them all together and it all feels cohesive.

Control panels and a shrine. Lined up, these look like the loosest slots in all of Necromunda.

Some doors. Yep. Doors. Super exciting.

All the crates and the much sought after Priority marker.

Then I jumped back to my Horus Heresy era Imperial Fists to complete a Tactical Support Squad for the army. The whole bunch is now around 2000pts and I'm starting on plans for the next 500pts. I should have known better than thinking I could just dip my toes in a game system. Sigh.

10 Meltaguns should give any opponent pause. I've got to paint up a Rhino APC next to make sure these cats make it into the actual fight. 

I also managed to crank out four more Plague Marines for my Death Guard army. These guys will be split up and added to existing squads, bringing them from 5 to 7 man units. As it only correct by the standards of Papa Nurgle.

I kit-bashed these out of another set of Dark Imperium. Just to give a little variety. The parts mixed and matched pretty well, I think.

While painting up the Plague Marines, I also stumbled upon an old metal Ursarkar Creed model and painted him up for fun. While I don't play the Astra Militarium at the moment, Creed is a great model for use as an Imperial governor or other high ranking functionary that are good for rescue or escort scenarios. And he's just a lot of fun to paint!

            

And finally, I put the paint to a second bunker model that I picked up. I'm glad I grabbed this - I just know that if I hadn't, I'd be lamenting only having one and needing a second at some point in the future.

So yeah. That's been my last two weeks. How about yours? Hopefully getting lots painted as well!

Cheers!

Mixed Bag 8: Tying Up the Loose Ends

This past week was kind of my first week back in the real hobby world, as opposed to having time off and spending most of it painting. As a result, it was more about finishing things up than anything else, but I managed to get a lot of projects off my painting table and into a cabinet or case.

First up was finishing the Plagueburst Crawler. I was super close to finishing last week, but couldn't quite make it. But here it is in all its glory(?).

Fun. Easy build. I am trying to resist adding another to this army.

As I was building this, I was having flash-backs to 20 some odd years ago and assembling Leman Russ tanks and Chimeras. GW has learned a LOT in how to make construction of the track sections easy and fun as compared to the old days.

Standing by to deliver the BOOM.

Also really close to done was my Inquisitor kit-bash, Serevina Krauss - Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos. I finished up her scanner and then threw her on a resin base I had left over from my Deathwatch: Overkill project.

Tireless hunter of alien filth, Serevinus brings the Emperor's Light
to every corner of the galaxy.

And this is her backpack.

At the beginning of the week I had also gotten in a bunker from the Wall of Martyrs line. I guess GW "found" some old stock and was selling it direct. It came in a bag with no instructions, but it was pretty easy to figure out how to build it. After assembly, it was a quick prime of black and then a spray of gunmetal and I was off to the races.

"Push the dead to the outside, Trooper Smythe! Its starting to smell in here!"

I left the footings off the side doors so it will connect with the wall sets
from the Wall of Martyrs kit.

Its a neat little kit and looks great from any angle. Definitely a great starter
bunker for any young Astra Militarum couple just starting out.

I also polished off my second Foetid Bloat Drone for my Death Guard. After doing the first one, I learned to build and undercoat this one in sub-assemblies which cut the painting time in half.

Bzzzzzz. Wrong Number.

I know a lot of people would convert the second drone, but I really enjoy the regimented look of the same models. I dunno, must be why I like painting Napoleonic stuff as well. 

Over on Twitter, I've been participating in #hobbystreak (at least 30min of hobby a day, see how long your can get your streak to go) and I finally missed a day after Day 63. But, having done something paint-related everyday for 2 months I think I earned a night out of drinks with a friend. I'm not sure I'm going to track it again, but the next day I was working on the Bloat Drone so I'm not ready to rest on my laurels just yet.

Next up is some Imperial Fist stuff to bring my Heresy army to 2k pts.

Cheers!