How to make swamps

I made some generic swamps for any scale or period. In this tutorial I'll show you how I went about it. This is one of those fun projects where each step looks good and just gets better as it goes along, unlike some projects which seem to get worse before they get better.

I started with some pre-cut MDF forest sabot bases from Knights of Dice (sadly, a company on hiatus). I used my trusty Dremel to hack out the insides and bevel the edges.

Pre-cut MDF forest sabot bases, unglued.

I glued the two halves together with some random offcuts and added Miliput to disguise any regularities in the curves.

After cutting and bevelling, glued together and made more irregular

I used PVA to stick on builder's sand. I then gave a light mist of PVA and IPA to further cement it down. (I could have gone heavier with the spray).

Waiting for the sand/ PVA to dry

I painted them craft paint brown, then drybrushed browns and creams. I could have skipped either of the drybrush stages. I then painted the water dark green- Contrast Dark Angel in this instance. Any dark green or brown would be fine.

Steps of colour

I then used a selection of flocks, static grass and tufts I've been accumulating over the years. I used brighter greens around the water edges, and drier colours to blend with my game boards.

Vegetation added

The final step is Deluxe Materials Aqua Magic. This is like acrylic gloss varnish, a single pour product without any mixing or heating required. I generously poured this in and let it soak up the sides into the flock. I used up the last of my bottle. I put them on a level surface and protected them from dust. Done!

Water poured and left to dry

The finished result! With hobbits for scale. I resisted the urge to add skullz, corpses, rusty bits etc to keep them generic for scale and period.

I did a test swamp before I jumped in and made more. I tried some fancy blending in the water to give a depth illusion, but it just didn't work and is unnecessary. You can see the different water colour in the picture above. More troubling was the cracking of the water. I've slightly salvaged it with a second coat of water effect, but I think more will be required and I expect to have to do it to my new swamps as well. I do need a new bottle of that stuff, anyway. I know I should probably do multiple thin coats, but I'm impatient and in a hurry.

Cracking of the water. Bug or feature?

If you've got any comments on experiences with water effect products I'd like to hear!

Oh, and also I'd like suggestions on storing them so the tufts don't get squished. I'm thinking of putting each in a greaseproof paper bag. Some sort of plate rack or CD holder?

Tyranids

Last millennium, I had a small 2nd edition Tyranid force. I gave them away about 15 years ago, and only have a few terrible photos to remember them by.

I hope they've had a good life

Tyranid Warriors

Hive Tyrant

Nicely converted weapons, IMNSHO.

This was a pain to assemble

Love my Screamer Killer.

Hunter Slayers. Came in blisters of three and units of five.
Never change, GW.

Last year, I painted some Termagants I got off eBay for potential Stargrave/ Five Parsecs use, and quite enjoyed doing so. I used Contrasts Gryph-Hound Orange and Skeleton Horde, which were a massive time-saver.

Termagants

I thought I would get some melee bugs, and then a Xenos Rampant slippery slope occurred which I threw myself down...

Bugs, Mr Rico! Forty-eight of them!

Free hugs!

Hormagaunts

I got some MDF movement trays from Knights of Dice, which are great.

Weighted base for infamously unstable figures

And now I need some balance with more Termagants. And apparently there's a big brood-mother bug that spawns these critters...