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?

40K Tyranid Biovore/ Pyrovore, and Spore Mines

I've painted my first Biovore. These are tyranid 'living artillery'; a beastie with a symbiotic weapon on it that spits out spore mines. I really like spore mines- languidly floating exploding jellyfish thingies.

Biovore and spore mines

I never liked, however, the original 1995 biovore.

Photo from Mr_Pink's excellent Modern Synthesist.

The new sculpt is more than an upscale and aesthetic improvement- it also has a detachable tail so it can be fielded as an acid-spitting Pyrovore. Or the tail can be removed for a xeno-arachnid look.

Biovore

Biovore

Biovore

Pyrovore- note different gun and tail.

Sans both gun and tail.

Despite not having a biovore before, I have acquired a few spore mines. The new ones are much taller.

New (2023) spore mines

Old (2004) spore mines

Spore mines

I'm mulling over using Five Parsecs: Bug Hunt to represent a PDF unit mopping up a spore mine infestation etc.

Turbo Kid and Apple

These figures from Imitation of Life pay homage to Turbo Kid and Apple. I painted them for the  'Romance' theme of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

Trailer:

Buddy, the Six-String Samurai

This is an homage to Buddy, the guitar-wielding ronin of Six-String Samurai. In the post-apocalyptic far future of 1997, Elvis has died and Buddy must travel to Lost Vegas to become the new king of rock 'n' roll. On his journey, he is accompanied by The Kid.

Buddy

Buddy and The Kid

The Kid

3D prints from Imitation of Life.

Christmas Cultists

These festive fundamentalists are 3D prints from Imitation of Life.

I'm trying out Speedpaint 2.0, with mixed results. Early days.

A trial of chipping

In which I try using some Vallejo 73.214 Chipping Medium.

I had some gothic shipping containers lying about, and sprayed them AP Chaotic Red, then stippled on some orange. When dry, I liberally slapped on Chipping Medium with a brush, let that dry, and sprayed it white. After that had dried, I attacked it with a wet toothbrush. It wasn't enough, so I also used a wire brush. Again, when dry, I added some details and transfers.

Undercoated and stippled orange

It looks good, but I feel I can get a similar effect with a sponge much quicker. Furthermore, sponging on the effect gives me more predictability. It was a bit hard to control how much effect and where it would be. There's still room in my armamentarium for this.

What deathworld does this hail from?

The finished containers

Skull-o-meter™: 20

40K Tyranid Combat Patrol

The Tyranid slippery slope continues... so here's my Combat Patrol. I'm thinking of calling it Splinter Fleet Glaurung.

Tyranid Combat Patrol

They're led by a winged Tyranid Prime. I'm neither a huge fan of winged big 'nids, nor this sculpt's original pose with the wings down like a walking bat. It was an easy conversion to a wings-up pose.

Winged Tyranid Prime

The big beasty is a Psychophage, a gribbly that loves to feed on psykers and releases a corrosive ash from its digestive vents on its back. The original model has the smoke effects modelled on- it is easy to carve them off.

Psychophage

There are three Von Ryan's Leapers, named after a throwaway line in the 3rd Edition Codex (2001). They look pretty cool.

Von Ryan's Leapers

Another new gaunt variant is the Barbgaunt. There's a ganglio-parasite that pilots the main beast as it carries around a RPG-like organism that fires transfixing barbs. Targeted units are slowed down. Not my favourites, but nice to have them done.

Barbgaunts

Barbgaunt

Finally, twenty termagants. I 'merely' had to paint another thirteen after my initial brood of seven. These are the old sculpts, not the nice new ones.

Termagants

I've just acquired Jon Hodgson's Sci-Fi Backdrops book, which you will be seeing more of.

Behind the scenes of the VFX at 20th Century Barks Studios