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Vikings provide “human scale”, while the side-by-by-side of the tents shows their own size variation.

By now, regular readers will know of my fondness for scatter terrain and especially terrain that is reasonably generic, so that it can be used in a variety of settings. With that in mind, and an eye to “fill in” a bit of a hole in my scenic collection, I picked up a set of Renedra’s Saxon Tents and 2 sets of Mixed Tents awhile back, in June of last year. This combination of purchases giving me two of each tents open, and two closed – enough for a couple of small camps or one large non-uniform encampment.









I finally decided to get them done and batch painted them during January, with a base of cream spray paint, drybrushes of bone, a spray of Plastic Soldier Company’s weathering spray and an alcohol wipe-off, another drybrush and some brown lining for tent flaps, and then doing the pegs. Pretty simple overall, but unfortunately they came out a fair bit more yellowed than I’d planned. I went for a yellowish linen because again – I wanted them to be generic rather than tied to Vikings or Saxons or WWII GIs or whomever. For the same reason, I declined to base them. This way I can lay them down on whatever tabletop surface I’m playing on and they’ll still look decent. Here they are on the Badlands Mat I recently reviewed.


A feral and savage wolfpack attacks a Viking encampment.


Insert “Who let the dogs out?” joke here.

Just a couple of shots showing them set up on a table. I actually remembered to add in the little campfires here as well.

They are really nice, and yes, look useful for all sorts of settings. I like the colour you've ended up with, even if it's not quite what you originally intended

Great-looking tents. I've been eyeing those on the Renedra website for a while and may well pick some up having seen what you've done with them.

The Orc champions are lush, too! I always worry about trying to convert identical minis so they no longer look identical, but you seem to manage to make them look distinctive enough just by swapping a shield and tweaking the paint job slightly. Very impressive.

Thank you guys. As for the Orcs and conversions - usually I'm the same in terms of wanting to convert identical models. (See below) it's just that in the case of such old, OOP models, I'm really hesitant to cut them up - As I used to do without a thought at the time they they were current! In fact, at the time my thought process on anything I wanted to convert was "one to keep pristine, one to convert".

On the other hand, if something is still current, or there's no problem getting access to them, I'm more than happy to convert and kitbash:

Today we have a couple more of Kev Adams' Orcs that I've recently painted. These figures are from the 1992-93 period, or the early days of WHFB 4th edition.



Unlike the big'uns that I painted a little while ago and placed on 32mm bases, these figures fit nicely on standard 25mm bases.



I've painted them to broadly match the other Orcs I've been painting recently. Once again, the grinning goblin-faced shield is from the Warhammer Fantasy Regiments plastic boxed set from early 3rd edition. I haven't got a lot of other commentary on them for the time being. A couple more orcs for the pile!

Back in 2014 I painted up a batch of the walls that came with Rackham’s Plastic Confrontation starter sets. A couple of months ago, I found a few more walls inside some sets I hadn’t noticed the first time, so I got them out and put them in a box. And then forgot/lost them for months, then found them, let them sit there for more months, and just recently made myself get them done.



Pretty simple to do – Spray paint grey, then a few layers of drybrushing various greys culminating in an off-white. Add some weathering powder, then a heavy varnish of gloss, then matt to ensure solid protection.



A Viking, a Space Marine and a Dwarf (walk into a bar) all provide scale and show how well such generic scenery works with figures across the gaming spectrum. I really need to get some WW2 and/or Moderns painted up to join in on these sorts of scale pics.



As with the last set, the complete lot of them has four “full” walls and four of the broken down walls. Obviously this is just five of the eight in this set. I’ll get some proper photos of the full set combined with the previous set up shortly.

I frickin love scatter terrain! and everyone Else's always seems to look better than mine! this is not fair by any means and I will need to remedy the situation!

Great bits of scenery, Azazel . The walls give you a nice bit of cover but without making it difficult to spot your models on the tabletop.

Very nice mate. I have those tents as well, the mini camp beds don't quite seem long enough, but they make for a great scene on the table. Would be good to see some pics of the gaming table next time you play, if you get a chance.

Very ealous of the awesome scatter terrain. I love the fact you keep it generic for use in multiple games. Very clever.

Yeah, I remember your stance on old school minis that are out of production. I tend to agree -- it's made me somewhat regret taking some of my 80s Citadel minis and give them different weapons to make them more useful for Inquisitorial retinues...

Loving the simple but effective work on the wall pieces. I have a load of work to do on my Frostgrave table so will be trying out the weathering powder idea, which I'd not thought of for scenery before for some reason.

Thanks guys. Yep, I’ve had a real focus on getting my battlefields sorted this year, and scatter terrain is something that really adds those little details in and around the larger centrepiece bits of scenery. Not much you can do about chopping up you've done int he past, Ian. And I guess a lot of them can still be found on eBay if you're so inclined, so I don't stress about most of the figures I chopped up back in the day (except for that Chaos Warrior Bear Centaur). I just try not to chop the old figures up these days, unless they're broken - in which case have at it!



Speaking of scatter terrain, a year (or two? three? I seem to lose track so easily!) or so ago I got a whole bunch of resin scenery bits along with some secondhand models from a local guy (not Damo, this time!) As seems to always happen, I put some of the terrain away to one side with the intention of quickly painting them up, and then naturally lost track of where I’d put the damned things for literally months. Over my Christmas/Summer break – which is when I tend to like doing scenery due to good spraying and drying weather along with time off work, I found them again and this time got them out and knocked them out. Mostly drybrushing with greys, painting the metal parts and then painting Army Painter Dip over the lot before a matt varnish.



Here they are “in action” on my Urbanmatz Badlands Mat, alongside my Imperial Guard, along with the recently-painted Sedition Wars barricades and crates. Yep, I’ve had a real focus on getting my battlefields sorted this year, and scatter terrain is something that really adds those little details in and around the larger centrepiece bits of scenery. These also work as a nice denial-of-area set, and by not basing them, they can work on any table and are completely modular in terms of deployment options.



I’m not sure who the manufacturer of these is. They look like they might be OOP Forge World pieces(?) but I haven’t been able to confirm. They could just as easily be from one of the many other UK or Polish scenery outfits. Either way, they’re pretty nice looking and fit 40k very well, and could probably even pass muster for a historical or moderns game. If you squint a little.

- Update! Thanks to Dr.Mathias and also Richard Cowen via Wordpress for pointing out that they’re actually Secret Weapon Miniatures‘ Gothic Tank Traps. Which is great since I now know where I can get more, and also now you know where to get some from!) Either way, they’re pretty nice looking and fit 40k very well, and could probably even pass muster for a historical or moderns game. If you squint a little.

Yep you've reached the pinnacle Az! you've made a post about tank traps look cool! :-)

Chaos Warrior Bear Centaur?

 JoshInJapan wrote:
Chaos Warrior Bear Centaur?

I hope it still exists so we can get pics

 Azazelx wrote:

I’m not sure who the manufacturer of these is.

Cool thread

The Dragon's Teeth are from Secret Weapon. I have them myself, sadly unpainted for years... they're are in a nearby box so they are on the 'soon' list

The dragons teeth are cool. Such a good idea. Or to base them so you have infinite configurations.

Thanks gents - and thanks to Dr.Mathias for the info on the tank traps' origin. I've updated my Wordpress entry on them, given you and the person there who pointed it out credit and also linked to Justin's pages. And now I can potentially buy more of them...

@Archer - Not having them based means that can be bumped around a little, but also they're much easier to store and fit in well on any type of terrain/table. Hell, you could have them up on a walkway if you wanted to!

@Nerdfest - thanks mate, though I'm not sure how cool it could be!

@Josh & Slinky - it still exists. It's nothing special though. It's an early conversion made and painted when I was a late teenager or perhaps just hitting 20 or so. It's been sitting in a kind of limbo as I've been unsure of what to do with it. Not bad enough to bin but not good enough to show off. Maybe I'll post it up and see what the consensus is on whether I should rebuild it with a new Chaos Warrior on the Bear parts, try to rework the join or simply rebase it and leave it be...

Anyway - more models!



As I steam (or limp) towards the end of my collection of metal slayers, we have two of the last four Marauder ones – unless I find more in a baggie or box that have been there for years or buy some more off eBay in that never-ending search for “at least one of each sculpt”.



I think I might have gone a little too faded on the tattoos on this pair, particularly Mr.Redstripes.



The second model seems a little goofy to me. Goofier than normal, then. Or worse proportions than normal. Still, put him in a crowd or view him from standing-gamer height and he looks fine.



I gave his kilt (or short skirt) the same tartan that Rowdy Roddy Piper used in his heel heyday against Hulk Hogan during the first Wrestlemania. I’ve used it before on a WarZone figure that I evidently never photographed – I’ll have to fix that shortly. Anyway, it’s simple and effective from a distance. Probably the reason that Hot Rod used it back in the day.

One more pair to go and the Marauder Slayers are done! Then it’s full-pelt into the ’93-94 Giant Slayers, then the character models, then the AoW characters, then…. well, that’s still to be decided…

Those Marauder Slayers are kind goofy-looking, but it's hard to articulate exactly why. Didn't the Citadel slayers have sore of evil grins on their faces? That might be it-- these guys don't seem quite so twisted. Still, you did a great job on them, particularly the stripey pants.

Yeah, the Citadel slayers that came later looked a fair bit meaner. You really wouldn't want to feth with the majority of the Citadel ones.





Actually, so did the proto-slayers/berserkers (I only have one of those sculpts atm)

Here we have the only two of the Eeza Ugezod’s Mother Crushers that I managed to paint over the years, since purchasing them back in the late 1980’s. The motivation for painting them was actually my Blood Bowl team (Da Blak Flag) – which then became the name of my Orc Army/Tribe. Hence there’s a bit of appropriate iconography on his Black Flag.



Aside from obviously rebasing them onto 32mm round bases from their previous 25mm squares, there’s been a little bit of touch up. Dulling down some of the excessive colour, as I did some time ago with my other Regiment of Renown unit – Golfag’s (Golgfag’s) Ogres. Note the ogres also have the Black Flag iconography, since my Ogres were originally bought and painted to be part of the Orcish army. The slightly awkward twin moons on the top of the banner were originally painted in yellow – you know, how most Orc & Goblin moons are painted in that stylised manner. Unfortunately, they looked like a pair of bananas awkwardly perched on top of the banner. I repainted them in a silver-grey, though a beaten copper could also have looked good and appropriate. The skulls were also repainted from an overly-dark yellow-brown.



The musician with cymbals had similar treatment – overly bright pants toned down, and a bit of edge highlighting added to his instruments.



I thought I’d throw in a group shot of all the orcs I’ve completed recently. Not quite an army, or even a proper unit for Kings of War yet, but a reasonable little gang so far, and there’s enough here to cause a little bit of bother using the AoS rules. I should dig out the rest of the Mother Crushers and get them painted, I guess. So much to paint, though…

Love the name for that guy

Some great looking orcs there, buddy!

Lovely band of Orcs there. At some point you need to set up a showdown between those guys and all the Slayers you've painted over the last few months and take some action shots of that!

That band of orcs makes me all fuzzy inside. Those minis jut ooze charm. I've been tempted by the recent Kev Adams green skin Kickstarters (think there's a hobgoblin one atm?) but it's hard to justify buying them when I have no real use for them, no matter how lovely they are...

Btw Az, I would love to see some bigger display set ups from you, like a whole table worth of terrain covered in lovely minis... obviously that's a ton of work, but maybe someday!

That's a lot of sweet stuff! Holy tents batman!

Thanks guys!

Para - I do have that planned. A few more Slayers to finish up first, though. I think the Orcs will need backup...

Mymearan - I'll set up something down the line with proper, attractive shots of the figures - probably when I have a week off in June/July. The trouble is I have limited height-modifying terrain at the moment, and very little in the way of centrepiece terrain built/painted. Anyway, here's a couple of shots I took for Batreps that I never ended up writing. The first is from a SAGA game from ages ago where the Orcs were Vikings and the Gondor guys were... Welsh? I think? The second is from a learn-the-rules AoS game using the GHB from a couple of weeks ago. I think we used forces that were too large for the LTR focus of the game, and by the time we got to the second session I was SO tired of prompting my opponent for the rules for her guys that all passion for writing a BatRep had gone. We got to the end of Turn 4 and I called the game, it turned out that on both sides we still had some of the nastiest units pretty much intact. A bit of stuff in that photo I haven't blogged about yet, as well...

It's one of the reasons I'm not that interested in AoS. Lots of individual special rules for every single unit annoys me I prefer the USR system where I don't need to know individual special rules for dozens of different units but instead about half a dozen rules which are applied in different combinations.

I have to say, it wasn't the AOS unit special rules' fault for the most part. There are so many times you can tell your opponent "you hit on threes, wound on fours, please just roll the fething dice" before it wears thin...

Today’s models come from Descent: Journeys in the Dark 1st Edition. I picked it up secondhand several years ago, when I heard about how great a game it was, blurring the lines between RPG and miniatures boardgame. Shortly afterwards, the Second Edition came out, though I did pick up the official conversion kit, I’ve never gotten around to playing either of the things yet.

A month or so I got the idea to paint the Giant Spiders out of the 1e box. While I was poking around in there, I found these Hellhounds. Figuring that they’d paint up pretty quickly, I ended up putting the Spiders back and working on these instead. They didn’t take too long to get done, and being pretty rough figures I wan’t going to knock myself out over getting the absolute best paintjobs on them, either. Tabletop is good enough!



Descent uses two different “types” of each monster: “White” ones, which are normal, or trooper-types and “Red” ones which are champion-level and tougher. So the sculpts come in two colours of plastic – Red and White (actually, more of a cream, but I digress). In order to be able to identify the two types, I painted the “White” ones with brighter orangey-red and red-to-yellow flame-fur, while the “Red” ones were painted in a slightly deeper, darker red and have yellow-to-black flame-fur. Enough to distinguish them when needed, but close enough that they still work in a pack for other games.





Speaking of other games, I knocked up a multi-base for them so that they can be used as a regiment in Kings of War. They’d be used as Proxy Hellhounds in my Khorne Chaos Daemons army, which in turn will be using the Forces of the Abyss/Hellhounds entry. Which I’ve just noticed while looking it up to write this only come in units of 5. And naturally, this base is made for a nominal unit of 10. Feck. That’s annoying, especially as they’re actual Hellhounds. Though the Mantic models also come on pissy little 25mm bases from Dungeon Saga, so perhaps the more appropriate proxy entry for these models will actually be a regiment of Abyssal Horsemen.

Amazing stuff in here! Those classic range orc minis really take me back!