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I have an idea, which to be plain, I'd like to know if you think is stupid.

I'm looking at painting an imperial pound of Tanith (roughly three dozen before I snag the GW character set), and yes we're all thinking, "Well done. You're going to have fun painting all that camo-cloak pattern, Buttery. See you next year!"*

Well, before I looked at any official artwork, I considered what I thought a camo cloak would look like. I thought it would look a bit like army netting, made of strips of cloth and if necessary, leaves. Not just plain fabric printed or painted camo.


Skimming the Lexicanum Wiki, it comes up with "Camo-cloaks are hooded cloaks composed of a mesh backing, woven with thousands of ribbons of colour shifting and light-absorbing material, weaved for its durability and ability to help hide the wearer."
That actually sounds pretty similar to what I had in my head. Admittedly a bit less scraggy.

Then there's this image I see doing the rounds in any Tanith-based discussion:


So, how do I best represent this texture? Short of slapping putty on every single cloak and tooling it up, I was considering using fine textured basing materials (sparingly) to give the effect. Such as GW's grass, or autumnal scatter from another company. Would this just end up looking ridiculous? Have you seen it done?
Closest examples I can find to folks doing this do not look great, but I might be searching for the wrong thing.

*For feths and giggles, I was also toying with the idea of having three sets of "seasonal" Tanith (no, not decked out like a Christmas tree!), that could match whatever they're thrown into.
Ice world? Bring out the snowy dudes. Muddy Realm of Battle? Drag out the green and brown grassy group.
Honestly I don't know if I'll manage to do this because only ever fielding 1/3 of a collection would be galling to my sensibilities.

At the scale we work at, im pretty sure that its not going to look too well.


You should give it a shot with a test model but i have a feeling that even at a distance its going to look like flock glued onto a model.

 Desubot wrote:
You should give it a shot with a test model but i have a feeling that even at a distance its going to look like flock glued onto a model.

Depending on the flock mix that may actually not be a bad thing. What do actual snipers use today to blend in? I had to look it up, it's called a ghille suit. Which according to wikipedia is:

A ghillie suit (sometimes called a yowie suit by the Australian Army) is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble heavy foliage. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of burlap, cloth or twine, sometimes made to look like leaves and twigs, and optionally augmented with scraps of foliage from the area.

Snipers,[1] hunters and nature photographers may wear a ghillie suit to blend into their surroundings and conceal themselves from enemies or targets. The suit gives the wearer's outline a three-dimensional breakup, rather than a linear one. When manufactured correctly, the suit will move in the wind in the same way as surrounding foliage.

At the scale we can look at its probably going to be about the same consistency as fur though i guess you can sculpt them wider into the size of purity seals.

Hm, if I could get a variety of colours of the hair-like grasses from one range, maybe?
There's got to be a way to apply them sparsely, or so the fibres hang in one direction. Alternatively I'm thinking of some companies who do laser-cut leaves in different colours and types, they're very delicate but possibly worth the effort.

I'm thinking this sort of length: http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Citadel-Grass

This is going to annoy me deeply, but when I was at a show, I think Partisan, last year, a company was selling absolutely perfect laser cut leaves in a variety of types. Can I find the company? Can I F.

I hold my hands up in acceptance that there's a reason every Tanith I've seen has a painted cloak, or some small leaves glued on. I'm just determined to try for the effect in my brain.

by the time you are gluing down each individual leaves you may as well make a push mold to get it done

Alternately

you can do medical gauze or cheese cloth (or some other cloth type material with a weave in it that you like

Add birch pod leaves, square/rectangular paper strips and white glue it all together.

it should look ok.

with the best part being its easily removable if using white glue.

Ah, I wasn't thinking of coating the cloaks entirely in leaves (I think you only get so many in a pack ..$$$) just using a few alongside texturing and base colouring.
A push mould might work but IIRC I have at least three different models repeatedly (female sniper, running fella, and whatever the other guy with the rifle is up to) before considering the unique figures in the GW theme pack.

The cloth idea is worth a try, certainly! Thank you! I have some muslin kicking about from making action figure clothing. With loose weave, strands could maybe be tousled out to give that waved appearance...

Embarrassingly, I have absolutely no idea what a birch pod is. Is it this? http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/24

You know, from the effort of thinking this through alone, I'm starting to realise why this is not a thing.

I have.some old WD issues about a modular board Warwick Kincade (??) built called Tzaragrad or something. Anyway it was IG themed and it featured some really neat sniper models. Might be called MFA these days but they had some great ideas, models looking more like elaborate bases with a gun barrel poking out somewhere, or some other cunning design. You could do the same and model a few snipers in an entrenched position.

Maybe have the fellow hunkered down behind cover with his ghillie suit draped over the cover and him like a blanket. Then have his back sort of exposed in his foxhole, like a cut away shot. That way you get the effect, but for Los you can just turn the model to show his dimensions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OT but I often find cases of "mfa" to be less an issue that what people think. So you pose your toy to look cool, we can still use our imagination and logic to figure out a fair representation.

I did this with my malifaux Freikorps trapper using a couple colors of static grass & it looks nice.

darkcloak wrote:
I have.some old WD issues about a modular board Warwick Kincade (??) built called Tzaragrad or something. Anyway it was IG themed and it featured some really neat sniper models. Might be called MFA these days but they had some great ideas, models looking more like elaborate bases with a gun barrel poking out somewhere, or some other cunning design. You could do the same and model a few snipers in an entrenched position.

Maybe have the fellow hunkered down behind cover with his ghillie suit draped over the cover and him like a blanket. Then have his back sort of exposed in his foxhole, like a cut away shot. That way you get the effect, but for Los you can just turn the model to show his dimensions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OT but I often find cases of "mfa" to be less an issue that what people think. So you pose your toy to look cool, we can still use our imagination and logic to figure out a fair representation.

I'm really sorry, I'm not familiar with MFA, I haven't actually played a game in my life.* Unless it's a very touchy subject, could you explain a little? I've been curious as to the use of things on bases and what is/isn't acceptable on a wider basis.

I have thought that making a wilderness diorama with surprising cutaways to store my Tanith in/on... I've also managed to snag the old BL Guant and Corbec figures, so building a nasty dirty diorama extension with hidden Tanith lurking around makes my inside happy. I have far more ideas than time right now.

*I understand the basic rules, and how to point things, but I'm used to much more linear squad/team/deck building (heroclix, cards or x-wing) so actually getting out and playing is exceptionally daunting. there's a lot of vague, and I'm a very timid person.

MFA stands for modelling for advantage and it happens when someone builds a miniature in such a way as to try and confer an ingame advantage such as a better cover save.

Its a touchy subject for some because they feel like MFA is unfair and some see it as creative expression and resist restrictions on that. I feel that the problem is easily solved but I wont get into that here.

I have some extra LSS scouts that are begging to become a mini diorama. I had considered putting them on my stormtalon base, but people might get confused by a unit with another unit on its base!

Thanks for the explanation! I guess it's a very marmite thing?

I have wanted to attach my three very unusable Ork Goffick Rokkers to the frame of a Trukk with some speakers, and in another case have a Guard running from an unexploded bomb on my Ork Bommer base...
I have been very unsure whether that constitutes dickery for the same reason. In the case of a flight stand, you could always just swap out for a plain one if anyone objects...

If anyone objects to a scenic base with enemy casualties, smack them. Hard. Then never play them again. I have part of a thrashed red corsairs land raider & 2 guys pinned under the wreckage on the base of my custom Avenger & no one's bitched about it.

As for MFA, I am genuinely sick of hearing it. Unless it's blatantly done for that very reason people need to quit crying so much. I mean honestly. No one yelled MFA when gw published the Scylla mini tanks as Vostroyan sentinel stand ins & they're about 1/2 the height. Nor did anyone mind the Ragnarok that was a Leman russ despite being longer, wider, & having a much larger turret.

As such I say if you want your figure prone then make him prone & keep a model that's the same size as a quick stand-in much like the silhouettes in infinity to check & show LoS. There's a prone catachan sniper, the Vostroyan & steel legion heavy bolter teams ate prone & several special weapons Elysians are prone so if anyone complains remind them of those gw made models.

Easiest way I'd think to get it done is to use caster gauze and add the longer flock from secret weapon minis..

Red_Starrise wrote:If anyone objects to a scenic base with enemy casualties, smack them. Hard. Then never play them again. I have part of a thrashed red corsairs land raider & 2 guys pinned under the wreckage on the base of my custom Avenger & no one's bitched about it.

As for MFA, I am genuinely sick of hearing it. Unless it's blatantly done for that very reason people need to quit crying so much. I mean honestly. No one yelled MFA when gw published the Scylla mini tanks as Vostroyan sentinel stand ins & they're about 1/2 the height. Nor did anyone mind the Ragnarok that was a Leman russ despite being longer, wider, & having a much larger turret.

As such I say if you want your figure prone then make him prone & keep a model that's the same size as a quick stand-in much like the silhouettes in infinity to check & show LoS. There's a prone catachan sniper, the Vostroyan & steel legion heavy bolter teams ate prone & several special weapons Elysians are prone so if anyone complains remind them of those gw made models.

I didn't know a figure being prone would be seen as a "problem", I'm honestly clueless as to anything to described in the previous MFA related post. I assume it's to do with the eyes of the mini being less than central?
I think a topic for another day, as it's clearly an exposed nerve amongst folks. My only point of reference on this is that my Canis Wolfborn mounted on a piece of a plane isn't a 60mm base, so therefore is a bit gak-the-bath crazy in terms of Los/LoF, placing minis base to base, etc. stays on the shelf

Müller wrote:Easiest way I'd think to get it done is to use caster gauze and add the longer flock from secret weapon minis..

Modrock Plaster bandage! How had I not remembered that? Thank you so much!
I may happen to have an upper wardrobe stuffed with it at my parents' house. Will have to see if the weave is appropriate.

the only basing material i'd put on a sniper style ghillie cloak is the small brass branches with leaves on you get in the GW basing kits. they'd give a good scrubbed camo look, but id stick to GS. camo is hit and miss in this game. try and go too detiled and it will look terrible. id avoid sticking sand or flock to the models, as it will probably just look like you cant paint or model well

Woh lots o posts.

Yes those are the birch pod and its an easy way to get a lot of foliage for cheap.

To be fair qar, I can't paint or model well. I just love running before I can walk.

With the grass/scatter I'm not thinking of pouring it on like you would with a base. I'm thinking of a sort of stubble/shaved cat effect over a painted, textured base. The grass or leaves breaking up a visual smooth surface, but not so thick that it looks like I rolled the model in the tub.

I have a test model, but I desperately need to put finishing paint to 2-3 other moron ideas before I start faffing about with this.

Thanks desubot, I'll be on the look out. I know where a tree that drops those things is, it's just timing.

I've seen a lot of people build and paint realistic ghillie suits for 28mm models. Here's one now:



The problem with the is that they end up looking like scenery pieces rather than models. It's the same reason that painting realistic camouflage on minis is very rarely done - because the point of real camouflage is to make the shape and outline of the wearer indistinct and confuse the observing eye. Whereas with miniatures, we want exactly the opposite effect: we want our miniatures to draw the eye and be pleasing to view.

To create a realistic ghillie suit is time-consuming work that ends up doing little more than creating a mobile tree and ruining a good mini in the process.

R.

That does look effective, but to me it looks more like a scenery or a diorama piece. Possibly a cool objective token. I'm honestly not looking to make a full ghille suit for thirty troops. I was looking more at something like the cape in my first post.

Picked up some Ziterdes autumnal grass this afternoon, and I'll be raiding Wayland Games' webshop for some of their various colours, or the model railway store near my house. At the moment there's a few things in the way before I can try.

I've been recommended the humorously named "puff bottle" to apply with, as it supposedly helps the strands stand upright. Anyone had experience with this?

The OP mentionned delicate fallen leaves. Were these (by Secret Weapon) the ones you were thinking of?

https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/masterclass-scenics-fallen-leaves-brown-fall-summer-collection.html

They're currently out of stock on CMON, but there's a Canadian shop that still has some on hand:

http://www.meeplemart.com/store/Search.aspx?SearchTerms=leaves

If you have the patience, delicately gluing a few of these with tweezers throughout a cheesecloth cloak could maybe work?

Eager to see what you come up with because I kinda love ghillie suits!!

R.

Sorry, those aren't what I meant. I do know of the ones you linked, but they are made from birch pod like Desubot mentioned.

The ones I saw, handled and frustratingly didn't buy, were tiny laser cut paper. Many different colours and types of leaf.

The closest examples I can find online are these: http://www.wargameminiatures.com.au/trees-grasses/laser-cut-paper-plants.html

However I don't think that they were 1/32 scale, and they were in England (doesn't prove country of origin, but I can't seem to find anyone here stocking them online).

I'm still thinking that a mix of foam flock colors run through a fine kitchen strainer with weed out the larger pieces would work. Add in a few birch leaves for texture variety. I would try one to see how it looks.

T