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Thanks for commenting, Meer_Cat and Syro. There isn't much I'd like to change in the scheme - except to wish I had a more steady hand lately. My problem is with their bases. I am afraid they will have to wait until I finally get a playing mat to use as an "inspiration" for the final design.

OK, three more down from the undercoated pile. Many, many more to go...

Years before Games Workshop released their 'textured surface' paint colors, Regimental Colours in Great Britain made a product called Base-Tex, they were much the same thing. Some folks made their own by adding vermiculite or sand to paint and mixing, but I could never get the consistency right and didn't mind paying for Base-Tex. Not sure if they're still around or not.

All that to say, you might could paint the bases with a textured paint, either light grey or a medium brown (burnt umber, perhaps), hit it with some darker wash and then drybrush some highlights. That might give you a generic appearing base that would be good for terrain fights or urban.

_Or_ scribe lines in the bases with a heated hobby knife blade to simulate spaceship decking!

Great figures all around!

You have surely inspired me with your Enforcers. I will have to keep painting mine (and the 100 plague zombies…)

M.

Glad to be of service, Miguelsan! Enforcers aren't bad as models, but they do need an inspiration to move past the first 10...

Another three enforcers down the list. I have three more primed, so after them, perhaps, I should swap the subject to something else to avoid the inevitable boredom of sameness.



Yes, Meer_Cat, textured paints are an interesting subject. I still have some "sandy" ones from the local hobby shop, but they are good to roughen up flat surfaces, not to create patterns, that are expected in the cities of the future or on spaceship decks. Right now I am looking more towards getting some of these pre-scratched steel templates that make it easier to cut masking tape into shapes and stripes that can then be transferred onto bases for spray-painting. I've mixed a few dirty iron and steel paints and added to them useless transfer bits to make first few bases, but not knowing what the gaming surface will be, I am more than a bit afraid to continue. But then... I could get some really parrot-spotty mats from local Deep Cut Studio, nothing would look too bright on these...

I actually like those bases in the photo quite a bit- and I think they'd blend with a lot of playing surfaces.

I don't remember the texture in earlier pics, but now I'm confused about the bases. Are there any sci-fi textures that came on the bases, or is that all hand painted on? They remind me a bit of the textures sci-fi bases from Sedition Wars, except for the numbered ones which are a nice touch.

Meer_Cat wrote:I actually like those bases in the photo quite a bit- and I think they'd blend with a lot of playing surfaces.

Thank You, Meer_Cat, I'v trying. I'd go to our underground club to check them against some table mats there, but I have neither time nor health, so poor paper background and hope is all I do have now.

Syro_ wrote:I don't remember the texture in earlier pics, but now I'm confused about the bases. Are there any sci-fi textures that came on the bases, or is that all hand painted on? They remind me a bit of the textures sci-fi bases from Sedition Wars, except for the numbered ones which are a nice touch.

Unfortunately, no textures. So far it all hand painted with some decals added on to the flat Renedra bases. I drew inspiration from Deep Cet Studio table mats and some of the flat painted bases on Dakka gallery. But! While thinking about pre-scratching bases for future painting, I was looking for texture paints and this is what I've found - looks better than the usual sand-and-mortar acrylics: MIG Jimenes stuff, one and two Two different grades, premixed and even colored. If I can justify paying shipping from Spain, I'll definitely get them!

Last three enforcers from now and two previously painted but now with bases done. No more enforcers for a month or two...



And a test zombie. Not happy with her, will be thinking about something weirder...

The zombie looks good to me, but maybe if you decide on an odd color for it’s eyes to help set it just a bit more apart from just a person who drank from their brush pot instead of their coffee mug. Maybe a vibrant yellow to really make it pop

 Theophony wrote:
The zombie looks good to me, but maybe if you decide on an odd color for it’s eyes to help set it just a bit more apart from just a person who drank from their brush pot instead of their coffee mug. Maybe a vibrant yellow to really make it pop

It is most funny to read that, Theophony - I've actually painted her eyes fiery orange before thinking I've screwed up and going for an easy fix.

I hate traveling by air. No liquids, no greenstuff in hand luggage, not even think about sculpting handles or blades or scalpels... So here is something I've finished some time ago - terrain piece for Infinity or Deadzone, an Ariadna/Rebels UAV:



It's a heavily modified scale model... if there is such thing as a scale model of an aircraft that never existed... So I've hacked and sawed it with impunity and no remorse - and that's the result. I've also brought it to our club to photograph it among some scenery there - sorry, these pretty landing pads are not mine. If You are interested - ping that person - CragHack




I will probably stay with terrain for a month or so - on the Fantasy side of things, though. Maybe even sculpt a little...

Love the drone , cool camo on it.

 Theophony wrote:
Love the drone , cool camo on it.

Thanks! I am trying! Another idea was to grab a huge "Chinook" kit in 1:48 by Italeri... but by the time I've caved in and reached for money that kit was already sold. No battlefield taxi for my troops!

Terrain is taking more time than anticipated (my error margins becoming wider... and wider still), but a few more zombies -



I was told that they are too clean for zombies, so here they are with a bit of pigment dirt. I don't think there should be a lot of dirt on a spaceship or in a secret research lab to fully enjoy it pig style, even for zombies.



Next - zombies AND terrain!

Zombies... I am becoming one myself...



... or at least getting in line of painting them. Or liking them. I still like trying things, and there are lots of things to try on these zombies.



I've even crawled outside to take a photo under a natural light to show them off...



... and their bases.



Best thing - there are only two more!!!

looks like you're going for some small details. What things are you thinking of trying on the zombies?

 Syro_ wrote:
looks like you're going for some small details. What things are you thinking of trying on the zombies?

Basically - mixing my own washes and glazes, thatfrequently do not work as intended. But at least I am getting some hand with them. That - and the sombies are finished!



Despite working on these two for almost three weeks (on, off and repainting from base) - meh. Not good. But good enough to move on, onto space dwarfs, most likely.

Space dwarfs, 'nuff said. Nobody expects green dwarfs, r-right? Well, mine are green, and not very polite at that too.No idea how to decorate their bases except that the rim should be green. This pair was made like base - wash - wash - details. Next pair I'll try in reverse - base - wash - details - wash. It will probably require an extensive repair afterwards, but that is almost normal for me.



Maybe I should have painted grenades and mines black metal... Expect a lot of dwarfs, at least until autumn sets in.

Those are cool models. I like the color choice, and the detail highlighting

A lighter version of space dwarfs. Some sort of lasgunners, probably? Can't say the change in painting queue made a lot of difference. Less highlighting, more error correction (and some errors still remain, arrrgh!!!). I am getting into the overhighlighting zone, Syro!



I will probably try wet blending on the next batch... but the other question remains - should I do their bases similar to enforcer and plague style, with plating and grating and tiles, or try something else? But what else? Fake stone? grass (for a change) - who would expect grass on a spaceship?!

For all that there is a lot of green coming at the viewer at first glance- there is a very surprising amount of detail packed into these guys- really well done!

As for the bases, if they are supposed to be spaceship boarders, then I reckon they'll need the plates and numbers and things underfoot. But the body postures and foot placement make me think they could be doing extra-vehicular boarding action- you could actually paint the bases as 'space' (black, with starscapes flecked on with the brush bristles) and they'd look like they were EVA-ing and trying to force an airlock hatch someplace!

Wirecat,

Black bases might contrast the green and let you do the green sides.

Just a suggestion.

Cheers,

CB

OK. I've tried some things, and You have convinced me - heavy infantry will be doing EVA. At least their suits have backpacks that look like they can house some rochet engines. Rifle squads stay indoors. And if I screw up, it will be relatively easy to repaint everything back to metal... We will seein a week or two.

Now, the rifle dwarfs. I've tried to make them brighter, but they turned out darker. Hmmm... I wonder why. Probably I've messed up with home-made shade. :(



Will go back to the previous recipe and check what went wrong...

I think I am burning out. Painting brings less and less fun, there is no time to play or do anything else. But I have set a goal of weekly updates, and I ma trying to stick to it. Some heavy weapons enforcers this time...



Dirty and uninspiring. Sigh.

I find these pieces _quite_ inspiring, Wirecat! My personal style (having been an Infantryman myself, once upon a time) is to slather everything with three coats of Agrax Earthshade followed by two or more of either a) the Camo Green one or b) Nuln Oil or c) both; you're work shows me that oftentimes, less is more. That a restrained brush and a good color scheme can achieve more than the most outrageous weathering could ever hope.

These heavy weapons guys are great! There is the uniformity of pose, equipage and coloring, but each is a distinct member of the greater team- just what an Army painter is trying to achieve. When you mix these guys in with all the others you've produced, it will be quite the Force Shot, I think.

Having said that, it is, at the end of the day, all about the fun. If you feel you're forcing yourself to meet a schedule, fun just became work, and we all get enough of that. I'm in no position to lecture or even recommend anything to anyone, being a hard-nosed, OCD, work-a-holic myself, but what works for me is to change up the routine once in awhile- try something completely unlike me.

For instance, that's why you haven't seen a wizard's cottage yet, even though I mentioned it weeks (months!) ago- I've been having too much fun leaping from project to project, which is very unlike me. Eventually I'll switch back and get into painting some more infantry, or kitbash (or scratchbuild) a vehicle, but for now I'm all 'bout da terrain.

I very much enjoy our considered and considerate comments- both in your own blog and in others'. And I find your work interesting, of great variety and well executed, with lots for me to learn.

Rock on, brother!

Sorry to hear you're feeling burned out Wirecat. I hope you can get some games in sometime soon, that's always good for enthusiasm. Would changing gears for while help (like Meer_Cat suggested)? Maybe switch to some sculpting *nudge nudge

Thank You.

Games and miniatures are, probably, not the reason. It is work problems spilling into the rest of my life together with health woes that make everything gloomy. Maybe I'll take a short break from small things to concentrate on most important... Until the end of August, perhaps? Making a schedule and sticking to it make me forget the things I have no control over. Unfortunately, sometimes they are just too much for this cat.

Anyway, as I try to build a small demo-table of my own for this autumn show, I need more scatter and thus I had to break yet another wow - to stick to hard plastic for the entire year, and get some sandbag walls from China. No idea if these are recast or not. Could have made them myself, but the caster sells them for the price it would take me just to get materials, not including the time and effort to sculpt them.



Probably would have made them better myself - and not of resin too, but of some sort of air-hardening polymer clay instead. But they have good size, useful shape, just enough weight not to fall too frequently while gaming and they paint up quite nicely. And they are cheap, about 2-3 Euro per piece. Perhaps I'll get a few more pieces and add to them some scratch-built - or just some battle junk. I should have some scale models laying around missing pieces...

Will you be posting pics of your table for the autumn show?

 Syro_ wrote:
Will you be posting pics of your table for the autumn show?

Sure! Just, uhm, don't hold Your breath for that long, Syro - the first preview is likely to be in Orctober. The show is sometime in November, so that is the actual deadline...

Cool, it will be something to look forward to in a few months. Best of luck working on it

 Syro_ wrote:
Cool, it will be something to look forward to in a few months. Best of luck working on it

Thank You! I haven't painted a thing this week, but here is a random bit of schematics for a secret weapon I am working for that table Hush now, its very-very seek-ret.

My gosh- this creature has stolen the plans for the Q-X Space Modulator- that's why there was no earth-shattering KABOOM!

Agent X- you know what to do.....

I was actually thinking towards "Your tree has no ground (Earth) connection, it will not work", but Your idea is also good, Meer_Cat! I'll have to invest in defensive countermeasures.