Sunday 11 October 2015

"...It Might Have Originated In Outer Space."

"Remember, no touch pod. Could be dangerous."
These three 28mm metal models by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” are a mixture of the two well-detailed sculpts which make up the Lincolnshire-based company’s code SKU: Deal 87 Spawn. They have all been painted up as part of my growing horde of Krynoid plant-zombies for Zomtober 2015.

Fashioned by George Fairlamb each model was initially given an undercoat of “Vallejo” Heavy Grey before being arbitrarily washed with “Citadel” Thrakka Green and “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. Having finished this rather fun, albeit messy phase, I then dry-brushed the meat-eating space invaders with more “Vallejo” Heavy Grey and then painted all of their eye-balls, bulges, crustacean-like pincers and bloated blisters using either Heavy Kakhi, Heavy Sienna, Heavy Brown or Heavy Red. Afterwards all of these areas were treated to an appropriate “Citadel” coloured wash of Carroburg Crimson, Thrakka Green or “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. Lastly I applied a final dry-brush of “Vallejo” Heavy Grey over each model, making sure to miss all the ‘detailed’ work I had done on them.

I still have another four of these ‘Walkers’ to finish before I have enough for my “Doctor Who And The Seeds of Doom” inspired game of “Zombicide” at the end of Zomtober. But they should be finished within the next few days. In the meantime I have been pottering around with some of the scenery I want to use to represent the scenario’s location – the somewhat dilapidated grounds of Chase Manor. I’ve purchased a Scenery Upgrade Pack from the “Mars Attacks – The Miniatures Game” by “Mantic Games” for just this purpose and have so far managed to finish painting a couple of pieces of wooden fencing, two piles of rubble and a small ruined corner.
The plant-zombies of the Krynoid slowly shuffle their way across the ruins of Chase Manor 
Unsurprisingly for someone who dislikes painting scenery, their paint-jobs have been extraordinarily simple. The fencing has literally been undercoated “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, washed with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade and then dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna. Whilst the brick piles and wall were all painted using “Vallejo” Heavy Red, more Strong Tone Quickshade, and a dry-brush of more “Vallejo” Heavy Red. Everything was then treated to a coat of undiluted PVA glue, as I find this really helps hold together my scenery and give it a rubbery protective layer; very useful for protecting my speedy work as I tend to treat terrain rather roughly both on and off the tabletop.

Lastly I have been pinning and gluing together a number of “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” miniatures to use as ‘Runners’. These infected minions are great little castings which are asking to be converted into ghastly-looking semi-human nightmares. I’ve somewhat splurged and actually ended up making seven of these hapless staff members in the end, including the tragic botanist Arnold Keeler and a second laboratory assistant. But in the main the models represent some of Harrison Chase’s blue-suited security guards.
Infected WIPS - Plenty of malformations to paint on these hapless minions of Harrison Chase
 “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” sell a cracking separate malformed head. But I didn’t want all of my minions to have the same face, so in the end I decided to give a couple of them a normal helmeted head and will simply paint their faces partially green. In the 1976 British Science Fiction television program Chase’s men actually wore blue baseball-cap type headwear, similar to that seen on “Captain Scarlet”; which “Crooked Dice” actually do sell. However as I have a ‘Battle The Mysterons’ project in the works I didn’t want another ‘force’ using those rather identifiable selfsame heads. In the end I therefore went with the rather generic ‘mining helmet’ look which I thought looked fantastic on Blofeld’s goons in the James Bond motion picture “Diamonds Are Forever”. As I don’t want my grounds staff to contain too much blue though, I’ll be painting my guards’ hats a light(ish) grey instead.

In addition I also disliked the idea of having all of my minions wandering around with just a crab-claw or tentacle, so having pinned a couple of these in place, I visited my local second-hand gaming store and managed to pick up a couple of “Games Workshop” plastic malformed arms (presumably from some Chaos sprue) which hopefully are plant-like enough to do the trick…

24 comments:

  1. That's going to be quite a formidable force you'll have there once they are all finished Simon, Those aliens are great and really suit your "gloss" finish, there is quite a bit of work gone into each one but the end result looks well worth the extra work involved as they are little belters!

    I went to Crooked Dices web-store yesterday, and I think I'm going to have to spring for a Sarah Jane next time I see them at a show, she is just such a smashing model (so much better than Black Trees). I'm really looking forward to seeing your painted version.

    Smashing work as always, keep it up.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Many thanks Roger. Just a bit of dry-brushing to be be done and my other Krynoids will be done and posted. I think eight will make quite the daunting horde, especially with the three 'Fatties' I'm now waiting on following a terrific suggestion from Jez.

      I'm glad this project is tempting you into the "Crooked Dice" realms, my friend, plenty there to see and like, and I've a handful of projects just waiting to begin based entirely upon their terrific sculpts. Thanks for the encouragement, I was certainly in need of it earlier this week when all those plant-zombie eyes were getting to me :-)

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  2. Great job Bk! Love your krynoids, superbly slimey dude. The scenery looks very good too, I could see that being used on a tabletop near me. You may just have influenced a purchase, damn you!
    Your runners are inspired and I'm really looking forward to seeing them completed.
    Keep up the fine work dude!

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    1. Cheers Bob. Heh... sorry to bring temptation to you. But I rather like the Scenery Upgrade Pack - though I'd prefer a few more fences and not so many little corner pieces as scatter terrain. Glad you like the Runners - plenty of opportunity to show just how painful and bloody their infection quickly becomes ;-)

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  3. Great work all round, Simon. I agree with Roger that your Krynoids suit your glossy finish. As Bob said, "superbly slimy."

    I got the Mantic scenery pack as part of my Mars Attacks Kickstarter pledge and it really is fantastic. Although I haven't painted mine yet, I can see lots of uses for it in many games and genres.

    Your Runners look all the better by making each one unique, something I would have certainly done myself.

    Finally, don't think your "Battle the Mysterons" teaser comment went unnoticed. It goes without saying that I'm dying to see this on your blog.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, as always your thoughts are much appreciated. Plenty of slimey goodness yet to come, what with the Runners and (hopefully if they arrive quickly enough) the 'Fatties' too. The scenery is a bit of a chore tbh as I don't like painting such stuff. But it does look good on the tabletop once finished, even if I say so myself.

      Teaser comment..? Where would I have learnt to do something like that..? Besides it's just a "Dinky" little project I have in mind for later in the year ;-)

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    2. Quote - "a "Dinky" little project. Groan! That's an awful pun! I'm still considering what rules to use with my Captain Scarlet scenario I want to run. At first I considered using THW's generic Chain Reaction rules but now I'm leaning more to adapting the Judge Dredd skirmish rules. I need something that allows for vehicle combat.

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    3. I'm hopefully going to be using "7TV" First Edition as they incorporate vehicle rules within their Summer Special as memory serves, and most of the stats are already there, courtesy of their Time Lift Security. Well worth picking up as a PDF as I think its especially cheap now they've moved to 2nd Edition.

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  4. Due the number of posts flying thick and fast this month, I keep forgetting we're only a third of the way in. Zomtober seems to make people work like...well, zombies.
    Great work, Simon. I do hope you get your golems in time, although good luck re-basing them, as I wasn't kidding about how tough the bases are.
    The number of projects you've got on the go (or in the pipeline) is staggering. Doctor Who, Captain Scarlet, Battlestar Galactica... it's a pleasure watching you work.
    Regards Jez

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    1. Very kind of you to say so, Jez, and that's one of the best things about this community is that we all support one another, whilst at the same time provide plenty of distractions to take us away from our chosen projects ;-)

      Obviously a few of those projects you mentioned will be side-lined next month, as we (along with Roger) hopefully settle down to some "Frostgrave" paint-jobs amongst a couple of other minis I plan to complete for MoVember... and then finger's crossed it'll be time for the Sixth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and 'Vive Le France" ;-)

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  5. Ah, Crooked Dice miniatures are somewhat addictive, aren't they :-) ?

    Like Vampifan, I'm interested to see what you do for Captain Scarlet. I have something of an interest in running a game on this subject myself. 7TV (1st or 2nd edition) does seem the way to go, though I'm having difficulties thinking of suitable opponents.

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    1. Indeed they are C6. But great fun to paint and game with :-) I fear I will probably go down the line of either Federation Security (as Captain Black teams up with Space Commander Travis), Cybermen or Yeti for now. As you say, its hard to game against the actual Mysterons themselves, unless they've taken over people...

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  6. Great to see the group shot Simon, they do look splendid.

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    1. Thanks Michael. A nice group shot always encourages me to crack and paint the next half dozen ;-)

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  7. A fine job, BK. It's a recurring theme in the comments; the gloss finish really suits these minis.

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    1. Cheers Finch. Everything does seem to come together once they've been varnished and flocked.

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  8. I've been painting this blasted room all day and I had to have some actual fun before I went to sleep, so I'm looking at some of the Zomtober posts for today.

    Your Krynoids turned out wonderfully. I also like the scenery you chose to do and even though you don't enjoy painting it, it does make the table look great. You sure are having a good time with this and your enthusiasm for the project really comes through.

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    1. Delighted you've popped by Anne and many thanks. Just basing my final four Krynoids and settling down to work on the infected Runners now. I don't enjoy working on scenery (which is why I buy so much pre-painted) but I am pleased with this "Mantic Games" terrain. Hopefully my enthusiasm is infectious :-)

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    2. I like looking at yours and Michael Awdry's stuff. Both of you approach it with a childlike glee and that does seem to spread to others.

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    3. Sir Awdry does run a very tempting blog Anne :-) I've a number of minis waiting in the wings which I've bought as a result of following his projects. Many thanks indeed for the compliment. There's lots of fun to be had with hobby and I certainly try to not only enjoy it myself but pass it on :-)

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  9. Lovely work, and I dare say that you're looking forward to applying your skill to the Frostgrave Undead which you've won over at C&G - send us your address and we'll get your prize sorted!

    http://canisterandgrape.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/lucky-7-amnesiaversary-giveaway-winners.html

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    1. Many thanks Evan, and I've messaged C&G with my details. Perfect timing too what with my "Frostgrave" project getting started next month :-)

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  10. It's al coming together well; the teasing scenery shot has me once more looking at Mantic's scenics !

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    1. Cheers Zabadak. Sorry about the tease but I do rather like this "Mantic Games" scenery set and am now looking at painting up some of their sci-fi stuff for a future project.

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