A Rough Future Skirmish Project - Another space gnoll 2/8/18

[Scarper]

Bit closer to my usual today - have spent a lot of my first day off painting up another wastelander!

Ivy was born and raised in the Hole, daughter to an ex-PDF mother and a travelling chem-dealer who probably never knew of her. She had a good upbringing, all things considered. Helped her mother to build shelters for the new settlers in the shanty outside of town, trading her work and expertise for whatever they had picked up in their travels. No great riches, but enough to buy food. Over time, she got good at it - learned a few tricks to gauge the strength of standing structures, got better at scavenging strong materials to build the supports that held a building upright. Rarely had collapses, in the end - learned quickly that if something she had built fell down, she'd starve until enough time had passed for her name to be forgotten.
At 16, madly in love with a local scratcher, Ivy left Hole to travel with him from town to town, where he hoped to find enough clients to hone his trade. She carried with her a pistol stolen from her neighbour, enough food to carry them to Jento, and the marks of her partner's endless practice on her arms.



Fairly simple conversion, but hopefully a little removed from the vaguely S&M vanilla eschers. I was going for a slightly restricted palate, and a 'pale and interesting' skin tone, both of which are new to me. I hope you like her - please let me know what you reckon!

Vernon is well liked in Roth. One of the oldest surviving men in the settlement, he works hard for the community. A man who knows the difference between a corroded energy cell and one that has seen some love, he has developed a reputation among the scavengers of Crockfall as a fair and reasonable tradesman. He spends time with the local children, teaching what he can about maintaining the machinery that keeps them alive, and the little history he remembers of the Skew. Vernon has lived in Roth for decades, and he is proud of what it has become. There were so few places in the years following the Evac that were truly safe, and his own family aside, he intends to keep Roth a haven for future generations too. Most people know better than to ask about his military past - there are few on the surface today who like to talk of their old allegiances, and Vernon is no different. The rumours of his youth have largely subsided with time, the tales of assassinations and government contracts mostly dismissed as far-fetched. There are still some who are overcome with curiosity when he is seen leaving the town confines in the early hours of the morning, but to most, it doesn't matter. As long as the bandits steer clear of Roth, then it doesn't matter who Vernon was. The smiling old man can keep his secrets.



Alright, yes, everyone and their dog has done a conversion with this model, but it's possibly my favourite in the whole GW line. Pretty simple changes, but I feel like it might change the feel of the model - I like the 'peering' feel he has, rather than the fairly static starting pose. Hopefully you enjoy him too, and remember that I really appreciate any and all advice!

[Scarper]

Finished another ganger today. I'm satisfied, but a little disappointed. I can't put my finger on it, but his pose seems awkward, and the expression is all wrong. He also needs a fair bit more shading on his skin, and some more work on the map, which he won't be getting any time soon. The whole model was giving me a lot of trouble, and I ruined some things I'd already done with stupid errors because I was rushing - wanted to just finish before I got too frustrated. He's fine, but not really what I pictured, which is a shame. Still, some new techniques learned and a bit more experience, so bonus there



Story to come over the next few days.

[zizi666]

I can't put my finger on it, but his pose seems awkward, and the expression is all wrong.

I probably wouldn't have noticed, but since you mentioned it...
It looks as if his left foot is crooked.
As to the pose: why put just 1 leg on the crates. Most people would probably get comfortable and put both legs up or none at all.
His pose would suggest he's got a broken or wounded leg.

Anyway, I like him already. I see him rising the ranks to become one badass leader. 

[Scarper]

Thanks for the honest critique, Zizi! I know what you mean about the pose - it was pretty solid in my mind, but just didn't translate well to the mini. Ah well, next one will be better!

Nothing much new to show (just finished a 12 day 12 hour shift block at work!), but here's a little progress on a shanty town that I'm making 




WIP, of course, but hopefully it's clear how it will develop. Hope you like!

[Scarper]

Hey again LAF. I hope you all had a great time celebrating whatever you happen to celebrate in Winter time!

Apologies for the extended absence - no real excuse, just a case of work getting on top of me. Been working on this for a while though, so I hope you like!

Remember Coop? He's the gent on the left here.


Story wise he was in a relationship with Riff, the girl on the right, but she was killed in action during an (avoidable) skirmish with the QA. He's pretty central to the plot of a campaign I was writing, and his pose doesn't work so well now that he's by his lonesome. Thought I'd redo him, and the results are below.




It's not hugely clear in the pictures, but a lot of sculpting work has gone into this gent. His left hand, for example, is sculpted from scratch, and he's holding a small stuffed toy in the right. There are a few character touches - The hat was made by Riff, for example, and hopefully offsets the rough look a little. The flamer weapon strapped to his pack was made from spare parts and salvage by Skragg, so should ideally come across as pretty improvised. It's a few months down the line from the prototype!

Hope you like, anyway. Story to come, hopefully sooner than another month. Thanks so much for all the interest, I'll try to be a bit more regular!

[mattblackgod]

Great looking mini!

[pocoloco]

Great looking mini!

x2. Really nice conversion work on him.

[Modhail]

Great conversion!
The guy has loads of character.

[Scarper]

Thanks very much, guys - really appreciate the kind words.
Next up is one of LAF's own Scurv's 'Future sports' models - fantastic minis with some obvious inspiration from salute of the Jugger and Brink. This is my first painted one, but I'm planning on doing a full team with the grey-blue as the uniting colour. I'm also really hoping that it's the first painted one to surface on the internet  

They really are ace - so much detail. Hopefully someone can get a better paintjob up at some point to properly show them off  





Hope you like em! 'Scurvball' will fit into Caitiff as a sport played between rival settlements. Fairly violent, but no weapons allowed, it'll serve as a source of gambling profit, and entertainment in some pretty tough times.
Please let me know what you think - I've been working really hard to improve my skin tones, and I'd love some tips!

[Scarper]

Not too much in the way of updates today.
I've been trying my hand at scratch building some necro terrain on the cheap for some games with a friend of mine here in Edinburgh (who has an awesome blog full of zombie hunters and scratch built Battlefleet Gothic ships that you should totally check out, incidentally). These are obviously early WiPs, but you can see what I'm trying to do. Expect a lot more hazard stripes!



I've not done much of this terrain building malarkey before, but these have been a lot of fun to do. I'm also bursting with terrain ideas at the mo, which is nice as I've got a little more free time on my new shift pattern! Expect some tin cans, platforms and lots of walkways in the near future

I've also given a quick lick of paint to another of Scurv's 'future sportsmen', this one the team 'bruiser' with some shoddy wound suturing on his scalp


Hope you enjoy, and I'd love to hear what you think!

[manatic]

These are turning out great. Have you been thinking of doing a mash-up of future sport and Necromunda? That might be awesome - sort of like American Gladiators meets Salute of the Jugger meets parkour, with players trying to carry a ball to the other end of the table or something similar. That's what your terrain got me thinking...

[beefcake]

The rules scurv and I developed allow for that which adds a whole be dimension to the future sports game.
Those are looking good scarper. Can't wait to see them with paint on.

[Scarper]

Thanks a lot for the kind words, guys! I thought the warpaint would be a fitting way to differentiate teams without having to paint up all their gear the same. I have indeed been thinking of using them for a necro-sport type crossover, but I haven't yet had a chance to try out Scurv and Beefcake's rules (though they look like a lot of fun, and pretty ideal for that!).

Wasn't sleeping too well last night, so I thought I'd do some work on some more terrain I'm building. This is very WiP, but it's the start of a sump bridge for the toll bridge necromunda scenario. It swivels on a pivot that I'm still building, and will come replete with a sump to cross!
Thought I'd have some fun and set up a mini diorama with the work I've done so far.







I really like the idea that the sentry on the sniper's nest was busy cooking his dinner, and his friend downstairs building the barricades was caught off guard. I was really going for a "Oh shiii-" kind of moment

Just a bit of fun, but I hope you like it, anyway. Please let me know what you think!

[Scarper]

Some close ups of the zombies:


And a few walkways that I'm working on:

[Suber]

Great project over here! Everything looks pretty nice!