The lab is open... Bark 'n Branch

OK boys and girls... the experiments continue.  The idea here was to see if I could take some broken twigs, some bark, as well as some other odds and ends to make a quick base.

What I was hoping for was to get something which looked really nice, but could be executed quickly.  I started the process by using chunks of barks that were various sizes.  I needed to get a bit of an angle on this, so, I propped up the big piece with other smaller bits.

The building process continues.

Aside from super glue, I put in some Vallejo black lava gesso to fill n the gaps.

A branch piece was added.  Normally I would sculpt this, but speed is what I was after in this experiment.  Heck... it's got some pretty nice texture as it is!

Yes, the usual rock and gravel are added.

There was a bit of a gap at the bottom of the tree branch.  I tested out the black lava as a filler, rather than using apoxy sculpt or green stuff.

More filler, rocks and gravel.  This is not just for appearance.  These added substances are also designed to lend more overall strength to the bark, preventing it from flaking off.

I also wanted to add a few additional branches so that the original branch would look bigger.  As you can see, there are now three sizes of branch.

Some Secret Weapon Miniatures skulls are always a nice touch!

Now I just have to wait for everything to dry and set up!

A family portrait

This is something I never had a chance to do before... take an army-wide portrait of the Knights of the Blood Rose.  I am pretty sure this is the entire army that I took to Bilbo's Bash a few years ago...

Gwahir, some cavalry, a few archers and Stormcallers... and ready to go!

There are a number of battle reports on the testing of the army prior to the tournament.

And some posts on the tournament itself!

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/11/madness-and-mayhem-conclusion-of-bilbos.html

Hopefully I will be able to take these guys to another event like that...

The view from above.

It was interesting how much difference just having a few archers made.  Shooting in LOTR was not something I was very enthusiastic about, but there were a few times where they served a vital purpose.

They could reach out and touch some random isolated figure here and there, which not even Gwahir could reach.  You could not count on it, but at least the option was there!

Yahtzee!

Yup, that's five!  Oh, and  Krios thrown in for the heck of it.

I have been furiously prepping the other 'smaller' figures that are part of the army.  Scraping mould lines, scrubbing mould release... the usual Forgeworld delights.

I am looking forward to some smaller stuff!  It's been a lot of mega figs lately.

I don't know what these guys do in an actual game, but it must be interesting to run across this many on a battlefield at once! :-)

Baby Babo and the legion of SKINK!

Yes, more skinks!  Believe it or not, there used to be even more!

I do have tons of skinks sitting around, however.  My threat of making a 100 skink unit still stands :-)

As I mentioned before, I loved these little Skrox units.  They had all kinds of flexibility, and not all that many points.

If you wanted to put in a Skink Chief surprise, well, that just made it more fun :-)

The third small unit was red and purple, I believe.

And here is Baby Babo, as I used to call him, with lots of his little buddies!

Comet of Cassandora, here we come!

Boom!

Songs from the wood...

Here's something fun!  Very nice wood pieces from Markshire Studios:

http://markshirestudios.com/

As you can see, there's a wide variety of very special wood types to choose from.

I have to figure out some special things to do with these... that preserves all the wonderful textures and wood grains!

There are probably a few minis that I can just use as a base...

Perhaps I can also combine some of the tree bark and mica bases with these.  I had even thought of having a sculpted tree growing out from one of these.

To get an idea of scale and size, I put a 28mm figure in the image.

So, off to find some fun things to do with these fantastic wood pieces!

Seeing spots

I was working on a few camo patterns for late war German vehicles.  One of them was the mottled, spotty pattern.

I had loads of fun with them!

Secret Weapon washes have been very handy for shading and tinting these.

And for some comparisons next to the regular gray early war scheme.

More fun to be had!

A preview of some of the upcoming patterns...