Bugs - Final Details

I am... DONE.  Long patient road, but man was it worth it.  This last week has been bonkers in terms of the amount of work put in on these pesky bugs, but I think it has paid off.  I have really enjoyed this whole project and I gotta say, I think it is some of my best work.  The proof is in the pudding, but you can see some of it for yourself.

See More by clicking the link.

Bigger Bugs

Just figured I was approaching the climax of another tray of bugs and wanted to keep a decent record of it.  Here is the scoop on the big bugs so far.

I did the flesh of the bugs the same way as the rest of the swarm, to keep the consistency.  The armor plating on the big bugs is what will set them apart, and yes, while it isn't done yet, they are technically tabletop ready.

Plenty more pics after the jump.

Even More Bugs

Wanted to show an update of the bugs. Yes, still work in progress, but the Termagants are nearly finished.  Up until I did the last few details on the models, they really felt lifeless, but doing up the armor plating and coloring the weapons a bit made the details pop right out.  The individual model doesn't look all that menacing, but in the context of the swarm, really pops out.  If you want more pics, click the jump...

Bugs - The Infestation Continues (Work in Progress Shots)

I realize it's been another long stretch since I have updated, but doing hordes of bugs systematically is time consuming.

It was requested by a friend to show some pics in progress, and as I needed a break, and wanted to take some time out from tedious painting to show I actually have been making some progress.

Paint steps thus far after the jump along with many more close up shots.

Acquisition Tyranids

Been a while since I have provided any real content to this blog eh...

Notice anything in that pic?
So much yellow... so many bugs.

That's right folks, Tyranids.  I have been up to my elbows in painting the 'Nid horde you see in the following pics.  These came to me by a buddy looking to off-load them.  I got them for quite a great price, and I gotta say, other than the time consuming nature of painting such a swarm, it's been nothing but a lot of fun.

Winter Trees

I was really lucky this winter season.  I acquired some trees from a former railroad hobbyist... THANKS DAD....and along with a few other supplies, I decided to go whole hog and create a set of trees for the Arctic setup I have.  I hadn't really fleshed out that set at all yet, so I was looking forward to getting something on the mat for an arctic setup, instead of just the cloud idea I have already.  These came together over a weekend, and I decided to make some, and use all of the winter trees I had been given.  All together 16 CD bases of arctic, tree filled goodness.
The tall trees are done with wooden skewers, that I sized up to 5-6" each, and the branches are odd cut shapes of scrub mats that I got from a former employee at work.  Poke a hole in the cut out shapes... hot glue down the painted skewer, and then top with snow.  For snow I happened to have a very dated diorama kit and just used the snow packet for it, but you could use anything.  A quick matte seal coat over the top and boom... trees for almost nothing.  If you had to buy everything yourself still under $20, less if you don't get the fake conifer trees.  For me... nothing says better than cheap.

Special Mission: Starport Assault

Playing with the set of clouds was rather enjoyable, I gotta say.  Just took a couple of shots on the setup and a few in-game shots.  I wanted to show the versatility of the setup, and man, was it great seeing my buddy configure the setup.  I can't believe it never occurred to me to put a bridge directly over one of the clouds, but yeah, it just reinforces the idea that I will only ever have a partial picture of the potential of the things I make.  That being said, the games we played were quite excellent.  We ended up doing 2 games on the special mission list. The setup was perfect for the "Starport" mission, and played really quickly.