Project: It's Still About Turnips

 There were worse things than crucifixion. There were teeth.
   - Stephen King, The Strand

action shot of the teeth swamp
(in a forthcoming battle report)

Having finished the Death Guard a few months ago, I decided that the next project would be making some terrain for Turnip 28. I've got mountains of terrain-making supplies, but it's something that gives me a lot of anxiety, being so far out of my wheelhouse. I've been planning terrain for the desert board that my Mantis Warriors would fight over for half a decade, accumulated tons of stuff for it, and am frightened like a little baby.

Turnip provides a way to do this kind of work in a fun, relaxing way, knowing that it's okay to screw up -- that's what the mud is for! Of course, it's still taken me like four years to turn teeth and horrible fingers into actual stuff that goes on a board. In that time, the 'swamp teeth' aesthetic has turned into one of the cornerstones of the Turnip 28 vibe. You see it everywhere - well, fuckers, I had the idea very early! Probably not first, but very very early! I'm just chicken!

cyclopean shepherd stands atop a sunken house
(in a forthcoming battle report)

Anyway, the time finally came to bite the bullet. I snuffled through the rulebook and scenario pamphlet that Max has put together and put together a list of core terrain and a few would-like-to-haves. Some of those haven't eventuated (I wanted to build a sunken windmill and a few terrace houses), but I now have a core list of pieces, which will cover the generic scenarios and some of the weirdo ones:

Impassable Terrain (6x6")

Rotting Fish

Drowned Tower

Defensible Terrain (6 x 6")

Sunken House

Ruin

Dangerous Terrain (9x 9")

Finger Forest

Tooth Pits (in three pieces)

Tooth Bog

Normal Swamps but with Weird Guys (in three pieces)

Walls/Cover (6x1")

Regular wattle fences x2

Tooth walls x2

a pus sheep hangs out at the edge of a tooth wall
from - that's right, a forthcoming battle report

As is traditional, I will go through these in the order I actually finished them. As is not traditional, I'll include a bit more discussion on how I made them and include some WIP photos as we go - so this is going to be a long post!

Gnow There are Gno More Gnomes To Paint

 Look at that. A second post.

the new villagers

Back in 2020, for the Old World Army Challenge, Old School Miniatures was kind enough to sponsor my entry: a small force of their wonderful alpine gnomes. I never considered the project complete, though; one regiment of spearmen was under-equipped, and I wanted to expand the cavalry regiments a little.

As part of my new focus on finishing projects (I know!), I have managed to actually complete the gnome army. I also wound up adding a second spearman regiment as well as a small pile of new villagers (above).

The force is fairly small in most editions, especially as Byron's list design eschews heroes in favour of wizards, but I'll be able to ally in Wood Elves or my old, ancient Empire army (whichever of these boxes that's in...) if I really need more points.

So, what's new?

Old World Army Challenge: Wood Elves II: Beasts!

 Over at the Old World Army Challenge, the March issue is out!

grr. argh.

I really enjoyed painting these beasts! We're past the halfway point, and some great miniatures are still to come...

Those Animals: Wild things

 A handful more critters for the desert.

small local fauna

I've painted a handful of small creatures to sprinkle around the gaming table. The lava dog thing comes from Northstar, the rest from an indie company the name of which I've misplaced. They sure are cute, though.

armadillo analogues

lizard analogues

thingies

some kind of heated-rock monster?

Those Who Trade: Animals

 Here, at the end of all things the Colony 87 miniatures.

Julius Samarkan and his living goods behind some electro-barriers

This is it, folks! The last Colony 87 miniatures! Crooked Dice have also grouped some cyberpunk miniatures and added to the range since the Third Wave Kickstarter, but these are moving into a different aesthetic, so I didn't pick them up. I'm happy to say that this is more-or-less the whole range and move into new directions. For one thing, all my new civilians need somewhere to live...

For the final post, we have alien pet merchant Julius Samarkan and most of the Colony 87/Crooked Dice animals (except for the space cat from yesterday). These were a lot of fun to paint, although obviously a little fiddly in some cases. I don't think I'll keep them all as Samarkan's, but use them to liven up tables.

Anyway, below the cut!

Those Animals: Gyrinx

 Psychic feline-analogues from beyond the stars.

or, put another way: space kitties!

If I'm going to paint cats, I'm always going to call them Gyrinx. I know that the original Rogue Trader bestiary described them as orange, but that text is more what we traditionally call guidelines anyway, right? (For some great ones, by the way, check out Sho3box).

The kitten on the left is one of the handful of remaining Colony 87 sculpts (although Crooked Dice may have just put him in; I don't think he was part of Jon's brief). The other two are from Bad Squiddo Games, part of her Vikings range. I got them originally for my wood elves, but they don't work as hunting cats. They do work as weird alien cats, though.

Those Animals: Neo-Camels

 No desert setting is complete without them.

Pash Grolin brings a train of goods into town from the wasteland

Nothing like a good set of science fiction animals which are just regular animals with a weird skin colour. Put them next to some lobotomized cyborgs and it feels like Rogue Trader country. 

In my defence, I thought the coat was going to come out much yellower than it did; this is Aggaros Dunes applied straight over white. It's a great colour, but way more naturalistic than I expected.

Pink faces are fun, though.

These guys come from Copplestone Castings and are a real treat. I might pick up the Baggage Yaks and add them to the train.

More photos under the cut, but for once no more rambling.