Rangers of Shadow Deep - Broken Stairs - Custom Board

I had been mulling around building a 3D board for a notorious Rangers of Shadow Deep scenario, the "Broken Stairs", for quite a while. Essentially, the rangers and companions descend into the shadow deep using a treacherous staircase, all the while being beset upon by giant flies. When the 2021 "Build Something" contest was announced on the Lead Adventure Forum, I decided that I would take on the project, as it was the next one in line on the campaign my friend and I had been playing.

I started with a paltry 20 degree slope, and scratched it as not threatening enough. Next pictures are of the build process. The main structure is 'gatorfoam', which I love using for terrain. Then, lots of insulation foam, foamcore, and spray foam to build up shapes. It is all tied together with bathroom toilet tissue and Mod Podge. Sand was mixed into the paint layer to provide a little more texture here and there. Painting involved washes, flicking paint, drybrushing, and spot painting, with a few tufts and some flocking as well.

Bird nest made from greenstuff and furnace filter, pressed into an Instant Mold.

 

 

 A few pics of the final product.

 

Action shots from the game:

Watch your step...

Gabriella the Duelist skillfully dispatches a fly.

Giant fly takes a vicious bite out of the wardog, taking it out of action.

 

Ladyhawke inspecting the nest. 

All in all, this was a resounding success and the height really helped pull off the threat of falling (literally too, not a lot of room to place figures!).

Since this was a lot of work for a single scenario, I'm hoping to get this to some conventions and will likely use it as a scenic backdrop.

Obligatory scenic shot, with a Photoshopped background...

Thanks for looking :)

Hydra Miniatures - High Magus - Belus - Dragonmen

Recently completed painting some upcoming 'Retro Raygun'  releases from Hydra Miniatures - Belus, the Imperial High Magus of Marduk, and some Dragonmen. Pretty cool miniatures!

Trench Shrine - Alltag40k Prize

At the tail end of 2020 there was a contest on Instagram called "Alltag40k" which prompted the participant to create a kitbash or conversion that fit the theme of 'Everyday in the 41st Millennium", with themes of "Work, Play, or Pray". My entry was the "Grimdark AV Cart" posted here:

https://miniatureextravaganza.blogspot.com/2020/12/imperial-citizenry-alltag40k-black-crab.html

I ended up winning first place and it turns out there were prizes, in the form of scratchbuilds by the organizers... and I ended up with a sweet one, by @wickermanminiatures. Here's what I received:

I love all the little details- clever touches like different openings into the shells, the use of the smallest nativity scene I have ever beheld, votive offerings, candles, skulls in the mud... just great. It took a few months before I had time to get paint on it. I have to admit its a little weird painting someone else's build!

A WIP showing beginning layers- I still hadn't decided on colors for uniforms on the trenchers.

Final product:

 

 

 

All in all I'm quite happy with how this turned out, and hats off to the builder who very generously gave this beauty up as a prize!

Rogue Trader Inquisitors - Group

Here's a group shot of all the Rogue Trader era Inquisition, done in the style of an old White Dwarf advertisement. I may redo this with their names- a lot of the old ads named all the miniatures :)

Inquisitors - Ordo Malleus, Barbaric Inquisitor, Jac Draco

Looks like I got behind on posting my monthly Inquisitors... I've been painting one per month for about a year and a half now :)

Anyway, here are the Inquisitors for April, May, and June. First up, the Rogue Trader era "Ordo Malleus in Terminator Armor".

 

 

Next up, a Daemonhunter from the 2003 range. One of my least favorite of the GW Inquisitors, after painting him I like him a lot more. I went for a barbaric, feral vibe. I decided he’s been stranded on a feral world for too long, picking up some of the cultural practices of the locals :)

Lastly, this month’s inquisitor is the last of my Rogue Trader era for this project. He’s one of my all time favorites- the “Inquisitor in Terminator Armor”. Often referred to as Jaq Draco, as this model has a very faithful representation on the Games Workshop novel “Inquisitor” by Ian Watson. I decided to go out with a bang and did the banner shown on the book cover too. Started painting and finished in about 24 hours so I could squeeze into Inq28th.

40K Relic Dealer

I have quite a few ideas for populating my intact (not the typical warzone) 40K Imperial city, and one I've been wanting to get to for a while was this relic dealer with a mobile kiosk. I decided on a Reaper cleric figure, and added some details to bring him into the setting.

 

His mobile shop sets on top of the tracks from an AdMech Kataphron. The case structure is a 3D print I designed, as I didn't want to try to make matching pairs of gothic arches from plasticard. I did end up making shelves from plasticard and a Hirst Arts cabinet. Relics are Hirst Arts, Grey Knight relic bits, some press molded greenstuff versions, GW skulls, bones from a Frostgrave kit (Gnolls or Cultists), and a bit from an Anvil Industries sisters detail sprue.

 

The back view displays all of the necessary paperwork and seals showing he's a licensed relic dealer.

I also have an unlicensed dealer in the works- definitely a shady fellow.