Wait! Come back! I promise this won’t be as boring as it sounds! Its true I somehow ended up working on two different projects for two different games that both involve inanimate objects. While I’m hardly one of the old masters painting a still life, I think I do have some decent work to show off that will hopefully elevate the subject matter into something interesting and worth your time.
MESBG – Let’s lead with the big one first. I have the next part of the diorama nearly done and while there was a lot of cursing and grumbling what I started working on this throne, I think that it has come together really nicely. Best of all, I painted this using glazing and it didn’t take too long at all to finish this in spite of that which surprised me.
What caused a lot of grumbling was cleaning up this mini for painting. There were so many mold lines that kind of looked like they might be part of the design of the miniature. This is the second thing I’ve painted from Mantic Games Terrain Crate series and I’m not impressed with their product in terms of diorama quality. I think these would be a lot easier to use as terrain (where missing a small mold line won’t kill you). Most of the pieces I got in the Throne Room set are multi-part and were glued together somewhat sloppily in the factory so I had to try and smooth out and fix a couple of cracks between pieces and spots where they overglued things which is basically impossible to fully cover up. I probably spent 2-4 hours just fixing issues with this thing so the fact that it looks as good as it does is no small miracle.
For those of you who are fans of painting, I painted this in Non Metallic Metals again which I think is the first MESBG thing I’ve painted fully in this style (I’m not counting Alfrid who only has some metal clasps on his coat). I tried experimenting with my colors a bit more and I think I’ve made some improvements in how to paint gold compared to my Scibor dwarf pictured below. It kind of figures when you spend a ton of time and are really proud of something like that and a couple months later you top it. That’s painting for you.
If you’d like to try to use some of the colors and techniques I used, I’d recommend the following Youtube video. While I didn’t follow the video religiously, I did try the colors out that Juan Hidalgo (and Darren Latham) use to great success. Its also worth mentioning that I skipped using the recommended Contrast paints because the sculpt didn’t provide enough flat areas to make glazing with them easy but I hope to use those in the future and see if I get even better results.
There are two things left to paint for the diorama besides the display base so I’m making pretty steady progress on it. I plan on taking a little break and working on some gaming stuff again so I can keep up my motivation and concentration on this project.
Fallout Wasteland Warfare – I also took the opportunity to paint one of my recently acquired, birthday minis. The quality of these objective markers really is outstanding. No mold lines that I could find on this one and lots of little details to pick out. I tried to weather the items but avoided using rust as I want these items to look like something special or worth scavenging since it is an objective. The photos are a bit on the dark side but hopefully you can still see the final results okay still.
While I meant what I said about this being enjoyable to paint and being impressed by the level of details, it did take quite a while to paint up at the same time. I think it took almost four days for just this one which means its about as time consuming as a regular infantry sized model. I was thinking it would be cool to get all ten objectives painted up before I play my next game but I know now I don’t have the patience to wait that long. I’ll just have to keep chipping away at them as I have the interest and it will be a nice treat to use them in games as I finish them. I do want to get one more super mutant painted so I can play What You See Is What You Get in the next scenario so I expect to get that done soon so I can get another game in.
Speaking of playing Fallout, one thing I was expecting to buy this month and I haven’t is a new mat. I do really want one that matches my terrain and Fallout 4’s landscape better but I’ve kind of paralyzed myself with choice. Deep Cut Studios makes two mats that would work well but I can make a case for either one.
The one above is basically just dry cracked land for the entire mat. It truly is a wasteland in that sense. This mat would be a nice blank canvas that you could make pretty much any kind of Fallout terrain work with. If you’re fighting away from a landmark (like houses or factories), its perfect. If you can make some streets (which I need to figure out how to do) and houses, this would work okay for that too. I don’t know that the colors match my terrain as well as the next one does however so that is a real concern for me as a perfectionist.
This one has rocks and grass to go along with the wasteland looking ground. There is even a bit of urban looking terrain shown on other parts of the mat. I was leaning towards getting this mat until I got close to actually making the purchase and I’ve been unsure what to go with ever since. I don’t have a lot of room in my closet currently for another mat (and I hope this will be the last one I buy for a long time as well) so that may be part of the reason why I haven’t been able to make a decision. I’d love to hear any opinions you might have. Maybe you can sway me to a particular side or make this decision a bit easier for me.
Palaeo Diet – I don’t have a lot to say about this other than, I had a lot of interest and enthusiasm for trying out this game and I realized this week that it has completely fizzled since then. I’m pretty sure it is because I got a bunch of new Fallout stuff to paint and the fact that the diorama is keeping me quite busy but since my birthday I have had no desire to get more miniatures to paint which is crazy because I really was ready to jump in and paint some cavemen. I do think the enthusiasm could come back in the future and this doesn’t mean I won’t get around to it eventually but I think it shows that I can only juggle or think about a couple of things at a given time in the hobby which I will try to remember in the future.
To me, this also demonstrates the danger of buying lots of things and then you end up not wanting to paint them later on once your motivation level has dropped some. Truthfully, I probably should stay quiet because most of the people who visit this site (and I think most wargamers in general) are more of the type of people who have massive backlogs of minis (aka piles of shame) to paint and they think I’m the crazy one! 🙂
Kuribo's Painting 
Very nice looking “still life” stuff, Jeff! 🙂 And I think I’d go with the second mat meself!
Now this next bit is no doubt heresy in some circles! Years ago I painted up 25mm Samurai and Ming Chinese armies (way back, before 25mm grew into 28mm) and I painted the obvious base edges black and was pleased with them. But once I moved back to smaller 20mm WW1, WW2 and colonial figures, black base edges just looked too severe, so after experimenting with a dark earth base edge I finally went with a darker brown and that’s what you’ll see on all of my figures today (Vallejo Model Color Chocolate, or Burnt Umber if I pick up the wrong dropper bottle). So, given that you’re looking at different mats, would you ever consider painting the base edges on the minis in a different colour, say a brown or a grey, which may look more closer in coloration to the mats and bases? Be interested to hear what you think! Of the half dozen or so of the group of us that played Warhammer, I was the only one who refused to use the obvious bases with big round edges painted black and instead opted for correct size but much thinner (and less obvious) washers!
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Thanks, John and I will put one vote down for the second mat 🙂
This is a very good question. I’ve put a bit of thought into this before actually as I used to paint all my MESGB bases in a brown shade exactly like how you described. In my opinion, any base that is going to have a good amount of foliage or that has a normal dirt color (so a darker brown than what I use for Fallout minis) look best with the brown colored base that matches the dirt color. I think it “grounds” (no pun intended!) the base and helps it blend in with your terrain and board without the base rim being too noticeable. I’m not sure if the lighter brown would do that and many of the Fallout bases have a fair amount of dirt/cracked ground on them so that makes me that much more skeptical. With that said, I don’t for sure because I’ve never tried it! 🙂 You’ve got me thinking it could be an interesting experiment to try, especially on a throwaway model which I have a couple of Fallout minis like that floating around.
I should also add that it is ultimately a personal preference thing too. Some people, especially board gamers, really like using those transparent plastic bases so you can see whatever mat or board the minis sit on instead of what I would consider a proper base with a floor/ground modeled. I can’t stand them and think they’re ugly so its all subjective when it comes down to it 🙂
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Sounds like we probably think along similar lines! 🙂 I think the clear bases are a really good idea, however I just do not like them either!
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I am with you on the clear bases.
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Nicely done. The thing with dioramas is the scenery and everything else in the final image is just as important as the figure(s) so the same level of detail is required throughout. Clearly you have got the hang of that and when it all comes together it will be all the more impressive for the effort you have put into it. As for the quality of manufactures as you know they vary. If you haven’t already you will establish a list of tried and trusted sites for sure. 🙂
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Cheers, TIM! I’ll be interested to see if the finished dio has enough little details to be really visually interesting or not. Part of me wishes I could incorporate more into the scene but I don’t think that would have been easy with the scene I’m creating but we’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts when I get this one done for sure! 🙂
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Regarding which mat, I would go with the first one. I like the buried part of machinery on the second but it limits the mat to one era/game. With the first mat you could use it I think even with Goblin Town as the cave floor.
The gold on the chair looks great, but the fabric on it isn’t up to your standard of what we have been seeing on Alfrid’s coat and the rug. It looks too smooth if get what I’m saying. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t come close to what you are achieving but the danger of asking is that you get opinions. Feel free to ignore what I say 🙂
Good to know about the mold lines on the Terrain Crate set, something to watch out for.
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I can make a similar argument for the first mat, too, Bret. Versatility is huge in our hobby and I only have so much storage room so I will definitely keep this point in mind.
In terms of the fabric, that is interesting you say that it is too smooth. I tried googling some throne pictures and tried to paint something close to them and then I added some scratches to show that the throne was very much due for an upgrade. Were you hoping to see some dirt on the cloth maybe? I was hoping the scratches would do the trick but I can see where you’re coming from on that, if that is the case. I was thinking while working on the chair that this diorama may end up being a bit brighter than what was shown in the movie and I think I’m accepting of that but I’m also anxious to see how it all turns out and whether this ends up being as high of quality as I have built it up in my head. We shall see 🙂
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Maybe it needs more dirt along the edges of the cushions, that is where my popcorn always seems to end up. Not knowing how you are putting the diorama together I think is part of my problem, if the chair is behind the master then not so much of a problem, in between the two characters that is what the eye will be drawn to vs the Master and Alfrid.
I hope we don’t have to wait for the game mat for the next battle report!
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Some dirt there would certainly make sense. I think it might be tricky to get it to show up but I’ll certainly give this idea some more thought. I don’t mind tipping my hand and saying that the throne will be in the back (or left side of the diorama depending on which side you’re viewing it) so my intention is for it not to be too noticeable. It is more to fill out the scene.
And no, I’m not going to wait to buy the mat for the next scenario. I’ve made up my mind on which one to buy but it ships from Europe and the birthday and Christmas gauntlet in my family is about to begin so we’ll see how much spending money I have over the next two months! 🙂
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Are all miniatures inanimate objects? 😀
Yuk yuk yuk.
It’s a splendid chair and looks like it deserves a royal rump. The objective looks good too but is that a typewriter? When was the last time anyone has seen a typewriter? When does Fallout take place anyway? But seriously it looks good.
Don’t worry about dropping off from paleo. There’s so much work involved in getting a miniature game to the table that’s it’s natural that our enthusiasm will wax and wane. Sometimes it makes sense to focus on another project that is further along. 😀
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Haha, I did tee that one up for you, I suppose 🙂 And your eyes did not deceive you! That is a typewriter. Fallout is a strange universe in that nuclear bombs were dropped in the 1950’s/60’s and then the apocalypse happens as a result. Most of the video games are set years after the bombs dropped so it has been a post-apocalypse for quite a while. At the same time, Fallout does have primitive computers and robots mixed in with actual 1960’s technology. So you see really old cameras and typewriters next to a computer terminal. Its enough to upset a historical wargaming purist, I’m sure! 😀
That is sound advice on Paleo! I’m glad I didn’t buy miniatures and have them sitting around waiting for some attention. I’m sure I’d feel worse about not following through on that ambition if I did!
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Great work as usual mate. The Fallout piece in particular is brilliant.
Whilst I usually agree with Bret, I think I will suggest the second mat. He is right that the first is more practical, I think the perfectionist in you will never be satisfied with “good enough”. You will just have to make more storage space…. some how.
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Cheers, grumpy! I’m actually as equally proud of the objective marker as I am of the throne even though I think the throne is painted to a higher standard 🙂
I think I’m leaning towards the second mat as I’m reading and responding to comments for the reasons you suggested. Getting both though would make this decision easier and it would be a surefire way to annoy my fiancee! 😀
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Well I am not of the opinion that massive backlogs are a good thing. I think I quite agree with you. In the past I did have massive backlogs but what I’ve found is that one day I just end up selling it because I realize I have no more time and/or motivation for it and it only takes up space (physical and mental).
Having too many projects going on, especially when physical space is a constant struggle, really puts quite a damper on hobby motivation, so I wouldn’t worry too much about shelving Palaeo Diet for a little while longer (though I would like to see it in action 🙂 eventually, it does sound quite intriguing).
Great work on the Fallout objective marker and I’m curious to see what you have planned for the diorama. The throne looks very neat and popping so I’m curious to see how it fits with the typically ‘lived-in’ feel of Middle-earth.
As for the mat, for Fallout I would also go for the second one. Both mats fit the universe and the first one is probably more versatile (and usable for MESBG, as Bret mentioned), but I think the second one matches your Fallout miniatures better and instantly feels like Fallout while the first one feels more neutral / generic (which also makes it more versatile, so this doesn’t have to be a bad thing at all).
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Getting a big backlog isn’t hard if you have money to spend and not enough time to paint it all too! It is really fun to buy new stuff but I have seen a number of people buy stuff and not paint it and then feel like their collection is a burden and I don’t want that for myself. I’m glad that the consensus is, its okay to shelf Palaeo for now too. It is a relief to set that aside and stay focused on my current projects! 🙂
The throne really is a bit bright and flashy which is totally in line with the Master’s fashion sense but hopefully it doesn’t end up making the diorama too bright and colorful. That wasn’t my intention anyway!
It sounds like that is another vote for the second mat which is the overall winner. I think I’ll be getting that one in the nearish future 🙂
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I now see the model you were unhappy about the mould lines on – yeah, PVC and lots of curves are a combination from hell. It did turn out well at least, so you have that satisfaction at least! All of the the Mantic “red brick” terrain packs, including the ones with the picket fences are in hard/HIPS plastic, not PVC – so very similar to GW’s models and terrain.
All this stuff is in HIPS – there’s also a pic of some of the other stuff in hard plastic at this link, too: https://azazelx.com/2017/02/23/stop-here-sit-and-rest-awhile-mantics-mars-attacks-stop-signs-and-benches/
I’m going to start taking the barricades and fences to work and cleaning them up during meetings now, and hopefully batch paint them over summer.
The objective marker looks great, how many more do you have to do now?
As for the mat, well, I’d buy both (and I may – I need a desert mat, but have kinda been putting it off while I pay for other things and COVID suspended most of my international purchases).
I also prefer the second one if you were only to buy one. You can easily use it for SBG by simply covering up the printed pipes with literally any piece of terrain. Well, probably. It’s a bit hard to see it in full detail 😉
I’d also second the idea to try a shade of brown or two to rim the base edges, remember – those can always easily be repainted!
Also, you could use the slightest amount of art pigment/weathering powder to “dirty” the edges of the throne’s pillows. With the benefit that it can easily be wiped away and then only fixed once you’re happy with it.
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The “red brick” terrain does look nice all painted up and if it is easier to deal with then that would be a big plus for me. I will keep an eye on them as I need to beef up my post-apocalyptic terrain more when I can.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the mats as well. I think the second one is the overall favorite and that is the direction I’ve been leaning so now I just have to cough up the money and buy it! 🙂
For the objective markers, that is the first one of ten so there will be plenty more of them on the site as time goes on. They really are nice pieces to have for a post-apocalyptic game.
Thanks for the other suggestions as well 🙂 I will give them both some thought (and I will be happy to try the base rim idea too for exact reason you pointed out).
Thanks for stopping by and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve been up to hobby-wise when you get around to your next update.
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Nah mate, it’s definitely us with the huge backlogs that are the crazy ones! 🙂 No point in burdening yourself with loads of gear you don’t need. I do try to restrain myself from buying anything unless I’m sure it’s what I want and as a result I tend to find that even if I loose interest in a project for a while I always come back to it I the end.
Cracking work on both of these inanimate objects – I find the way you handle NMM particularly impressive (it’s a dark art as far as I’m concerned).
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🙂 For me, it is easy to resist the temptation of buying somewhat but I don’t blame anyone who is hopelessly addicted to plastic and can’t help buying fun new things, especially if that brings them joy.
Thanks for the kind words as well! NMM can seem like a dark art but it really comes down to highlight and shadow placement (to simulate real metal’s appearance) and then smoothly blending the right colors so that it tricks the viewer’s eye. That said, it takes a bit more time than using metallic paint with a quick wash and highlight as well so there is definitely a tradeoff!
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Excellent painting there, I have just spent last night looting suitcases and running around with half a dozen typewriters to break down for the parts. Personally for Fallout I would go for the second mat, but for flexibility of different things the second.
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Thanks for the kind words and for the vote on which mat to get, mate! Haha, that sounds about right to me on the hunting for typewriters part 😀 Hopefully you built or repaired something cool as a reward for your hard work!
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Nice blog
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