As promised last week, I focused exclusively on getting some Fallout stuff done. I focused mostly on small victories because that is what usually feels good once you’ve spent a lot of time on a single project. While I don’t think some of what I painted is nearly impressive as Drazhar was, hopefully you enjoy it all the same. I also wanted to say thank you again to everyone’s kind words and support on that project. It meant a lot and this site has become the place I go to for feedback and support. I’m sure the fact that my Instagram feed seems to strangely be diminishing in popularity has something to do with it but then again, I never thought I would get a shoutout on a podcast and now I have thanks to a friend of the site’s podcast, ImperialRebelOrk. You can also read about IRO’s hobby adventures here too. He’s working on a pretty cool Wild West project at the moment and created a great post apocalypse diorama before that so his work appeals to a wide range. Needless to say, I can very nearly die happy now with this latest accomplishment!
The first thing I did was create this piece of terrain which are resin sandbags I ordered from TTCombat. I don’t know why I didn’t think to try these out before taking the time to paint it up but once I took these pictures, I was struck by how tall the minis look compared to the sandbags. Obviously, in real life you kneel or crouch behind a barrier like this but minis don’t often come crouched so the size disparity, especially with the Super Mutant is a little concerning. I have four more sandbag pieces I can work on and they are in fact, sandbag walls are quite ubiquitous in Fallout 4 so I was pleased with the results until I took pictures with miniatures behind them. Now I’m not so sure. Do you think these are too small or do they work for minis of this scale? I have a feeling that some of you who read this will comment below and sway me to one side or the other.
Next up we have something else I’m not entirely sure how I feel about. I painted up three “glowing” radroaches on the left there. The regular radroaches I finished a while ago and are just for comparison’s sake. It was nice to knock out three miniatures for Fallout quickly (something I’ve almost never been able to say!) but in the picture above, they don’t look quite as nice as I had hoped. I probably should have tried retaking the picture from a better angle to show the patterns but I’m too lazy this go around. You’ll see them again down the road as well I’m sure. I think part of the reason they are a little underwhelming is that the sculpts are all uniform so its hard to make them look unique and there just isn’t a lot of room to work with on the minis either. There is a scenario where I can use these in the nearish future so it will be nice to have them ready to go for that anyway. I do need to finish more of the next sculpt first however…
Next up, we have a humble mole rat. Much like radroaches, they’re more of a nuisance in Fallout than a real threat to you but I think Modiphius did a great job with this sculpt and while it is tricky to work out how to paint it, I think I got a nice effect that matches the game art really well. The face came out nicely as well with plenty of character. I have two more of these left to paint in the box and then that box will be finished and out of my backlog which is good because I have somehow developed an actual backlog in Fallout that is a little over 20 minis deep. Small by most people’s standards but it does make me want to work hard and try to reduce it a bit.
While I was thinking about teasing you all with an early WIP picture of what I started painting towards the end of this week, I’ve decided to hold off and show you a more finished picture next week. Let’s just say that I have one of the most iconic things in Fallout on my painting table and I have a feeling the end results are going to be quite nice so I hope you will look forward to that!
Finally, I don’t know if it is all the Zombicide announcements or what but I somehow got in the mood for something zombie related and then that led me to start re-reading The Walking Dead comic which has it flaws but something about the early issues where the writer, Robert Kirkman explores a lot of the world and what it is like to survive in that zombie infested environment that really sparks my imagination. I even gave half a thought to whether I could take terrain I have for Fallout and apply it to The Walking Dead. Truthfully, you really can’t because the Walking Dead has a lusher, overgrown feel compared to Fallout which is more barren and desert-like. I also dabbled in The Walking Dead: All Out War and wasn’t taken with it (even though I feel like I probably could have given it a bit more of a chance as I only played tutorial scenarios which were really simple but I digress) so it really would be crazy to go back and try to play it again. So while it is tempting me at the moment, I’ll probably just stick to reading the comics and enjoying it that way. If only there was enough time and storage space to pursue all of our wargaming interests!
Kuribo's Painting 
They look like the dead roaches and molerats one leaves behind, after knocking them with our baton… it’s a rough sculpt. But great paint! I think the shorter base on the sandbags doesn’t help, but it’s not like they are better cover ingame for a fiend, never mind a supermutant…
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Thanks for the kind words and you make a good point. I almost never use them when playing Fallout 4 too so maybe I’m overthinking things a bit 🙂
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All look good to me, Jeff! 🙂 I really like the mole rat! I think you maybe have to think of the sandbags as more representative of cover and the deep round figure bases don’t help, but you can’t do anything about that. The sandbags themselves look really good!
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Thanks, John and I agree that it may have to be an imagination thing (which I can thankfully live with). I’m glad to hear you like the sandbags too. Considering your main wargaming focus is WWII, it means a lot to hear that from you 🙂
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I thought the sandbags and the mole rat looked very good as well. I thought the paint job, too, on the radioactive roaches worked.
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I think you are being too critical on yourself, the cockroaches look great! Regarding the sandbags, while in real life they would be taller or as you say, figures would be kneeling behind them, I think they work well as said above, the work as representative cover for the game. If it bothers you too much, take some greenstuff and make more to go top.
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The roaches look better than the pictures and I should have just retaken the photos so I’d be happier with them instead of being lazy but that’s what happens when you’re tired from a long work week
I think you’re right on the sandbags and you’re suggestion is a great one. I’ve even seen a product or two that basically come as “flexible” sandbags for making your own walls. I should investigate those further. Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts, Bret! They are always valuable and appreciated 🙂
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I agree with what folks are saying so far, everything looks great given the limitations of the sculpts. Consider the sandbags representative when a figure is near them and they are just tabledressing most of the time anyway. Or if you are feeling the mood, do as Bret says and use some greenstuff.
It is always a pleasure to see the things you make!
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I think that is what I will do, mate. Your opinion and a couple others have swayed me! Thanks for the kind words as well 🙂 I hope you’ll be excited/like what I have on my painting table so I’m excited for next week’s update already!
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Nice work on all the figures mate, they look great. As for the sand bags I can only really comment from a diorama point of view rather than as a gamer. In that context it really depends on what you are looking to achieve. At one level sandbags can be there to divert water, define a route or stop a vehicle perhaps. Then again they can be a barricade which is height relevant or a barricade which has been knocked down. In any event easy enough to build higher or add sandbags to show its been demolished. 🙂
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I think I’m approaching this more from a diorama standpoint (which is foolish) because in gaming, you can use your imagination a bit and that is what I should do. These minis come in an odd scale so its not easy to find terrain that perfectly fits it so I just need to stop being picky and accept that, most likely 🙂 Thanks for weighing in, mate. Your opinion is very much appreciated!
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I agree with the comments above. Sandbags tend to get flatter as time goes on, but usually they’d be high enough to protect a prone soldier. Nice job Kuribo!
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Thanks for the kind words and for weighing in, Mark!
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You went from painting up Draz with all those stunning details to painting sandbags and cockroaches…talk about a pallet cleanser. 😀
The bags fo look a little short. I doubt it’s something to worry about as it’ll be fine for gaming. Don’t let it gnaw at you at night about how short they are. It’s impossible to get all terrain and figures exactly in scale anyway. 😀
I’ve still yet to read TWD comics but I’ve been meaning to. I’ve fallen off from the show but enjoyed it for a long time.
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Don’t forget about a giant naked mole rat either 😀 I won’t worry about the sandbags then and will happily add them to my humble terrain collection. I need as much as I can get so I shouldn’t be so choosy! You’re right about terrain scale and these sandbags are a great example of this.
I would recommend the comics. They’re generally good and I think you can get them in color instead of black and white like they were originally published. I’m slowly starting to talk myself back into getting some TWD minis again so who knows, maybe I will get into it in the future. It would give me a chance to paint a different kind of miniature and I like variety 🙂
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The glowing roaches look pretty good in that photo. I like the painting on the mole rat too, there’s good colours and definition.
As for the sandbags, I’ve bought TTCombat scenery and even though they do some interesting and decent stuff, it’s always seemed slightly too big for 28mm.
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Thanks for the kind words on the painting, Matt! Since Fallout minis are 32mm non-heroic scale, TTCombat’s terrain running a bit big works well for me. I wouldn’t have minded if the sandbag barriers were a bit taller as I’m sure you could guess. I’ve been eyeing some of their MDF city terrain so I’ll be curious to see how their buildings scale with Fallout minis in the future too.
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TTCombat MDF scenery will work well with 32mm. I use it for Marvel: Crisis Protocol which comes in around that scale – maybe a little larger.
Ditto on what everyone else is saying – great work, nice choice of colours.
I think its the depth of the miniatures’ base that makes them look odd behind the sandbags
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That is great to know, Solo Meeple. Thank you for stopping by and sharing that info. I’m very close to buying my first MDF kit from them and I was wondering if that would present similar issues. Glad to hear that is not the case.
For some reason, I wasn’t following what others said about the depth and now I completely get it. That extra space really does take you out of it. Not a whole lot I can do about that either. I even tried to cut the MDF so that where the mini sits is lower than the front of the sandbag wall. Alas, it doesn’t work quite as well as I hoped but you can’t expect terrain to look as nice as a diorama does even though that rarely stops me from trying! 🙂
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Nice work on the Fallout minis! I won’t repeat what others have said about the sandbags, I’ll only add this: when it comes to terrain I find having finished terrain is so good when you game that any reservations you may have about the terrain piece often fall to the wayside. The sandbags look great and fit right in with Fallout so I’d definitely use them in scenarios!
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Thank you and I think your advice is a great way to look at it. I see so many pictures of people playing on boards with no painted terrain. It really takes me out of it when I see that!
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I forgot to mention this in my previous post, but one thing I learned, when being taught how to construct dirt/sandbag barriers for fighting from a prone position, was that on the very top, instead of making the whole thing flat you could put a few sandbags on the top to form a sort of crenellated appearance. I was told that by positioning yourself to the side of these “crenellations” it would provide added protection to the shooter’s head and such.
Also, I was taught that one could (again near the top, you wouldn’t want to do this in the middle or bottom) position the bags so that there are a couple of small holes you could stick a rifle muzzle out like a firing port.
I bring all of this up because if you are doing multiple, low sandbag emplacements these considerations might lend some variety.
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Thank you for the kind words as always and that is great information on sandbag walls. I had no idea about any of that but I will try to remember it when it comes to making more. Your suggestions seem like a great way to ensure that any future sandbag walls look even more realistic than this one.
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The figures all look great, I especially (dis)like the molerat since I hate those little bastards, and the radroaches all look good as well. Especially bearing in mind that they’re small sculpts and are never going to be centrepiece models no matter what you do to them.
The sandbags likewise look fine – speaking as omeone who’s painted oodles of scatter-type terrain, the thing to bear in mind is that the stuff is simply background dressing for the models, who are the main event. Not radroaches, though.
If you’re concerned about the height, remember that the models are elevated from the “ground” by their bases, so you could always start the sandbag walls raised slightly in turn on some putty. Camouflage the bottom area with tufts, rocks and debris and you’d never know the difference.
It’s probably also worth pointing out that both Fallout and TWD take place over a variety of different types of terrain, even in the same biome. It’s all down to how much you can take slightly mismatched bases some of the time. I’d say just try it out once or twice and see if the visual appeal outweighs the OCD aspect of things not matching perfectly. (Which I *do* get, don’t get me wrong – it’s why I almost always avoid snow bases…)
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Molerats can be a pain and really swarm you. I kind of wish that Modiphius had released some additional variants so you can play a scenario where they jump you. Maybe one day down the road they will.
I always take your opinion on terrain into account because you know lots more than me and I can see where you’re coming from on it being important to look good in the background mostly. Raising the sandbags is a cool idea too. I think that might be the way to go for the remaining ones I have as it will make them look a lot better.
That is a good shout on TWD and Fallout. I think there is a possibility to really reuse some stuff. Vehicles don’t work but buildings would definitely work and some scatter terrain (especially if I don’t base it) will too. I have been kicking around giving TWD another shot and I may yet do it. I need both post-apocalypse bases covered! 😀 I blame you too because you’re always painting cool zombie related stuff! 😉
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Haha thanks. I’ve got a few more survivors queued up to be in my next few posts. 9 models ready to be posted, and another 3 to finish (hopefully) between tonight and tomorrow. Actually, I think if you can find a weathering pigment that is pretty close to your Fallout bases, and add just a little to your TWD model and terrain bases you’ll be happier with how they blend in. I just got these the other week and they’re very easy to work with.
https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/261-liquid-pigments
I’d reckon that probably Light Earth/Ochre Earth/Desert Earth would be perfect for your terrain and bases, while also giving that natural variation.
Oh, and speaking of Fallout/TWD terrain debris to place around sandbags (and anything else…
https://www.ebay.com/itm/60g-Steampunk-Watch-Movement-Parts-Gears-Cogs-Wheels-Assorted-Lot-Industrial-Art/183102239593?hash=item2aa1be7369:g:ddMAAOSwXfBZhohB
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You’re probably right on that and I hadn’t thought of it. I typically use Agrax Earthshade for any base shading and not pigments but I know exactly where you’re coming from and this would be pretty easy to pull off, I figure. Those gears are a really nice idea for terrain! I’ve never used anything like that before but they could definitely be a handy thing to sprinkle in. Thanks for the suggestion!
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