Sculpting with green stuff

So far, I have only used green stuff to fill out gaps or to help position the magnets. I did promise that I would eventually get to sculpting; here are my first baby steps.

The workspace

Make sure you have water around, as well as a water-proof surface (such as this broken tile) on which to knead the stuff. Sculpting tools will also come in handy for what is coming up.

Torch

I have a sorceress (actually a Bretonian damsel, but I use her for DnD) that came with a broken implement (wand?). It was something silly anyway, so I decided to sculpt a torch on the end of her stick. My inspiration: the Soldier with torch.

I did not take any in-progress pictures, but here's the gist of it: place a pinecone-shaped piece of green stuff on the end of the stick. Wait for it to dry and harden a bit, then use a blade to create swirls in the green stuff. You can observe the result in the painting article. 

Horn

My painted Daemon Prince lost a horn a while ago. I decided to replace it. I used the same technique as above: place an appropriately sized and shaped piece of green stuff, then use a tool (this time, a toothpick for slightly larger but less angular ridges) to create the pattern (small lines at the base of the horn, as for the other horns).

Conversion: Tiefling rogue arm

Finally, I have a Tiefling warrior (I really hope it's not a paladin) miniature. Of course, Tieflings tend to be rogues and warlocks, so I decided to replace his shield hand with another one, holding a weapon.

A Plaguebearer arm is of the right size, once I chopped off the shoulder part.

Thin, round pieces wrap around the arm. These are the leather straps that hold the bracer in place.

Knead a piece of green stuff with the shaft of a knife or brush until it becomes a flat, thin plate. Then cut it to an appropriate size and shape. Make sure the surface underneath is wet, so that it won't stick to it very strongly.

Repeat until satisfied.

The joints do not exactly match, so apply more green stuff to the elbow.

Finished!

Basing a Daemon of Nurgle

I have finished painting this guy a while ago, but didn't get around to do the basing. I took advantage of having the materials laid out while basing the Plaguebearers and went ahead to finish the job.

Basing

As with the Plaguebearers, I covered the hole in the washer with putty and basecoated the entire thing. Then I applied the soil on roughly half the base:

Then the dried-out grass over roughly more than half, covering a bit of the soil.  When sealing the base, I took advantage of the PVA glue already being there, and put on a rather large piece of dead blue moss:

Finished

M.A.G.U.S. - the road ends in Gro-Ugron

Introduction

We awakened after a hard night, again in the orcish cages. They gathered up the human prisoners and herded us towards the mines. Just for fun, they lashed a couple of them - including Phempheus.

Swing that hammer, slave!

Obviously we were separated in the mines. Aegon got to work in a dead end hole, next to a very emo noble youngster. Wilborin and Phempheus arrived in a larger area, and started mining alongside several other prisoners, guarded by a single orc.

We had nothing to lose. The other dude, who was a spy for the wizard, was in a very bad shape, so we decided on swift action. Wilborin charged at the orc, swinging his miner's pick. Phempheus attacked with fire spells. The result was predictable...

At least Phempheus managed to scare the orc away, so he had time to gather up Aegon and the emo dude before the orc came back, with reinforcements.

The battle was short, as the adventurers were in their breeches, equipped with mining picks, while the orcs came in battle ready, fully armed and armored. We got knocked out pretty fast.

Aegon faked unconsciousness, so he was fully aware as we were tied to poles in the middle of the orc camp. The orc shaman ritually murdered another 10-15 slaves before us, just to make a point. Then he proceeded to cut our throats, one by one.

Total Party Kill

But this may not be the end.

Alternate ending

Originally, this was the third time our DM had to save us due to our recklessness. The wizard sent a couple of guys to ransom us, as he needed our services. We got back to the fortress, laid in bed for a couple of days, got better, celebrated, then had no idea what was going on.

Later on, as we were discussing our adventures, we all agreed that we screwed up as badly as possible in all the possible places, and we rather chose the ending that offered us glorious death.

M.A.G.U.S. - Gro Ugronban veget er kalandunk

Why is this post not in English?

Bevezető

Nehéz éjszaka után ébredtünk, ismét az ork ketrecekben. Az összes emberi foglyot elterelték az orkok a bányába. A biztonság kedvéért meg is korbácsoltak párat az úton (közöttük Phempheuszt).

Bányászunk, bányászunk...

Természetesen különválasztottak az aknákban. Aegon egy kis lyukba került, egy emós nemesfiú mellé. Wilborin és Phempheusz együtt szabták a falat, néhány fogoly társaságában, egyetlen ork őrizete alatt.

Nem volt vesztenivaló. A varázslók kémje elég rossz bőrben volt már, úgyhogy akciózni kellett. Wilborin megrohamozta az orkot, csákánnyal a kezében. Phempheusz a varázslataira hagyatkozott. Az eredmény siralmasan előrelátható volt...

Phempheusznak azonban sikerült megfutamítania az orkot tűzvarázslattal, így volt ideje összeszedni Aegont az emós fiúval együtt, mire az ork erősítés megérkezett.

A csata rövid ideig tartott. Ne felejtsük el, hogy páncél nélkül, szedett-vedett fegyverekkel álltunk szemben harcra kész orkokkal. Mindegy, nagyon hamar kiütöttek.

Aegon eszméletlenséget színlelt, így figyelemmel követhette, ahogy az ork tábor közepén cölöphöz kötöznek minket. Az ork sámán rituálisan meggyilkolt előttünk 10-15 másik foglyot megfélemlítés céljából, majd nekünk is sorra elvágta a torkunkat.

Vége

... vagy mégsem?

Alternatív kalandvég

Eredetileg, ismét, ezúttal harmadszorra, a KM kimentett minket. A várból küldtek pár fickót, akik kiváltották az életünket, mert a varázslónak szüksége volt a szolgálatainkra. Visszakerültünk a várba, betegeskedtünk, felépültünk, ünnepeltünk, majd értetlenül figyeltük a fejleményeket.

Egy későbbi beszélgetés során azonban mindannyian egyetértettünk abban, hogy ezt a kalandot szörnyen nagyon elszúrtuk az összes lehetséges pontban, és inkább a fenti, dicsőséges halállal záruló kalandvéget tekintjük véglegesnek.

Painting ochre Plaguebearers

Another go at a squad of Plaguebearers. This time, I'll use an ochre-yellow paint scheme, for a more rotten effect.

Rotten flesh

Basecoat in ochre, then generous green wash; followed up by edge highlighting with skin tone.

Body details: guts, boils, pustules

Guts

Basecoat the innards with bonewhite.

Then apply a dark red wash. The wash had originally been lighter, giving a fresh, almost living appearance; but that was not what I was looking for, so I darkened gore red with black and applied another layer of wash.

Pustules

Apply the red wash around the pustules and pimples, too. Then pick out the tops with yellow.

In case of these larger pimples, where the red shines through the yellow, apply a second highlight, this time on a smaller area.

Mouths and eyes

I chose dark violet for a disturbing look.

Pink highlights

Minimal edge highlight with pink on the innards. Very thin coat of edge highlight on the tongues.

Other details

Trophy, banner, instrument

Similarly to the other squads, I painted the straps and wood with brown, and the shrunken heads with bonewhite. I chose a different look for the banner, so I painted the large surface in gunmetal, then partially changed my mind and coated the bells and the spikes on the bottom of the shaft in bronze. Applied black wash generously.

Edge highlight with same colors.

Then edge highlight the leather straps with leather brown.

I have some pigments lying around since forever, so I figured I'd try out the brown rust on the banner.

It got out of hand, so I followed up with a gunmetal drybrush to bring back some shine. I tried out the other pigment, black smoke, on the bells. They sure looked filthy after that - just as I hoped.

Another layer of rust pigment, this time concentrated in the holes and crevices.

And a final edge highlight on the right edges of the holes and crevices, this time with a bright silver.

Swords

Apply rust pigment generously.

 I drybrushed this sword with bronze before applying the pigment. Not much of it is visible.

But a slight bronze drybrush after the pigment had dried is perfect to highlight the raised edges.

Bases

Start as usual by filling in the middle of the washer with home made putty. This results in small elevations on the base. 

Paint the base as well as the putty in a base color - dark brown in this case - so that white won't shine through the flocking.

Apply PVA glue and the soil-type flocking.

Make sure the excess flocking has fallen off, then apply the grass.

I now had the impression that the dried grass by itself looks bland, so I applied some extra blue moss. It looks dead enough to be associated with the Plaguebearers. Just make sure that it sticks properly. I applied thicker PVA glue where the moss meets the grass, then sprinkled on more grass to cover up the glue.

Finally, seal the base.

Finished!