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Sunday 7 October 2012

A Slann's Best Friend...

... is his lizard of course!

Or at least his Cold One Warhound to be specific.




These old chaps have been lurking in the lead pile for far too long. I actually assembled and primed them back in the summer but what with one thing and another remained otherwise untouched until now.


As you might have spotted from the strange colourings going on in my pics (low light conditions on the rain forest floor of course!?) I'm still struggling with an ancient hand-me-down camera - about time I did some shopping for a new one - recommendations would be most welcome.


Anyway, I decided on a vaguely crocodilian colour scheme as that seemed to be the main inspiration behind the minis. To contrast with those earthy tones their rather imposing handler got the yellow treatment with a nice flowery head dress. I had thought of giving him some black markings but this would have identified him with the Venom Tribe braves - he seemed to be of a slightly higher station than that.

I will at some point get some of that jeweller's chain to make a pair of leads for the handler - lord knows I strike a similar pose on a fairly regular basis - leads stretched to breaking point and my two Labs doing their best to dislocate both my arms in their eagerness to greet some new doggy acquaintance! Mind you I have foreseen difficulties in storage, transportation and casualty removal should I tether the Slann handler to his charges. I've seen superglue used to stiffen chain before so that it holds the desired shape - this would negate the need to actually attach it to the Cold Ones, but would be a little brittle. Again any advice or tips would be most welcome.


As you might have spotted I've also finished another piece of terrain. I've mentioned Amera before and this is another great (and very reasonably priced) piece from them.


The terrace Ruins were looking pretty good with a simple base coat, drybrush and brown and green ink washes, but I went the whole hog and added extra rubble and crumbling masonry. A few bits of foliage and hey presto - a set of ruins that won't look out of place in the jungles of Lustria or a more Old World setting.


I do have another Lustria update ready to go but I'll have to wait for a certain painting competition to finish first...

In other news, many small parcels have been wending their way to me with even smaller contents - my Warmaster collection is growing slowly and I hope to get some of my new additions painted up in the coming weeks, in between a couple of other little commitments.

10 comments:

  1. Love the paint jobss and the terrain! Great fun! I've started to become fascinated by the old school slaan miniatures...Pygmies, Tom Meier Troglodytes, Lizard men with tortoise shell shields, etc.

    P.S. I've wanted to ask you for some time...where do you get your back drop paintings? Do you paint them yourself?

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    1. I wish! Although I did used to do a bit of watercolour painting as a lad - maybe I should give it a go sometime. The only problem I'd see is getting the right depth and intensity of colour to match in the minis and scenery.

      I usually search google images and print off likely looking pics - this one is in fact the background used for a certain well known animated story about a young lad brought up in the jungle ;)

      I've got some troglodytes and their identikit smaller lizardmen cousins waiting patiently in the paint queue and am currently hunting down the champion to complete Karnac's Lizardmen Raiders - great old minis, but its a slippery slope as some of these chaps don't come cheap!

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  2. Oh, it's a joy to see your beautiful Slann force gain more wonderful recruits (spawnings?). And I had wondered about your backdrops too. Once my 8 year son had said, "where does this guy get all his fancy scenaries", when we were hanging out on your site. I think I might try that backdrop idea sometime too.

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    1. Thanks matey - nice to be painting them again I must say. Working on some Slann Cold One Riders at the mo and trying my hand at modelling some leopard skin saddle covers on them, like in the Armies book.

      Did you see my post on making the backdrop for Orc's Drift?

      http://teasgettingcold.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/i-can-work-in-these-conditions.html

      Its not exactly studio level but with a bit of jiggery pokery with Picasa I can turn out decent enough shots :)

      Sounds like your son has had a good upbringing too! My son and daughter are at the stage of asking me whether everything I look at is a monster or (rather heart-warmingly) for Godzillas on Youtube.

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  3. Hi Thantsants, yes, I did enjoy your post on the making of the backdrop, although I had forgotten about it - you just have too many wonderful things to savour on your great site!

    As for upbringing, thanks, but sometimes I worry about the dangers of being a Geek Dad and raising a young boy. Already my son knows too many Warhammer Stats and can identify what edition(s) certain miniatures are from. And then there is the whole Obsessive Collecting Mania! I see it already in his amassing of Lego Minifigs. How does one teach moderation when everywhere there are little lead people running around? And let's not talk about music or vinyl! Anyway, I think there is a post in there somewhere about Cautionary Collecting and Child Raising...

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    1. Hope it was helpful!

      That's an interesting point you raise and especially pertinent as a lot of us seem to be in our mid 30's with 1 or 2 kids.

      I'm not sure there's much hope for my son - he's already inherited my old interest in Dinosaurs (and all my childhood books) and can name an impressive number of the beasties. Luckily he's a bit young for the collecting lark, being only four and not having a disposable income yet! Mind you its only a matter of time and I too am not known for my moderation - even got a comment off of the postie the other day about the volume of little packages I receive...

      Might have a think on this one!

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  4. Thantsants- thanks so much for the great work on our products, hoping once again to allow us to share on our facebook page? You are an inspiration! Jane

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amera-Plastic-Mouldings/339773496075836

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  5. Help yourself Jane - I must say its a great product to work with.

    I don't suppose there's any plans for more ruins and temples? Perhaps in an Aztec or jungle style... ;)

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  6. Andrew the creative one from Amera is working on alot of ideas, will pass your requirements to him, and keep a look out, thanks for the suggestions, always welcomed!

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    1. Thanks for that - look forward to seeing whatever Andrew's working on.

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