Prastok Imperial City - New scenery for 40k

Bit of an unusual post for me today since not only have I painted 14 pieces in a WE but I've painted scenery !

You've heard me whine about my total lack of any good scenery for quite a while for the most patient of you so I thought I had to use the opportunity to have the house for me alone to paint some buildings and ruins.

A little time ago (2 years at least), I realised I had plenty of bits from now old GW kits and thought it was high time to use them to make... SCENERY !

At that time, it seemed like the normal thing to just stop right after building them I suppose... Anyway, as I said, with the kids away on vacation at their grand parents', I could use the house and make a mess of it without being a nuisance to anyone...

So my first action was to go outside on a warm (sunny yet slightly windy) day. This was what I first did :

- Nadiral (that's the opposite of zenithal meaning I sprayed from below) spray of black on most pieces.

- Spray from the side with a dark grey

- spray from the side but a little from above (30° from the horizonthal) with a lighter grey

- loosely spray drops of orange, blue and kaki in place just to break the monotony (I honestly regretted afterwards being shy at that stage)

- spray pure white from a 45° direction aiming at the upper edges of each piece (zenithal if you have roofs with angles)

This got me to this point (you can't see much but it actually does bring the pieces to a good looking stage already.

Then I just drybrushed very casually with pure white where it made sense, without trying to be to regular in the process just to break the monotony once again (I already knew there would be huge grey areas).

Now it's starting to look really pleasant :

I then started with details. Details were mostly painting doors blue (don't try to be too neat, just stay in the zone but don't try to achieve a nice even coverage, one very thinned layer is enough) and some other fancy bit like Gates and tech devices.

the blue doors got decals and a slight white drybrush after that.

Once this done, I just drowned most details in a mixture of Agrax earthshade, Nuln Oil and Crimson Carrobourgh with water. A bit of foam weathering and highlighting and I could go on to the next phase : pigments. Now this was a first so I didn't even think about getting pictures as I got carried away but I have planned to write a bit more about the process so I'll make up for it a tad later. ;)

With the terrain, done, I just couldn't help but get some models out and shoot a few pics like a kid !

I recently received 2 gaming mats I had pledged for through the Kraken Kickstarter so I thought this was the time to see how it looked in situ !

Just for the record, the mats arrived later than announced and some pledgers seem to have received mats with a stronger blue hue but as far as I'm concerned, the communication about things was good and serious and the products are what I was hoping for so as far as I'm concerned, I'd say this was a very nice deal. I got bags for each mats and cards to ID them as well which was nice. 

Just need to use them now I suppose !

First I had to get all the scenery out... I know 14 pieces look kind of scarce especially on a 6x4 but I don't think I'll use the full size that frequently and more importantly, I still have plenty of things to paint to add to the set and since I now feel more confident about painting scenery I should soon have more !

Long time no see huh ? The Sensei warband had to be the first to get on the table ! Getting those shots taught me about what else I needed and I'll be looking for proper backdrops as soon as I have a few spare minutes for sure.

Having terrain with miniatures feels like having the last piece of a puzzle you've been working on for a while I have to say, now I now I was right to make Abdul Goldberg run...

"I knew I shouldn't have pushed that big red button with a skull underneath god damnit !"

 I'm also quite pleased to have opted for some rather plain scenery, I like to have my models to stand from it and since I do tend to have them quite bright and somehow colourful, this makes the whole thing easier to read (I find).

Some days it's just tough to be alone with a toughness of 3 and a save of 4+...

Or a stranger in a strange land...

Since we're here, I can probably show you a few distinctive pieces so here's my favourite (yeah the doors don't look as blue now) which will probably get used as a backdrop from now on..., I ran out of pigments ( I actually had to grind some of the kid's paints to make some) but I do intend to use them more, oh and the scent of white spirit was a trip on memory lane since I first started painting with enamels so white spirit is like a (twisted I admit) madeleine for me.

Amongst the modern kits I had, I also added bits of the garden of Morr, they'll be useful for fantasy tables and their style suits the grim darkness of the far future alright I suppose...

One of the buildings was actually one I had built back when I bought the kit (backin 2004 IIRC) so it was about time to colour it ! I made it modular in order to be able to put models inside if needed.

And since the underhive is all about running on bridges and upper levels I added a bridge. I'll have to make many more but you have to start somewhere.

I also tried to make pieces compatible by either putting one atop another or next to each other, it can make things a bit more varied and fun I guess.

Et voilà ! I hope you guys like what you see, if I'm being honest, I'm quite chuffed myself as things look almost exactly like I intended. Despite never having painted scenery (or so little) before, it only took me a Week end to achieve all that.

I have another mat (desertic) and much more terrain to paint but no the idea to pull up the sleeves doesn't seem as intimidating so I'll come up with a plan of actions to get as much done  in the near future.

Now I can get back to little guys and the next I'm finishing will be a surprise I'm fairly sure.