Step by step: Basing a giant scorpion

 Hi everyone!

Today, I'd like to share a new step in the building of my 1/72 Mythological Egyptian army - the previous episode is here.

You certainly know that 1/72nd scale is much less used by wargamers and role players than 28mm or even 15mm. Aside from the fact that you can't find a player for miles, one of the consequences is that the number of manufacturers is rather small, particularly regarding Fantasy. And so, it is difficult to find mythological creatures for your 1/72 army.

Is it ? If I have a figure of creature in 28mm, it can be considered as a giant creature in 1/72. And if it is a giant creature in 28mm, it becomes an extra-giant creature in 1/72. Ok, that's easy, and I've soon discovered that many gamers have had this idea already. But what if you want to be able to use your creature in 28mm AND in 1/72 ? You will probably need different bases (unless your system is very open regarding bases, or you don't care). And even more if you have figures on round bases that you want to use with wargame rules that work better with square bases.

So you have to adapt and create a new base in which you can insert the original mini. That's what I've done to get a giant scorpion in my 1/72 Mythological Egyptian army. Let's have  look:

 This scorpion comes from the 28mm Conan range by Monolith. All the figures in this game are sold on round bases (35mm in diameter here), and I since I'm playing that game, I don't want to remove that base. And the other hand, I need to put it on a 60mmx60mm base for a Fantasy variant of l'Art de la Guerre. So I've cut a round 35+mm hole in some balsa wood (very easy, even with an ordinary cutter), and I've stuck the outer part with wood glue on my MDF square base.

No no, Mxxxxrix isn't my sponsor :D

 

The hole in the balsa wood is a bit larger than just needed, inserting the figure will be easier

Then I've stuck a few stones (gravel) with wood glue on the balsa, and now we wait until it's dry.

When dry, I cover the base (except for the hole) with some desert sand by AK. It gives the base a nice sand texture, but I don't like its color. No major problem of course.

 

When the result is dry (yes, you spend more time waiting than anything else, so it's better to do several things in parallel), I cover with a better sand color in my taste, GW's Zandri Dust.

And I add some dry grass - my desert must not be completely sterile!

 

Last step: I need to dry brush the sand with a mix of Zandri Dust and White Scar.

 I'm happy with the result, and I have at last a good method to base my whole Egyptian army. Last picture, some 20mm Romans in front of the scorpion for the scale: it is a giant scorpion, indeed :)

 

 

Here you are. I hope you will find this modest tutorial useful, and that you like this cute scorpion - by the way, he resembles those that live at my mother-in-law's house in South France, same color and size. The real ones are completely harmless :)

See you soon! 

 

Conan the Cimmerian and other Barbarians

 Somewhere in the cold lands of the north, a group of Barbarians from various people emerges from the forest. They must have spotted a traveller's camp, so they are ready to attack them. They are led by a man of black hair and tanned skin, a Cimmerian named Conan.

Maybe you think that it is a strange idea to display a winter scene in July, during a heat wave episode here. It must be an empiric way to feel cooler while watching plastic snow on pictures :D But to say the truth, the heat of the computer will produce the exact opposite.

Well, back to Conan and the Barbarians. Conan looks like he just came back from holiday in Aquilonia, as he looks more tanned than his fellows (except for the guy on the far right who has a darker skin). 

I've tried to give them a boreal look, with mainly white bears furs, and a different hair color for each of them. So a motley boreal crew.

 

Conan is a Caesar figure from the now very rare Adventurers set. Since he is very simply clad, the painting is all about bringing out the muscles.

 

The others come from 2 sets (72027 & 72028) of Cimmerians by Dark Alliance. Beautiful figures, but a lot of flash unfortunately - as a closer look on the figures reveals. Skin, fur, metal and hair are all you need to represent fierce Barbarians that fear nothing, not even the cold.

The generic Barbarians are really versatile. They can also be used to represent marauders in Warhammer, or the free people from beyond the wall in Westeros. And for those among you who have played Confrontation by Rackham, it is possible to represent Kelt of the Sessair and Drune clans - the last figure above being one of the latter.

Let's take a closer look.

 

You will find below a picture of one of the Rackham Drunes figures (35mm), which inspired my color scheme.

Hope you like them :)