A small conversion. Part two

Took a while for me to paint this as I've had a bad eye for a while but he's done now and I must say I'm rather pleased with the result.

The figure was undercoated with the new Halfords camo brown, a rather useful undercoat and the skin was painted with Foundry African flesh but only the two lighter shades as the primer matches the darker colour.

The armour was undercoated white first in several thin layers to get an even colour and then a mix of gloss varnish and a little silver paint with a touch or teal was painted over the white to give a pearlescent effect.

The cloak and loin cloth were painted using the two lighter shades of Foundry Linen and then a top highlight of normal white to complete the material.

The weapon was undercoated gunmetal for the blade and a normal brown for the haft. The haft being built up to a light tan and the blade was sketchily painted with silver to give the impression of rudimentary forge work.

The base was coated in normal builders sand and inked with Windsor and Newton sepia ink. When this was dry a drybrush using Foundry ochre and the final touch of a winter tuft to complete the model.

The bottom two pictures show the comparison between the conversion and the original figure. Subtlety different I think :-)

Thanks for reading

A small conversion

As we wait for some new character figures to be sculpted I thought I would have a go at converting the existing character that we have. Just a simple arm swap and the addition of a cloak was enough for me to distinguish between them.

The right arm was swapped with a normal arm with an open hand from the trooper pack and glued in place on the shoulder joint. This then had to be bulked out as the character was designed to be bigger and stronger than the normal warriors. It was bulked out with Super Sculpy which I'm really starting to enjoy sculpting with. I only had to bulk out the upper arm and the vambrace.

After this was cured in the oven I rolled some Sculpy out and cut out a rudimentary cloak and shaped it around the back of the figure. It's similar in style to a roman cloak but being on a Martian I think it looks the part.

This was also cured and then I made a spear for him to carry. It was made in the same way as the masters for the trooper weapons. A brass haft and a styrene blade.

He now has a coat of primer and I'll do a painting post in the very near future.

Thank you

Of flora and fauna

Mars isn't dead, it's dying and there is still plenty of life on the red planet whether it be plants or animals.

As Mars slowly withers away, direct water sources are becoming scarce; underground water tables being the main source for the numerous plant types that grow here. The various flora of Mars have adapted quickly to the changing environment and are steadily becoming similar to some desert species on Earth. The most common being the Ba'baak tree.

These trees store huge amounts of water in their bloated trunks and have one massive root covered in small tendrils that can extend down more than 50 feet in a bid to reach water. The bark is hard but a determined seeker of water can penetrate it without too much difficulty. Because of the rapid changes in the amount of water available the bark of the Ba'baak can split enabling easy access to the somewhat juicy flesh of the interior.

This flesh has a slight bitter taste to it but has nutritional benefits that can outweigh the flavour. The pulp can also be fermented and is brewed by the Sky Martians into an intoxicating liqueur. The bark itself can be stripped into long husks and made into a crude rope which Sky and City Martians use for the more heavy duty tasks.

The model itself was made from Supersculpy over a former of blue foam. Indents were made to represent the bark and a wire tree frame work was added to the top. One thing to note about blue foam is that it shrank quite considerably when the Sculpy was cooked in the oven (to harden it) and unfortunately the shell of Sculpy cracked, but you don't really notice. I'll use a different former that's heat resistant next time.

It was painted with Foundry American Tan, given a wash of some sort of GW brown ink and then drybrushed with a pale grey. Some winter tufts were added round the bottom to give a bit more detail. Finished and wip photos are below.

Thank you

Armour colours of the different clans

There are numerous clans of Sky Martians on Mars and each tends to have its own distinct armour colour therefore making it relatively a simple affair to distinguish between them in the event of multiple clan feuds.

The differing colours are achieved viv two main methods; either from ground minerals or from distilled insect shells. The armour itself is made from hardened leather but it is much stronger than the hardest leather on earth. Each piece of armour, be it torso or vambraces etc, can take up to a year to make thus making the armour a prized possession.

The colour is applied in one of the many layers of laquer that are painted on towards the end of the whole process. The insect shell method is the more time consuming and therefore the most sought after but this is unfortunately becoming a disappearing art; the secret being lost over time.

The mineral version is the more common but the colours are not as vibrant. Some clan leaders and their elite warriors are starting to mix colours in the armour to make themselves stand out more but most are staying with tradition with only one colour for the entire clan.

Various families within the clan tend to distinguish themselves by the colour of the loincloth or any other cloth that they might wear. Some families have simple patterns woven into the cloth, mainly straight bands of a complementary colour.

Below we have four examples of Sky Martian armour colour. The first is most common as it is the most simple to achieve but there are several different hues of the white so no two clans look the same.

A new seris of posts coming up

Apologies for the lack of updates but this going to change in the next week and then there will be regular updates on all things Red Planet :-)

Thank you

Mars. The story so far...

Mars, the story so far.

Humans arrived on Mars three years ago to the accolades of those in power. The first to arrive were the Japanese followed closely by the British and then the other powers of note. The opportunities were thought to be endless and an almost gold-rush mentality by governments ensued; each sending as much as they could to the red planet without endangering their holdings on Earth. Aether travel was expensive but it was thought that the riches found on Mars would more than compensate the expenditure.

The first contact between human and Martian was not without it's problems; language being one of them but a professor from Cambridge specialising in anthropology was quick to pick up on the Martian language, noting various similarities between some of the ancient tongues used on earth thousands of years ago. This in itself brought up more questions than answers and there is now a strong scientific population on Mars studying the indigenous population as much as they can (or will be allowed).

One of the other problems was the human trait of greed, which can effect the best man given the right circumstances. Various raw minerals; rare on Earth were to be found with abundance but mining them was to prove difficult. A type of Martian unbeknownst to the humans was incredibly protective of their territory, destructively so. Several mining camps and expeditions have recently fallen to the 'Sky Martians' without the humans finding out much more about them than the scattered eyewitness accounts that tend to be dismissed as the ravings of lunatics.

The Humans have made several beachheads on Mars itself with the largest; New Victoria being almost the size of a small city. The British and Japanese enlisted the help of the 'City Martians' in building the walls of New Victoria and these have now become a wonder of the Victorian age: not only for their size but also the speed in which they were built and their scope. A railway network has also been developed and expanded since the first year of colonisation and it now connects several of the larger human settlements and is continually growing, bringing civilisation to the remotest parts of the human colonies.

The Sky Martian problem is becoming more apparent as more camps and facilities are falling quiet. Even the journalists are taking a heavy toll, some expeditions into the interior not coming back at all.

What will happen when the Earth powers band together and stop their petty squabbles. What will happen when the Sky Martians show their true strength: as it is believed that what has been witnessed so far is but a small taster of what is to come...

Second battle report

With Sky Martian increasing their attacks of human settlements it's about time we see another report on their activities.

The initial set up. The red 'glow' is the after effects of the dawn sandstorm, one of the Sky Martians tactics is to attack just as dawn is breaking...

The rail encampment. Unfortunately the crew for the heavy gun have been delayed, their whereabouts unknown...

The first Martian moves 'The head spikes of the Naakatan'.

The view towards the barricades, civilians finally realise the danger and rush for the train.

The sandstorm continues and the situation does not look good for the humans.

A slight break in the sandstorms shows a concentrated rush with the Martians in amongst the humans killing left, right and centre.

The blue humans try to defend the camp but are slowly taken out one by one.

A few Martian casualties causes them to back of and regroup but another sandstorm is on the way. Enough damage has been done though...

The train and it's inhabitants makes a very slow getaway to report on the damage done.

This of course is only a taster of what is to come...

WAR ON MARS!!!