My Tuber-Infected Dream

I finished my Toff.

This is a bit of a kitbash. The palanquin and bearer are from Zinge Industries (I’m a big fan of theirs). Atop we have an Oathmark goblin with a 3d-printed head from Bitzbox and a bicorne from Perry.

I wanted something totally debased as a Toff and the goblin stood out as just that.

In Turnip 28 the Toff is your general, able to command two units. His underlings are called Toadies, able to lead just one. A typical game comprises a Toff and two Toadies, and therefore four units.

One of the requirements is defensible terrain. For this I’ve chosen a redoubt … kinda. It’s not intended as an authentic Napoleonic redoubt so much as a piece that is the right size with Napoleonic looking elements.

So I began with an approx 15cm square piece of foam board (or 6″ square for fans of the dark ages).

To this I’ve pinned a load of gabions from Renedra. It’s this really where I’m deviating from any redoubt any actual artillery men have ever bothered to assemble. There’d be fewer and mostly at the front, this many down the side would be overkill.

I sawed off the bottom of most of the gabions so they’re not the same size and not all fully upright. I also arranged them a little asymmetrically – it’s Turnip, it’s supposed to be wonky, right?

I’ve added fences to close a couple of gaps and an ammo cart from Warbases sinking into the mud to close up the back of the piece.

I’ve then built up the interior a bit with Milliput. I want to fill the interior with a load of duck boards sinking into a big puddle.

Finally the weird looking putty work in the gabions is so I can add tiny plastic balls as turnips. What else would I use to fill my gabions?

There’s a terrain requirement for Turnip 28. Kicking off with some fences. They’re approx 6″ long and mostly scratch built.

We start with a base of foamcore. I feared it wasn’t going to be strong enough so I slapped a tongue depressor on each and blended in with Milliput.

As they’re intentionally wonky I pinned the uprights and packed them in with more putty. The horizontals are thin balsa and the boards are coffee stirrers as tradition demands. The wheel is a metal one that’s been sat in my bits box for an eternity.

Brutes are the grenadiers of the Turnip world: big lads who like to get stuck in. This one base is the entire unit.

These are first as they’re the simplest conversion: Perry men-at-arms heads plopped on to Warlord 1815 Frenchies.

Palette is intentionally limited and muddy: Vallejo dark mud for the coats, citadel dryad bark and Rakarth flesh for most of the rest.

I began the Brutes by looping off the pudding bases and adding a pin to each, something I thought better to do before painting. I’d also drilled the sticks I’d used to hold them while painting.

This was to match the basing I’d done for the rootlings.

Then I saw on another project where the creator had just stamped the clay with a mini to make an indent for each.

I’ll be doing this for the others as it’s stronger and – most importantly – less faff. We live and learn.

The later basing has informed the former: the Brutes are supposed to be the big lads so I can’t have the Fodder towering over them so they get to stand on a smear of Milliput.

And the weird indents? The turnips have to have somewhere to go …

While painting the Brutes continues I’ve got the Toff cleaned up.

The palanquin and bearer are from Zinge Industries. The Toff itself: body is an Oathmark goblin, head a 3d printed part (I’ll dig out from where, there are really a lot to come in this project) and a Perry bicorne.

I’m recycling a base from a big purity seal I made for a themed birthday cake a while ago.

Not the actual cake, this was a first rubbish prototype. Fail quick, fail often and apparently bury the failure in a Turnip build.

First up we have a part-painted unit of Brutes (in Turnip28 these are the elites – or at least the least awful troops – equivalent to grenadiers I suppose). The six are the complete unit. These are the 1815 French from Warlord Games, with heads from the Perry brothers’ WOTR Men at Arms. These are first as they’re the simplest conversion.

Next up we have more sprues. More French from Warlord; enough to make a unit of 12 Fodder (the base troop type) and six Grogs (another cult unit, think Napoleon’s Old Guard – les Grognards).

Other than that I have a couple of sprues of British Riflemen from Wargames Atlantic. These will make a unit of four Chaff (skirmishers in Turnip28) and an officer.

Speaking of officers, they’re called Snobs in Turnip28. We have two sorts: Toadies, the lower level and Toffs, the generals. The former can lead one unit, the latter two. A typical game has one Toff and two Toadies, so four units.

This collection of bits will become the Toff. He’s an Oathmark goblin, with a 3d-printed head and a bicorne from Perry (I have a lot of those heads and hats for the conversions to come). The creature is (I think) from Zinge Industries. The Toff will lead from the palanquin.

This is enough heads and more than enough bicornes.

Finally for this stage of the project there’s the artillery. Again from Perry, these are Russians – mostly because that was the biggest gun I could find on their site.

In total I have one unit already, and plan to do five more: Brutes, Chaff, Fodder, Grogs and a cannon (and Snobs). There are more cult units and cavalry, none of which I have minis for so far. I also plan to knock up some terrain. I’ve not shown the bits of balsa and foam board but they’re ready to go.

The observant will note that’s a strange mix British, French and Russian minis in one project. It’s Turnip, it really doesn’t matter.

These lads appeared on What Are You Painting Now? somewhen last year.

These are Rootlings, one of the cult troops for Turnip28. It’s perhaps an odd choice not to kick off the project with one of the main options, but they didn’t require conversion and didn’t require Napoleonic uniforms to be painted.

The minis are GW’s goblin town goblins, the second trip out for this kit. They’re painted mostly with contrasts and look a bit like ass up close. They also look like ass from a distance if I’m honest but Turnip’s supposed to be grungy right?

I’ve gone for mutli-basing for ease of … something. My weird start has given me a chance to play with the base. I like it, but the huge craters for puddles aren’t required. They’re done with UV resin and I can dribble it on to a flatter base just as easily.