The Drowned Earth

Next up are the rocky outcrops, these will be a lot easier to process.

First I primed them black, then a darkish grey dry brushing. Followed by a lighter shade.

Next I took some army painter washes and diluted them, I slapped these on in no particular order. I used their soft tone, red and green.

Following that I will use an even lighter drybrushing on some areas .

Aside from a little dirty down moss that’s the brushwork done

I had picked up some tall plants at Britcon 23, on a ‘they will be handy for something one day’s basis.

Nervously I added them to the sides of the building, I used super glue and it seemed to do the trick

Next up, I added some modelling clay around the bases to add a little texture. Then I slapped a couple different shades of brown acrylic paint onto the MDF.

Next time to add a little flock and flora. I am not calling them done quite yet. I want to add more clump foliage and some tufts.

There was a time when I would have put the metallic drybrushing on, liked it and left it at that.

There was a time where I would have pushed myself to add the rust, loved the results and would have left it at that.

There was a time where I would have just added flock with some trepidation of spoiling the rust effect, loved the results and walked away.

But I wanted more, I wanted that properly overgrown feel…so I pushed once again.

For this game I wanted a few different types of terrain, jungle housing, some old ramshackle post apocalypse buildings, big rocky outcrops and finally some pre apocalypse overgrown buildings.

I had struggled to find ruins I liked the look of,a lot of the 40k stuff is too gothic for what I wanted. Then I discovered fabricators lab and they hit the mark.

Having printed various pieces off and thrown them together, I primed them black with Citadel Primer. Next I got some cheap silver craft paint and roughly dry brushed all the surfaces . I used a copper paint on the machines and pipes for a bit of tonal variety.

I wasn’t worried about precision for this part because I plan on adding flock and foliage to a lot of the surface area.

Next up I added a bit of verdigris to the copper bits. I plan to add a little rust to sections of wall, but not go overboard as I intend to make the whole item overgrown.

Next step, I glued the larger pieces to some MDF board so I can add various bits of plant life

I finally got a chance to slap some paint on some of the dinosaurs. I decided on the paint scheme using the colour cube designed by Sarah Ranae Clark. It’s more of a luxury item to have in physical form. There’s also a digital version available, but I haven’t looked at that.

I finally got round to putting the rest of the miniatures together and got them primed. That’s when the anxiety triggered.

So I decided to paint some Stargrave miniatures instead to warm myself up before tackling the dinosaurs.

I continued working on a second bamboo structure but got sidetracked by sorting out some MDF buildings I am donating to the FLGS.

I also assembled some Frostgrave ruins, might have been better to paint them separately but I have so many disparate pieces kicking around I wanted to restore a bit of order

Another distraction from the bamboo structures was the little shanty town buildings  I had printed off. I could probably get away with this in Drowned Earth but the stonework has a more fantasy feel to it.

With the last rusty metal building done. A shack that is probably better scaled as a warehouse/workshop if I am being honest. It was time to move onto the bamboo structures.

I started on the bamboo structures, a wash of ochre and light browns, I roughly mixed in some burnt sienna to add a bit of tonal variation, overall I kept it pale in anticipation of the dark wash I planned to hit it with later

The base of the swamp tavern had quite a lot of detail to go at, it’s a case of finding a balance, the building, at least one story, is going to be glued over it. My main aim is to make sure it ties in with the other natural terrain pieces I plan to scratch build .

While waiting for the first bamboo structure to dry I had a play with some ramshackle buildings trying to work out a colour scheme. Ideally I want these to be viable in sci/fantasy and post apoc settings.

Did some flocking to the base , glued the first two floors on, given how many parts there are to these buildings I will be glueing most of the floors together make the final build a two partner, I am going to add a splash of colour to the curtains and call it done.

A lot of the Drowned Earth takes place in jungle covered modern ruins or shanty towns built by survivors. I have a couple of suitable mats with water and land patches.

As fortune would have it I had been printing out some buildings that fit the setting really well.

I also had some metal shantytown shacks , I decided to paint these first as they looked fun

This one is a bit on the whimsical side , I painted the big crystals but I am considering covering them over with plant life.

I used craft paints for the majority of these , with a bit of Vallejo oily steel. I dry brushed some Vallejo Rust on before painting.Finally I mixed a bit of Vallejo umber wash into some heavily watered down black acrylic to make a wash.

I also painted up some silos and pipework, grey and silver craft paints and then a dry brush with oily steel. I may go back in and add some light effects.

I had been eyeing up The Drowned Earth for a while but the prices had put me off , however watching the weekender while having a Friday glass of wine, coupled with staff bonus and payday finally got me to bite

The dinosaurs and starter sets arrived. I would recommend the miniatures be assembled by someone with a bit of experience of assembling metal miniatures as these are pretty fiddly. Very nice sculpts, but I expected nothing less considering the price.

I assembled them along with one or two bits I had picked up at Salute

I primed them all and then put them to one side, I had ordered the Rogue Hobbies pro acryl set and also the colour cubes box, this will be featured in a good few future projects. I may even do a mini project on just the cubes alone.

If you have no idea what I mean by colour cubes then I heartily recommend the Ninjon videos about it