We're nearing the end of this series, as my work on Armies on Parade starts to reach it's totally climactic end. If you want to get up to speed, check out the other articles in the series right HERE.
With an anxiety inducing amount of time left before the submission deadline, things are starting to get a little too close for comfort. Quick and efficient work was now required from me; something that I have not utilised so far, given my complete ignorance with any and everything to do with DIY miniature building and terrain making.
The first step was to sort out the ground where the army will stand. I previously explained how I didn't have enough terrain texture paint to cover the board, and had attempted to use plaster and work my way up from there. However, it just didn't look good. And with almost no time left, I bit the bullet and tried to very sparingly use the texture paint I had left. Using my most efficient and expensive tool (the trusty finger), I was able to spread it across the pre-existing plaster incredibly thin to ensure I had enough. Luckily for me, I did indeed have just enough. However, only for the central patch where the army will stand, which will un-intentionally give the effect of a spotlight shining on them.
At this point, I decided I wasn't completely happy with how the rocks and mountains were looking. If I had another month or so, I could have absolutely spent more time painting and designing to finish it off as a weird but realistic looking rock formation. However, with time, skill and experience as my enemy, I came up with quite a makeshift solution. This was to stick blue rocks all over it. I know right, genius. The rocks are bigger versions of the rocks I use for the basing of the models, so they tied in perfectly, whilst elevating the structure to look a little more weird. I do normally use a mix of cobalt and purple coloured rocks, but I felt the prominent shade of blue contrasted the neutral coloured mountain better.
I saved the purple rocks to use on the ground itself, where I would then replicate the basing style that I have used on every single Tzeentch model. This involved surrounding the purple rocks with pink and blue tufts, to allow the rocks to blend in better with the terrain. The choice of two different alien coloured tufts again allowed me to elevate the basing, to make it look like a 'realistic' alien landscape, with multiple tones and colours, rather than one flat colour. Finally, the blue sand finishes off the basing style, ensuring the Tzeentch inspired landscape looks as realistic to real landscapes (minus the colours).
With that then, the final step to finish off the terrain was to apply a wash over everything. I had been using Citadel's Carroburg Crimson as my wash for almost everything on my Tzeentch miniatures, from the armour to the basing. Luckily I had bought an extra pot, though I still found myself worried it would not be enough. I decided the best way to deal with this, was to mix it with water to give myself more. With the good graces of the Warhammer gods on my side for once, I managed to cover the entire terrain with only a drop left in the bottle. I did want to place a few more rocks and tufts on the terrain, to make it a bit more interesting, but I would run out of space for the army in doing so. Plus their basing features the rocks and tufts, so hopefully it would look decent once the models had been placed on the board.
By the end of the evening, everything had dried, and I was happy with the result. At the current time of writing (I really should be finishing the board instead of writing these articles), I have under a week to finish. I only have a few more Horrors to paint up, as well as the last details and parts on the board.
Wish me luck, for the next article you read should in theory be the last, with my entry to Armies on Parade completely finished. If it is not, then I have failed myself, failed you, and most importantly, failed my cats who I have neglected whilst spending all my free time on this...
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