Ash clams

This week I made some ash clams for Necromunda.  The Outlanders supplement for the original version of Necromunda expanded the already evocative Underhive setting wonderfully, adding new gangs, gear, scenarios, treacherous conditions, & a bestiary of bizarre flora & fauna.  Ash clams are one of the few non-lethal critters to be found in the Underhive - native creatures who somehow found their way inside the hive cities.  They lie half-submerged in the rubble & detritus at ground-level, waiting to snare & devour passing creatures such as giant rats, spiders, milliasaurs etc.  Ash clams are non-lethal to humans, but can still pin them in place until their victim struggles free or manages to kill the clam.  In scenarios involving ash clams, there is a chance that one will strike any time a model moves across the ground-level.

For these ash clams, I used small empty limpet shells that I collected from a beach (specifically for this purpose) several years ago.  They got my usual urban rubble basing, using sand & tiny bits of sprue

I spent far too long deciding how to base my Necromundan flora & fauna, but eventually decided that if it moves, it will be based using conventional GW round bases, but if it is stationary (usually a plant), then it is essentially part of the scenery, so should have a thinner 'scenery' base.  As ash clams are essentially temporary stationary markers, I opted for the latter.  Next up, I'm working on some rubber moss & wire weed!

Small platform & long walkways

Next up is the 'Small Platform' set from the TT Combat Industrial Hive laser-cut scenery set.  This consists of a small platform & two long walkways.  I added tiny discs sliced from plastic sprues as rivets, & also used matchsticks & a piece from the GW Imperial Sector set to give the bulkheads more relief.  Also, I sliced edges here-&-there to lend a more battered, dented look.  I painted the paneling like the saturated light-blue, & the bulkheads as bare metal, like the original Necromunda terrain & Imperial Firebase.  Then I attempted some basic rust effects & added slime & grime to give it all a proper Underhive look.

On one of the walkways, I added barrels & a crate (from various suppliers) for a bit of cover.  On the other walkway, I accidently snapped one of the railings, but decided to work with this by adding a fallen girder from the GW Imperial Sector set, as if it had crushed the rail.  Also shown here is a view of the platform prior to painting.

Short walkways 2

This week I painted some more short walkways for Necromunda / Inquisimunda.  I decided to give my Underhive terrain collection a big boost by buying the 'TT Combat Industrial Hive Mega Complex' set (for ~£30), which is a bundle of five laser-cut ply terrain packs.  These are three short walkways / ramps from the Industrial Walkways pack.  You can never have enough walkways in Necromunda!  I am considering adding card panels to cover the gap in the railings, to provide more cover for moving gangers.

The TT Combat industrial scenery is nice & sturdy & very easy to glue together, but a little lacking in detail compared to similar manufacturers like 4Ground & Sarissa Precision (let alone the classic plastic bulkheads of the original Necromunda boxed set), but it is functional, mimics the original boxed structures well, & paints-up smoothly.  I have been adding rivets using discs sliced from plastic sprues, plus other details such as parts from the GW Imperial Sector buildings set to increase the detail.

Short walkways

More underhive scenery for Necromunda / Inquisimunda - some short walkways.  These were very easy to make - a strip of 5mm thick foamboard, with three beams of foamboard underneath, the two end beams allowing each walkway to rest neatly between structures.  I added panels snipped from cereal box card to the sides to conceal the exposed foam, & covered the top with watered-down PVA glue before laying a strip of sewing mesh over it, to represent wire grille.  I learned about sewing mesh as a metal grille effect from a YouTube terrain-making tutorial recently, & it's excellent - cheap, so easy to work with, & very effective!  The mesh needs a spray-paint undercoat as it doesn't take brush paint well straight-off.  I 'pre-damaged' the mesh prior to sticking it down, & painted these 'corroded' areas as rusty.  For variety, I added some hive-quake grit & stones to two of the walkways.