Gas fungi

This week I painted some more flora from the Outlanders bestiary for my Necromunda / Inquisimunda collection - gas fungi.  There are many varieties of fungus growing in the dank, dark Underhive, & most of them are harmless.  These are harvested for food, especially by scavvies, mutants, & outlaws living in the waste zones beyond even the ramshackle settlements.  However, some Necromunda fungi have evolved to become capable of protecting themselves via the release of mycotoxins.  One gas fungus is known as the 'dream-spore', which looks like a multi-coloured ball of fluff & causes hallucinogenic waking-dreams - the victims of which often stumble into one of the myriad horrors of the Underhive.  In rules terms, moving through a patch of gas fungi risks releasing one of three types of gas (using the special grenades rules for Hallucinogen, Choke, & Scare).

These small patches are based as per my usual urban rubble recipe, on laser-cut ply discs from Fenris Games, from where I also purchased the resin mushrooms.  I'm planning to make a larger area of gas fungi, using a CD for a base.

These patches of fungi could also be used to represent harmless varieties to be harvested/protected... or maybe even unhatched Ork/Gretchin spores to be purged!

More wire weed

Following-on from the large patch of wire weed that I made, here are several smaller patches for variety.  These will be useful for obstacles on Underhive gantries & ledges as well as at ground-level.  They are mounted on laser-cut ply discs from Fenris Games, but otherwise made in the same way.  I also had a couple pieces of toy barbed wire fence left over, so I based them on a lolly stick to make a broken section of fence, which could be useful to mark where figures have cut or destroyed a section of fencing during games.

Chem tower

This week I finished a scratch-built 'chem tower' for Necromunda / Inquisimunda.  This was a simple build based on an old CD, & using a Pringles tube for the central tank.  I added a pipe using a little aquarium chemical bottle & a couple sections from the useful Mantic Games Industrial Pipeline kit.  I also added some platforms & support beams using 3mm foamboard, with detail using cereal pack card, washers, & slices of cylindrical sprue for large bolts. The grille on top is a 'raft' left-over from a 3D-printing job.  I then added a bit of texture using coarse paint thickener, & a few bits of debris here & there, with sand for grit.

Only a quick & dirty dry-brushed paint job, with plenty of messy washes, & then a bit more work to suggest corrosion & rust here-&-there.  The freehand detail for the hazard stripes took the most time painting-wise, but I am happy with the finishing touch that they lend. Good enough for tabletop gaming though, I think. On the right is a photo of the chem tower before I spray-painted it with a black undercoat  >

Barbed wire fences & wire weed

This weekend I finished modelling some fences & a large patch of wire weed for Necromunda / Inquisimunda.  The barbed wire fences were made from four lengths of fencing that I kept from my childhood - they originally came with a packet of cheap plastic WW2 soldiers.  I sliced one section into three pieces to extend the others to fit onto large lolly stick bases, which I textured with coarse paint thickener, & added various bits of sprue, washers, & resin flagstones, before flocking using sand.  I'll treat these as obstacles that provide no cover, but cannot be crossed without cutting equipment (or jump packs).



Bio-wire is an extremely nasty defence originally engineered by the Adeptus Mechanicus biologis. When its razor-like brambles tear clothing or flesh, it secretes a highly corrosive acid.  In the Underhives of Necromundan cities, uncontrolled bio-wire that has gone feral is commonly known as wire weed.  I've always thought that the description of wire weed in the Outlanders supplement was an obvious reference to the more garish hues of modelling lichen that you can buy.  & I've finally got round to making a patch of it.  After creating a base on an old CD using my usual urban rubble technique, I simply glued clumps & sprigs of lurid green & orange lichen on using PVA.  I'll be making more patches of wire weed in various sizes.

After the break is a photo of the wire weed base before I added the lichen 'wire weed', which also shows how the rubble looks different under various lighting:

Young lady

Here is a little post to prove that I haven't abandoned this blog! A young lady for Osprey's Ronin skirmish game.  I had very little free time over the Christmas period to finish wargames stuff, although I have been building some more Necromunda Underhive creatures, as well as two buntai (bands/groups) for Late Edo era Ronin - a dastardly Yakuza gang, & a noble Koryu (sword school).  If you've ever seen a Zatoichi film, you'll know what I am aiming for with my Yakuza gang - lots of katana-fodder...

Anyway, this figure is my test piece for the civilians.  She is from Hasslefree Miniatures, & marketed as 'Mineko'.  She could be a serving girl at an inn, or perhaps a geisha or brothel worker.  Or maybe the daughter of a samurai (perhaps the Yakuza might foolishly try kidnapping her for ransom).  Fairly pleased with the overall look & simple patterning on the kimono & obi, considering that the figure is less than 3cm tall.  The basing is a mix of Gale Force Nine flocks, & Gamer's Grass tufts & flowers.

Plenty more Ronin stuff to follow!

Pile of rubble 3

Continuing with Necromunda, here is another scratch-built terrain piece... rubble pile 3!  As with my other recent builds, this is mounted on an old CD (topped with a disc of thing card to make it easier to paint/texture).  The mound of rubble began as lumps of polystyrene with broken bits of laser-cut MDF sprue jammed in.  This was textured with coarse paint thickener to disguise the polystyrene, & various other detritus was added (bits of drinking straw, cocktail sticks, washers, a pen tip, plastic 'flagstones', a bulkhead corner etc.)  Then a layer of sand was glued on using watered-down PVA.  Then a quick & messy paint job with basic drybrushing, followed by a little more care on the rusty metal spars.  I painted the large pipe as if it leads down to a lower level of the Underhive - could be a neat feature when using 'Tunnels' in the rules.  Or as the entrance to some nasty critter's nest...

Large containers

Just a simple terrain piece this week - some large containers for Necromunda.  These were really simple to make - the containers are Jessops SLR film packs that I've had in my bits box for many years, embellished with panels made from thick card.  They were stuck together & mounted on an old CD, to which I added a few small piles of debris to emphasize the Underhive / urban ruins theme.

I'll have to get all my urban Warhammer 40,000 scenery out of storage for a group photo soon, as I suspect I have more than I think by now - although I still need a lot more vertical pieces & platforms to get going with Necromunda again.

Pile of rubble 2

Yesterday I finished my 2nd pile of rubble for my new Necromunda scenery.  I was pleased with my 1st rubble pile, but even more so with this one.  Again, the base is an old CD, with various pieces of polystyrene, Airfix kit bits, sprue offcuts, a thread dowel, pen nib, & other detritus incorporated as junk.  I also used sliced-up parts of an original Necromunda bulkhead, & as grille flooring: the disposable 'rafts' left-over from 3D-printing projects.  The polystyrene chunk that dominates this piece has a nifty warning sign & arrow that I thought would look good when painted.

I really enjoy making free-form scenery pieces like this, as pretty much anything goes.  Once you've picked a few parts, they seem to fall together into a logical arrangement with very little effort, & almost take on a character.  I think this 2nd pile of rubble is more interesting & successful than my first one, which was more a vertical stack.  This one has more interesting angles, more variation in texture, & more contrast between rusted metal & plascrete.  The big pile of grit also adds more realism than blocks alone.

Guilder trade hall / warehouse

This weekend I finished painting a building that I've been working on for a while - a Guilder trade hall / warehouse for Necromunda.  It started life as two halves of polystyrene packaging for a handheld vacuum cleaner, onto which I glued 5mm foamboard walkways (with sewing mesh grille flooring),  cardboard panels (with plastic sprue-offcut rivets), doors, windows, & roofing.  The ladders & railings are laser-cut ply pieces from Fenris Games.  I added plasticard backing to the railings for a more defensible position.  I textured the bare polystyrene surface with coarse paint thickener.  Also added were aquila supports to the lower platforms, & a lamp, both from the GW Sector Imperialis sprues.

Walkways from adjacent structures can connect to the lower platforms on either side, whilst the town Watchmen can look out for trouble from the walkways above.  This building should be useful for Underhive wastes scenarios as well as settlement encounters like Shoot Out.  Think I should follow this up with some market stalls & a bar...