144artist paints Mantic’s Terrain Crate

I’m closing in on the last of the contents of my first Terrain Crate3 crate.  As I have mentioned, I have another, blissfully unopened one waiting under the desk.  I’ll be adding the remnants of this crate to that before I start work on a couple of very large forest bases.  I started with an all over Army Painter Army Green as the base and then sprayed Games Workshop white from above for the zenith effect.  I really like using washes, dips, and stains to paint these and am especially pleased with how the wet blending comes out.

While I may have forgotten to glue on any of the tiny plants I am calling these bases finished.  I was unsure at first if bright colors were the right choice but the more I work on them and look at them, the more I like them.  They are so unlike anything else in the collection that they will definitely read as “alien” on the table.

I finished painting the second set of plants I had primed.  I’ve stuck to GW Contrast paints, Army Painter Speed Paint, and Green Stuff World Dipping Inks for the most part.  There is some dry brushing of standard acrylic paint but mostly wet blends.  I used the same brightly colored alien tufts I had decorated the first set with. I really think they look good and go well together.  Now I need to glue more plants together as I have enough parts to make another dozen or so still left in the box.  When those are gone… I’ll start the second box because of course I ordered two crates.  Let’s just say Gerry and I understand each other.

I will be getting more environmental shots once more are finished.

Once I had the plants painted and based I realized the green and brown tufts I own just didn’t look alien enough to go with them.  Fortunately there are any number of companies making ground cover for just such a dilemma.  I picked up a trio of Gamers Grass bright colors to try out.  While I was unsure about them at first I’ve really grown fond of them.  I ordered more to fill out the next bases I assemble.  They add a real Star Trek: Original Series feel to everything and definitely look alien.

I found the Litko bases I had picked up at a convention ages ago.  They are smaller than my memory said they were which is why I never fully trust what it has to say.  The biggest three will work fine but I’m not sure of the smaller ones.  Perhaps some groupings of the medium to small plants mixed with rocks or other terrain bits.  I have to admit I am a little overwhelmed at how many pieces came in a Kickstart Crate.  While I have come to expect a massive pile of tiny plastic bits from Mantic’s campaigns, when it is all interchangeable and interlocking it somehow seems like even more.  After all the “trees” I’ve assembled so far I still have about a third of the crate left, enough to make nine or ten more.  That will be quite a toxic jungle on the table.  Good thing I have one more unopened forest crate to build even more of them.

I finished painting the first group I had built and primed. They have been sealed and are now waiting to be glued to their own bases.

For those who didn’t follow October’s Terrain Challenge, I received my rewards from the third Mantic Terrain Crate Kickstart.  There were three different sets available but as I have lots of alien ruins and plenty of battle torn town stuff I only opted for the Fungus Forest.  Of course I “needed” two sets as one would just not do for a terrain glutton such as myself.

I love the grey plastic everything is cast in.  I believe it is the same as Reaper’s Bones Black miniatures are cast in.  It holds detail well and is much less flexible than the earlier pieces.  I foresee less of the bendy bits we found in TC1.

With all the science fiction minis and terrain I’ve been painting for Stargrave and the like I realized I needed furniture.  Luckily Mantic makes a nice kit filled with two sets of the pieces from Star Saga which are quite nice.  Here is the first set I finished.

I’ve mentioned before how entertaining I find it that Mantic has created both pristine and wrecked versions of much of their furniture in Terrain Crate2.  The galleries below show some of the Before and Afters, if you will.