Infinity Shasvastii

Here we go again! More Infinity stuff!

You may remember the PanOceania and Yu Jing minis I've been painting for my mate, so here I am with another little commission. This time we're leaving the Human Sphere behind and venturing into decidedly less friendly territory. Meet the Shawarm... no, sorry, my bad. Meet the Shasvastii!

These chaps belong to the Combined Army, a rather unpleasant collection of alien forces serving the "Evolved Intelligence" (EI; not to be confused with AI. Although, come to think of it, who's to say this isn't ChatGPT's secret army? And here I am, happily painting its invasion force. What could possibly go wrong?). The Shasvastii specialise in infiltration, deception, sabotage and generally making everyone's life miserable. Not exactly the sort of neighbours you'd invite round for tea.

Anyway, enough background. Let's have a look at the minis!

First up is the Shasvastii Expansion Pack Alpha, which includes three different specialists: a Mentor, a Haiduk and a Cadmus.

The Mentor is something of a sneaky tactical mastermind, specialising in counterintelligence and deception. The Haiduk is a sniper, because apparently lurking in the shadows wasn't dangerous enough already. And the Cadmus is an infiltration specialist and hacker with some rather disturbing biological tricks up his sleeve.

I had to look up for the names, sorry

Next comes the big fellow. The Sphinx! This is a TAG, the Shasvastii Special Armoured Corps' answer to the problem of having to kill lots of people without being noticed. It's a fast, heavily armed machine equipped with sophisticated camouflage systems, designed to strike from nowhere and disappear before the enemy can respond. Yes, apparently someone thought that making a giant killer robot practically invisible was a perfectly reasonable idea.

I love the design of this beast. It's quite different from the PanOceanian TAGs I've painted before, with a much more alien appearance. A little bit District 9 vibes.

Despite being a Sphinx, there's no record of it ever asking anyone a riddle

Next up, a couple of Drone Remotes. These are the Combined Army's robotic support units, providing everything from reconnaissance and electronic warfare to some rather serious firepower, depending on their equipment.

You may remember that I magnetised the weapon options on the PanOceanian and Yu Jing Drones I painted previously. Well, I've done exactly the same thing here. The weapon arms can be removed and swapped, so my mate can choose different loadouts.

Your friendly neighbourhood killer appliances

Some assembly required. Some disassembly now possible

Now for a rather interesting character: Special Operative Ko Dali limited edition mini.

Her story is actually quite cool. She was once a celebrated Yu Jing operative, a former intelligence agent who became a legendary member of the Tiger Soldiers. She was believed to have died fighting the Combined Army, only to reappear later... fighting for the Borg Combined Army. Quite a career move, I'd say.

Yu Jing's HR department would like a word

And here you have the whole bunch together:

The Human Sphere is going to have a very bad day

OK, so this is it... No!
BONUS! 

There's one last mini, although this one has absolutely nothing to do with the Shasvastii. Meet Ksenia Lavochkina, another limited edition mini.

Ksenia is a character from the Infinity: Aftermath graphic novel (again, I had to look it up). She's the ruthless leader of Struktura, a criminal organisation operating within the Tunguska mafia. So, for a change, we're dealing with good old-fashioned organised crime rather than alien infiltration and galactic conquest. Somehow, that almost sounds reassuring.

She's a very characterful miniature, and quite a different painting experience from all those alien warriors and mechanical monstrosities.

No aliens, no giant robots. Just a perfectly respectable businesswoman. Probably.

 Well, that's all for today! Another little Infinity project finished and ready to join the ever-growing collection. I have to admit that I rather enjoy these occasional commissions. They're a nice excuse to try something different and explore new designs.

But don't fear, I'll be back to Warhammer Quest pretty soon... 

Warhammer Quest Darkwater (Pt. 3, small nurgly guys)

 Back to the Darkwater project again! Now that I’m working hard for Nurgle, it was time to make some progress on his flock. I know many people start projects like this with the larger models, but I was really keen on the little guys. I like the way they look and thought they would make a nice challenge (keep in mind that I’m painting two sets at once, so that means doing everything twice!).

I started with the Mire Kelpies. I love how eerie they look, spooky yet so cute in their own way.

Rising puddles of evil

I went for the most straightforward paint job imaginable: a mix of green, blue and black, with subtle highlights. After that, I used Vallejo water effects as a gloss varnish. Then I just painted the autumn leaves and added a few of my own. Evil creatures keeping up the fine tradition of antlers, you see.

Next up were the Treasure and Living Rot tokens. I can’t say I did anything particularly adventurous or original with these, but I think they do the job:

You may have to guess which of them are considered "treasure"

They were fun to do, my favourite one is the head with the Excalibur sword, it reminds me so much of the classic Beast of Nurgle.

But now it was time for the real challenge. The pox wretches. Having finished them, I have to say I’m impressed by how well thought out these models are. Each body comes with two torso options, so you don’t have to build two identical models from the box. In a few cases, you can even swap the heads around, giving you up to four variations on the same basic model.

There’s not much else to say, apart from one detail: I took the plunge and tried GW’s “Typhus Corrosion” technical paint. It’s a textured dark brown that looks simply great on these models. My original plan was to use it as a textured base and paint over it afterwards, but I was so pleased with how it looked that I only added small patches of orange rust here and there. In some places it looks like actual corroded iron, and I think it really suits the Nurgle theme.

I’ll let you judge. Here they are, shown in matching pairs. I tried to introduce small colour variations while sticking to a limited palette, so no two minis are identical:

Finally, the whole bunch:

Enough to populate two dungeons!

Well, this has been quite a challenge, if only because of the sheer number of minis! I guess they won’t be the toughest foes in the game, but they should certainly make their presence felt and provide some nice, tense moments.

The real revelation for me has been the Typhus Corrosion thing. I’m honestly impressed by the texture and what you can do with it. Covering an entire suit of Nurgle armour in the stuff might be a bit much, but my mind is already filling up with gruesome images of Plague Marines in ridiculously rusty power armour. I don’t think the same approach would work for the other Nurgle knights in Darkwater, but I’ll definitely be using this paint a lot more in future!

I think I’ll take a break from Nurgle before making any actual decisions, but hopefully I’ll have more stuff to show you soon...

Underworlds: Nurgle warband

 Back to minis again. These days I've been working on a small commission, the Nurgle warband for Underworlds, who apparently are called "Wurmspat". Sounds like a 80's Punk band to me, but who am I to judge anyone's choice of names.

The warband consists of just three members, which makes it a pretty manageable little project. I kept the palette fairly limited,  it's not as though Nurgle has ever been a great fan of bright colours. I also wanted to experiment with a really extreme rusty look, so I deliberately avoided using metallic paints altogether. All the weapons and other metal parts were painted brown first, and then I added patches and stains in different shades of orange.

If the axe blow doesn't kill you, the infection will

I think they look rusty and filthy. However, I believe there is some GW textured paint (something called "Typhus Corrosion" or similar) which I may try in the future to see whether I can push the grime even further.

Next character is this rather scary witch, who apparently goes under the striking name of "Fecula Flyblown", in the finest tradition of Games Workshop naming stuff.

Oh, and her flayed cat... thing. Or whatever that creature is

The other bodyguard is this fine gentleman:

And his daemon slug pet

 And that's the whole warband: the sorcerer and her two bodyguards. Still, despite their rather modest numbers, they look more than capable of handling whatever comes their way:

A happy family

A happy family's rear shot

I've used these as a colour test for the Nurgle lot from the Warhammer Quest Darkwater game. I'm happy with how the palette turned out, so I think I'll be sticking with something very similar for those minis. Stay tuned to see how that works...

Slabford

 I'm trying something different today. Something larger than my usual stuff. For quite some time I've been wanting to improve my gaming surfaces. I've tried a couple of textured mats, but what I'm really after is something with gentle slopes and small hills, permanent vegetation... you know, something that feels a little more like actual terrain.

I've just got a chance to experiment on a reasonably manageable surface. I had this white board lying around that I no longer had any use for, so I thought "hmmm... could I give it a try...?" 

90 x 60 cm, roughly 36 x 24 "

Not a huge surface, admittedly, but it could work nicely for small skirmishes. I've got nothing to lose. Victory is for those who dare.

The first issue was the board itself. It's pretty thin and, although not significantly warped (well, only a little), it did have a tendency to wobble.  I was hoping to solve that by adding some foam hills: 

My first time using this material. Still a lot to learn

I shaped it into a small valley, with a hill in the centre and four raised corners. All four are flat and exactly the same height for a reason (which you will eventually discover). I tried to strike a balance between slopes and flat areas because, after all, this is a gaming surface. I need the minis to actually stand up!

The hills didn't fit perfectly because of the slight warping and the raised edge of the board. I fixed it with some putty and (this is where things got risky) with strips of paper. This way I got the gaps between the board and the foam covered while also (hopefully) leaving enough flexibility to absorb any wobbling. 

Yes, you know I'm an optimistic by nature

 

Well... it seems to be holding. Time to get dirty. PVA glue and sand. Sand everywhere. Mostly on the board, but this stage can get messy.

Be sure to sweep the floor properlyafterwards

The sand gets definitely sealed with paint:
 

Now it looks like Mordor

When it's all dry, I gave a drybrush coat over all the surface, and also painted the river. Greens and browns with slight turquoise, but never blue.

Not Mordor anymore. Maybe the transition towards Minas Morgul

You may have noticed I didn't texture the four corners. Trust me, it's all part of the plan.

Now it's time for the grass! I finally turned the board green, just as I'd imagined it from the start. I left a narrow path running through the terrain, with a ford across the stream. Right next to the crossing I placed a small flat stone I picked up on the beach this summer. I painted it and, being quite a sizeable slab at 28mm scale, I thought it would make a perfect natural landmark. Travellers and locals would quite naturally end up calling this particular river crossing "Slabford". And somehow the name stuck in my head. Slabford it is.

 For the raised corners I used some grass tuft sheets by (by MIG). They are smooth and look surprisingly natural; I'd had them lying around for ages, just waiting for an opportunity like this!

Now it's looking different, isn't it?

The next step was to start crowding the board with bushes, tufts and all sorts of vegetation. That helped bring in some extra colour and gave the whole thing a late-summer, early-autumn feel, which I really enjoy. Apart from that, I applied Vallejo Still Water effect to the stream. First time using this stuff too, I'm going full experimental with this board, as you can see. I'm trying all sorts of new products, techniques and ideas. I don't really mind too much whether everything works or not, as I'm more interested in the process and in learning from it. Well, obviously I'll be happier if it all works, but you know what I mean.

 

I used the tufts to cover the joints between the sheets on the corners and the regular grass

I think at this point I could probably call it a day (well... "a day") and declare the board finished. But I actually spent several more days adding another layer of water effect every night, trying to bring the surface up to the slightly raised edge of the board. 

I really didn't match it perfectly, but couldn't pour litres of this thing!

Oh, and of course, this board was asking for a few trees, wasn't it?

NOW it is finished

"But trees will make storage complicated", I hear you say. Of course, of course. That's why I magnetised them:

Note to self: larger trees need larger magnets. These ones barely hold

I made small holes in the chosen spots and glued the magnets in place. The only thing you really need to watch out for is polarity, of course. You want the trees to stick there, not launch themselves away in disgust!

For small trees I simply glued the other magnet to the bottom of the trunk

Keeping the polarity consistent makes all the trees interchangeable. I mean, I designed the board with the larger trees in mind for the hills and the smaller ones for the banks of the stream. But since all the magnets are the same size, I can put the big trees down by the river too:

This configuration also makes sense

If (when) I ever do this again on a future board, I'll have to give the whole magnet-size issue a bit more thought. But for now, I'm leaving this one as it is, even with the slightly precarious big trees. In the next pic you can see two big trees down by the river:

Extra points if you spot the two spiders

Well, this is it! It was mainly an experiment to see wether I could build a functional board and to learn what works and what doesn't. I admit it won't be hosting any huge battles, but I'll definitely be using it for skirmishes. At 90x60 cm, it's more than enough for most of my modest little games, and I hope it'll also be a good way to get the kids properly into wargaming. Just let me show a few pics of what I intend to do:

Small scenery pieces will fit in, and there's plenty of space for gaming

Slopes and gravel still allow minis to stand up

Oh, of course it can serve for sci-fi purposes, not only fantasy games:

I wouldn't dare to use larger buildings, but this is more than enough

The ford is well delimited for gaming purposes, I hope

Oh, and of course the kids have already started to pew-pew these days while I was pouring layers and layers of water effect:

Pew pew at its most

We all got caught quite into it

OK. By now I feel I owe you an explanation for my obsession with the four corners of the board. TThey're all the same height. They're definitely not very high. And they have no sand on them, just soft, fluffy tufts. All of which means I can simply flip the whole board over and get a new flat surface on the other side.

A new gaming surface??

Honestly, I'm not even sure it'll be possible to do anything useful with the white side. But that hypothesis remains to be disproven.

Could I simply prime the whole thing grey and turn it into an urban board for Adeptus Titanicus? Would paint even stick to this surface? Could I glue down cobblestone sheets or something similar and turn it into a small Mordheim-style board?

I haven't really given the idea that much thought yet. But the point is that, at the very least, I now have the option to find out what can actually be done with it.

In the pic below you can see how the soft corners keep the board from scratching or damaging the table: 

As said before, fluffy and soft

In the end I have to say the whole thing turned out better than I expected. At the beginning I wasn't expecting much success at all. The slight warping and wobbling made me fear the worst, and I was fully prepared to declare the experiment a failure and move on, but once I saw that everything was actually holding together, I grew more and more confident, and now I can say I'm quite happy with the result.

That said, I'm not sure I'd dare try the same thing with a larger white board (of course I've already thought of that!!). This works well enough at this size, but with the board itself being so thin, I suspect warping would become a much more serious problem on a larger surface.

For now, though, I have a gaming board, the kids and I are happy with it, and I even managed to finish it in time for one final entry for Dave's Season of Scenery 2026! This is a win in my book!

A few Discworld characters

 While I'm working on another scenery project, I've been using odd bits of spare time here and there to paint a batch of minis I recently got from a friend.

I'd never really planned on getting any Discworld minis, but these came my way and I simply couldn't refuse!

 They are from the Micro Art Studio ranges  and they are absolutely everything you can hope for from a Discworld mini. The sculpts really catch all the spirit of Paul Kidby's artwork and take you straight to the pages of the novels, can't praise them enough.

These are the old metal ones, though I believe they're now produced in resin or as 3D prints. I can't say anything about the new versions, but these were perfect: no mould lines, no issues at all, just ready to paint.

I take it everyone is familiar with Discworld, but in the unlikely event you are not, please reevaluate your priorities in life and go get the books. Please do.

No, I mean it, this post can wait. Go read the books. Like, now. I'll be waiting.

...

Oh, you're back. Good, good. Now we can proceed.

First of all our favourite wizzard:

How can the sculpt alone convey that look of despair in his eyes, even before you've painted him?

 Of course if we have Rincewind, we must have the Luggage:

Greatest smile of all times. And places

 Now another key character, the Librarian of the Unseen University, or as he would put it:

Ooook

 I only have another one, but I think it's a FAVOURITE OF EVERYONE.

OF COURSE YOU KNEW WHO I WAS TALKING ABOUT

SQUEAK

And that's it! These are the only ones I got, but I love the whole range so much that I may well have a little peek at the Micro Art Studio shop in the future.

Here they are together for a group shot:

Don't you feel as though they're already telling a story?

As you can see, I went for a pretty straightforward paint job, but I think it suits them and works well enough. And now, with that happy little feeling you get from actually completing a small project, I can focus on the scenery project again.

Well, as much as I can focus on anything.

Hopefully I'll be able to show you that one shortly!