Welcome to Kings of War Armada Islands tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of creating and painting DiY islands scenery for Mantic Games Kings of War Armada as presented in the picture below.
Before we start, some notes:
Playing a friendly game on a set of fully painted and modeled scenery is always a great experience. In my opinion there’s nothing better than to let yourself go “full immersion mode” during a game of plastic dudesmen, or in this case – resin boats. That’s why I decided to create a set of appropriate scenery and use this opportunity to let you in on some of my hobby secrets.
When planning the set and how to make it my priorities were ease of build (and copy), durability, stability and obviously cool looks! Thus choice of material being mostly PCV and stones. PCV sheets are easy to work with, stay flat and are very glue friendly, whereas stones provide cheap and easy to use terrain features that will add weight and improve stability of the scenery pieces. With that in mind – let’s begin!
Step one: Basic shapes
I started by cutting a island’s base out of 1mm thick PCV sheet with a pair of scissors. I then smoothed the edges with a piece of sandpaper.
Next, using a hobby knife, I cut the island itself. This time I used 3mm thick PCV and cut the edges at a 30-45* angle, leaving approximately 1,5cm of the base all around the island. Once done I glued both pieces together, using Army Painter’s Super Glue.
Step two: Rocky features
I then applied PVA glue to some areas on the island, followed by AP’s Super Glue and finally Rocks – repositioned to look interesting. I also added some bitz, but I leave it up to you to decide if you want to do the same.
Step three: Wooden piers
Next I decided to add a bit of character with an old, damaged wooden pier jutting into the sea. I used a piece of MDF cut into a thin strip as a base for the pier, but you can really use anything – including 1mm thick PCV. Just cut a strip, glued tiny bit underneath, then glued it on top of the island and it’s base. Finally marked tiny holes along the sides of the pier and ‘superglued’ toothpicks in place, just to cut them off close to the pier’s level. Done.
Step four: Palm trees
At that point I didn’t wanted to waste good toothpicks and here’s where palm trees idea originates from. I gently squeezed the blunt tip of a toothpick with cutters and moved it around. I made this every two or so mm on the length of the toothpick. I then cut a piece off and gently bent it. With palm trees trunks ready to be added on top to the island, I just pushed a sharp tool into the PCV to create tiny holes and glued the trunks into it.
Step five: Textures
Final modelling step was to apply textures. First I filled gaps and surrounding areas between stones with AK Interactive Concrete from diorama series. I then covered rest of the island with Vallejo Desert Sand texture.
Sandy beaches, rocky coast and vibrant blue water around. With such theme in mind I started the paint job.
Basics:
First step was to undercoat the islands black and then airbrush white all over it to create a nice base for both water and sand colors.
Sand:
Sand was painted using airbrushed Vallejo Desert Sand, followed by Light Brown and finally drybrushed with Ice Yellow.
Rocks:
Rocks followed with a similarly easy recipe being airbrushed Vallejo Dark Panzer Grey, Cold Grey, Pale Grey Blue and drybrushed Ghost Grey.
Water:
Here’s the tricky one. I decided to go hard with stencil airbrushed Vallejo Light Sea Blue, Magic Blue and spots of airbrushed Army Painted Blue Ink. I then sealed it with airbrushed Gloss Varnish.
I added some final touches by manually applied AK Interactive effects creating waves and water foam. To add a nice color diversity on top of the island I also applied Gamers Grass Dry Green and Swamp tufts. Pal trees got finished with Shady Green tufts from Paint Forge.
First two islands discovered, I’m ready to head up for the unknown waters. More scenery to come, following the same template. If you stick a while at my blog you’re bound to see more islands and other scenery types, including deadly rocks and shipwrecks. Be sure to visit Scarhandpainting next time you hit a port! Ahoy!
AK – Interactive – a Spanish company behind a well established series of products for modelers. They managed to become one of the most recognized brands in the modeling world with continuously evolving range of paints, brushes, weathering products and effects. I have been a fan of their products for years now. Recently I decided to take another step and expand a range of texture paints at my disposal. Knowing the quality of AK’s products and lured by sweet pricing I went berserk and got a lot of Diorama Series textures.
Now I’m here to share my impressions.
Usually I do the entire Quality, Visuals, Functionality thing. This time though I decided to take a different approach and just jump right into testing the actual products, with pictures taken at every step. Consider this to be a Review/Tutorial hybrid. I will share my thoughts in the summary, so no worries 😉
Very happy with this one. Not too grainy. Perfect coloration. Two steps process with a final touch of white markings airbrushed through a stencil. End result – very satisfactory.
Say goodbye to sand on PVA glue! This puppy is now my favorite two-steps basing for fantasy miniatures!
Would have never expected to go with such a color, but seeing the end result I’m getting strong Star Wars The Last Jedi / Mad Max Salt Planes vibes… many possibilities!
No need to explain – just look at this! Two steps and your miniature is based on a desert!
This one didn’t hit the mark for me. I expected a more paste-like, smooth surface. More of a Dark & Dry Crackle end result (below). Either way the product itself is solid, just not what I expected, thus once dried, I didn’t follow up on it. I plan to give it another go on my next project so who knows…
This one required a third step to bring out the cracks as they are super tiny. The end result is very interesting. I’m sure that a mix with Dark Earth will bring magnificent results. Right now it looks like a trampled ground, or a road. Will definitely use.
Well… not what I’ve expected. Tried few times, taking different routes. End result is pretty disappointing. So much so that I just skipped further work with this.
Now that’s “crackled”! Three steps and it looks great! I bet it would look even better with Terrain Dry Ground. Count me in babe!
Working with these products was very comfortable. These are definitely high quality and very user friendly. I used a large brush to apply all the effects and simply cannot stress enough how great and easy it was! Growing up on Games Workshop’s products, moving onto these I felt like if I switched a worn out car for a new one, straight out of the factory! No more “fishing” for dry’ish conglomerates of grains to try and smear them onto a base. Nothing of the sort! Smooth. Great to use. Very easy. Zero stress. Just awesome!
Now Wet Crackle Effect turned out to be a disappointment, but all the rest behaved as they should and brought awesome results. The rest is so good that I’m willing to give Wet Crackle a benefit of a doubt and assume I’ve used it incorrectly. Will go back to it at some point and try to bring forth it’s full potential.
Other than that – these are pure gold! I love them. I will be working with them from now on and definitely prefer them over other products that I used until now.
Price factor is very important, especially with paints. You know how it is – you spill half of it, then use up like a one third and the rest dries out 😛 Just kidding, still I’m sure we can all agree that for many hobbyists pricing matters a lot. Just take a look at this:
What else is there to add? 🙂
I already described how I feel about these products, thus without further ado let’s hear it: On a scale where 10 is awesome, 8 is good, 6 is ok, 5 is mediocre, 3 is bad and I don’t want to even mention 1 – AK – Interactive’s Terrains get a solid 10/10, Dry Crackle Effects get 10/10 and Wet Crackle Effect ends up with 3/10. Please note that I will revisit Wet Crackle in the future and if lack of cracks is on me, I will update this review. Either way – that’s AK’s Diorama series for you folks! I hope you enjoyed this little Review/Tutorial. Share your thoughts in the comments below. Cheers!
You can get these straight from AK’s web store, or if you happen to live in Poland, go to a well equipped Vanaheim online store.
Welcome to Painting Ghosts tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of fast and easy painting Ghosts process.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with an airbrushed layer of Black.
Step two: Vallejo Turquise, airbrushed
I airbrushed thinned Vallejo Turquise all over the miniatures.
Insert: Additional detail
At that point I have painted all the none-ghost detail, following these two recipes: Painting Metal , Painting Bases. This tutorial is about painting ghostly elements so I leave this step to you. I have painted these elements now to build up ghostly light on top of them alongside layers to come next.
Step three: Vallejo Duck Egg Green, airbrushed
Next I airbrushed Vallejo Duck Egg Green air over ghostly elements, focusing on the most exposed areas. I have thinned this paint just a bit to mitigate speckling.
Step four: Vallejo Light Livery Green, airbrushed
I then airbrushed Vallejo Light Livery Green air over previous layer.
Step four: Vallejo Off White, highlights
I manually painted edge highlights with Vallejo Off White.
Step five: Vallejo Light Livery Green, juice up
I manually blended highly thinned Vallejo Light Livery Green air on top of previous highlights.
Step six: Vallejo Off White, highlights
I manually painted edge highlights with Vallejo Off White, but this time contained to dots and points of focus.
Step seven: Vallejo Light Livery Green, blend
I airbrushed thinned Vallejo Light Livery Green air all over the miniatures, after which I sealed it with Vallejo Polyurethane Matt Varnish and painted the base’s edge black, as it should be. Added few Birch Tree seeds as a final touch.
Note from the author: I hope you enjoyed this article. Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments or at my facebook. If you ever use the tutorial – please tag me at facebook or send pics to my e-mail, so I can enjoy your work 😉
Back in the days I decided to start the ‘Painting Philosophy’ series to let you in on ‘how’ and especially ‘why’ I do some things in a certain way. In my opinion a proper approach to painting is crucial to maintain healthy and rewarding experience. Final result depends on it in the same way as on techniques, know-how and tools used. Nowadays internet is full of painting tutorials yet it takes some inner understanding of our own capabilities to find what suits us best and fully benefit from all acquired knowledge. That being said – In this series I will reveal what works best for me as a painter. I hope you will find some wisdom in it…
Painting in groups is a term that I use to describe painting entire groups of miniatures, usually one layer at a time. There are many different approaches to painting miniatures. Some painters prefer to paint a single miniature from start to finish, one layer at a time. Others avoid painting by layers and instead paint a single piece of a miniature, applying all the colors, before proceeding to next part. I on the other hand, feel most comfortable when painting groups of miniatures. The size of such groups might vary between six to about a hundred pieces at a time. They don’t even need to follow the exact same colour scheme as long as they share majority of layers. Off course this method is reserved for armies and collections and would not benefit a single miniature project.
After years of practice this method triggered somehow on itself. I love painting miniatures but get really excited once projects enter final stages. I’m really hooked up on that feeling of accomplishment. That’s why I like to plan projects so that by not undertaking unnecessary actions I save time. If I have a bunch of miniatures to get painted I’d rather prepare and undercoat them all in one go, instead of repeating this for every single miniature, one at a time. It not only quickens the process but also leaves a ‘not entirely fun’ part, of a project, behind at some point. It is not limited to undercoat only and instead translates to all the layers. Every accomplished layer brings me a bit closer to the final steps of a project – the place where ‘choirs’ are left behind, most stuff looks pretty cool already and there’s most fun for me to have.
I maintain my motivation by taking small, but important steps. My main goal is to accomplish a project, but there are many small targets to achieve between the start and the finish line. I set obtainable targets, then once accomplished I check if I have energy for another round. Never force myself to take more than one step at a time – this one step is important, but all the rest is just a bonus, and as mentioned before – each step brings me closer to project’s completion. In practice it might look more or less like this:
START
step: Black Undercoat,
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
DESERT Armour & Uniforms:
step: Airbrushed layers (main colour), Dark Earth (Vallejo),
step: Airbrushed layers (main colour), Light Brown (Vallejo),
step: Highlights on the main colour, Light Brown (Vallejo),
step: Wash, Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
step: Edges on the main colour, Flayed One Flesh (GW),
step: Edges on the main colour, Pallid Wych Flesh (GW),
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
BROWN elements:
step: Secondary colour layer, Olive Drab (Vallejo),
step: Secondary colour layer, Gorthor Brown (GW),
step: Secondary colour layer, Gorthor Brown (GW) + Pallid Wych Flesh (GW),
step: Secondary colour Wash, Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
step: Edges on the secondary colour, Karak Stone (GW),
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
BLACK/GREY outfits & weapons:
step: Secondary colour layer, Skavenblight Dinge (GW),
step: Secondary colour layer, Fenrisian Grey (GW),
step: Secondary colour layer, Pallid Wych Flesh (GW),
step: Secondary colour Wash, Dark Tone Ink (AP),
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
step: Edges on the secondary colour, Pallid Wych Flesh (GW),
step: Edges on the secondary colour, White,
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
SKIN:
step: Secondary colour layer, Bugmans Glow (GW),
step: Secondary colour layer, Dwarf Flesh (GW),
step: Secondary colour layer, Dwarf Flesh (GW) + Pale Flesh (Vallejo),
step: Secondary colour layer, Pale Flesh (Vallejo),
step: Secondary colour Wash, Mix Strong Tone Ink (AP) 1:1 Soft Tone Ink (AP),
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
step: Edges on the secondary colour, Pale Flesh (Vallejo) + Pallid Wych Flesh (GW),
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
OTHER COLOURS…
step: Tetriary colours…
etc…
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
VARNISH:
step: Applying Varnihs,
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
BASES:
step: Modelling bases,
step: Painting bases,
step: Painting base edges,
MAIN STEP COMPLETE
step: Applying tufts and additional elements to the bases…
COMPLETION
As you can see there are approximately thirty steps required to accomplish this project so if I manage to take one step every day I will finish the project in about a month. Let’s say there are just six miniatures in the entire project. Would it be so difficult to accomplish one step with six miniatures in one day? How long can it actually take? It is not some extremely difficult, time consuming task. Easy to motivate myself to do that. Now let’s say I had a free weekend and managed to accomplish a MAIN STEP instead. This is worth between two to five regular steps. Let’s say I took out five. I just moved five days ahead of schedule. Can spend that time being lazy or move to another step… and there’s that – this is how the process works for me.
Coherent Colour Scheme – Painting in groups, one layer at a time, translates to a more coherent colour scheme. No need to mix paints between miniatures and try to achieve same exact tones – paint is prepared for entire group and will look exactly the same between first and last miniature. In the end this will provide a nice, coherent look of the entire project.
Understanding Through Repetition – After few miniatures of the same kind muscles get used to the detail naturally. Instead of interpretting every miniature I can follow a sort of ‘programmed muscle memory’ to paint much more efficiently, and thus faster. Quality also benefits from this, as there are no ‘uncertain’ brush strokes.
Reaching Ultimate Concentration – Repetition allows me to find myself in a state of utter concentration that won’t get disturbed by music or audio book, still lets me appreciate and take in anything that plays in the background, including videos. I know it’s not a super-power level state of mind and it is common among painters, still not being forced to reset every time and then to mix paints or plan the paint job helps to lenghten the ‘in the mood’ periods.
Purity of Purpose – With clear, obtainable targets in reach and a plan layed down before me it is easier for me to move forward, each step taken being deduced from the list. This makes my motivation thrive.
If you read through all of this banter – I hereby deem you worthy! With wisdom I bestowed, You now possess knowledge necessary to use the Multi-Miniature Ninja Painter technique. Use it wisely and with good intent and it will benefit you greatly. Do not fear to step in and teach other ‘Muggles’ some of that magic.
I have put a lot of effort into preparing this article, yet I am sure I missed something important. If you happen to have any questions related to it – feel free to hit me with them either at my Facebook profile, or via e-mail. Also take note that what works for me, might not necessarily work for you – still there are many ways to accomplish certain things – mine is just one of them.
Here are some Colour Recipes for Mid-Nor from Gallery: Adeptus Titanicus Legio Vulpa. Please take note that this is a simple colour scheme, not covering multiple overlapping layers and blends in between, that lead to the final product. It is supposed to be used as guideline not a step-by-step.
METAL under-armour:
Black Undercoat,
Mix Metallic Black (Val air) 1:1 Metallic Rust (Val air),*
Gun Metal (AP), flbr
Shining Metal (AP), flbr
Strong Tone Ink (AP),
Shining Metal (AP), l&p
Rust Streaks (AK Interactive), effects
PURPLE armour:
White Preshade,*
Hexen Lichen (Val air),* stenciled
Hexen Lichen (Val air),*
RED Armour:
White Preshade,*
Gory Red (Val air),*
Black Wash for Vehickles (Val),* stenciled
GOLD/BONE ornamentation:
Bonewhite (Val air), bl
Strong Tone Ink (AP),
Pallid Wych Flesh (GW), l&p
Strong Tone Ink (AP),
Off White (Val), l&p
GREEN light:
Duck Egg Green (Val air), p
Light Livery Green (Val air),*
Waywatcher Green (GW), glaze
Off White (Val), l&p
BLUE light:
Light Sea Blue (Val air),*
White,*
Guilliman Blue (GW), glaze
Off White (Val), l&p
l&p – lines and points,
p – points,
bl – blend,
gl – glaze,
drbr – drybrush,
fltbr – flatbrush,
lobr – loaded brush,
stpl – stippling,
*Airbrushed (with multiple layers and mixes)
Hobby Grips, Miniature Holders, Painting Holders – many names for a single high-demand product. Painting Holders are a topic that comes back time and time again at painting facebook groups and forums. Hobbyists seek advice on ‘which one is the best’, ‘where to buy’ etc. The thing is that in general ‘the best’ is what works for you and while Painting Holders are a rather expensive addition to your hobby tools collection – it does not have to be this way. Below is a Tutorial, or rather just a simple idea on how to create your own Painting Holders in large numbers and most importantly – for cheap.
To create your own Painting Holders you will need any of these, or similar items:
* 30-40ml Plastic/Metal glass
* Plastic fluid container (from Pharmacy)
* Wooden cylinder
* BLU TACK
The choice of material, to create Painting Holders from, is up to you. Depending on what you choose the price, weight, re-usability, durability and aesthetics will vary.
Plastic is the cheapest, but also the least durable. Plastic glasses work best if glued one on top of another, to improve stability and durability. Even then it will break from time to time, plus is very light, which might lead to miniatures toppling down once set up on the workbench. Plastic is a very good choice for large Painting Holders, as they are stable and not too heavy. Plastic can be easily cleaned with solvents which is a bonus, when you want to mark some information with a marker.
Metal is very durable and has great re-usability. Can be cleaned with solvents, is medium weight. Compared to professional Painting Holders, metal glasses are still pretty cheap (You can probably get between two to five dozens for the price of a single Painting Holder!).
Wood is the heaviest and has the most adhesive friendly surface. It is also the most expensive of the three and is, in time, affected by water. Still it is very classy and feels great in hand. Wood is the only one to support pins. If you like to paint your miniatures unbased, or aim to get just a few Painting Holders, wood might be the best choice for you.
Personally I started with plastic, but got frustrated throughout the years and moved to metal as a result. I still use plastic for larger holders, as it seem to work fine when closed at the bottom.
Preparing your own Painting Holders is pretty easy. Press a ball of Blu Tack to the top of the glass/container and push a Miniature onto it. Just like that – it is done! Consider adding more Blu Tack for larger holders, so that miniatures are immobilized.
* No, if properly mounted the miniature would not fall off. I have painted hundreds of plastic/metal miniatures like this and none have ever fell off the Holder.
* When choosing items to be used as holders – stay open minded! In my case the revelation of using metal glasses instead of plastic came out of nowhere!
Welcome to Rocky Bases tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of creating and painting Rocky Bases as presented in the picture below. This adventure is possible thanks to generosity of Gamers Grass and their easy to use, fantastic products.
Before we start, some notes:
As mentioned in previous Tutorial, when making bases, I usually aim for fast, simple, yet effective solutions. It is important to pick a basing method that is easy to copy onto large quantities of miniatures or coming back to a project. This is why I consider Gamers Grass Basing Bits a perfect solution. Nicely textured, ready to use straight out of the box – glue them on, add some texture around – you’re ready to paint. All that being said – for this particular base type I choose Gamers Grass “Rocks” basing bits.
Step one: Applying basing bits
I started by applying glue onto the base and gluing few basing bits on top.
Step two: Applying texture
I then applied texture with Games Workshop Stirland Mud.
At this point entire “Modelling” part is done. If it seem fast it’s because it really is. Just two steps and you’re ready to paint!
I choose to paint these Rocky bases in a classic Bron plus Grey style. Assuming these are meant to be used for a large collection, I want to keep things simple. Would be perfect to close in about three layers per color, with a single type of tufts on top. Just your everyday nice looking, coherent bases. Here’s how I went about it…
Step two: Undercoat
I applied a black undercoat.
Step two: Main color
I then painted entire base with Vallejo Charred Brown. Once dry I drybrushed Games Workshop Calthan Brown on top.
Step two: Secondary color
For rocks I went with Vallejo Panzer Dark Grey, followed by a drybrush of Games Workshop Fortress Grey.
Step tree: Highlights
Final highlight was done with a drybrush of Games Workshop Karak Stone for brown and a drybrush of Vallejo Ghost Grey for rocks.
Step tree: Tufts
Finally I applied Gamers Grass Swamp Wild Tufts.
And with that the job was done! Fast and easy – as all bases should be. I hope this was a pleasant tutorial and that you saw how simple the process is. If you want to learn more about Gamers Grass products – here’s my review:
Welcome to Temple Bases tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of creating and painting Temple Bases as presented in the picture below. This adventure is possible thanks to generosity of Gamers Grass and their easy to use, fantastic products.
Before we start, some notes:
In my opinion base is supposed to complement a miniature, not steal the spotlight. For this reason, when making bases, I usually aim for fast, simple, yet effective solutions. Important thing to note when deciding on what to use for your bases is to pick a method that is easy to copy. This is why I consider Gamers Grass Basing Bits a perfect solution. Nicely textured, ready to use straight out of the box – glue them on, add some texture around – you’re ready to paint. All that being said – for this particular base type I choose Gamers Grass “Temple” basing bits.
Step one: Applying basing bits
I started by applying glue onto the base and gluing few basing bits on top.
Step two: Applying texture
I then applied texture with Games Workshop Stirland Mud.
At this point entire “Modelling” part is done. If it seem fast it’s because it really is. Just two steps and you’re ready to paint!
I choose to paint these Temple bases in a bit of a Desert’ish style. Let’s say these are meant to be used for a large army. I want to keep things simple, best if within three layers per color, crowned with a single type of tufts. Nothing fancy, just nice looking, coherent bases. Here’s how I went about it…
Step one: Undercoat
I applied a black undercoat. This is my usual start for everything 😛
Step two: Main color
I then airbrushed Vallejo Desert Yellow over entire base. Once dry I applied Vallejo European Dust Wash.
Step two: Secondary color
For ruins I choose Vallejo Cold Grey, followed by a wash of water thinned Vallejo Dark Panzer Grey.
Step tree: Highlights
I then highlighted both colors with a soft drybrush of Games Workshop Flayed One Flesh. I also applied some highlights with the same color on the edges of ruins – just a bit to make them pop.
Step tree: Tufts
Finally I applied Gamers Grass Burned Wild Tufts.
Job done! There’s some poetry in both starting and finishing a base using products from the same company 😛 Either way – I hope this was a pleasant tutorial and that you saw how simple the process is. If you want to learn more about Gamers Grass products – here’s my review:
Welcome to Painting Black Marbe tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of painting black marble.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with an airbrushed layer of White.
Step two: Base texture
For this step I used a Steel Wool stencil prepared in the previous Tutorial: Painting Marble. I simply took few pieces of steel wool, taped them together and used them as a stencil. I then airbrushed black paint through the stencil. Furthermore in some places I have removed black paint with a wet toothpick to create strong white lines.
Step three: Texture
Next I added a layer of texture by manually applied stains of Vallejo Pale Grey Wash. After waiting half a minute I removed the excess of the paint with a paper towel.
Step four: More texture
I then applied stains of Vallejo Air White, but this time removed the excess of the paint with slightly pressured water. You can simply airbrush water with around 0,5 bar pressure if you don’t have a sprinkler.
Step five: Sealing the colour
To seal the colour I applied an even, smooth layer of Army Painter Dark Tone Ink.
Step five: Gloss
Finally I applied two layers of airbrushed Gloss Varnish. This resulted in a nice polished glossy look but also added that 3d look to different layers.
Here’s how the finished base looks like.
This bonus method is much simpler and I think it had a lot of potential, still I stumbled upon it by accident just fed ways ago and hadn’t had time to test it thoroughly. Here’s basics:
Done! Seems mind blowing? Surely is. Have I done this right? Totally no 😛 White spots are too large, but as mentioned – there’s potential in the method and at some point I will find a way to make it work.
Note from the author: I hope you enjoyed this article. Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments or at my facebook. If you ever use the tutorial – please tag me at facebook or send pics through Line app to scarhandpainting, so I can enjoy your work 😉
Gamers Grass – a Portuguese company focusing on delivering a wide range of basing accessories. Formed in 2015 by a group of hobbyists, Gamers Grass brought many interesting products to the market. Alongside well established Tufts, Flowers and Shrubs, their range consists of ready to use Bases, but also basing Bitz and very colorful Alien Tufts. It was the latter that drew my attention to Gamers Grass, which instantly resulted in some shopping.
Now it’s few days after the delivery. I have thoroughly tested a range of Tufts/Shrubs/Flowers and done some research, hence I am ready to share my opinion with a wider public.
As a full time miniatures painter I cannot allow myself to use products of questionable quality. This is why quality is the first thing I look out for when purchasing hobby related items.
That being said Gamers Grass Tufts and Flowers strike me as well thought through, top quality products. They are mostly precisely shaped, with near to none stray hair. Each Tuft has a bit of adhesive at the bottom and can be applied straight from the sheet. Adhesive strength is comparable with Army Painter’s tufts, so less “goo” than for example Paint Forge’s and GW’s, but perfect for my personal taste. I apply some Super Glue either way.
Most importantly, except just few, the Gamer’s Grass Tufts hold their shape firmly. Not much hair fell off when I was removing the tufts from the sheets and applied them onto the bases.
Visually Gamers Grass Tufts look stunning. Apart from classic tufts, there’s Alien and Spikey series, which are like nothing I’ve seen previously in the market. All tufts are fluffy and solid and thanks to a wide variety of colors and shapes – they turn bases into little pieces of awesome.
Most Gamers Grass Tufts are very user friendly. Separated on the sheet by a clear line, easy to pick and apply. Once picked, they hold their shape. I could go on, but let’s just say they are a joy to work with.
Like with all product series not everything is perfect. Amongst the batch I purchased there are two products that not entirely hold up to the standards described above.
12mm Wild Winter Tuft is a bit too messy for my tastes. There’s not enough separation between particular tufts and there’s a lot of “leftover” coming off the tufts during use. It looks pretty dope once separated from the sheet, still I had issues separating particular tufts from one another.
Similarly Wild Spikey Green and Wild Spikey Beige Tufts are very messy to work with. Whereas they look insanely cool, it is very difficult to remove them from the sheet intact. They loose a lot of strands in the process.
Fortunately these issues doesn’t translate to the entire range, which for the most part is full of top quality, high end products.
Time to focus on the price. I’ve done some math comparing price of standard and “Wild” tufts from Gamers Grass, Games Workshop and Army Painter. Here’s where I’ve landed:
Easy to say that when it comes to price Gamers Grass beats it’s competition hard and that is a great news!
To summarize, when it comes to professional hobby tufts Gamers Grass is totally in the lead. The vast variety of unprecedented lush colors and types is by itself a good reason to try their offer out. To top it all there’s perfect pricing. On a scale where 10 is awesome, 8 is good, 6 is ok, 5 is mediocre, 3 is bad and I don’t want to even mention 1 – Gamers Grass Tufts get’s a well deserved 10/10. Even though few products had minor issues – The offer as entirety is super solid. I will definitely use these from now on and wholeheartedly recommend you to test it yourself.
You can order through Gamers Grass official store, or try out your luck in a local hobby store. To make things easier for you, Gamers Grass prepared this awesome Store Locator. So what are you waiting for? I invite you to, at the very least, take a peek at their offer 😉
