5. An Objective Beginning - Sandbags WIP/H2

As I said in my last post, I'm going to be working on an objective marker this week. I didn't know where to start so I decided to go with something I didn't know how to do: Sandbags. There proved to be no tutorial on FTW so I just went with what I thought might work. It turned out well I feel. Everything is clickable.

I decided to go back to grade school for this one and got out some clay that I picked up at walmart for $.97, which is one of the best 40k investments I've made. I took the red out of the 4 colors. I'm hoping that it will give a gritty undertone to the bags when they are finished. I rolled the clay into a log, on some wax paper to prevent sticking, and flattened it slightly to the size I wanted my sandbags to be. Then I took a kitchen knife and cut through the clay in appropriate sections, as seen below.

Next I pinched the ends to create a nice tapering. Make sure to smooth all the edges so that the block looks like a bag instead of a chunk of clay.

Stack as sandbags would go and then ta-da. Not super difficult but still something that might help someone. I'll probably prime them black and paint them a tan. Keep watching for more.

I'll be in the P.I.T.S. as always.

3. Snow Camo How To

One thing that I haven't found, and maybe I have just missed it, is Snow Camo. Granted, not many people have a distinct need to put snow camo on their troops and even if they did, painting things white can be enough. However, if you are playing IG Vostroyans or Space Wolf Snipers, you may not be okay with leaving things simply white. So I have an easy way to punch up that white and make it look like camo. All the pictures should be clickable.

Lets start with something nice and black.

Clean and easy primed black.

I like to run a light gray over the black. I do this for two reasons. First, it makes the white easier to paint. Secondly, it adds a bit of shadow on the model that I happen to like. This step is optional however and not necessary for the final look.

Next take white and paint a minimum of two coats. The brighter the white the higher the contrast later.

Take the same gray that you undercoated the white with and make small, random blotches about the area. It doesn't have to be pretty or neat, as you can see above. Now the thing to remember here and in the step below is that making camo to scale doesn't work for mini painting.

Take a liner brush or just whatever you happen to have that is tiny and run black lines over the top of the gray spots. If you don't have a tiny brush, a toothpick can work just as well and make even smaller lines, if that is what you desire. It is important to do this after the spots are down or else you will end up with a highly cluttered area that looks too busy and not very camo. And that is it. Simple.

Hope this helped someone. Feel free to post your tips and tricks in the comments if you have a better idea or a suggestion. If you're looking for something different, this and many other tutorials can be found here.

-Writing from the P.I.T.S. on Fenris.