what's the deal with all those miniatures

miniatures! i love em. i paint em and put them on shelves and sometimes make em kiss. yeah baby, minis are awesome. this page will be a cool place for me to put pics of my minis and perhaps updates on how projects are going, depending on how lazy i am in updating this. anyway, here's what i just wrapped up -

for the longest time, ever since i started painting minis during covid (out in my parent's deck, in thick illinois summer heat, listening to my college ex scream at me over the phone... man... those were the days...) i have wanted to paint a diorama! but the prospect was always daunting - i have never sculpted, but am so inspired by some of the amazing diorama work i've seen online.

before i moved, i was working on an orc wartrike mini, but lost half of the kit while moving! and so later in the year, i decided you know what? those minis would be cool to re use - i could break up the bike i painted and use the orcs, which were done, and make a cool 'last stand' kinda scene. so that was the idea!

i started with a gaming base and laid out some cork to build up a 'red rocks' type of exterior. i love painting cork bark ala rocks, but wanted something vibrant, and i was inspired thinking back to my red rocks climbing trip with brandon and kyle, seen below:

i don't have pics of the cork on hand, but i ended up sculpting over the whole thing with milliput to create a sand dune type beat thing while placing a bunch of the corck bark rocks onto the edge to create this cool look:

then i put the guys on, poured on some baking soda for a sand texture, primed the rest by hand, and got to work on the basecoats!

and with a bunch of paint and a bit of time, here is the final piece:

i'm pretty psyched on the final piece! i think in hindsight, i should have sketched the scene first to determine placement of elements prior, i kinda did this one willy nilly, but it was fun. i would also use some texture powder for a 'blast radius' type effect around the bit of the motorcycle, and perhaps spread some motor bits here and there to help sell that, or add a dead space marine or two. but i'm excited to do some more non-warhammer projects once i get my new paint station set up!