A blog for The Urutsk Cycle and Related Subjects,
including the URUTSK: World of Mystery RPG.
Shipwrecked survivors of a galaxy-spanning empire (ruined when the core exploded) settle upon a wetlands world occupied by humans and other species. They then poke through ruins of their Ancient ancestors as they strive to regain space and then, starflight.
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Attack of the Hlutrgu!-
We drilled the hands of the spear and staff holders, and then painted up 60 of the critters.
Chg: There were four of us, and I don't recall how long it all took. I'd guess around 3 Hours from drill to paint. --They simply needed a single colour coat after their primering, and their scheme was one of three colours, so that made it simpler than a fully detailed set of adventurers, for instance.
These critters (Hutligru or some variant on that) are implacable foes and the women were being dragged off to 'horrors more terrible than death', and their brother had dispatched troops to effect their rescue. --I didn't get to play in that scenario, instead we went to The Source, where I picked up a few blank d12s, a nice copy of the MM2, and Tekumel works: Mitlanyal (the comb-bound, 'rare' copy), and Seal of the Imperium 2:2).
From what I gather, the scenario did go well for the Tsolyanu troops in either instance.
Jeff's collection of terrain (alone) is rather impressive, and those aquarium plants work very nicely for this purpose.
Sorry to jump in; the little creeps are described as 'pallid', in 'mottled hues of green, grey, and black'. I opted for a flat white primer and washes of the three colors to give individual looks for each of the 60 miniatures. I'm thinking about going back and inking them with a very dilute black wash to punch up the details; we just ran out of time on the build day to do it then. The only 'detail' is the spears, with wood shafts and bone tips. It all went really quickly; raw metal to table ready in about four hours and that at a nice even pace.
Had to be careful with the pin vises, though!
The little coracles are great; you get a load of seated figures for each, and they look really good when all painted up and loaded.
@ChiWiz: Timeshadows told me to explain more, so I is.
I used a flat white enamel as a primer, then used a very dilute wash of several acrylics for the color wash: Liquitex Concentrated "Ivory Black" and "Phthalocyananine Green", and Windsor and Newton's "Payne's Grey". I use small plastic trays with a glop of the paint and lots of water; I use a broad soft sable brush to slop the wash all over the figure. This settles in the details and really brings them out. You can add more layers of the wash for deeper colors, waiting for each layer to dry; it usually takes just a few minutes, and makes for a nice effect as the white primer shows through on the higher portions of the figure. I should dot their eyes with gloss black, and maybe add a bit of toning to them, but they do look nice as is.
The human figures got the same primer, then Testor's 'Model Masters Acrylic' #4707 "Red Earth", which is the closest shade I can get to Phil's original specification of the now long-out-of-production Floquil "Samoa". I used a wash of P3 "Flesh Wash" to bring out the details.
The coracles get a couple of basic colors, then a dark umber wash to being them all together. Howard's given his URL, and that's where I got them.
The galley, the "Belle of Bey Su", is a Flagship Games galley, now sold by Scale Creep. She got her name from the blank shield on her stern counter, which I painted up with the arms of the city of Bey Su from the cover of the EPT box that Phil did.
The lateen-rigger is a junk from the Old Glory Shipyard range that I fitted with laser-cut rails, masts, and natty striped sails. She's named the "Carolyne's Revenge", after the sinking of the river pirate fleet run by one of my players of the same name; her ships were captured in the First David L. Arneson Memorial Maritime Miniatures Mayhem event we ran to honor Dave the weekend after he passed away. Her manly pirates were ambushed by the all-girl crew of a river barge, who were very well-armed for mere helpless dancing girls (well, this is Tekumel, after all) and had to be rescued by the river police; she wanted something a little faster and better armed, after the game...
There are pictures of this game, and more of our fleet, on the Photobucket page linked to my blog:
http://chirinesworkbench.blogspot.com/
Look in the sub-album "Games and Battles", pages two and three.
@Chirine - fabulous info! Thank you :) I've started experimenting with more wash coats than just the initial, and it does seem to work well, especially on browns. I'm still a beginner, just really getting my act rolling, even though I have been painting for awhile. I stop and start enough that it feels like I'm stuck in "relearn" mode.
We drilled the hands of the spear and staff holders, and then painted up 60 of the critters.
How long did it take for you to paint up all 40? Any techniques you'd like to share?
ReplyDeleteNice board! What was the scenario?
Chg: There were four of us, and I don't recall how long it all took. I'd guess around 3 Hours from drill to paint.
ReplyDelete--They simply needed a single colour coat after their primering, and their scheme was one of three colours, so that made it simpler than a fully detailed set of adventurers, for instance.
These critters (Hutligru or some variant on that) are implacable foes and the women were being dragged off to 'horrors more terrible than death', and their brother had dispatched troops to effect their rescue.
--I didn't get to play in that scenario, instead we went to The Source, where I picked up a few blank d12s, a nice copy of the MM2, and Tekumel works: Mitlanyal (the comb-bound, 'rare' copy), and Seal of the Imperium 2:2).
From what I gather, the scenario did go well for the Tsolyanu troops in either instance.
Jeff's collection of terrain (alone) is rather impressive, and those aquarium plants work very nicely for this purpose.
Ah, no shading/highlighting? Yea, they are simple to paint, no accessories. :) I'm really digging the rafts that the 4 figures are on.
ReplyDeleteI use some aquarium plants/sets myself, but that stuff can get expensive!
Thanks for sharing :)
@ChicagoWiz:
ReplyDeleteSorry to jump in; the little creeps are described as 'pallid', in 'mottled hues of green, grey, and black'. I opted for a flat white primer and washes of the three colors to give individual looks for each of the 60 miniatures. I'm thinking about going back and inking them with a very dilute black wash to punch up the details; we just ran out of time on the build day to do it then. The only 'detail' is the spears, with wood shafts and bone tips. It all went really quickly; raw metal to table ready in about four hours and that at a nice even pace.
Had to be careful with the pin vises, though!
The little coracles are great; you get a load of seated figures for each, and they look really good when all painted up and loaded.
Further questions answered as required!
@Chirine: Interesting! A wash only approach after the base coat... I'd love to hear more about that. Do you do multiple washes or just base/wash-done?
ReplyDeleteWhere did you come by the coracles... or the ships, for that matter?
The Hlutrgu (no middle 'u') can be found here:
ReplyDeletehttp://thetekumelclub.blogspot.com/
along with their coracles, which come in two sizes. Thanks for posting the pics, Kyrinn! I have yet to get any painted myself! :-0
Howard
Howard,
ReplyDeleteThey are excellent minis! :D
--I could see several pieces from the collection being used for Urutsk-play.
My fave so far is the puppeteer pack.
--Looking forward to owning one of those. :)
@ PHF: sorry about the spelling... (whoops!)
ReplyDelete@ChiWiz: Timeshadows told me to explain more, so I is.
I used a flat white enamel as a primer, then used a very dilute wash of several acrylics for the color wash: Liquitex Concentrated "Ivory Black" and "Phthalocyananine Green", and Windsor and Newton's "Payne's Grey". I use small plastic trays with a glop of the paint and lots of water; I use a broad soft sable brush to slop the wash all over the figure. This settles in the details and really brings them out. You can add more layers of the wash for deeper colors, waiting for each layer to dry; it usually takes just a few minutes, and makes for a nice effect as the white primer shows through on the higher portions of the figure. I should dot their eyes with gloss black, and maybe add a bit of toning to them, but they do look nice as is.
The human figures got the same primer, then Testor's 'Model Masters Acrylic' #4707 "Red Earth", which is the closest shade I can get to Phil's original specification of the now long-out-of-production Floquil "Samoa". I used a wash of P3 "Flesh Wash" to bring out the details.
The coracles get a couple of basic colors, then a dark umber wash to being them all together. Howard's given his URL, and that's where I got them.
The galley, the "Belle of Bey Su", is a Flagship Games galley, now sold by Scale Creep. She got her name from the blank shield on her stern counter, which I painted up with the arms of the city of Bey Su from the cover of the EPT box that Phil did.
The lateen-rigger is a junk from the Old Glory Shipyard range that I fitted with laser-cut rails, masts, and natty striped sails. She's named the "Carolyne's Revenge", after the sinking of the river pirate fleet run by one of my players of the same name; her ships were captured in the First David L. Arneson Memorial Maritime Miniatures Mayhem event we ran to honor Dave the weekend after he passed away. Her manly pirates were ambushed by the all-girl crew of a river barge, who were very well-armed for mere helpless dancing girls (well, this is Tekumel, after all) and had to be rescued by the river police; she wanted something a little faster and better armed, after the game...
There are pictures of this game, and more of our fleet, on the Photobucket page linked to my blog:
http://chirinesworkbench.blogspot.com/
Look in the sub-album "Games and Battles", pages two and three.
Hope that this helps!
yours, Chirine
@Chirine - fabulous info! Thank you :) I've started experimenting with more wash coats than just the initial, and it does seem to work well, especially on browns. I'm still a beginner, just really getting my act rolling, even though I have been painting for awhile. I stop and start enough that it feels like I'm stuck in "relearn" mode.
ReplyDeleteThank you again (and for the links)