Now that my Sun Rot board is in a good place in terms of having what I need to run the scenarios I’m working on,, I’ve started a science fiction related project to change things up. It can’t be fantasy all the time, or whatever the Crow was talking about. I’m not someone who does things in half-measures, as my life has taught me, and so I’m building both a terrain tile set (in the same mismatch style of my Sun Rot project) as well as a heavily kit-bashed warband/army to go with it. If you’re going to have bespoke terrain you need to have miniatures to match right? It’s all about accessories.
My main inspiration for the board itself is the lurid, psychedelic and almost never tied into the actual story inside science fiction book covers from the ’70s. You know the ones, from artists like Rod Brown, Paul Lehr and an innumerable amount of others I’m failing to mention. These were the books I grew up staring at the covers of in the school library or used book stores, beaten and dog-eared from spending the past 15-20 years being read but not losing the power hold to evoke rich worlds that feel just on the edge of understanding. Then I grew up, did psychedelics and DID understand, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make here.
These covers left a lasting impression on me, and are always something I take a minute to appreciate anytime I run across them in the wilds of either the real-world or the internet. The grimdark worlds of things like Warhammer 40k share some of these design elements (or did at least) but it’s all slathered down with grease and grim and blackness. Not that this is bad, I grew up on John Blanche art as much or maybe even more so than these other artists (shout out the GOAT “Steve Jackson’s Sorcery” books!) and still find endless inspiration in those ideas and worlds, but sometimes I do wonder what these images would look like with a more psychedelic colour scheme instead of the Zorne pallet.
So that’s what landed me here, with this terrain project. I’m anticipating a weird journey (hopefully anyways!), trying out new techniques and materials and generally more learning on the fly. Here are some work in progress posts from what I’ve currently got on the go:
Next week I’ll probably make a post on the kit bashes I’ve been working on for this board/theme. Very mutated, maybe not the sort of people you’d let watch your cat when you’re out of town. All around fun guys!
– Scott
Drunk in a Space Hulk 