Making It Your Own. A Tale of Building a Maw Krusha. Part 1: The Base

 That, is an Orruk Megaboss on a Maw Krusha. As the saying goes, there's a lot like it out there. But this one's mine.

Today I'm going to wax poetic on the process of building this beast of a miniature and perhaps talk about why I enjoy it so much.

I love miniature painting. This is a surprise to no one. It's been my source of zen and peace in the last 12 months of being stuck in a pandemic infested world. There's something about pushing paint and pigments that calms my mind no matter how shitty my day was.

Miniature painting is an exercise in patience. Every step is tedious ad nauseam. From the assembly, which involves cleaning and smoothening out rough bits, to glueing pieces together. And then there's the painting process. We'll get to that later. Despite all that, I have not found myself grunting in frustration or just saying "Fuck this!" Nah. Surprisingly I've powered through each step. I believe it's the thought that no matter how tedious or repetitive the task may be, once it's done it'll be worth it. One of my favourite mini painters, Jon Ninas, called this the "butt stage". Where your work looks like ass and you simply have to power through before your miniature becomes the work of art you want it to be. 

This is basically what happened to me when I tackled the Maw Krusha model kit. 

It was by far the biggest miniature I've worked on to date. I got it on sale from a friend. The price was so good I could not pass it up. 

One "take my money now" moment later and hey presto, this was delivered to my doorstep. 

Hells to the yeah. I was giddy with excitement. Yes I said giddy. However this quickly turned to trepidation when after assembly, I realised how BIG the damn thing was. In the gaming community, the Maw Krusha is jokingly referred to as a "cabbage". I realized that it's because its the literal size of a head of cabbage. The base was a whopping 160mm in diameter. Nearly the size of my cutting mat. 

As I didn't want to mess this up, I set the beast and the Megaboss aside and started work on the ginormous base. Some mini painters eschew working on this until after the miniature itself is done but I wanted to tell a story. And another favorite mini painter of mine, Sam Lenz, mentioned that a well crafted base can elevate a paint job even more. 

So I went ahead and started cutting up a spare chunk of cork and strategically super  glued some dried tree bark I ordered online (I believe its used for gardening) and used some tissue paper layered with diluted PVA glue to add texture. Once all the glue was dry I primed it black, then dusted it with flat white from above to help me remember that my light source is coming from directly above the miniature. Both primers were simple rattle can spray paints you get at a local hardware store. I had some spare plastic bits in my drawer from previous projects. Some broken spears and a weird turtle looking skull and a shield. I affixed these at separate locations as I wanted it to look like an ancient battlefield of sorts. I glued some sand and grit in the forefront of the base and all over as well to add more texture. 

As I quickly learned, dried bark is excellent for simulating rocky textures. I painted the "rocks" gray after looking at some wasteland photos.

I took a step back and said "Yeah, now we're getting somewhere."

I proceeded to paint the sand, in beige and neutral tones and the "rocks" in cool grays and dark, desaturated blues and blacks to give it a look of a rocky wasteland. I painted the broken spears in dark metallic gray and added some light turquoise to some choice parts to simulate verdigris. Same approach with the broken shield except it was painted in bronze.

A little dry brushing here and there and some desert sand pigment on the foreground, and then two coats of satin black paint on the rim and I called it done! 

I was happy with how it ended up and the base gave me some idea where I wanted to go with painting the Megaboss and Maw Krusha. 

With renewed vigor I went ahead and made plans on how to paint the Megaboss. That angry Orc dude riding the death cabbage. 

I'mma talk about that on my next entry. This hobby has been a godsend in these trying times. Having a past time that challenges my creativity and artistic ability is breathtakingly therapeutic. I can't wait to continue to share my mini painting exploits here. I'm taking a Tarantino-esque non linear approach which is why I started with my latest work. Perhaps at some point I'll talk about why I got into this hobby. But that's a story for another time.