Don't Tread on Me: TWD Monument Terrain

I managed to complete a few terrain projects this month, but my favorite turned out to be the easiest to make.   This American Revolution monument took only a couple hours, and will make a fine addition to my terrain collection.

Unpainted and assembled the components are clear to see.

 The monument is composed of four components.  The base is a square Warhammer large monster base.  The plinth is a rectangular box  I made from plasticard.  Finally, the minuteman statue is a Black Scorpion model from their Cutlass pirate range that I had laying around.  The assembly was quick and simple with Tamiya cement bonding the plastic components flawlessly, and some superglue applied to the metal "statue" slotted into the top of the plinth.  Once the monument was complete I attached it to an ovoid MDF base, and sanded the ground.

After some drying time and a shot of primer it was time to paint the monument.  I coated the ground with cheap craft acrylic.  Earth on terrain boards and projects eats a lot of paint so I have found craft analogs of my four earth tones from base to final drybrush.  I painted the base and plinth with a Reaper bone triad,  I wanted to suggest marble so I applied a base coat of the mid tone.  Once that was down I stippled the bone highlight.  I wasn't looking for coverage, just a break in the uniformity of the base coat.  This was followed by striations of the base bone colour.  It was far from a perfect imitation of marble but the long, uniform veins I ran across the surface of the monument suggested marble without being carefully referenced.  I used a white paint i had to do another stipple.  Again, I was aiming for layering, a suggestion of depth on the faces of the plinth.  In some cases I clouded over the veining.  I finished with a drybrush on the corners.

   

I think I'm happiest with the statue itself.  I have struggled with verdigris over the years and decided to throw what I knew out the window and try to keep it quick and easy.  I didn't bother with bronze and started with a base coat of Nurgling Green.  I cut the green with some white and drybrushed the statue once the base coat dried.  I shaded the figure with Nihilakh Oxide and flocked the base with static grass while I waited for the shade to dry.  To finish the statue I went back with agrax Earthshade in the recesses.  The dark brown tone was enough to suggest there might be some bronze under all that patina.  When the last shade dried I streaked some Vallejo Sky Blue an called it done.

 

I thought the Agrax and Sky Blue brought a lot to the statue and was happy for the afterthought.

The monument is intended primarily for The Walking Dead, but it would work in most modern and post modern/apocalyptic scenarios.  I was tempted to embellish the statue with some gore; That pristine white cries for a splash of blood, but I wanted to keep it generic, and suitable for as many genres as possible.  Adding the monument to my terrain collection is like gaining another set on the back lot.  Just by spreading my tree collection out a bit, and adding the monument (and maybe a couple benches or fences) I go from just having a forest or treeline on the fringe of my scene to a park.  The patina treatment I used for the statue is minimal effort for a reasonable return and has possibilities outside of the modern era.  This simple technique would not look out of place for bronze statuary in historical or fantasy settings.