As I have been steadily adding to my pulp adventures terrain and miniature collection, I have been looking for relatively large numbers of similar miniatures to represent hazards and traps in my games. When filling the need through standard miniatures, it can get a bit expensive, particularly if I want a dozen of something!. I decided to take a look at the rather large offering from Safari Toys. They make all sorts of creatures, big and small. Now their colors often leave a bit to be desired, but nothing a novice miniature player cannot overcome with a minor degree of effort!
I started with the Safari Reptiles Toob. It has a retail price of only $12 and with a discount coupon, you can normally find these for $8.00. Not to shabby… To “tone them down” and add make them less toy like is not too difficult. Follow these steps and you can redo them in no time:
- First thing you do is wash then with soap and water to remove any residue.
- Spray them with dull coat to seal them.
- Apply your desired paint or ink wash and let that dry.
- Drybrush the model with a highlight shade.
- Spray them again with dull coat or satin coat (depending on the effect you want).
- All done!
In the above example, I took the bright yellow snakes and hit them with a GW Sepia wash. I then drybrushed the entire top of the mini with Vallejo bone.
The tan snake was given a GW agrath Earthshade wash and and dry brushed with Vallejo Iraqi Sand.
The neon green snakes were given a wash of Vallejo Armor Green wash and drybrushed with Army Painter Goblin Green.
The black snakes were easier. I skipped the wash, since they were already dark and just gave them a drybrush of Vallejo German Armor grey.
I gave away most of the lizards to a friends son, as I did not have a use for them. However, I kept the smaller red ones and just gave them a GW Sepia wash and drybrushed them with some Vallejo Red.
If your looking for some cheap options for your gaming, you cannot go wrong by considering the Safari line! Not a lot of work and I have what I need for a nice snake infested pulp game! Now, what other toys should I buy next….
- Manteuffel