Preamble
Side note: Cthulhu Wars is awesome and you should get it.
Anyway, I started this project a few months ago but didn’t get any photos because I’m an asshole. Cthulhu Wars is sort of like an epic, Cthulhu Mythos version of Risk. The factions are very asymmetrical (which I love), often with different paths to victory, and the miniatures are gorgeous (though I dislike the plastic they used). The minis are so nice I couldn’t not paint them. So here I am.
The Faction
I started with the Cthulhu faction because Cthulhu is awesome and iconic. Thematically, I wanted to look like everything was dredged from the bottom of the ocean, green and slimy and covered with seaweed. I also largely used the same colors to keep the faction coherent (a dark green, a teal, and a pink fleshy color).
CTHULHU!
I’ve already largely finished the rest of the faction (will update with pictures later), but I’m still working on Cthulhu himself. He’s massive, and the best Cthulhu mini / statue I’ve ever seen. The painting is largely done, but I still have to do basing (which will be what this update is based on. I’ll be adding seaweed and water effects so it looks like Cthulhu is perched on a rock in the middle of the ocean.
He’s still glossy because I did a gloss coat before starting on this. I’ll be dulling parts down so the glossy / slime look is more selective.
Making Seaweed
So the first step is to make seaweed to drape about the rock. This is made using cotton balls, Realistic Water, and green paint. Pull the cotton balls apart. They need to be looser and much stringier.
Put the tufts into a cup and add some realistic water (you want enough that the tufts bind together and are completely coated. Add some drops of green paint and mix. Add more as needed to get something approaching the consistency of the last pic:
Now start applying this to the base. You’ll need to stretch the cotton back out (I used a combination of my fingers and tweezers. Just remember the Realistic Water can be difficult to get off of things when it dries, so wash your hands as soon as you finish!). You want it to be really stringy. Once it dries it should bind to the base.
The color wasn’t quite right for my taste, so I mixed up a wash of a darker green and dripped it on areas of the seaweed after this step.
Water
Not quite done yet. I want there to be water splashing up all around the base. I cut a plastic cup in half and got an old piece of plastic to serve as the base. Put Cthulhu inside to make sure he’d fit. Looks good.
Next, use epoxy to glue the plastic together. Make sure there are no gaps or the resin will leak out.
Time to mix up the resin! I use Envirotex Lite. Mix equal quantities of both liquids into a cup and add a small amount of green paint. I also added a little blue instead of black for darkness. Mixture turned out a little opaque so I added more resin. Stir gently but thoroughly. You want to make sure it’s very well-mixed, but with as few air bubbles as possible.
Now pour! I used a toothpick to move the resin / draw it into little areas it didn’t pour into correctly. Gently shaking / vibrating it will also help with that.
Wait a few minutes, and you’ll notice a lot of the air bubbles float to the surface. Blow on it and they’ll pop all on their own! (this picture is pre-popping).
Curing time varies depending on how thick you poured it. This particular mixture cured in about 24 hours. I’ll updated soon with the next steps!