Getting into the Holiday Spirit - Modified Spidicules Expansion, and Scenery

So, I'd been considering modifying my Spidicules for ages but, before I'd become frustrated with its design, I already built and painted mine, so there wasn't much to do with that.


However, Craig McNicholas had the guts to try what I hadn't. (Kudos, Craig!) I didn't repeat his methods, but did take inspiration from his successful execution.

My version was mostly achieved through careful cutting, lots of reinforcing wire, some sculpting, and achieving some semblance of a lower center of gravity by casting the base out of solid plaster (rather than often hollowing it, as I normally do to save materials and make the model lighter).

Unlike the standard version, this one really only takes up the 50mm base footprint, and I think has some much more dramatic movement.

In addition to the Spidicules, I also updated and finished some survivors with spider gear. While my goal has always been to have 3-4 survivors in iconic and functional armor sets, the Spidicules armor is so flawed that I haven't had much time to play around with what that would actually look like. Furthermore, its weapons don't really go well with its armor. Also, I'm holding out hope that the Abyssal Woods campaign will tweak things to make them more functional. So, this set is a bit different, and more minimal. Left to right...

(While I've been playing with contrast above and below, these are probably closest to the models' true colors.)

Georgie, our very first Lion Armor/Katar survivor, ever, who eventually hit mastery, and then beat up the Watcher by rolling an improbable number of perfect hits with her backup axe, finally saw a bit of a facelift: her paint job didn't quite match how I've been doing things now, and Hooded Scrap Katars are just so fun.

My current favorite of the survivor modifications is the axe dude. His weapon is a custom job, and is my loose interpretation of the promo Xmaxe, based on core and Gorm survivor bits with a bit of cutting and sculpting. Again, this was kind of going in the direction of the Abyssal Woods, with some more color and an axe themed around the look of both the Spidicules and the Flower Knight. Also, I think his cloak texture came out nicely.

Jumping into theory just a little, the Xmaxe complements the Silk Armor affinities well, the weapon benefits from the ability to farm insanity, and in doing so, bypasses a weak point in the armor set (as it doesn't generally do much for weapons). So, in that regard, he hits best what I intend these guys to be.

The Silk Body Suit pinup survivor didn't see more than a tune-up... I'm honestly not sure what to do with the model. I tried to fit an Amber Poleaxe in there instead of that knife, but my spouse is kind of a halberd nerd and none of the possible poses looked both cool and even a little believable.

The Leather Armor survivor used to have a counterweighted axe. Since the Gambler's Chest will eventually have that combo covered, I swapped it out for her whip, which I think looks pretty stylish, besides being my group's favorite whip.

Finally, Kingdom Death wouldn't really be Kingdom Death without some drama and atmosphere. You may have noticed some new scenery in my scenes above. This is the first of someone else's KD scenery I've painted, and I think it's got some very nice detail and weight. I intend to do a short review, down the line, once I have more painted and once I'm sure who did it.

(And yeah, I know, those long columns are supposed to be fallen like below; well, I think they still look cool, vertical, and add a sense of scale.)