Desert warfare and battle damage

[NemFX]

Hey all,

 

my army is supposed to be down on it's luck, even by grimdark standards; in a desert, cut off from supplies, generally on their last clip and debating between using a lazgun or throwing rocks (same effect, really..) and I just can't seem to make them look very.. well.. dire.

 

I've given a few of them cloaks to keep the worst of the sun off them (I imagine that even with cooling systems, that they eventually start loosing effectiveness in battle and the like) and I'm trying to give them knives and canteens and whatever little stowages they can manage, but it just doesn't quite get the feel across..

 

I'm thinking of rusting up their exposed metal a bit, and maybe trying to show some of their (black) paint chipping off, but any suggestions to make them look like they are getting to the end of their rope would be great.

[ShinyRhino]

In the desert you end up with a lot of paint removed from hard surfaces. Windblown sand has that sandblaster effect (obviously :)). You might consider painting all the leading or sharp edges of their armor silver to represent the exposed metal.

I don't really think Marines would allow rust to form on their body armor or weapons, even in a desert environment.

[Tellos05]

Maybe try excessive paint chips and weathering. Try google searching sand blasting there shuld be some good images. Its a technique used to strip paint off cars and such. And Id imagine marines stuck in the desert would most definatley suffer from bad sand storms.

Hope this helps

[Redfinger]

Why not use weathering pigment? Secretweaponminiatures makes a really cool color called dark sand, dark earth, and a few other nice earthy sandy colors. Why not paint your marines as normal, then give them a good dusitng with the weathering powder?

 

Ashton

[IdOfEntity]

Hey Nemfx,

 

We're talking about a really arid desert right? I don't know that rust would accumulate that fast in arid conditions. I don't even know if the metals the armor is made from rusts. I like Shiny's point about paint chipping. If you can give the armor an exposed metal look that would be great. Maybe cut shoulder pads in key locations to make it look like it's dented, and cut knicks into the hard edges of armor.

 

Bullet holes and the look of fine grit in the joints. They're cut off from where they can perform complete armor upgrades. Oh, and they may keep the armor from rusting, but in the desert sand and grit get in everything. Especially your ears, and I don't know how. >.<

 

Add improvised repairs, like thin plates riveted on to armored areas. Paint those plates and patches a different colour to give them a real patched up look.

 

Hope it helps?

[NemFX]

Okay, I'm thematically basing my guys off the Enclave of Fallout 2, with a splash of Fallout 3's Enclave (slightly more space marine, but generally more crap..) of the D.C. ruins.

 

The FO2 ones are based out of an oil rig suspended over a partially irradiated sea, just off the coast of California. So, that would be hot and dry on the mainland, but exposed to liquids and salt, to cause rust. There would also be radiation, but I dunno if that'd actually have any sort of visual effect.

 

The idea is that this is the future, where the armour that the Enclave has is pretty obsolete. Sure, it's better than Guardsman armour, but that's not saying much. I already started designing what would be NEW armour (let's just call it mark 14 power armour) as opposed to the mark 7-9 that my guys and girls have access to.

 

 

In short, pretend for all intensive purposes that my Enclave decided to raid a museum and make off with anything wearable. They have since patched it up with whatever they can get their hands on. Substandard parts, crappy field modifications, duct tape where neccesary. They all carry knives because at least those don't run out of ammo.

 

Their razorbacks hold as much extra food and water as they can scrounge, because hey, they're in the desert, and with a very bad track record of their bases getting blown up by nukes, giant robots, and orbital deathbeams, they're pretty much down to their last little outpost.

 

It's less a question of if they are going to die, but more the case of when.

 

Most of the marines have started carrying the IG battery packs in case their suits run out, or their weapons run out and they have to modify them to use las tech.

 

 

 

In short: I want them to feel pretty dire, definately outclassed, definately outnumbered, and defiant to the last. Fix bayonets. We're going down with as many of them as we can.

[zxyogi]

I do my Marines with worn chipped armour but no rust as ceramite isnt a metal its ceramic. Even tho I say this I still use different shades of metal colours to show the damage. I also tend to vary the shades/water down the paint to try and give a worn effect,as tho the basecoat is showing through.

Hope this helps.

:(

[NemFX]

I'll do a mockup tomorrow.

 

The Marines Malevolent is very close to what I'm thinking of.

[red_starrise]

Also keep in mind that for men who no longer have helmets due to equipment failure or battle damage, they'll probably have some sort of headgear like this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41f9d5VGNxL.jpg

 

They'll also stain the pits of their eyes to keep them from frying. I'd deck the scouts out similar to Tallarn desert raiders. Also, lots of straps & equipment on their person, as has already been mentioned field repairs to armor & weapons as well as vehicles. Just think ever so slightly like an Ork.

[NemFX]

My marines use whatever I can get. They have a mix of Imperial and Chaos bits wherever possible. Not saying they run around with Khorne sybols or anything like that, just wanted them to be more varied.

 

The mockup has been temporarily postponed due to my last good paintbrush suffering a tragic fate from a model who's glue turned out to not be dry yet. It's hard to find fine paint brushes where I am..

 

I'm not doing the head wrappy thing because I wanted to show both genders being represented in my army, and the wrappings would pretty much make that redundant.. Good idea though! I mean, I suppose I'm still going for some space fantasy in here, but the Fallout universe hasn't always been entirely realistic :lol: