Gaming Table - Part 2

(or How I came to love my garage full of tools, again...)

The table frame, minus the actual game boards

The progress on the table continues!
Here is where I stand with it, now:

Gaming Table - Part 1

(or leave it to me to over-engineer something!)

Yes, that is a scale model of a frame for my gaming table... why do you ask?

Display Case - Progress - Pt 2

(or Why not have an unpainted display case for my unpainted miniatures?)

An unpainted display for a half-painted army?

I've made a little progress with my display case over the past few months.  Cork walls with wood dowel reinforcements have been assembled as the fortification curtain walls.  They are modular allowing me to remove them in sections, and to access the cable pass-through that is hidden behind the central platform.

When I was looking for a good way to create some gothic-looking balconies to display figures on, I remembered that I had some of the Syberclicks terrain set that fit the bill perfectly.

I still haven't decided about the upper balconies - whether to put the miniatures behind the windows, or to simply place the windows flat against the outer wall with "stained glass" behind them.  I guess a little experimentation will be in order once I paint the wall itself!

Aquila Gate - Pt 2

(or Why did I build large terrain pieces?)

Since I've made a bit of progress since I last posted it, here are some more WIP update photos on the Aquila Gate.

The Grand Army of Shame

(Hey, they're not cardboard proxies! You ought to be pleased!)

A few weeks ago I drove down to Jacksonville, Florida, to participate in a day of gaming and 40k nerdery (that is a word!).  The week that proceeded it was a flurry of model building, basing and priming.  I didn't actually get any more models to a finished state, but at least it wasn't a Grey Tide swamping the enemy there!

Display Case Flooring

(or Is there such a thing as too much supporting detail?)

Currently my armies reside in a two-part display case that also serves to support a printer, scanner and Network Storage.  I really don't have room in my current space for a large mutli-tier transparent case, and to be honest, I don't think I'd fill one, anyway!

Aquila Gate - Pt 1

(or Is bigger always better in terrain?)

Frame of the gate in progress

  In preparation for a day of gaming this past month, I decided to build some larger terrain pieces that weren’t just ruins.  Several different 40k terrain pieces inspired me to do a larger piece that could be used as a whole or in pieces.  I wanted to build a gate that would allow Land-Raider sized vehicles to pass, while still providing the feel of a walled citadel.

Desert Fortifications - Firestorm Redoubt

(or Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... right?)

So yes, I have managed to make some fortifications OTHER than the Desert Towers in my previous posts.  In this case, I wanted to scratchbuild a fortification CHEAPLY, yet still make it visually appealing and roughly match the dimensions of the GW kit.

Desert Watchtowers

(or,  I need something to see over all that tall grass I made!)

Well, I guess I am still on my terrain building kick...

Anyone see any filthy Xenos out there?

Urban Terrain project

(or Why do we have to go visit the city? I hate it there!)

Not much of my terrain has been in the classic gothic grey tones of the grim-dark that dominates the 40k hobby.

I guess I gave in during a moment of weakness.

First urban ruin completed

A small WIP post follows:

Back to Terrain building

(Have I been busy... and NOT with Warhammer 40k!)

For those of you who think I've fallen off the face of the Hobby, I haven't.  And just to prove it, I present the following picture:

Scratch-built crater with Marine (for scale)

Okay, so it isn't the best crater ever!

Busy, busy!

(really, I DO have something to do besides blog!)

Sorry for the long break between posts, I've actually been really busy!
I did manage to get three of the tall grass bases assembled and painted.

That leaves me 3 more bases to go, but it will be a few weeks until I get back into the 40k terrain building flow as I've got lots of travel coming up. It has been good to be busy, as the OTHER half of my creative life, my aviation photography business, has been doing well.  The 3G Aviation Media photography workshop at the Atlanta Warbird Weekend was a big success and a lot of fun too!

So, I don't have much to post this week, but I figured that I'd leave you with a few images of how the three grass bases worked out.

(yes, I still have some Devastator Marines to paint...)

See you in a few weeks!

Tall grasses

(or I'm still blatantly stealing ideas!)

I love the small clumps of tall, dry grass that +Paul Ward has done over at Matakishi's Tea House.  His design is pictured below:

Paul Ward's awesome grass bundles

As I was thinking about getting around to building some of these, I was cleaning up the garage and throwing out a ton of old computer CD-ROMs that my wife had brought back from her mother's place.  (yes, there was actually an AOL signup CD in there!)
A quick hit of my basic brown base color on both sides of the CDs and they were ready to go.  I put the paint on both sides for two reasons.  I wanted it to look somewhat nice overall, and I knew I'd be putting the "label" side down and smooth side up, as I didn't want my terrain to say McAfee Internet Security in bold letters...  I also wanted to provide a good surface for the glue sticks and PVA glue to grab onto, so it needed some sort of primer over the plastic.

freshly painted CD-ROMs

I threw the CD-Rom onto the paper plate (yes, to contain the mess of basing sand AND the hot glue gun sticks.)
As discussed, on this batch I mounted it "label" side down as I thought I'd want a smooth surface to put the basing sand over.  On the latter bases, I opted to go "label-up" in order to hide all of that unsightly text underneath the basing sand.  In my mind, it looks more professional with a smooth base underneath it when picked up.

So before you get all excited and start gluing grass and basing sand to the CD, place a small section of painter's tape over the center hole, so you can get a good flat glue spot there that doesn't adhere to your paper plate or work surface. (and no, I didn't make that mistake on a previous iteration!  I'm pretty proud of myself that I had the forethought to put the tape on FIRST!)
Once you get the tape in place, it is time to start adhering "grass" materials.

To properly size the "tall grass", I wanted it to be able to provide almost total cover for my modified Ironstriders/Dragoons, so I used one of them as a reference and started cutting.  I cut a good amount of the bristles to be the largest height, but then decided that the outlying bushes should be a bit smaller.

It works very well to cut all of the varying lengths FIRST, and then combine them into a grouping that you will place into the glue.
You can also see that I did make a mistake by purchasing a small hand broom instead of a larger one.  The ends are a lot more uniform and less "grass-like" than the ones in Paul's terrain.  Note to self, make a second batch that is more "grass-like" if required.  (I'll just say that this grass is more like bamboo!)


Since the CDs were a bit bigger than Paul's cork bases, I decided to NOT overload it with grass, but rather to leave room for units to move into the terrain to gain the benefits as area terrain.  To make each of the bundles, just put a half-inch circle of hot glue and press the "grass" into it and hold.  And if you bought the "regular" glue instead of "fast-set", continue to hold.  and hold.  Second Note to self - Buy "fast-set" glue sticks next time!



A liberal painting with watered down PVA glue and it was ready for my basing sand mix.  Here is another departure from Paul's design.  I didn't opt to put small rocks around the base of the grass bundles.  That was primarily due to not having any handy!  Instead I went back and re-painted several of the humps with glue to make sure that there was good coverage up to the base of the grass stalks.
It may be a bit tricky to get some basing sand in between the stalks if you have glued multiple bundles down in an incremental fashion, but most of those problems were solved by watering the glue mix down more and dropping the sand in at an angle.
(which is why the rocks would have been a good idea!)


As with previous terrain, I used the same 3-color craft basing paints (Brown Oxide, Territorial Beige, Khaki) to tie it in with my high desert terrain theme.

All three colors by step

So here is the finished product, with both a Marine and a walker for scale.  How did it turn out? Pretty good, I think. While it doesn't look as brush-like as Paul's terrain, it fits what I need for my 40k table.

Grass now provides significant cover for both the infantry and walkers

I've got a few lessons for the next 5 I have to build, but at least I think I've got a product that will look good on the table without being too difficult to manufacture. (and once I'm done with this batch, the next ones will be made from the CORRECT size broom!)

6x6 Field, Produced!

(or Static grass isn't THAT messy, is it??)

Okay, so TWO fields done.  (it really wasn't that much work, as I spent more time documenting them than I did cutting them!)

2 completed fields with a small MDF hill

Several of you asked for a detailed tutorial, so here is how I made the field of crops, MY way:

Crops and Fields WIP

(crazy ideas with a welcome mat!)

Several people have asked for a detailed tutorial of how I am going to build up these 28mm fields. (Well that ISN'T this post!!)

  The first thing I'll say is that you do NOT have to go to the level I am headed towards in order to make these fields usable.  In fact, they are pretty darn good once you cut them out of the mat and sort out the black stripes!

Two quick examples from other blogs that did just that.

Desert Pipeline - FINISHED!

(See I can finish a project!)

Here is the Counts-as-Promethium-Relay-Pipes. (with a Space Marine for scale)
At least finishing this up gave me a chance to take some in-progress pics for the coloring of the terrain.

Yet another Terrain WIP

(how many things do I have going at once?)

Supplies for my next project

Anyone got any ideas what this is going to be when I get done with them??

Desert Pipeline

(What else was I going to work on ??)

While I realize that this doesn't look like the series of buildings I promised you, I have been hard at work!

Test section of the Zagros Pipeline to New Herat

 Did I mention I was going to build a pipeline for my village?  I didn't?  Hmmmm...

It takes a village

(or how do I keep getting sidetracked from building models?)

Just a quick update on a completed part of a much larger WIP.

No, the Marines aren't the subject of this post... but they add some color!

Pegasus Hexagon terrain - Painted!

(must... fight... terrain... block!)

What to do with all of this??

I'll get something built out of the Pegasus Hobbies' Hexagon Construction set, eventually!  The only way to fight through this is to just jump in, build terrain and paint it!