Arachas HAS been filling his gaming table

Three ages of the world have passed, but here's an update.

I said I planned to cover the entire table. So I need to add some roads. Here goes:



And a small teaser: Sturmm is coming over next week for game and we WILL be taking pics.

Awesome. I'd love to see the progression as you get these finished.

Pressing bits of plastic into the sand is a brilliant way to use some of those scraps of bits I've been hanging onto relentlessly.

Thanks for posting!

-rhuntar

rhuntar wrote:

Awesome. I'd love to see the progression as you get these finished.

Pressing bits of plastic into the sand is a brilliant way to use some of those scraps of bits I've been hanging onto relentlessly.

Thanks for posting!

-rhuntar

Thank! I actually mix those bits in with the PVA glue/water/sand mix I always use. Easy!

Right on, managed to get some painting done.

Oh, a note on those sprue bits mixed in with the sand - didn't work out as well as I had planned. Sticking them on later turned out to be necessary, as the PVA glue just didn't agree with the plastic. A lot of pieces let loose. Oh well.

OK, so a shot of the basecoated roads (the two corners have had some further work done on them):



The plan is to drybrush them with Astronomican Grey: I've found the contrast with the darker underlayer is really telling. After that I'm thinking of going for another brushlayer of Khemri Brown and slight Deneb Stone highlights. Why? Because I think if I don't, everything's going to look very grey and dull. I've noticed GW does it, too, in their cityscapes.

Also been working on one of the buildings I felt had been overlooked. Repainted it grey, though I let the red shine through. Kept the red on the inside, though, as it's a nice contrast. Obviously this building still needs a wash and a drybrush. The construction is a disaster - I've glued it together from various spare parts from eBay and whatever I had left. I don't really mind, it's a ruin after all!



And finally a sneek peek at my entirely redone (but still WIP) Cadian squad (in the colorscheme I posted waaaaay back when I first joined here - it stuck and now there's a full squad coming!)

Nice update! Looking very good so far!

very nice.

Very cool pieces! YES!

Looking good - I need to get some terrain (and a table) sorted. How did you secure the carboard to the MDF on the roads without it peeling off?

Laney

Laney wrote:

Looking good - I need to get some terrain (and a table) sorted. How did you secure the carboard to the MDF on the roads without it peeling off?

Laney

PVA glue. Or rather standard issue, hardware store "wood glue". Which I'm sure is practically the same. I've noticed you mentioning the peeling and instability of MDF before, which makes me think that MDF in the Netherlands may not be the same as it is in the UK. I've never had any issues with it before: it's strong, it's cuttable and it doesn't bend when it gets wet. Superior Low Countries stuff?

The sand is mixed with PVA glue and water and becomes ROCK hard once it dries. That probably helps, too. But the cardboard stuck to the MDF effortlessly before that.

Arachas wrote:

PVA glue. Or rather standard issue, hardware store "wood glue". Which I'm sure is practically the same. I've noticed you mentioning the peeling and instability of MDF before, which makes me think that MDF in the Netherlands may not be the same as it is in the UK. I've never had any issues with it before: it's strong, it's cuttable and it doesn't bend when it gets wet. Superior Low Countries stuff?

Not sure what your individual countries call mdf, but I do know for a fact that it's probably different from what we get in the states. Working with construction materials for a living, I've learned that the US has really low standards for health and safety in construction materials. That means there is lots more formaldehyde used for glue in the stuff we get.

The same goes for OSB (cheap chip style plywood). I think I remember a report on the radio about how the Chinese factories that make the stuff effectively make it twice, once with low chemical content to sell in europe, and them with extra formaldehyde for the states.

So. Don't know about the Netherlands, but if your local mdf seems to be underperforming what people on the US describe, just be reassured its killing you much less.


-rhuntar

This is what I've got:

I've worked it out...

The MDF I used for mine was quite a lot thinner than yours Arachas. That probably caused the warping (though I did use the thickness recommended on Terragenesis - act least in one project) and meant the surface material separated from the base. So, my huge pile of 1" square MDF sheets is pretty much useless!

The PVA wasn't the problem, but soaked into the MDF.

Oh well, back to the drawing board (Maybe an Infinity one).

Laney:D

rhuntar wrote:

Arachas wrote:

PVA glue. Or rather standard issue, hardware store "wood glue". Which I'm sure is practically the same. I've noticed you mentioning the peeling and instability of MDF before, which makes me think that MDF in the Netherlands may not be the same as it is in the UK. I've never had any issues with it before: it's strong, it's cuttable and it doesn't bend when it gets wet. Superior Low Countries stuff?

Not sure what your individual countries call mdf, but I do know for a fact that it's probably different from what we get in the states. Working with construction materials for a living, I've learned that the US has really low standards for health and safety in construction materials. That means there is lots more formaldehyde used for glue in the stuff we get.

The same goes for OSB (cheap chip style plywood). I think I remember a report on the radio about how the Chinese factories that make the stuff effectively make it twice, once with low chemical content to sell in europe, and them with extra formaldehyde for the states.

So. Don't know about the Netherlands, but if your local mdf seems to be underperforming what people on the US describe, just be reassured its killing you much less.


-rhuntar

Reason number infinity for me to kick my younger self in the balls. "Sanding/Cutting/Routering MDF without a respirator sure, what's the problem?" I work in a plant now at a company with a pretty good safety culture and while I can still be a bit gung ho it makes me shudder every time I'm reminded about something like this.

On a side note, pressure treated lumber just hasn't been as good since they stopped using arsenic so there's definitely a reason for all that formaldehyde.

Laney wrote:

Oh well, back to the drawing board (Maybe an Infinity one).

Are you playing Infinity? What do you think of it?

Had an Imperial Bastion laying around from eBay... ripped it apart!

I didn't go for Infinity in the end, I started an ork kommando squad instead. Maybe a starter set or two could be a Christmas present from the Wife.

Laney:D

Hahaha! That Bastion is looking BETTER! hehehe

So building actually useful terrain turns out to be something of a specialty as well. Playing four games in the last month or so has really given me the chance to test out what I had. Turns out I wasn't happy with some stuff.

First off: the roads. Far too bumpy and cluttered. It was difficulty to place models on the sides or the road and putting some barricares on them was tricky, too. That actually also went for the last building I did, before the bastion (which was the mechanicum). I poured a lot of sand unto the base, which in the end make it look very cluttered and didn't play well at all.

Then there's buildings that, for some reason, get shunned in games. Have you noticed that? You create beautiful looking buildings, but some of them just don't work out during game play. For me, that building was my church. The reason, I now think, is because it was too closed off, while being one-dimensional. So not only was it kindof hard to shoot from it, you also didn't have the advantage of height.

So, with those points in mind, I started wrecking!

First now, the new, opened up church:




With the remnants I filled up a spare piece of board:




Then, my Mechanicus building. The one with all the sand on it. I also didn't think the building was all that interesting, so I rebased it.





Because a ton of the DS scenarios feature a plaza or square, I decided to make one. Undercoated so a little hard to see:





Based and basecoated the bastion, while I was at it. Here, too, less is more. I've switched from the elaborate sand patterns to simply chunks and piles of rubble. That should play much more effectively and allow for more obstacles to be placed.




What do you guys think?

Good to see playtesting has done your terrain well!
Now slap some paint on that bastion!