Building a battlefield

Starting to get a proper battlefield built here are a couple of images. The first is a simple hill. It is built from foamboard insulation, 5 cm thick. It is not nice stuff to work with; use in a well-ventilated area away from children. The rocks are bits of expanded polystyrene glues on. The slope and rocks are covered in plaster, the whole thing painted with primer paint.

The rocks wre painted with dilute black poster paint, which runs into the cracks to highlight the shadows. The rest was painted with green poster paint. I then spread sawdust, dyed with the same poster paint, over the top, glued with PVA.

The feature on the left is removable, and is the muck sponges mentioned in an earlier post.

This second board was made pretty much the same way, but with some bridge supports added (more foamboard with the sides covered in plaster). The stairs are just formed into the plaster, and the road is just black paint. The empty circle front right is where a scenery feature can be places.

More miniatures

Here are some more-or-less finished miniatures. This is the Serapon bastilodon:

 Lord Celestant of the Stormcast, and three of his soldiers. These were painted by my daughter, who has gone for green rather than blue, and they look pretty good.

My oldest got given some figures some years ago for D&D but not previously got around to making them. Here are three Irongut Ogres, just needing a paint wash.

This is my one and only figure, a Skink Starpriest.

And a prosecutor I painted:

More scenics

Completed this weekend, junk pile, made from a carbon cone covered in plaster, with bits of sprue, cocktail sticks and coffee stirrers stuck in it.

A second tor, this one leaning alarmingly (foal covered in plaster):

The head of a fallen statue (made of air-drying clay):

First finished scenics

Three hours in Games Workshop at the weekend, with daughter and friend.

They played a battle, or two rounds of a battle anyway, before abandoning the game. I think both felt they were losing, as one has lost his two big miniatures, the other was quickly losing all her foot soldiers. It did help resolve some rules issues though, with help from the guy in the shop. They spent some time painting too. I do not begrudge the prices GW charges so much when they offer this as well. I even purchased a figure for myself.

Some of my scenery pieces are now complete. The structures are made of clay, then glued to the base (a CD), with ready-mixed plaster over the top. The whole lot is painted with primer, and then the stone painted with very dilute black poster paint. The grass is painted green with poster paint, then covered in sawdust dyed green with more poster paint, stuck with PVA glue. Bushes are lichen from Woodland Scenics.

The brown in these Morrowind style much sponges was acylic.

The statue was a toy, the base a lid and the steps disks of card,

Foam insulation is the basis of this one.

The tower was a bit different, constructed of card, and painted with enamels. The base was the same as above.

More scenics

Done some more bits and pieces. These first bits in clay. I have found clay shrinks significantly as it dries, and this first image shows what can happen! I formed the shap around a plastic cup, and when the clay dried, great cracks appeared in it. I am counting that one as a failure, and using it to test paints.

So it looks like the best way to use clay is in individual pieces. Here are some Morrowind-style muck sponges, together with a couple of pillars and an altar.

And a giant statue head.

Another statue. The figure is from a range called Swampsterz, sat on the lid of a cocktail stick packet. The steps are disks of corrugated card with ready-mixed plaster spread on, and carved.

The is "Tower of the Sun Orb", which featured in an earlier post. Now painted (enamel paint to go over the shiny side of the card, with highlighting in mixed silver and black acrylic).

A tor, made of foam insulation covered in ready mixed plaster.

First miniatures

Here are the first few miniatures. My daughter has the start box for "Age of Sigmar", and this is one of big guys for Khorne, and is the first one she painted:

This was at a Games Workshop, with help from the guys there (otherwise I would have made her start on a small one!). Games Workshop merchandise is pretty expensive, but you do get a good service in the shops for free, so the cost of the goods has to cover that. I do not begrudge the prices so much once I realised that.

I helped her putting them together at first, but she sees to be doing a good job on her own. The painting is all her own work apart from that first one. This is a carnosaurus, and he did have a couple of gaps, which I had to fill in, as you can see on the second image. I am not sure if this was how it was put together or an issue in the model, but it should look fine once painted (and with a rider added).

Here is one of the stormcast army after primer:

I did look at alternatives to Citadel primer. You can get black spray paint for a couple of quid, but it tends to be gloss and may not stick to plastic too well. Car primer paint is supposed to be good, but that is around £6; it did not seem too much more to get the proper stuff for about £10.

This is a seraphon footsoldier (not sure of the technical name), part-painted.

Some progress

We put Papier-mâché on the first river boardand it now looks like this.

Only one layer so far, but we plan to do four. It took a long time to dry, and I think that caused the wood to warp a little, so one corner is about half an inch higher. I have since attached braces on all the sides:

Hopefully this will straighten it out (possible with some damping of the underside). Once the Papier-mâché is done, the screws can be removed, and the holes filled in with plaster. Well that is the plan anyway.

I am also building this "Tower of the Inferno". The golden orb is a Christmas decoration, and there is a piece of wood in the core of the tower to give it strength, the rest is card from cereal packers.

Last post I had been experimenting with clay; I am having reservations now. The clay strinks significantly on drying, and if it is on some kind of armature or attached to a base, it cracks. I will continue to play around with it, but it is not as useful as I was hoping.