FOIL WATER

Here's an interesting step by step article on how to model water using foil.

INDUSTRIAL AND GOTHIC TERRAIN

Quite awhile ago I bookmarked links to a cool website that offers pictures and ideas about building industrial and gothic terrain for games like Warhammer 40k and WARMACHINE.

Check it out, because there's some cool stuff on there.

GAME BOARD MADE EASY

I made a very simple game board using some plexiglass and vinyl tiles. I went over to Lowes and has them cut me an apropriately sized piece of plexiglass and then I went to the flooring section to pick out some tile. When I returned home, I simply had to peel and stick the vinyl tiles and I had an instant gaming board ready for play.

Be aware that you may want to mix and match sizes of tiles in order to make it less simple to determine distances on the game board. If all the squares are 12" x 12" who needs a measuring tape?

CNC WORKSHOP

CNC Workshop offers a collection of terrain made of easy to assembled MDF.

"We aim to provide you with a product and service that is of an excellent standard, at a very affordable price. We are able to achieve this by utilizing our in-house expertise in automation, software, electrical & mechanical engineering combined with graphic design to create a highly integrated system of manufacture that allows for lower overheads and labour costs.

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"Miniature Scenery buildings are especially designed for tabletop wargames (scale 22-28mm). Models are delivered as a pack roughly A4 in size, unassembled and unpainted. The parts of the building are designed to slot together in a way that allows for a quick and easy assembly."

http://www.miniaturescenery.com/

MOSH PIT MADE EASY

When playing Steamroller 4, there are several scenarios that require patterns on the game table. One good example is Mosh Pit. Although it is perfectly acceptable to use string to mark out the Pit itself, I decided that making a simple template would be more effective.

I went to Dollar Tree and bought several sheets of green cardboard sheets at $0.50 each. I marked the sheets with the appropriate sized circle, and then cut them out to size. I used some scrapbook lettering stickers to label the template (just for fun!) and suddenly I had a useful piece of terrain for my Steamroller 4 tournaments.

THIS IS NOT 'SEX IN THE CITY" IV

Painting brick buildings can be an annoying task. Here is one way to accomplish the task without losing your mind. My reference paints are Vallejo Model Color.

• Spray paint the entire building a single color. I used black. Make sure the spray paint is room temperature, well shaken, and matte. If you're painting plastic, make sure the spray is intended for plastic. If your building has any signs like the one above did, cover the signs (and windows) with blue painting tape. I actually put a strip of blue painter's tape on the interior of each window as well to give the building a "glowing blue" look from inside. After all, Cygnar is known for it's glowing blue gadgets.


• Drybrush the entire building using #921 English Uniform. (You could use P3 Gun Corps Brown) This will give the building a nice overall "brick" look.


• Using #828 Woodgrain, create an ink by adding a 1:1 ratio of water/paint. Ink the entire building. Allow this to dry.


• Using 886 Green Grey (You can mix 3:1 Ironhull Grey and Gnarls Green) drybrush the walls up and down to create what would appear to be weathering from water running down the walls.


• If you wish, use a little crumbled up white or gray chalk to lightly dust the entire buidling.


• Seal with a matte sealer when you are happy with the completed building.

GRASSES AND BUSHES FOR GROUNDWORK

When you have built your piece of terrain and painted it, then it is time to add the vegetation. There are plenty of materials to use, including mundane ( herbs, lichens, moss) and hobby focused (turf, field grass, static grass, and flock.) Either way, the materials should be mixed and matched to provide variance so that no color is dominant. (In the picture above, you'll notice the static grass has brown and green mixed.) Remember to consider your scenery before haphazardly adding vegetation. In some places the grasses and weeds may be growing wildly while in others foot traffic may have worn it down to nothing. Distribute the flocking materials so that they look natural. Make sure that when the materials are fixed in place that they look realistic, are easily distinguished, and do not clash with each other.

PAINTING RED BRICK AND MORTAR

Red brick buildings can come in many shades. Here is a basic guide on how to paint a red brick building.

• Use whatever kind of paint you wish. Pick a nice flat (matte) dark reddish brown color as a base coat. Paint the entire area of brick with the base color and allow it to dry.
• Apply a mortar wash to the entire area of brick. Use a wide flat brush. The one I use is called a "Shader." Use a grayish white color for the mortar wash. Thin the gray paint down by adding water until you get a nice thin wash. Using the flat brush, apply the wash to the entire building. This will allow the lighter color to sink into the recesses of the brick. Allow this to dry.
• If you believe that you didn't water the wash down enough and you got too much gray on the red brick, use a pencil eraser to carfully remove some of the excess mortar wash.
• Using a different brush, drybrush lightly over the entire surface with the original dark base color. Feel free to allow some areas to remain lighter in order to show weathering.

A second way to do this may be simpler for some hobbyists. It works because on textured card or styrene.

• Paint the entire brick area of the building white. This serves as a basecoat and sets the underlying mortar color for the bricks. Allow this to dry.
• Wash the entire building with a mortar wash of a light gray. Most mortar is not white, and it will add some variance to the base color. Allow this to dry.
• Using a dark reddish brown color, drybrush the entire brick area. The drybrushing will color the brick on the raised surfaces, and allow the lighter color to remain visibile in the crevices between the bricks.

SCENIC EXPRESS!

http://www.sceneryexpress.com/

Scenic Express credits its many years of success to not only selling “top-of-the-line” landscaping scenery supplies, but also attributes much success to its well-known reputation for prompt processing and shipping of orders (most orders are shipped the same day!). Further, Scenic Express continues to add annually the most modern, up-to-date, exciting, new scenery products to its inventory making every new catalog released the most sought after publication.

Intended for model railroading but perfect for decorating your bases!

THIS IS NOT "SEX IN THE CITY" III

Page 77 of Remix describes three different types of terrain: open, rough, and impassable.

• Open terrain in urban fighting would include any section of smooth, even ground. Examples of this type of terrain would be uncluttered streets, flat rooftops, and suspended walkways.
• Rough terrain in cityscape environment would be sections of rubble, ruins, waterways, vats, sewers, and rooftops with mazes of pipes.
• Impassable terrain in a cityfight includes cliff faces, some structures, and other natural or man-made features that completely prohibt movement.

Although there is no hard, solid facts on what is “large” or “small” terrain in a game of WARMACHINE, there are guidelines for League games that provide sizes and shapes for certain kinds of terrain. The only key is that all players agree on the terrain to be used, and that the terrain isn't designed to purposely aid or penalize a certain player.

While we're at it, we might as well discuss Obstacles and Obstructions. More information about both of these may be found on pages 77-78 of Remix. Simply put, these are two different types of terrain that affect movement.

• An obstacle is up to 1” tall. An advancing or running model can climb upon, across, or over by spending 2” of movement. If the obstacle is at least 1” thick as well, a model cn stand on top of the obstacle as well. (I immeadiately think of Allister Caine standing on a crumbling stone wall, popping off shots at enemy troopers.)
• An obstruction is any terrain feature greater than 1” tall such as a building, water tank, or large pipeline.

Elevation in cityscape games is handled the same way as in a normal game of WARMACHINE as described on page 78 of Remix.

Hazards are handled in the same manner as described on page 78 of Remix.

MAKING YOUR OWN GROUNDCOVER

I recently found a good article about how to collect leaves, chop them up in a blender, strain them, and magically turn them into flock. Seems like a lot of work to me ... but you might dig it.

Check it out. Here.

THIS IS NOT "SEX IN THE CITY"

This is WARMACHINE in the city...

So you're into the fluff from Legends and you want to do some urban combat gaming. Excellent. The first step is to understand how an IK city might be layed out and growing. Remember that railways are an important mode of transport for both supplies and persons. Before you start to build your city, you might want to consider that the railroad is a key feature of the urban setting in IK. Cities usually grow from the inside out along transportation lines. Also, the buildings will likely be brick structures in which external walls bear the building's weight. That's why you won't find many super tall buildings in most IK artwork. Mills, factories, warehouses, and tenemants will be found alongside the railways that link the cities together.

So the question is if you want to include a railway in your urban setting or not. I choose "yes." Modelling railways can be challenging and fun.

What do you think?

ARTICLE BY ROBERT CARD

There is a good article here about the making of a diorama to honour the service of Sergeant Ray Holt, Driver Tank #11, B Company, 3rd Platoon, 752nd Tank Battalion. It's a good read, and it gives some nice information on how to make bombed out buildings.

If you've got a little time online, check it out.

MAKING A SIMPLE FOREST PATH

Regardless of whether you're making a forest template, flocking a hill, or finishing off your new gaming board, you may want to make some simple paths. It's easy to do as long as you know some simple tips and tricks.

(1) Gather your materials. You'll need white PVA glue, a small spray water bottle (like the kind you get when you buy new glasses), dark green flock, and light green flock.

(2) Mix your glue. Take the spray bottle and fill it 1/4 of the way full with water. Carefully add an equal amount of white glue. Mix this by shaking until it looks to be the consistency of milk. Then fill the bottle the rest of the way with water. Mix again by shaking.

(3) Spray the glue mixture over the entire project enough to make it wet.

(4) Cover the entire project with the light colored flock. The best kind of flock to use for this is referred to as "fine" flock usually used to represent lawns, and large areas of grass. Allow the flock to dry. Spray the entire project with a lighter mist of the glue mixture again. Allow this to dry. if you need to do this a couple of times, do it. Sometimes it takes two or three attempts to get good coverage. Don't get in a hurry. Take your time.

(5) Now, use your imagination. Where do you want the path to go? Spray the glue mixture in a path across the project. Make the path straight or "s" shaped. Whatever. Now sprinkle the dark flock on the wet parts to form the path. The best kind of flock to use for this is called "Coarse" flock. It will add texture to the project on an "eyeball" level. Once the dark flock dries, mist the dark flock again to help it stick. Allow this to dry.

(6) If you like add bushes, undergrowth, tall grasses, or trees. Whatever you wish. It's your terrain, so do with it whatever you want.

(7) Finally, take some matte spray like Dull Coat and mist the entire project. This adds a matte protectant to the terrain piece.

LIGHTWEIGHT MATERIALS

When building terrain, look for solid materials that are light weight yet solid at the same time. Styrofoam, cork board, and foamboard are sturdy, yet solid. You can use thin pieces of plywood too, but these are known to simetimes bend and warp in large pieces. plan ahead for yout project, choosing whatever you feel will do best. Cork is good because it is solid, easy to cut, light weight, and resistant to fluids used during painting. You want your terrain piece to be attractive yet easy to carry and store. I generally like to carry and store my terrain in left over paper boxes that I get from work. So if I was making everything out of heavy materials, I'd have a heck of a time carrying all that stuff around. Basic pieces of scenery to start with are hills of various shapes and sizes, templates for forests, and rough terrain templates.

GROUNDWORK TEMPLATES

Begin your project with easy to find materials. I will be using thin plywood, titebond white glue, green putty, vinyl spackling, and basing supplies (sand, flock, static grass, talus.) See an example of these kinds of templates here.

These templates can be used as generic groundwork templates in your games of HORDES and WARMACHINE. You can use them as sections of rough terrain, building and ruin bases, forest templates, and other generic terrain. For now, I'd recommend sticking to 5" x 5" or 4" x 6" templates.

Simply, the project goes like this: (1) Shape (2) Texture (3) Glue (4) Scatter (5) Flock (6) Paint (7) Accent (8) Seal

(1) SHAPE: Cut your template to the size you want it. Craft Stores often sell their craft wood in various sizes. You may be able to find a size that you need pre-cut however chances are you'll need to use an hobby knife or dremel (with cutting disks) to give the template a little shape. (Using foam is easier here as you can just cut it to shape with a hot wire cutter.)

(2) TEXTURE: Apply your putty and spackling. These materials help to add texture to the template. You can also use a fine grit sand mixed with paint as a substitute. Also, Spectre Hobbies sells "Texture Gel" which does the same thing very well. Anyway, add the putty first followed by spackling. Leave empty space at the edges. Add the putty, spreading it thin and pressing a few medium sizes stones into it. Follow up by adding the spackling to the remaining empty spaces starting from the center. Allow the template to dry before going to step #3.

(3) GLUE: Coat the template with glue. I use Titebond straight from the bottle however if you wish you can use some water to create a 1:1 mixture. It's really up to you. Spread a thin coat of white glue over the entire template including the empty space on the edges. While the glue is still wet, continue with step #4.

(4) SCATTER: Place a paper or cloth towel under the template. Gather at least three grades of stone-like flock. I recommend craft sand, fine talus, and coarse talus. Sprinkle the stone flock over the template beginning with the finest material and ending with the coarsest. Allow the template to dry. After it is dry, carefully shake the template over a container to remove any extra talus. I usually shake the excess talus right back into its original container as to not waste flocking materials.

(5) FLOCK: Same story as step #4 but this time with flock. Use at least two colors of flock, one dark and one light. Take a cup or sifter and mix the flock together. Now get the white glue. This time, use a 1:1 mix of water/white glue. If you have a scenic sprayer, use the regular mixture. Figure out where you want to add patches of grass on the template. Add your watered down glue to these areas, and then sprinkle with your flock mixture. If you have a scenic sprayer, mist the flock lightly to add an additional seal. Allow the template to dry before moving on to #6.

(6) PAINT: Using a black or brown spray paint, coat the entire template. After the template dries, use a large brush to paint the entire thing with a basecoat of dark brown or reddish brown. Don't worry about getting fancy because this is a basecoat. Once the entire ground is painted, it's time for drybrushing. Start with the rock outcropping, painting them with a dark grey. After finishing with the rocks, drybrush with a slightly lighter color. Remember to take a little care to maintain the level of "dryness" on the dry as to avoid ugly smudgey spots on your template. Afterwards, drybrush a second time with a even lighter highlight color to add contrast. Allow the template to dry before moving on to #7.

(7) ACCENT: Now is when you can add Undergrowth, Bushes, and Grasses. For undergrowth, use polyfiber. Seperate the polyfiber be carefully tearing it into layer. Stretch the layer until thin and lacy. Apply white glue to areas of the template you undergrowth. Gently push the polyfiber into the glue, then sprinkle around the edges of the polyfiber to add volume and to fill gaps. Do the same with bulky moss or foam bushes. To add grasses, simply add small amounts of white glue to the surface, and add small pinches of grass to the glue. Allow glue to dry before moving to step #8.

(8) SEAL: When you are happy with your template, use a matte spray like Dull Coat to seal it. Lightly mist the entire template with the spray. It will protect your template while you're moving models and tossing dice on the game table.

MAKING BARBED WIRE

Click here for an excellent article on how to make your own barbed wire for WARMACHINE.

SANDBAGS

What battlefield is complete without sandbags?

If you're looking to make some sandbags of your own from putty, click on over to this article written and submited by Ronny Noben. However, if you'd like to order your own that's possible too. You can click on over to Toy Soldiers Depot and use the search function to look through what they have to offer. If you're looking to pick something up locally, contact WHATEVER! in the DuBois Mall to order some of the rather cool Pegasus sandbag sets they have to offer. If you are closer to Gatehouse Games, then contact them to get in that order before Christmas.

MAKING BARRICADES

TerrGenesis has a good article on how to make simple and easy barricades for your games. Click here to read the article. And if you decide to make anything ... email me with the pictures and I will post them here!

WALTHERS MODELING TIPS & TRICKSL FROZEN PONDS

Modeling Tips & Tricks from Walthers

Frozen-Over Ponds

If you're modeling a winter scene you can use wax paper to add a small frozen pond to your layout. Paint a flat, level area where your water surface will be dark blue (C&O Blue works great!) and let dry. Cut a piece of wax paper a little larger than the area you painted and glue it shiny side up to your layout base with non-yellowing glue (white glue works fine for this). Apply glue only around the edges and make sure there are no ripples or folds in the paper. For best results, use thin translucent wax paper (the cheaper the better!); it'll look white on the roll and the blue paint will give your finished pond a slightly bluish cast just like the real thing. As a finishing touch, blend your pond's edges into your scenery with snow powder (available from several manufacturers).

Walthers.com