Saturday 31 January 2015

Barsoom: part 3

I managed to get some drybrushed highlights on the board.  I am fairly happy with them, but I might go over them and add a lighter top highlight.  Some of the parts I am less happy with, such as the paler area, will be covered in yellow moss.
Overall shot showing the final colour, including the infamous 'pale valley' 
Close up showing the texture still looking good.
The highlight was a heavy drybrush of Ruby ring, then adding progressive amounts of.
I just need to add patches of yellow moss and spray some sort of protective coat.  i am not sure what to use, normally I would choose a mat varnish, but I have heard that hairspray is a reasonable alternative.

Friday 30 January 2015

Barsoom: part 2

So what does Barsoom look like?  Well the ground has to be red for the red planet.  The texture from the filler gives a great dried earth/mud look, and I will be using it in other projects in the future I'm sure.  According to Edgar Rice Burroughs the planet is largely covered by a yellow moss, so I will be adding something to represent this in large patches.
I will also make several rocky outcrops to scatter across the board.  Some designed to fit in corners or along the edge, others to be free standing.
Martian trees have ivory trunks and branches, with purple foliage, and grass is red.  No one is going to mistake this for Earth, or Jasoom I should say.
I aim to make a ruin or two as well; the Green Martians dwell in the ruins of the Red Martian cities built on the sea beds as the water level dropped.  I'm not sure yet what these will look like, possibly broken pieces of polystyrene packing?
Anyway, enough waffle, here's the progress so far.

The board with an undercoat of dark brown.  Very patchy.

Close up of the surface texture.
I am using match pots of emulsion paint for cheapness.  The brown is Wilko's Java Bean applied in patches then spread out with a moist brush.
The result is patchier than i hoped, but it should be covered in the next stage.
Now with dark red.  Shame I ran out of red paint.

A close up with the dark red, missing out the lighter blotches.
The red coat is a mix of two parts Wilko Ruby Ring to one part Java Bean.  This is applied neat, and stippled into the texture rather than brushed on to minimize brush lines.  The close up is paler than it actually looks, but we have sunshine outside today which seems to be making the photo look washed out.
Next up, drybrushing and moss.


Thursday 29 January 2015

Barsoom: part 1
This is my new project for the new year.  I blame my good friend and gaming buddy 'Merlin' who watched the film (I know!) and decided that we could rescue something from it gaming wise.
The aim is to play a few small scale actions using a version of GWs Strategy Battle Game system. The minis will be Black Hat from their Martian Empires 18mm range, plus anything else we see that seems to fit.
I have begun by working on some terrain, including a board.  Using 2cm = 1 inch in the original rules I came up with a standard board of 96cm square to equate to the normal 4ft square gaming area. Rounding up to 1m square I have a board of 4mm MDF fastened to a timber frame to prevent warping.  The whole lot is textured and awaiting paint.
The surface of Mars, either awaiting paint, or covered in snow.

Close up of the texture.
I followed some of the Terrain Tutor's guides for texture using filler (spackle).  
So far I like the result.

Tuesday 27 January 2015

Introduction

Hi, Mister C here, as I am known on several gaming forums.  This blog is an attempt to organise my painting and gaming, and also to hopefully get useful c&c from other gamers and painters out there.

Firstly a bit of background; I play roleplaying games, especially D&D.  I also like board games and miniatures games.  My favorites include Kings of War and Dreadball by Mantic Games.

I am a bit of a hobby butterfly, so have far too many unfinished projects.  i hope this blog will help keep me on track with my various projects, if you are wondering what has happened to something, please gently nudge me.