Terrain - Country roads

I've been on a roll this weekend, cranking out all kinds of stuff and even finishing some things up.  The big thing is the completion of the first seven dirt road sections.  I started these months ago but finally got back to them.

The Empire's finest walking along a dirt road.

Colorful Colorado - Western Terrain

I'm not into Western gaming myself, but it seems very popular in some of the blogs I follow.  Since I live in the West I thought I'd post up some pics for those of you who want to work on terrain for those games.

The Western Slope of Colorado, near Grand Junction.

Table Top World buildings - Amazing

My terrain collection is not as complete as I would like it to be.  I'm short nearly everything man made.  This isn't helped by the fact that I dabble in Sci/Fi, Fantasy, several historical periods and two scales (28mm and 15mm).  I recently took steps to remedy part of this deficiency.  These three pieces came in the mail today; a very pleasant early Christmas present from Croatia.

The Blacksmith's forge from Table Top World.  Photo from Table Top World web site.

More Roads

The roads are coming along.  A couple of coats of dry brush and some flock and such and they'll be finished.
In the last installment the roads were coated with textured paint and then painted with my standard basecoat of brown house paint.

The next step is very much similar to how I do bases for my models.

A road base, ready for sand.

Dirt roads

Wherever there are people, you'll find roads.  For all of human history many of those roads were dirt.  In order to get the maximum flexibility out of any roads I build they must, therefore, be dirt.  A couple of years ago, six, actually, I cut some wood out to be made into a river.  I never got any farther on the project and now I'm building the river into the tiles.  That left me with seven river sections which will work just fine for dirt roads.

Two road sections.

Gaming Table, Part V

The progress continues on the table, even if it sometimes feels like it's two steps back for every one forward.  After getting expert advice from Loki and Anne I, of course, ignored it all and did my own thing.  We are getting ready to lay some tile and I was digging through the garage to see what supplies I had on hand and what I still need to buy.  I found a mostly used bag of tile cement and had an epiphany.

The tiles with cement over the foam lines.

Gaming Table Part IV

Another step done on the table.  I have picked up many paint samples in the discount section, one of which was a nice, dark, brown.  In the last installment, I said that I planned on gluing down some kitchen rags to use as grass.  In the intervening weeks I changed my mind.  I've decided to make this first batch of tiles much more generic, to get the maximum flexibility out of them.  To that end they will be double sided, green terrain on one side and desert on the other.

Sample size of paint.

Sci/Fi containers

People tend to fight for things that matter.  Very often that includes cities, towns, ports and airfields.  In the far future that will be just as true as it is today.  One thing that all of these places have in common is containers.  Again, this will probably hold true in the future as well.  It is always necessary to move stuff from where your stuff is to where you want your stuff to be.

15mm containers.

Gaming Table Part III

After several weeks of not touching it, I've gotten some more done on the table.  I have enough tiles to fill it, with some left over.  I've got four corner hills, one ridge, one alien landscape and one river.  I'll need more rivers but I want to make sure the first one works out before I use the time and materials for the rest.

The table with the textured paint on the tiles.

Terrain in the Grand Manner

To me, terrain is one of the most critical aspects of a table top game.  Good rules, beautifully painted minis, they all fall flat if the table doesn't look good.  Here's a couple of examples of what I'm talking about.  This gentleman does it right, in my book.  This is his Breed's Hill set up.  There's not too much on the table, but this does not look like a table.  It looks like a battlefield.  Even better is this War of the Roses table.  It may be the best looking battlefield I've ever seen.  

Image from Grand Manner Web Site

15mm Wind Energy

Sci-Fi games need scenery.  Some needs to be playable, some needs to block line of sight (LoS) and some is just there to make the table look great.  I started the year with not a single piece of 15mm terrain.  This made perfect sense as I didn't have a single 15mm model or any intention to collect any.

Finished Wind Chargers.  Mechs and infantry sold separately.

Sci/Fi Monday - Terrain

My foray into 15mm is very recent, this year in fact.  As such I had no terrain for this scale.  Everything was scaled for 28mm.  When it comes to hills and trees, this is not a huge problem.  Man made structures, on the other hand, have to be the right scale.

I have been, slowly, adding to my 15mm terrain.  On the fourth of July GameCraft Miniatures had a 20% off sale and I jumped on the chance to add some 15mm buildings to my table.

On August 1st my order arrived and the fun began.

The possibilities are endless.

Product Reveiw - GF9 Blood Crystals

I've bought a fair amount of GaleForce nine Battlefield in a Box terrain.  There were the two hills earlier in the year and now a box of Blood Crystals.  In all three cases I've been very happy with the product.  The hills are works of art.  I had to move them out of my office because I'd just sit there and stare at them.  My wife even liked them.

The blood crystals box.

15mm Terrain

Hobby Lobby carries a line of scenic pieces for kid's school projects.  They are small kits to dress up a diorama.  I was in picking up some Liquitex, for 15mm basing, and saw a set on clearance for $3.00.

The first 15mm terrain, with CMG Recon Trooper for scale.

The set came with two wind turbines and two solar panels.  The stands for the solar panels were broken, which is probably why it was on clearance.  That's ok because I don't plan on having them as stand alone pieces anyway.  The two wind turbines will go on some big round bases.  The two solar panels will go on the roofs of two different foam core buildings, to "sci/fi" them up.  The rear panels for the solar panels will go on the walls to the same effect.

Product Review - Kobblestone Miniatures

This is a quick product review on some Kobblestone Miniatures castings which I just ordered.  I've been working on terrain for a table to go with my Haradrim army.  The two hills, covered here, are part of this.  There will be a small village in the center of the table, with walls, houses and a market.  The village will need, of course, a water source, hence a well.  I have seen many, many traditional European/North American wells but nothing that really fit what I was looking for with this table.  Until, that is, I found this.

Picture from Kobblestone Miniatures.

I went online to place the order.  I was torn between the Spanish type well.  SWMBO suggested, rather unreasonably I thought, that I just buy both.  Why didn't I think of that?  As I was scrolling through the page she said, "What's that?  You have to buy that too".  "That" is their market set, which is totally awesome as will be shown below.

Terrain Product Review

This month I bought two pieces of terrain from Gale Force 9's Battlefield in a Box line.  They will both be part of the haradrim terrain set I am putting together, though they will work, of course, for any desert table.

Appearance:  5/5.  The hill is really nicely done.  The terrain looks great, very realistic but also playable.  The colors are fantastic.  I had one sitting on the arm of a chair, in my office; every time I walked by I stopped and stared and thought, "Damn, that looks great".  I did that for a week.  When SWMBO walked into my office she said "What's this?  It's really pretty.  What can I use this for?".  When she is trying to find a use for my terrain, it must look good.  The pictures just don't do this piece justice.