1. Wood craft knob
2. Prescription bottle cap
3. Precut MDF miniatures base
4. Plastic packaging
5. Printer cartridge
6. Blood sugar test strip cartridge
7. Soda Pop candy dispenser
8. Plastic packaging
9. Metal 28mm vehicle gun
10. GZG rooftop vent
11. Board game board
12. 28mm vehicle part
13. 40K heavy flamer fuel tank
14. Decorative rhinestone
15. Flames of War plastic base
16. Door frame made from wooden coffee stir sticks
17. Textured plasticard

.
Watching Book of Eli again, I'm struck by the post apocalyptic imagery. Two great little documemtaries accompany the DVD and are also worth giving your time to.The second takes you through the concept and realisation of the world the principal character travels through.

One of the things that struck me was the number of small post apocalpyse game vignettes that could be created based around only a few key terrain features.

Following this up on this idea my Googlefu came across Katharine Mulherin's Contemporary Art Projects website displaying the post apoclypse art of Jason Van Horne, see example left.


It's worth checking out Jason's work. I like the gritty, abandoned feel he creates. Too often apocalypse model scenery is too pretty and conceived or too drab. These just strike the right balance. The smaller vignettes (rather than the cityscape tableau) are very doable by the average gamer. They can be used individually or could be combined into larger tabletop setpieces.

That destroyed elevated section of highway is crying out to be made commercially for wargamers. It could be modularised so that four lanes could be created if the gamer wished. An inclined support could extend the model and a curved section too. A couple of curved sections would provide aditional versatility as on ramps, around whihc a whole battlefield can be built. Though to be honest, I wouldn't expect the average Modern or Sci Fi gamer to buy more than two or at a push maybe three sections.

Right, I'm off to have a stab at making one of these for myself!

Mark

.

Something else from the workbench - Spikey Rock Clusters. A bag of shells, again picked up at Hobbitcraft. Lower section was cut off carefully with a hobby knife before hot glueing the shells in clusters on MDF bases from Martin at Warbases.co.uk.


Some desert basing material and these are ready for the tabletop. Ten bases for a couple of quid. I'm going to paint some in various hues of grey for my asteroid terrain but having said that, I think they could also look great painted as ice formations on a snow planet too. So many choices!

I'll post the finished results when I'm done.
.

.
Thanks to Hobbycraft, I now have 20 new Sci Fi 'Spice Trees' and the makings of a large number of smaller flora for just £4.99.


No idea what the artificial plant was called - some kind of christmas decoration - Just snip off the arms with the berries, hotglue to a base and then texture (a job still to be done here!). May need a touch up here and there and maybe some matt varnish if you are bothered by the shine - but otherwise something very different on the tabletop to hackneyed aquarium plants.

.

.


Being the May Bank Holiday weekend - the emphasis of yesterday, today and tomorrow is definitely family orientated. So work on the wasteland terrain (all gaming) has come to a virtual standstill - but the wasteland terrain bases ground work has been painted and they are ready to throw on the table right now if I wanted- I'll catch up with the final detailing, rusting/weathering as and when during the week.


If you feel suitably inspired, the van and cars in total came to around 40p, the oil drums are 10 for £1.50, the pipes are simply two straws picked up at Costa Coffee and CD from an old PC magazine. Including Polyfilla (spackle), glue and paint this terrain piece probably comes in around £1. Add liberal GW Washes, call it £1.50 all in.


Cheers
Mark
.

.
Began spraying my 15mm wasteland terrain. It was a beautiful morning first thing - took my stuff outside to spray - and the moment I was ready, the wind picked up!

Nevertheless, you can see an encouraging example of the results from the first coat below.



The Krylon Matt Warm Aubegine has worked out really well - available from Hobbycraft for just £4.99.

I like the colour and as there will be plenty left am seriously considering using it as part of a two-tone scheme on some of my Sci Fi armour.

I intend giving the terrain bases another coat of Warm Aubergine in a short while before applying some dark washes of GW Devlan Mud, artist acrylic Burnt Umber. The rust effect will be created with artist acrylics Mars Orange.



I'm very impressed by the even and smooth finish of the Krylon spray. The instructions on the can recommended spraying from 25cm, but I found the coverage was too light, so held the can much closer with no adverse effects. I tell you, I'd paint all my tanks with this stuff if possible!


Cheers
Mark
.

.


For my groundwork, I wanted to create the impression of cars and pipes buried in the earth with sand/dirt collected by the wind building up between them. I use a premixed 'flexible' Polyfilla combined with a small amount of PVA glue. This makes the Polyfilla very creamy and easy to spread but will also improve adhesion and final resilience to handling.

Once set, I spread a liberal coat of PVA over the bare Polyfilla, placing the rocks where I want them before shaking on the sand. I tend to push the sand down into the PVA with my fingers to ensure a good hold. When dry, I turn the piece over and tap the bottom to remove any loose sand/rocks. Finally, I water down PVA (50-50) before washing it over the sand and rocks with a 1" or 2" emulsion brush. This final coat not only holds everything together but provides a sound surface for taking paint. Then leave this overnight to dry out.

I bought a can of Krylon Warm Aubegine - a dark brick red-brown - matt spray paint to prime/basecoat the vehicles and metalwork on the bases. I thought it would be a decent base colour for drybrushing various brown and orange shades of rust.

Cheers
Mark
.

.
Sunday morning I finished the dried wasteland/desert riverbed I've been working on during the week and I'm really chuffed with the result!

The riverbed was created utilising Amera Plastic Moulding Straight River Sections (#F216) , building up the textures with different grades of sand and talus. Foilage is Woodland Scenics #L166 'Natural' Lichen.


In all about an hour's work per river section from start to finish, but allowing loads of drying time in between each step before a final watered down coat of PVA prior to painting. Which is why it took several nights in total.

The river sections have been painted to match my OOP GW sulphur desert battlemat using Homebase 'Pecan' emulsion as a base followed by 'splodging' GW Gryphone Sepia with an old No.6 brush.

Jungle stream using these Amera river sections next!

Cheers
Mark
.

.
Tidied up my workbench over the weekend. A remarkably cathartic experience, clearing away the shrapnel of a dozen projects waiting to be finished which prompted me do the same when I got into the office on Monday.


Back at home, the clear working area has tripled my output even if not quite the direction I had planned. Since the weekend I've been working on new jungle undergrowth scatter terrain, a dried river bed utilising river sections from Amera Plastic Mouldings and a heap of post apocalypse wasteland stuff.

I'm happily chugging along thinking I'm the terrain king when Heather says...."You know, your jungle isn't really spikey enough. You've got to have a spikey jungle if you are doing Predator!"

Damn she's right! So I set about rebasing 30 palm trees with added sections of plastic aquarium grass matting I'd been saving to use as Kunai grass (see photo above). Further green lichen and plastic plant 'undergrowth' will be added once I've textured and painted the bases.

Of course now, I've run out of space again and there's wasteland terrain on the window sill, rocky river bed sections drying on old newspapers on the floor, old jungle on the carpet and new jungle on the workbench.

Meanwhile, a GZG 'FanVan' Utility VTOL sits accusingly on the drawer unit. This is a lovely model and I'm aching to finish it, but this week, doing the terrain has been 'chicken soup for the soul'.

Cheers
Mark
.

.
In my prep for the 2010 gaming season, I've been building up my scenery collection. Especially given that I'll also be running games from the Asylum Books and Games store in Aberdeen.

Mike at The Scene (UK) offers a wide range of terrain products that met my criteria for good looking, hard-wearing and portable terrain.

I picked up three Hard Backed Grey/Green Hills. HG002: 8"x 4", HG006: 8" x 8" and HG009: 12 1/2"x 5 1/2". They stand about 17mm tall, have gentle sloping sides, and are finished with patches of grey stones.


They look good on the table, provide both cover and visible height advantage, and are practical too. When not in use I keep them in their plastic bags and store on top of each other in a shallow drawer. The colour balance in the photo is poor so don't take the colours you see as a guide.

You can also see RG011A: rocky ground from the Generic Scatter range, just £3,00 painted and flocked. Surprisingly nice and dirt (excuse the pun) cheap. Here's a closeup...


The trooper is a GZG 15mm OUDF figure from my recently completed 123rd Steppenwolves. I've included him deliberately because I'm going for a Northern Steppes feel - and hence the next scatter terrain ROoo1B: Rocky Outcrops, 5 pieces painted and flocked for £9.00:


Now, these are tasty! The rocks come with a Citadel Space Wolves(ish) grey finish and provide substantial cover for both infantry and vehicles. Well worth the money, which I can say with authority because Heather bought me a Woodland Scenics 'rock' mould (C1233) for around £6 as an extra little something for Xmas. So that's £6 before we count casting material, base, paints and flock, time and effort. Less than a tenner and 5 pieces of scatter terrain ready to go straight on the table.

Whilst not distinctly Sci Fi as such, this terrain will be used in many of our Hyborian Sci Fi games in addition to WW2 Götterdämmerung, historicals and fantasy, over and above alien invasions and Merc tickets on settled worlds.

Time spent checking out The Scene will be well spent. Mike's ranges are constantly evolving and he has some great stuff at affordable prices.

Cheers
Mark
.

The MOUT 'facility' measures 26 feet by 30 feet, with most buildings about a foot high. It represents a 14-acre section of city divided into four areas: one with high-rise buildings, another with a market, a third representing a residential area, and a city perimeter with palm groves and open desert.

Jentsch reported that " The initial setup took about six months and cost about 5,000ドル for cameras, transmitters, toy soldiers, miniature ferns and pipe cleaners to be transformed into palm trees. Buildings were made from cat food boxes".


Hang on a minute, our kittens get through a box and a half of food pouches every week. These cat-food boxes would make pretty reasonable apartment buildings/shops etc and are already constructed, sturdy, etc. So, they just need a little detailing and spray painting to become an 'instant' modern/near future 3rd World or Sci Fi colonial city..........

Find out more by following these links:

TSJONLINE.COM

UCF Newsroom

DEFENSETECH.ORG

Thought you might like to see some quick and simple scatter pieces I created for my desert/wasteland terrain.

These two mini escarpments came about as 'test' pieces just to try out the idea and I don't think the result is too shabby.

I mostly use bog standard expanded polystyrene for terrain features- the sort that comes as common and garden packaging - the small holes in the polystyrene working for me as nooks and crannies within the rock face. I sculptured the flat 'top' of the rock formations then used a household wall filler to provide texture and fill in any big gaps where the two pieces of polystyrene meet.

I used a sharp sand from a builders merchants to cover the base, old free Broadband or magazine CDs. I find that finer sand, such as that used for childrens playpits is far too fine and lacks the definition I want once painted. Slightly larger stones were used at the back of the escarpment to represent eroded scree. To ensure the sand sticks good and fast to provide a robust terrain piece for wargaming, I liberally coated the CD with a cheap but immensely strong PVA glue (Bartoline PVA Adhesive & Sealer; 1Ltr for £3.50), then shook the sand on. Once this is dry, well mostly dry that is, I mix water and PVA until it has the consistency of skimmed milk, then brush liberally over the top of the entire piece. You think it will be too thin to have any effect but have faith young paduan, this is amazingly effective at sealing the model and providing a sound base for the paint to adhere to.

Painting was simple. We had some left over household paints from the last round of decorating and a mixed bag of brown, terracotta, taupe and sand 'matchpots'. Using cheap decorating brushes from Poundland (a 5 brush set for £1), I applied a basecoat of a terracotta matt emulsion, which when dried, recieved a thin watered down wash of Citadel's Devlan Mud. I used a lighter 'stone' or 'pebble' colour to drybrush over the top with a smaller brush as weathering & highlights. Job done. Excluding drying time, less than an hours work.

I'm going to get round to adding a small amount of GF9 autumn foilage to add further character but forgot to include it to my last order! The perils of Inetrnet shopping & Baileys Irish Cream.....

Cheers
Mark

Been a 'choclate pants' sort of day. There's no Space Demon update this evening as I had a stupid mishap earlier and knocked several heads off the minis.Serves me right for using superglue bought from Poundland - 8 bottles for £1. It's crap at cementing metal to metal but fantastic at instantly glueing your fingers together. As I found out......

Don't ask! But there was one moment where I had my thumb fore and middle fingers stuck together. Worse still, the superglue had run between my fore and middle fingers and they were completely melded.

Luckily, Heather had a LARGE bottle of nail polish remover which softened the glue enough to allow with some effort, to painfully pull them apart. She was grateful that I managed to get my fingers apart but more so that I had picked up the Boots own brand nail remover in my haste and not her far more expensive Chanel one.

To restore the Space Demon heads, I mixed up small batches of Marmokitt 1000. This is an epoxy 'marble glue'. It's used to join/repair marble and granite features such as fireplaces. Once it sets, it quite literally sets like rock! I thoroughly recommend it as it will take a thermonuclear holocaust to seperate the Space Demons from their heads now!

Cheers
Mark