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Maybe consider asking Yak to move this to the P&M Blog forum?

Didn't get a whole lot completed tonight, just a preliminary shaping of the cliff face for actual table work completed.  I did hit up the Hobby Lobby to see some of the Woodland Scenics stuff up close and get a better idea of what I want for when I get to actual ground cover.  Found some stuff that I can and probably will use.  So all in all a worthwhile trip.  Oh and I had to snag another spot of glue as well. 



Shaping the spackle was rather easy, though I think I jumped the gun a bit, as you can tell from the picture, there is still a lot of undried spots throughout it.  I expected this though and was really gentle as I shaped and scraped away, though I still had some spots break out on me.  Not a huge issue, but something I'll have to be patient with in the future.  I used a sculpting tool to do all the scraping and brushed the debris away with a dry soft bristle paint brush.  I'll have to do some more finishing work on the cliff, but I'm going to let the rest of it harden and finish drying out before I destroy what I've got here.  So it'll be another day or so before you see this in a 'finished' state. 

Looks good so far. I'd like to see it with more perspective on where it is on the table.

Posted By scarab on 09/18/2007 3:31 AM
Looks good so far. I'd like to see it with more perspective on where it is on the table.

ask and ye shall receive:

Ah, that works.

Looking really good, Aaron. And that marine looks sweet too! You should post pics of your army at some point.

Posted By Mannahnin on 09/18/2007 9:47 AM
Looking really good, Aaron. And that marine looks sweet too! You should post pics of your army at some point.

Haha, I would post more pics of them...but he's the only one in the current color scheme that's finished! >_>...

I've got a bunch of marines painted up from when I was first putting my army together, but since then I've done so much learning and put tons of effort into getting better from one offs and commission work.  I've been putting lots of thought into getting together at least a small army of new marines and painting them up in my new white trim scheme ^_^;  It's just going to be a little while before we get there >.>...I think after this table I'm going to work on the command squad I've got modeled up. 

Ok.  Been really busy/lazy/tired this WHOLE week...and the tables progress has really suffered because of it.  And now a cousin is in state that I haven't seen in 9 years.  But I have managed to get a very small amount of work finished on my cliff face. 

I put down some sand and covered over the whole cliff with a smooth paint to seal everything over.  After that was dry I put on some spots of textured paint to pull it all back together.  I think this will get one last quick coat of textured paint in some areas to help blend it in more, but all in all it's finished.  The dark spots are just a smooth paint.  It will all be cleaned up when I put down some final paint for the whole table. 

That's reasonable progress.

Where is the cliff face, Sergeant Geologis?

"There it is."

After finishing the cliff face, I'm now considering adding more rock faces throughout the table.  Not huge ones like this but just enough to make it a theme.  I feel like it might add that something extra that I need to make the table more believable and scenic, while still adding some more gameplay value.  WIP's to come for sure.

Posted By grey_death on 09/23/2007 9:15 AM
After finishing the cliff face, I'm now considering adding more rock faces throughout the table.  Not huge ones like this but just enough to make it a theme.  I feel like it might add that something extra that I need to make the table more believable and scenic, while still adding some more gameplay value.  WIP's to come for sure.

Sounds like a plan I am following this with interest. We see nice looking terrain too rarely.

Well, spackle is down.  I'm a spackle freak now btw.  Here's a quick shot to show you the placements for now.  Might add some more later, we'll see.  But I think this might be enough. 



This should take a good 48 hours to finish drying...so in the mean time I pulled one of my recently completed marines out and re-trimmed him with my new white scheme ^_^;  That'll be a separate thread though >.>..

Sculpting out these rock formations for the past two and a half hours has put one hell of a knot in my back from leaning over this thing...but, I think it might have paid off. 

The spackle wasn't 100% dry as I had hoped it would be.  But it didn't stop me from getting in there and making it do my bidding.  There was some breakage here and there that I would have rather not happened, but you work with what you've got.  Plus it's all experimental!  And now you won't make the same mistakes I did!  Anywho, on with the pictures of the three new rock faces!






Texturing these tomorrow. 

Those look pretty convincing to me.

Very nice table so far.

Holy Crap! An update!!

Well, as you've probably seen, I've been somewhat side tracked lately with my army build. Which really is a great reason to be side tracked. But yesterday I snagged some ground cover stuff and it got me motivated to get cracking on the table again. So today I grabbed up some different gravels from around my area and some appropriate paint colors and got to work.

The gravel I found really works great. I just mixed it up with what I had left from the old stuff and glued it down. After the glue was dry I painted over it and I have to say I'm pretty happy with the results.


Oh and this is the base color for the table. I'll be bringing some highlighting over it all though so it won't be this dark. I've just got to let it dry through to tomorrow before I start that bit. I'll probably mix some of the highlight and base color and use that to break up the monotony of color before I give it the highlight/drybrush. Here is where we're at right now:

First Drybrush:


Secondary Coloring:


Picking out the details:


Still have some details (see: rocks >.&gt to pick out all across the table. Once I'm done finding them all, I'll move on to putting greys down for the rocks. After that it should be about time for ground cover...

Comments and suggestions are much appreciated and welcome ^_^.

Looks really good man. I wasn't planning on making a wholly set table like that, but I am going to be using these tricks, particularly spackle, when I get working on my terrain!

One thing to look for at when you are getting "Woodland Scenics" stuff for ground cover: lichen, the spongy green stuff people use for trees and bushes, can be bought cheaper at some pet stores than at hobby shops. At least the pet store I get stuff at has it cheaper than the hobby shop. It's usually in the reptile section. They sel it in big bags for substrate for them, and often it comes in random shades of green, though I have seen oranges too.

Other random fact: I have the exact same table, only it is in my bedroom because my wife uses it as a desk.

I did happen to snag some lichen the other day with that 'terrain stuff' I bought. I got a bag full of autumn colored stuff that I plan on using for some ground cover and such. I love all the woodland scenics stuff, I just never have a chance to really put them to good use/to the test. This table will give me my chance ^_-.

Wow! That's inspiring stuff!

More progress. Rock details are picked out and complete. I'm pleased with how they've come out and the effect I got overall. Colors went as such: Black, Codex Grey, Fortress Grey drybrush, base color brown (based on bestial brown) brushed into the crevices and wiped clean from the rock faces with my fingers with some left on the top sides for effect, then drybrushed lightly with my base highlight color (based on bleached bone). I like it.

Rocks:


Rocks with marine for scale:


Overview:

So the middle basin is going to become a huge pit of toxic waste, right?

Seriously though, it seems kind of... empty compared to the rest of the terrain.

The middle has been sort of designed to be empty. I needed a nice large open spot for any large terrain features I will build after the table is complete.

Ground cover in the works ^_^

This is a really beautiful table, Grey, but I'm kind of worried that it'll be a bit small for a game.

What dimensions are you working with? It almost seems like a 3'x5' board. I've played on those before, and even at 500 points, things can get cramped if you're playing Guard as I did.

Not to point this out so late... I just was curious. It looks awesome thought, and I'd definitely enjoy playing in such tight quarters with my Templars.

CK

It's around 2'x4', which I know is small. But this was more an exercise in terrain than a serious effort for a full gaming table ^_^. I live in an apartment and just don't have the space I would like for gaming >.>...And I only really planned on doing small skirmish scale gaming on this thing if anything ^_^. If I can come up with a transitional piece of terrain I could always connect this table with my cityfight table for a 2x8!! oooo...new idea for next terrain project >.>!!!

Quick update on table progress ^_^:







The bushes/brush/tall grass still isn't dry >.>..but more stuff goes down tomorrow ^_^.

Very cool, Grey.

I hear ya on the lack of space. I've had to trash more than 30 square feet of boards due to moving or lack of storage space. It is frustrating to no end when it happens, because it basically destroys any motivation I have to work on a new project if I know it's going to get wrecked when moving or some such.

Instead of a 2'x8', you could always make a 1'x4' transitional "slab" to connect the foothills to the city. You'd end up with a 5'x8' board that could be broken down and transported separately, and would also be able to be reconfigured for several 3'x4' combinations. Modular sections of the board, instead of modular parts that go on the board.

I'm really liking the autumn theme. Keep it up, I can't wait to see more!

CK

Woot. New dakka ^_-.

Well I got some more stuff down on the table. Added some static grass in some spots, some green bushes/shrubs. And I finally cracked open a bag of woodland scenics trees I've had for YEARS. Unfortunately they're only green trees, but I'm going to be picking up some autumn colored stuff soon, and possibly get to work on some tree templates. This table has been tons of fun and for the most part it's completed past any extra detailing work I might do to it and any additional terrain pieces I want to make for it. I'm expecting to make a good grip of tree templates (about three trees per) and some rock walls and ruins.

As to making the 1x4 transition piece, I'm really not sure How I'd end up making something like a transition piece between the two really, but it definitely would be a cool idea to toy around with. And unfortunately my city table is only 2'x2', so I'd sort of be stuck with making the 2x2 or 2x4 transition. Either way it's a really neat idea i'll have to consider doing some day.

Photos of the table are attached ^_^