The Tale of Terrain Builders 2012 – Month 3: March show off and April WIP

[Little Joe]

The Tale of Terrain Builders 2012 – Month 3: March show off and April WIP

What is it all about?
The aim of The Tale of Terrain Builders is to help motivate those involved to finish scenery for their gaming boards. We accept anything related to scenery building.

How does it work?
During the first week of a month you post your finished terrain in the appropriate thread. The remainder of the month is for posting WIP pictures of what you are building and to comment on the work of other participants. You shall receive feedback on your terrain in return and can ask questions, see many different interesting ideas and help/be helped by others with tutorials and advice.

What do I have to do?
Because not everyone can spare the same amount of time for various reasons, there are different levels of commitment. The standard level of commitment (Mens) is to create a single, reasonably sized piece of terrain per month. The lesser level of commitment (Boys) requires the completion of a piece of terrain every other month, but with the commitment to show progress each month! As a Noob you just need to show one piece of terrain you just finished.
A single piece of scenery at least the size of a hill or building will be considered one piece. A barricade, tree, rock spire or similar terrain can be entered in threes to count as one piece of scenery. I made a picture for a quick overview:



If in doubt, terrain that covers a diameter of roughly 6” is what we are going for, but this is a loose definition. Since the aim is to fill your board with terrain the rules are somewhat lenient.
A note on building whole Tables and Dioramas: simply break it down in monthly amounts of work for the level of commitment you entered in and we are happy to tell you what we think of it.
Just build and have fun and everything should be OK!

Can I have a break?
Because people have real lives: “yes you can!” You get one 'Joker', to use for a month you want to skip. During the Tale you can ‘play a joker’ by posting an appropriate picture and an explanation if you like. You should still comment if you have the time.
So for five months you have to come up with a piece of completed scenery or WIP pictures. That sounds easy but the first tale proves it is not.

In six months we will all end up with some nice terrain for gaming, and hopefully have learned a few tricks on the way, which is awesome!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q : How do I join the Tale of Terrain Builders 2012?
A : You should join us right now! Just post in this thread and you are in, please state if you want to be a Noob, a Boy or a Man.

Q : Can I build more than one piece per month?
A : Yes, you can build as much as you like. The maximum you can enter is two pieces a month and they will be awarded as such. We aim to have fun as a group and to help each other as much as get things done ourselves.

Q : What happens if I build a GIGANTIC piece of scenery?
A : If you create a truly epic piece of scenery, we want to see it. We also want to see how it is done so you use months of WIP up to the finishing post and it will be accounted for the epic piece it is that way.

Q : Can I include a short narrative with each months post.
A : Yes, we love background stuff! Write as much as you like, we will read it and rejoice. It might also help to put the piece of scenery in perspective.

[Little Joe]

The participants in this tale:



WIP is for work in progress.
bigWip is for work in progress that counts as a full months work (Mens) or two for Boys
done is for finished pieces. This counts for two months work for Boys
done (+1) counts for two full months for Mens (4! for Boys)
Joker is a joker and J's are for default (not requested) jokers.

My aim is to update this post once a month after a week. Anything will be recorded of course, but to get the change shown that month, you must enter the pictures in the first week.

[Xazil]

This month just a WIP of a larger job. A Hirstarts Ruined Tower. Partially assembled. The blocks are cast in a tinted plaster thus the dark grey colour.

[ASSASSINAWOKEN]

My name is in the red on Little Joe's chalkboard, lol.

I'll have another update coming from me either tonight or during the week I think. I have been experimenting with razor wire and the idea Little Joe suggested about using static grass for the nature reclaims idea. Plus I purchased materials for the next project ahead of time to make sure I can keep moving.

@Xazil You have an excellent job on the casting. The grey tint might come in handy when applying the next color to it. Will you try adding details like lichen or vines? Lichen should be simple as it need only small spots, but vines i am not sure how to do. I only know how to add vines in Minecraft.

[DarkLordBelial]

Xazil, that ruined tower looks great - I really must look into this Hirst Arts stuff!

My piece from last month is finished - I'll get some piccies posted up tomorrow.

[DarkLordBelial]

DarkLordBelial: Mens - March



Warhammer Empire Bell Tower

The inspiration for this was a photograph in a Games Workshop supplement. Unfortunately it was a very distant shot and little of the tower construction was visible. I therefore spent some time planning and sketching how I wanted it to turn out. I'm very happy with the way it turned out but it's complexity has me thinking I will trying something a tad simpler next month.

Highs: I thought painting this was going to be a pain, but as it turned out it was fairly fast. I used my trusted 'stucco' technique that I had used on several of my Warhammer buildings - not only does this make the process quick but ensures that all my buildings tie together with a similar scheme.
Lows: Cutting out and sticking all the roof tiles was very time consuming but once I got into the flow it soon came together - and I really liked how they came out. The real bummer with this piece though was the damn railings around the top platform. I tried about 8 different methods to come up with a sturdy construction. What you see above is my final try - but I'm still not happy with it and may decide to re-do it when I come up with a better idea.

Techniques:
1. The roof tiles are just a whole load of rectangles I cut from an empty cereal packet and then individually glued to the roofs. They were then under coated black and given a heavy dry brush with a dark red paint. Additional lighter dry bushes of paler reds finished the effect.
2. The stucco effect is done by starting with an undercoat of a very dark brown and then 'dabbing on' increasingly lighter shades of brown and finally bleached bone. All this is done with a fairly large and coarse brush.
3. The wood was under coated the same dark brown and then just drybrushed with a lighter brown.

Next Month:
I'm a bit zonked out now - but thinking of doing something 'chaos-ey'. However, it's dependant on me finding a life size skull!

[Little Joe]

Little Joe: Mens

THIS MONTH:
This month, and just in time, the small rocks are done. Well they need some colour from a few flowers but I could not decide on that. I am very pleased with these test pieces for my big rock. The models in the first picture are Britanan from the game I made this for (Relics from Tor Gaming). They will be part of a Vaettir terrain set, but I have none of those fully painted yet.
The second view is the most important as that is the tabletop view.
I quite underestimated the time needed for the foliage, which is why it took so long. Basically this is one evening per kind of bush (2) or grass (5) and two for the roots.









HIGHS AND LOWS:
Highs: The bases are my best so far, the rock surface as well. I tried a lot of things for the first time and am happy with the result. And of course getting it all done in a month, not bad for a months work.
Lows: Not getting any flowers done, but I rather put them on at a later stage as to have them awry with the Vaettir this terrain is made for. I just could not decide on colours (apart from pink).

NEXT MONTH:
Whatever comes along, I cannot really tell right now.

EDIT: The water pouring from a floating rock is of course MAGIC!

[DarkLordBelial]

Those bases look superb, and the water fall is fantastic - care to share with us how you did it?

[Little Joe]

Comment time:

@Xazil: Good start, coloured plaster should help a lot with painting and chipping.

@DarkLordBelial: Wow that is quite some work for just a month and a superb result. I really like how it fits your other buildings. Painting can get you a long way, but the basics need to be there. It was nice to see it getting done and in high quality.
I start multiple pieces at the same time to pick something and finish it, partly because I do not build as fast as you do. Mostly because I start with vague ideas and build up from that, I need to look at my pieces over some time and get sparks.

@the boys: at this speed you will need to become men fast.

And an answer:

I looked at train forums for alternative materials for modelling water and found this stuff they use to draw on windows with, bought in creative shops, apperantly it is the same (window color). I tried it, (not cheaper around here) mainly because the bottle is smaller and so, if it dries out the loss is less. I want to do some swamp bases soon and needed to try some materials for that.
Do not use thick drops, because it will not dry clear (probably no oxygen diffusion). This annoyed me at first because on the bottle it said apply thick. It takes ages to dry that way as well. Thin layers and letting it dry for about 6 hours are the way to go. Although liquid it does not run and is also easy to apply on vertical things when done in thin layers.
The water fall was done separately on a piece of foil and glued on the rock, a bit of excess material at the top, with PVA glue. Then I added a layer of thin Asurmen Blue and another three layers of window color on top, making it uneven. It is bendy which is good, because that prevents damage.
At this point I was also happy with the white spots, quite foamy. Mostly I learned this will take ages. I need something else for my large rock, but for bases this will do very well.

I will put it all in a tutorial on building floating rocks, but that will take a while to complete (not at the top of my list). A few train trips are coming up and then I will know what to do.

EDIT: second post updated.
@ ASSASSINAWOKEN: I use "red", because it is a more urgent colour and green does not work well. When the number under finished reaches five it becomes green and you made it this tale. Maybe something to improve next tale. So get me those pictures...

[DarkLordBelial]

This months project is going to be something a little different. I'm stretching the rules a little - but hope it still falls into the remit. It's certainly terrain related but rather than a scenery piece it's a tool to help me build further pieces. I've been meaning to do this for a few months now, having struggled without it in the past. Now for some picture clues:

The layout:


After some work with the jigsaw and sander, and gathering all the bits together that I might need.


This is going to be entirely scratch built from scrap material I have hanging about, apart from the very specialist wire which I had to 'buy in'. Also sacrificing an old USB hub I had hanging around for the power supply.

Can you guess what it is?

[Xazil]

A good sized hotwire cutter for foams?

[DarkLordBelial]

A good sized hotwire cutter for foams?

Spot on. they seem to cost a fortune to buy even though they are a fairly simple device. Hence the decision to try and build one.

[Little Joe]

Sorry for the late comment, I was a few days out of the house. I will allow it of course, you are on a surplus and it should be interresting for other terrain builders. Just make us some nice pictures to tag along for our own. Any engineering skills needed?
Which reminds me of an electronic fly killing thingy I wanted to turn in a static grass applicator. It must be somewhere around here.

[DarkLordBelial]

Sorry for the late comment, I was a few days out of the house. I will allow it of course, you are on a surplus and it should be interresting for other terrain builders. Just make us some nice pictures to tag along for our own. Any engineering skills needed?
Which reminds me of an electronic fly killing thingy I wanted to turn in a static grass applicator. It must be somewhere around here.

Cheers Little Joe. I've got lots of piccies of the process so should be able to put a nice guide together. A screwdriver and soldering iron is needed, but apart from that it is very easy to do. I'll write up a full guide for the next 'show and tell' thread.

[Little Joe]

Sounds great, I am looking forward to reading it.

[N810]

oops almost forgot I signed up for this...

heres my wip for the month...

(more pics in my blog)

[DarkLordBelial]

Oooohhh that looks good N810!

[Little Joe]

@ N810: Yes it does look very good, I checked your plog and left some comment there.

maybe I should send some reminders to the boys that have not posted yet?

[Rikk]

Hi all,

Apologies not posted as of yet, have been busy painting halls stairs landing and living room....well helping father-in-law to do it

Have made a start to my citadel woods, though cannot find the base I finished for it a while back (Worst thing about decorating, you have to pack up everything first)

Will get some picks up in next fews days, the leaves are giving me a bit of trouble though as I'm unsure how to get the desired effect I was after, will explain when I post pics.

[Little Joe]

Welcome to Boomshroom Garden!



I just started to work on terrain again and time is short, so here is a short update. I finally know how I want the fungal glade to look. It will be a Snotling Boomshroom growing ground. With a few dedicated Snotlings with Mushrooms to guard it from small squigs and spiders.
I need to reflock the tree not in the picture to get the basing started. But the green stuff is curing now so that will be later today. I also sculpted another 14 Mushrooms to add to the piece. I want many, but not too many. With 23 already on the base that will make it 37 Mushrooms in total.
For little stories, there is a netter Snotling with mushroom being crept upon from behind by a quite large spider. A second mushroom armed Snotling is fending of a squig trying to eat some of the mushrooms or himself. And the mushroom watering Snotling is of course a must for this piece.

Only two days left, so I must hurry. Not sure if I will make it, but I will most certainly try.