Victorian City Board

[Radium]

This board is EXACTLY what I'd want my board to be one day. Shame I don't really have the space or time to build one .

Anyway: awesome work, keep it up!

[Frank]

I'm gonna go with lower parallel dock, one fishing shack. That would break up line of site without cluttering up the dock too much and provides a playable space with a bit of cover.

[Copernicus]

Now that I have seen your magical cobblestone tool, I'm not only impressed with your work but your dedication also. It must take forever to make an entire board to look like that.

[Vinncent]

Haven't had a reason to pull the cobblestone tool out and put it to use yet, but I did go ahead and take a photo of it so you all could see it. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. Most important feature would probably be the "paper wrap comfort grip", this is essential for not burning ones hand while using the tool! I'll add some better "in-action" shots when I get to the other half of the city boards.

Finally got a chance to put some more work into the board. With Frank moving along full steam on the Bo-At, I have continued work on the Harbor section. Here is a shot of the progress.

I've added a smaller dock that will connect to the dock section of the original board. This should do nicely to make the boardwalk/water strip more playable. I used cork to build out the transition from the main pier into the rest of the game board (from my experience this man-made to organic feature is fairly common in harbor towns).

The "water" is reclaimed from an old urban platform I used for mordheim. Since it wasn't seeing much use, I re-used the texture for a quick water effect base. It was originally the insert for commercial lighting. You can get this stuff in 2'x4' sections at the hardware store (Lowes in this case) and it comes in about 4 different variations, each of which has a great hobby application. only hitch is that its plastic, so cutting can be a bit tricky.

In the original paper plans, I had left the transition from the harbor board to the storage yard a bit hazy. I often find that these details are easier to work out on the fly. Here are a couple of shots to show how the end result wound up coming together. The blocks give a good transition from the rough harbor to the city and also give a nicely defined edge between the tables. Also the "flagstone" paper lines up pretty seamlessly, which may not be too apparent in the pictures since the two pieces used are different colors.

Here are a couple of shots to show off the movable staircases that I mentioned for the platforms. Simple but effective!

Other than the Bo-At, the harbor board only needs a few final details before its complete. Which brings us to along to the interactive portion of today's post!

in the original plan, we wanted to include a small cluster of fishing cottages. This lead to the addition of the smaller dock section. Now after adding it, I have come up with too many ideas to settle on one. Here are a couple of the ideas (aided by some pre-made terrain stand-ins), Which idea do you all (y'all?) like best?

Option A (leave it alone)

Option B (lower wooden dock "T")

Option C (lower wooden dock "T" & one fishing shack)

Option D (lower wooden dock "T" & two fishing shacks)

Option E (Lower parallel wooden dock & one fishing shack)

Option F (Lower parallel wooden dock & two fishing shacks)

I know its a lot of options, but the more I stare at it, the more ideas I get! Please, someone save me from this insanity!

That's all for this update. I plan to move onto to the storage yard tomorrow (to get a little break from the harbor). I'll try to take some extra pictures while I work and do a quick tutorial on the buildings.

ok, you're my good man! of patient and ingenuity; exellent work!

oh, and in the case of your problem of chose i like the C option, definitely.

[Vin]

Great stuff, and I'd vote c or e

[Maniple]

Nice work on the cobblestones. I used to be able to find wallpaper with a similar texture on it but not for some years. Apparently textured wallpaper is "out" these days. Bad news for modellers, but way to go on the new technique!

[guynamedFleck]

@ Radium - I know exactly what you're feeling. That's why I found a great flgs to play at! Plenty of space to store terrain/tables and you'd be surprised how much free time you find to work on these projects with the locals pushing you for progress.

@Copernicus - Once you get a handle on how to use the tool you can get into a fairly good rhythm. I think I managed all the cobble stone on the first board in two 2 hour sessions. The key is good ventilation! I shifted my painting desk over in front of an open window and kicked on the fan. That foam smoke is some nasty stuff!

@ Vinncent - Thanks, this is how I unwind from the long day and coming up with new techniques keeps the hobby fun.

@ Maniple - Yeah, I used to have a great roll of that paper, running out of it on another project is what lead me to coming up with this method!

On to the update!

No much to report on the Harbor section. All I've done since the last update is gone back and added a bit of sand to transitions points. Mainly where ever the water meets the land. Nothing too exciting.

I shifted attention over to the Storage Yard, In particular the "custom's office". It also presented an opportunity to throw together a quick tutorial on the buildings.

The plan was to create a formal division between the city and the yard (no proper storage yard owner wants people walking onto his property and taking everything!), this would also serve to provide los blocking terrain on the table. Here is the original concept sketch for the structure. Basically two mirrored buildings with a walkway between, creating a formal entrance.

Next we gather the tools. Really simple here.

-Some of the original mordheim (plastic and card) buildings.

-Foamcore

-Exacto knife (I prefer the snap-off style, the ability to have a 2.5" cutting edges has proven invaluable in terrain making)

-Sprue clippers

-not shown are the obvious, glue (I use a mix of elmers, superglue, and hot glue gun. Sometimes, based on need; more often, based on proximity, haha)

Disassemble the buildings. Save the floors. I also keep the walls around to use as templates, since I like to keep things simple and not stray too far from the original design.

The next step is the most difficult/important (which really is not that difficult at all!). Use the sprue cutter to remove the tabs from the inside of the upright pieces. Then use your exacto knife to clean up the pieces and remove the tabs on the top and bottom.

To save time and help the process move along, I like to cut strips of foamcore to the height of my floors. Use one of the old card wall sections to get your height measurements.

Measure out your wall sections onto the foamcore strips. If you are just replacing the old card sections with foamcore (like I am), remember that you need to account for the thickness of the foamcore. I find it helpful to have another similar building nearby to take measurements off of. You can use the old wall sections as a quick guide for placing windows of creating the damaged edges.

Start assembling the building. I like to cut the pieces as I go, it helps for figuring out some of the measurements when you add the extra thickness from the foamcore. I find it best to use elmer's for this, but one little trick. run your glue down the foamcore edge, stopping about a 1/4" from each end. put a small drop of superglue in the last 1/4" and stick the piece in place. The superglue will bond instantly to hold everything in place while the elmer's sets up (and gives the building a really strong bond).

Use the old card floor sections when assembling your buildings. They fit perfectly into the channel of the horizontal plastic pieces and give you a good base to attach your balsawood floors to later. The original floors were also designed by GW to be playable, so we might as well capitalize on their R&D!

Rinse and repeat! Like it shows in the original sketch, I built two fairly identical buildings and then attached them with a walkway. The walk way was made using two of the horizontal plastic pieces with a piece of card glued into the channel between. I also returned all of the detail pieces to the new foamcore buildings (roof sections, doors, windows, etc.)

Last step is to add the wood floors. I like to use two sizes of craft sticks (popsicle sticks and coffee stirrers). You can pick up a box of 1000 popsicle sticks for about $5, only issue is that these tend to have a slight curve. for that price though, I can deal with it! Measure and cut the sticks to length. Then using your exacto knife, roughly carve the edges to give them the "worn plank" look. For the broken edges on the 2nd and 3rd floor, I like to use the sprue cutters to give a ruffer end.

There you have it, quick and easy (and sturdy) foamcore buildings from the old mordheim kits. If you don't have any of the old kits, you can easily substitute square balsa rods for the plastic pieces. It'll give a less victorian feel to the buildings, but still make for an impressive building and does well to finish off the edges with a bit of detail.

To finish off the above building, I still needed a bit of detail on the walkway. So I threw together a quick railing out of a few plastic card scraps and some plastic rod. All the building needs now is a proper name, which will be painted on a sign that hangs below the walkway!

Last but not least, I took the boards into the flgs to get a few measurements and to get a quick play test to make sure the los and flow were working well.

First a few shots of the 4 boards together! Minus the Bo-At (Frank brought it up, but somehow I failed to take a photo while it was in place.)

Boards with a stand in Bo-At...

Since its a 4'x4' board, we opted to test it out with a good old fashioned Brawl! Lady Justice and Sonnia Criid were quiet happy to take a look around the newly discovered city, but were a bit unhappy to find Hoffman batting for the other team alongside Ramos! Lady J and Sonnia were victorious in the end (I'd like to think that I had the home court advantage, haha)

My deployment in the existing board.

"Traitor" Hoffman's deployment in the storage yard.

Sonnia running the harbor like a champ! it made for a good place to deliver fireballs and fire walls from. As you will see, we tried for Option C in the docks ("T" dock and 1 shack). It looks nice, but I think Option E will prove more playable in the end.

My favorite "fluffy" image from the first test game on the new boards. Hoffman and Ramos sitting up in the warehouse. Apparently they found a new shipment of scrap, because they spent the entire game tossing together steampunk arachnids and electrical creations to set forth upon my force!

That's all for this update. see you next time!

[dsmiles]

That stuff looks awesome. Are you going to do some of the Quarantine Zone?

[guynamedFleck]

@ dsmiles - No real plan as far as going into the quarantine zone. This table is versatile enough that depending on the extra terrain you add in can be played as city, slum, quarantine, etc.

Frank was working at the flgs on Friday night, so we decided to turn it into a modeling night rather than play a few games. Frank got to detailing the Bo-At and I got to work on the buildings for the second half of the city.

I came to the brutal realization that I had used up all of the doors from the mordheim kits and that I was starting to run low on window as well! This called for some slight adjustments and a run through the bits box for alternatives. Due to these restrictions, all the doors on this board are closed. No biggie, but I do kind of wish that they all matched. I may be forced to remove one of the existing door frames and make a mold from it, so I can cast my own. We shall see how ambitious I am in the coming week.

And since Murphy always strikes multiple times in a row, I took a trip to Home Depot today to pick up more of the textured paper that I used to pave the road on the first board, only to find that they no longer stock wallpaper! This means that I am probably going to have to redo the road on the demo board so that everything matches! Talk about two steps forward, one step back!

Anyway, on to the photos of progress!

I decided to mix up the skyline a bit with the last building. This one, beautifully presented my Rasputine, is a full four stories tall! It should do well to balance out the height of the Bo-At (an eventually the train station).

Here is a quick mockup of the final dock layout. Still need to figure out the fishing shack and build the actual lower dock.

And now onto the Bo-At! Frank's started adding on details courtesy of the Fantasy Manor kit.

The medallion will eventually become the wheel.

That's all for now. My plan is to switch gears and try to knock out the cobblestone in one go tomorrow. We shall see if I manage to accomplish my goal! The rest of the process is smooth sailing from there!

[Darg]

Thanks for the building tutorial, now where did I put that damn Mordheim box?

I'm tempted to try a really modular version of what you are doing on 6" x 6" tiles with fully molded streets including gutters and pavements.

[guynamedFleck]

Thanks for the building tutorial, now where did I put that damn Mordheim box?

I'm tempted to try a really modular version of what you are doing on 6" x 6" tiles with fully molded streets including gutters and pavements.

That would be really cool. If this hadn't started out as a 2'x'2 demo board, I probably would have gone for a different size tile as well. Best of luck in your endeavors and be sure to share your work on the forum!

---

Well, my plan was a less than total success. I attempted to push through all the cobblestone, but the process took a bit longer than expected. I got a good 4 hours of work in but still have about one street left to do. On the plus side, I did get enough shots of the process to get a tutorial put together.

Cobblestone Tutorial

Gather the tools!

-Custom Brass rod "stamp"

-Candle and holder (mine in true DIY fashion is made from a pvc coupler glued to a GW flying base, haha)

-Matches

-Ruler

-scribing tool (mine happens to be a dental tool)

-paper towels

-great ventilation! (open windows, fans, or best case, take it outside!)

There are two different techniques that I use on my cobblestone. The first is creating the "gutter" channels that run down the center of the roads. The second is the actual cobblestone texture.

For the gutter channel you will use the ruler and scribing tool.

Start by drawing out your template. Essentially, mark the center point between the buildings on each side of your street and then extend the lines the full length of the streets. Once this line is set, measure 1/4" to either side of the center line. This gives you your double row of stones. To make the process simple, I used one of the mordheim trim pieces to measure and mark the length of my "stones".

Next, lay the ruler along one of your template lines. Heat your scribing tool over the candle (Not to long, if the tool is too hot, it will melt away too much of the foam! Play around a bit of some scrap foam to get a feeling for how much you need to heat the tool). When the tool is warm enough, pull it along the edge of the ruler to scribe the line. I use the back edge of the tool shown above (side to the right in the photo), this keeps the tool from catching in the foam. You may need to stop and reheat the tool depending on how long your line is. Continue this process for all of your lines. Remember to plan out the corners and don't accidentally scribe in the wrong place!

It should look like this...

Now we will go back and give the stones a more natural edge. Using the pointy end of the scribing tool, heat it up and "clip" the corners of the stones. This will be enough to give them a more natural feel. Don't worry about the long edges, these will get a bit of texture during the cobblestone process.

Moving onto the cobblestone, the process is very simple and similar to the last step. One thing I learned from doing the first board, it is far easier if you leave the buildings detached for this step. As you will see, I went ahead and traced the footprint of the buildings onto the foam. This let me know where the table would be covered and so would not need to apply the texture.

The most difficult part is getting to know your stamping tool. Once you've gotten a feel for how long it takes to heat up and reheat, the process is really repetitive. I find it takes about 20-30 seconds to get the brass warmed up initially, then only about 3-5 seconds to reheat. I usually get about 3-4 stamps in each heating. Keep an eye on the tip of the tool, if you see any build up on the end, hold it over the flame for a few seconds and whip the residue off on a piece of paper towel (I usually do this about every 4-5 times that I reheat the tool). From time to time you will notice the "cobblestones" are getting smaller. when this happens you need to cool the tool off and clean the inside of the tube (I find it easiest to use the scribing tool to pick out the hardened residue).

The main thing is keeping the temperature right. Too hot and the cobblestones will melt away! Too cold and the tool won't make an impression. It's really a lot easier then it sounds, you will get a feel for it pretty quickly.

Here are a few photos to give you a feeling for the process I use in stamping the boards.

Always start by outlining your "hard" edges. This will help to ensure that you don't end with a half stone on the edge of your street.

Remember to keep rotating the tool as you work your way across the section. This will make the one stamp look like many different stones. Also, I find it best to advance across the face with a curved "front". this way you are less likely to create a space smaller than your stamping tool.

Still working with a curved front as you move across the board!

And still curved front as the cobblestone spreads across the board!

That's the general process. I hope it answers your questions. If not, I'd be happy to clarify any of the process for you, just ask. The only thing that I cannot stress enough is proper ventilation! This foam is nasty stuff to inhale. Stay safe and enjoy!

Here is a shot to show what I managed to accomplish after 4 hours of non-stop stamping. I never said it was the fasted process! (though now I suppose I can say I know every inch of this town!)

And a few with the buildings in place.

I should be able to get this last strip done in about 2 more hours. Then its on to putting in the wood floors for the buildings. This project is coming along faster than expected!

[Vinncent]

Huh, you're damn talented artist, one more time, a big :congrats:

[Vin]

Wow, excellent tutorial. Thanks for taking the time out of your build to share.

I think I am going to give your cobblestone street method a try once my desert themed board is done. I also have to find those darned Mordheim buildings I know are buried somewhere.

Great project log, keep it up.

[Stern]

never thought to do cobbles like that or a drains... very time consuming but a great result nice!

[FoeRender]

Awesome just awesome .

[guynamedFleck]

As always, thank you everyone for the kind words. They are really doing wonders to keep me (and Frank) motivated on the build.

Another Friday has passed, I took the harbor and city boards up to the flgs to get some work done on them. I managed to finish the cobblestone and build the lower dock. Saturday morning I woke up early and chained myself to the work bench. I cranked out all the wood floors in the buildings and got the boardwalk installed (well, thought I did. looking at the photos to post, I realized that I have two small sections on the storage yard board where the board walk curves in to meet the doors on the building!)

Still to be done list:

-Small section of board walk on storage yard board

-Build fishing shack

-Add sand texture to the board

-Figure out the new street texture.

-Paint

I'm far enough along that today I will probably begin the priming process! We may just see a finished board in the next couple of weeks!

The 3 new boards!

A shot of the new lower dock and pier with bollards installed.

City board with finished cobblestone and "woodwork".

A closeup of the second half of the fountain.

That's all for now, expect some primed boards next update!

[guynamedFleck]

Well I put a Sunday's worth of work in on the table between the shop and my home workshop. All was moving along swimmingly until, while attempting to figure out the fishing shack, my hobby knife snapped and sliced cleanly through the tip of my thumb!

But, I bandaged it up and kept on working. Needless to say, the cursed fishing shack has been put on hold for a later date. Hmm, perhaps it will come back as a "creepy structure" special terrain feature?

First up, thanks to a well placed reminder by Frank, here are a couple shots of the 4 boards, complete with the Bo-At in position!

As much as it pained me, I had to tear apart part of the original board. Here is a WIP shot, with the old road removed, as well as the cork corner.

A close-up shot of the newly reconstructed "4-corners".

The storage yard got a quick texturing using two grades of sand.

It may be hard to see in this photo, but I managed to find another texture in my book of wallpaper samples that should work out nicely for the road. It has a sort of cracked earth feel to it, which after a bit of sand and paint, should work out really well.

One final overall shot of the build.

....and! with a fresh coat of primer!

The painting process is fairly quick. It mostly revolves around coats of wood stain drying, so fingers crossed, we've got less than a week left in the project!

I came to the realization yesterday that I should make a matching set of special terrain features for use with the board. So, the next project will probably be a 3"x3" graveyard, dead zone, creepy structure, hazardous terrain, scrap pile and hanging tree. That would let you play the board as Downtown, Industrial Zone or Slums. If I get really ambitious, I may also do an ancient monument, and magical nexus so it can be played as the Quarantine Zone.

Then, assuming I'm still around (looks like I may be moving out of town), its off and running with the last 2 boards! Hurray train station!

[FoeRender]

This look fantastic , cant wait to see the painted version .

[Frank]

The Bo-At is about 95% done. I'm just wrapping up the cross beams and sails and we should be good to go with install to the board. I'm pretty excited by the progress and I can't wait to play on this board. I'll have to finish up the paint on my resurectionists so we can have a brawl to break it in!

[guynamedFleck]

I've been working away on the painting process. I'm looking at maybe one more day of painting, one more night of drying and then all that's left to do are installing the Bo-At, pouring the water effect and adding the posters/details.

Now for a few shots of the progress. keep in mind that the wood stain tends to give a crazy amount of shine to the table. I will go back at the end and give everything a good coat of matte sealer (this brings everything back to normal, but you also have to be careful as the matte spray is very aggressive on foam. It actually started to eat away at the sides of the demo board when i went to seal over the black paint!)

Here is an overall shot of the 4 boards. The water hasn't been drybrushed or stained yet. Also, wouldn't you know it, I painted the pier with the wrong color, so I'll have to redo that.

A close-up of the second half of the city.

And from another angle.

The storage yard. I still need to paint all of the block work and I think the water tricked the camera, the blue building is a bit darker than the picture would suggest.

I'm not to happy with the first color choice for the new road, so I will probably go back and give it another go.

I was waiting for the base coats to dry this evening while working and decided to use the free time to start knocking together some special terrain features. Below are the first three pieces. A graveyard, deadzone & magic nexus. The deadzone and magic nexus are the 3"x3" minimum. I decided to go a bit larger with the graveyard, which is roughly 4.5" square.

The magic nexus uses two of the great statues from the warhammer fantasy building kit. very simple concept, but it provides a lot of open space to accommodate the models "completely within" requirement. I plan to paint the statues up in a red joker/black joker theme.

I was kind of drawing a blank on a way to represent a dead zone. Frank suggested a dead tree, which made perfect sense, so here you have it! A few hirst arts blocks for the nice urban planter look and then I spliced together a few of the dead trees from the warhammer fantasy fence kit.

I've got a creepy structure in mind, but its still in the works. I've also been distracted by a cool idea for my supply wagon marker (no more empty 50mm base or the odd bad juju wagon for this guy!)

More updates soon... hopefully...

[Maniple]

the paint is looking really nice. keep it up! congrats on razoring your thumb- the mark of a true hobbyist!

[Yazza]

where did you get the bollards?

[Frank]

I believe we used drawer/cabinet knobs.

[guynamedFleck]

the paint is looking really nice. keep it up! congrats on razoring your thumb- the mark of a true hobbyist!

Yes, I suppose so, but the true, true mark is when your first instinct is to reach for your bottle of superglue rather than a band-aid! haha. I then caught myself and thought it better to go for the band-aid...

where did you get the bollards?

I believe we used drawer/cabinet knobs.

Frank has it right on the mark. They came from an 8 pack of 3/4" wooden drawer pulls from Michael's. If I remember correctly, they were only $1.50 for the pack (but that doesn't mean I didn't take the 40% off coupon along with me, haha). They also carry wooden barrels and miniature thread spools (here's looking at you puppet wars!)

[harbinger]

Yes, I suppose so, but the true, true mark is when your first instinct is to reach for your bottle of superglue rather than a band-aid! haha. I then caught myself and thought it better to go for the band-aid...

Was a field corpsman (combat medic) in the military. Used superglue on wounds quite often when didnt have the time treat them the way would of liked to.