harbinger

sorry in a hurry so this be short. Your safe doing doors 1.5 inch by 3/4 inch. Gives a semi accurate ratio look compared to Malif minis.

Been think about this for awhile. We all know there is various materials that can be used for terrain building, each with scaling cost and effort needed to work with. What Im curious about is.. how many judge based on cost vs final results.

Take for example.. The laser cut kits are all the rage these days; but personally I find them to be too flat when comes to texture and prefer build my own using real wood (balsa and basswood.) Is it the ease vs effort of the kits that draw many or do you just feel the look is "close enough."

Im currently considering shifting over to resin pouring some buildings because feel get a good median between looks and durability. Just trying decide if cost increase outweighs the pros.

Ive consider doing this with the buildings I make.. oh about 500 times. Problem is the cost just does not justify it it for me as one offs. I just dont think enough would buy them to make it worth the effort.

Curious if youve figured out cost ratio yet. If not as high as my guess then I might take plunge. While I love having mine done out of wood.. the durability factor of resins could sway me to redo them.

Coat in white then black stripes over it. Some brands white cover easily and others dont, not sure brand your using.

Shade in with grey.

As to the stripes.. will just depend how study hand you have. Its pita for me.

Meant do this few days ago but sometimes life likes to slap me around.

For those that dont want take time/effort to do like the nice vid linked heres a cheap/easy/fast way to get decent wood floor bases.

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start with scrap piece balsa wood, I use a base that have cut out the middle to size inserts, Ive also use spare wyrd metal bases to get perfect size.

ok the planks have been drawn in with a pencil (go over few times to get depth,) nail holes pressed in with pencil, and wood grain scratched in with wire brush (I prefer brush to using a saw so dont have uniform spaced grain,) then cut it out with box cutter

after forgetting to clean up edges with a emery board I tossed on some miniwax stain. Make sure to saturate the wood so dont have come back latter an wash it (though if do so you get even better finish)

Bit of dry brushing for color, youll get nicer finish if give stain time to dry, but was in hurry...

just a shot to show when your being lazy and dont clean up edges.. yes it does show

just be sure you are using a cheap throw away brushes as after a single use of minwax, its garbage.

Shouldnt be using brush anyway.. tear up old tshirt. Much better saturation then brush will give

My backlog soo long Im not even allowing myself gencon purchases this year :/

it killed me to do but got light fire under my rear somehow

both suggestions given are good. Painting water then pouring on works well for thin coats like a normal base.. no so well if doing deeper. Droping paint in and stiring with a toothpick can give nice effect on swamp look.

Yes you can use ink to color most kinds resin. Ive used pelican ink before with no issues.

As to the resins... theres few bands to choose from, some better then others depending on what your actually doing. For first time on a base, grab some envirotex lite. Not too expensive, not complicated and good training resin.

You really dont have anything to be ashamed over. Work your producing is quite fine.

Dont get yourself down trying to compare yourself to masters out there and asking why not living up to them. Lot these guys have years of practice. And practice is what takes.. mini after mini after mini...

Also keep in mind when you see painters talking about washes it can be way two different animals between the "masters" and layman. Lot us (not saying you..) hear word wash and think of the insta skill bottle of magic. While those little plastic gems of fluid can really take average guys work to next level; I dont think many of pros are using same thing as wash. For them has to do with way they dilute paint and layer. Ratty used the magic word... feathering. Thats where they get them ultra smooth looking works. Skillfully feathering edges between layers so the eye doesnt notice the actual gradient as the color shifts. We look at it and see the over all effect. Not going get that by tossing down ink/washes to attempt to blend them together.

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Another thing keep in mind... pics like one you posted are professionally done (talking about techniques used not that have to have a photographic artist taking.) Proper lighting using lightboxes and such, as well as some touch up work after shot taken.. Going produce quite different result then guy with a mini in his hand and average person cam/phone.

Yeah, someone suggested that earlier, so I've been trying to clean them up as best I can! I guess I still need work haha.

Yeah mold lines can be serious issue. My eye sight is getting to point that I have trouble doing fine detail stuff like that. Trying to balance between not getting enough or messing the mini up by scraping away detail.... Lucky for me I dont have talent to do contest worthy painting; so figure since mine intended to play with, a few lines dont matter heeh. Specially my new puppets. Want to get them done and playable so not going worry about it. Eventually Ill buy another set and take more time painting them and switching out better quality jobs over time.

Great conversation you started Anfalas as faces can be real pita especially eyes. Grateful for the hint few you threw out.. I always used white...

Your being over critical, they look great

Nice work already, nothing to be conscious of.

Sorry that was too late to warn you to not look at mako's article. One look at his beyond talented work will make most people ashamed to every pick up a brush again...

That winged one is really cool.

Was thinking the same. I generally dont go for "undead" minis but that one has piqued my interest.

I prefer Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Brushes. Not cheap throw aways, but also not horribly priced for a decent quality brush. Good care (like cleaning with pink soap) has allowed me use them for years now. Currently considering buy a new set because didnt know the damage metallic paints could cause to a brush and will replace with same brand.

Now if only I had the skill to accompany good brushes...

I dont have near the skill to make use of your tuts. But applaud you for sharing them with those that do.

I'm sorry, but you totally screwed up there by painting on what is, for all intents and purposes, coarse sandpaper.

Next time, lay down some felt!

As I said... "Now I admit where he laid them wasn't thought through." Point still remains I doubt many would expected this to happen from such limited contact. I posted mostly to warn others and prevent the same thing happening to them. We have gamed on these tables for years, laid unprotected cards from various games on them all the time and never seen this happen.

(and while it is painted over sand it is not like I dont know and thing or two about building terrain. It was not left totally rough equating to heavy sand paper. I dont leave surfaces that way and are further dulled down by way I lay latex paint. That way it doesnt harm underneath mini bases or the vehicles used in other games by some our players.)

either way.. as said, was posted as a warning to limit possibility happening to others. Not like I was screaming bloody murder and threatening to sue for replacements.

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Nathan, just got home from chemo so need to rest then will break out a camera and take a shot or two for you.

I actually got mine today and it wasn't in any contact with the sun but a few hours out the box the board was bent..

Same issue here. No sunlight involved; was laying on a empty shelf in bookcase and curled into a duck bill.

Fact is the board is crap quality. You can see that with just a cursory glance. The box itself has problems. The inside of mine has ripped patches (outside fine though.)

My biggest issue is the puppet deck. First game, other player had his card pile laying on edge of our normal gaming table (painted sand.) The bottom cards was ruined; totally unusable now. The sand has totally stripped the printing off of a couple the cards (since the bottom card hadn't come up and was shuffled back into the deck and few rounds of deck shuffling happen before we noticed resulting in few the cards getting the treatment.) Now I admit where he laid them wasn't thought through. But who would thought that could of happened with such limited movement; not like was rubbing the cards against the sand.

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Now while I am tossing some complaints out... I'm not slamming the game. I don't regret the purchase AT ALL! Personally, when I look at amount minis you get; it is obvious some corners had to be cut to get it out at it's current price break. If they had to up retail price to make up for production cost of higher quality materials; I figured the client base would shrink to just us hardcore Wyrd fanatics.. making the line a losing situation. For people that dont understand our hobby and look at it as just a board game, 80$ is already hard enough to swallow.

Another thing can do if theres any gap at all... make a tiny ball of greenstuff. Dip it in the glue then stick it to the model. Youd be surprised how strong of a bond that makes. Even if tiny bit shows just touch it up with paint.

Heartbreaker Hobbies and Games

They did some fantasy work and if remember correctly... they did some Earthdawn and MTG minis

Mid 90s miniature manufacture got bought out by Target Games (not sure if still around)

Also I'm not a big fan of plastic but I could learn to live with that.

This is something Im fearing. While not a fan of plastics I can deal with them to. But crew boxsets done in plastic that you can not get the pieces separately is a huge turnoff for me. One that will actually limit my purchases instead of increase them.

Or find a digital sculptor and have it done on a 3D printer. Still not going to be a cheap solution but lot more practical then trying to find someone to cast a short run.

They would be a tad under sized.. probably not so much that would be a disaster.

I think I'll grab some spare bases and make a few of these as I've got a strip of balsa down in the basement

Great thing is you can use same technique for many things... like bases.

Just a quick question on the age it easy. Do you have to be extra careful that no glue seeps through to the front of the projects, or does it color that a bit as well?

I've sometimes been sloppy in my haste to get late night projects finished.

If using the product being discussed.. its a type of stain so most glues wont color. There is a wood glue out there that supposedly takes stains but have not tried it yet. If use aging powders (I dont recommend on gaming terrain its more for show piece quality work) then it would stick to glue if said glue is painted.

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Now for poor mans version...

You can also age wood by using could home made recipes. Baking soda and water will work depending on type of wood (balsa yes.. pop sickle sticks not so well.) Vinegar and tea works decently. Steel Wool mixture with vinegar works excellent but takes tiny bit effort.