Antiquitas

Nice board! Love the concept sketches and the very usable flat roofs. Hope you've got plenty of 'midnight oil' to burn because Xmas is approaching fast... Oh why do we always start interesting projects at the last minute?

Excellent stuff! Electronics is not my field but I do dimly remember studying Wheatstone bridges at school. However, I do work with Henryk, an electronics genius from Poland, who would solve any problems I might encounter. I can't find anyone selling the lamps locally (yet) but I found this link for a supplier of the units: http://www.mainlandmart.com/fogger1.html (Apparently they work on the ultra-sonic vibration of ceramic discs!) A single unit is about $30, so I am going to keep searching the shops first - January sales might be a good time. I can see now how it would work well in the water tower, as the mist is heavier than air and needs to flow down. Vents in the sides or outlet pipes, rather than having it pour over the top would stop the 'witches cauldron' effect on the board. Hmmmm.....

Crazy - but I like it. Could be just the thing for No.3 Board, with the station (steam from the train), the grave yard and the desolate town-square with its gallows and stocks. Nice and eerie and lots of walls for it to curl round... Okay - so who sells them and how much? What is the physical size of the heater unit? Is it 12v or 24v after the transformer (your power is probably 110v and mine is 240v) and how many amps does it draw. Finally does it use a Hazer or smoke fluid or is it making steam from the water? I have some 12v miniature carriage lights and street lights saved for a board and a supply of coloured LED's so i could make it interesting. In the meantime, I have a couple of days off at last, so it's got to be full steam ahead with these boards... Keep those ideas flowing... Your boards rock! Cheers

WOW! - just watched the vid on your Cities of Death board. Man, that is beyond cool. Awesome effects and great details. Gives us amateurs something to strive for.

I had to work all weekend so I didn't have much time to get my hands dirty. However, I have been thinking about the board and decided that the water tower can go for now and have instead have a guild lookout tower with semaphore mechanism, brazier and bell. Knowledge is power and communication is the key! And on a festive note: I was talking to a chap from Cork today about the dangers of drinking and driving. He admitted that every New Year’s Eve he went out on a bender to celebrate, and he had always driven home afterwards. However, last Christmas, they had a particularly good campaign on the tele about why you shouldn’t drive your car even after consuming small amounts of alcohol. So that New Year’s Eve, after an extremely heavy night out, he decided to take a bus home. Surprisingly, he made it back without any incidents but the next morning he couldn't work out why there was a bus parked in the driveway!

Good grief - what will they think of next? Got to try these out. Unfortunately won't have time for this board so still looks like a lentil job! Excellent idea and thanks.

Will do Thanks

Brilliant idea with the lentils! Now i'll have to go shopping tomorrow. I might still replace one pillar as I want more room on one side, but I could just cut the tops off now and use the lentils! Thanks for the pics and ideas -real inspiration. I probably will go mad with the store as I can move the beam engine across another inch and put a thinner watch tower in. Just want to make sure that the spacing is right and you can play all round the features. I don't want the board too crowded as the third board is designed to be tight. Probably sleep on it (or more likely spend most of the night playing around with the board). I Love what you've done in the pics - going to look at some of your threads to see more! Thanks again.

I sketched out some ideas during lunch break for the Guild House. As the Guild (tries to) control everything, I thought that I would combine the General Store with the Marshal's Office. I don't know how much room I will have on the board yet and whether I want this building to be played inside or not, so I have thought out the complicated version and will 'dumb it down' as necessary. The Store has big windows at the front and a double door, counters and shelves and a storeroom that opens out to the yard. At the side will be the cells as the Marshal won't have the riff-raff upstairs. There is a walkway (low veranda) in front of the shop. The Marshal's Office is opulent and has a stone chimney and fireplace, a counter or desk and a side room with the safe etc. He has his own balcony so he can watch what's going on in the town. Rear access leads to the beam engine which he also controls as they own the mine (and the town). Steps and platforms go up the side of the building to his office and the beam engine. I know the plans are TOO ambitious for a gaming board but I like to get the whole feel of it before starting to plan how to build it. So here's the rough idea: So what do you think? Should i keep it really simple or try and make it as interesting as possible?

I think the pillars definitely have to go - i don't like them. I will probably make up some stone piers instead. The beam looks too modern as well so I need to do something with that... just waiting for inspiration. The main thing was to get something knocked up to see how much room I will have for the Guild store, yard and water tower (although I might move the water tower to a different board and have a watch tower instead). Because i make most of the stuff from 'scrap', final shape and size are often determined by what is in the bits boxes. I really enjoy 'recycling' but it plays havoc with the plans. I go looking for one thing in the boxes and find some else really neat and I've just got to find a way of including it. That's the joy of the hunt!

One of the features on the second board is a steam powered beam engine to pump water from the mine. I raided the bits boxes and found a load of useful stuff including a toy gun scope, a couple of dolls house walls, a paint pot, a computer fan, a speaker knob and a key. Still a bit of tidying up to do and need to make the walls round the drive wheels. I think I might make some stone pillars or 'oak' posts to support the beam as I don't think these really suit it , but it's nearly there.

Good Morning! I woke up stupidly early so I wandered down to the craftroom and got stuck in. I had already cut my 18" (4mm) ply baseboard so it was out with the power tools and away. NOTE: There is an extremely good tool on the market for cutting and shaping polystyrene - a hot-wire cutter - which costs around 15 - 80 Euros - but gives off nasty fumes as it melts the plastic. Here is vid link on How to use one: 1 - For the beginner.. [ame] [/ame] 2 - But for the more ambitious.. [ame] [/ame] ...you don't really need one And I don't have one... I use.a variable-speed drill with a shaper-bit (like an extremely ferocious file, which gouges, shapes, smoothes and often skits across the surface), an angle grinder, a kitchen knife, a handsaw, stanley knife and occasional broken nail when I forget that you can't 'pinch' bits out like you can with the white low density stuff. WARNING Please ensure that you read the safety information on all powertools before using them. Always wear protective clothing such as eye-protectors, face mask, hard hat, steel-toe-capped boots, leather apron, chainmail gloves... And have a First Aid Kit nearby (or a nurse). I use cocktail sticks or sharpened candyfloss sticks to hold the bits together, and as I add layers. When the glue is dried I just chop off the ends and leave them in. I usually screw the foam to the board to stop it moving while the glue sets, and take them out afterwards. Well that's it for this morning as I have got to get ready for work. You know what they say... All play and no work means you starve!

When I told my shrink that I liked playing with scantily dressed models he said that it was healthy. When I told him my next project was to build a bar and brothel he reported me! (P.S. I don't really have a shrink - they've all heard about Malifaux!)

Definitely Gritty!

I never made it as far as the craft room tonight. Instead I spent too much on ebay bidding for some Resurrectionists - so now I have more things to paint, and another faction to play. But I did work on the stone step's platform, so not entirely wasted evening. (Lilith's ready for action but Hans just wants a quiet fag-break - Malifaux can be so demanding!)

Nightmare Ed. Chompy Bits arrived today and the sculpt looks awesome! (Black Friday treat) But I just haven't got any time to paint him... so I'll have to get the boards done quickly. So much to do and so little time - Isn't life great!

Thanks for the encouragement! It keeps me going. cheers.

Another busy evening as I have decided that tomorrow I will have to start the second board! (The theory is that if I'm doing two boards I won't have to wait for the paint to dry - but really I just want to work on the beam engine). So this is what I've been up to this morning, lunchtime and so far this evening: The River: A wash of GW Dark Angels Green, and while wet some GW Dark Green Ink and GW Fleshwash along the cliff side, Yellow Ink in streaks along the flow and Fleshwash on the edge of the rail bank. I added a bit of an overflow towards the mine entrance in green, Fleshwash and yellow inks through a gap in the rocks. The river still has to have the wavecrests done in white and then it all needs to be varnished. Stones: I have added some rubble to the bottom of some of the rock faces, in various hollows, in front of the mine entrance, and along the slagtruck rails. I used two different texture/colours and dabbed PVA in varying thicknesses in the places I wanted it to go and then sprinkled a large quantity of sand over the area and let it set. I collect all the waste afterwards to use elsewhere. By having different depths of PVA you can get it to hold sand, dust or small stones. When it was all dry I made a very diluted PVA and fleshwash mix and painted it over the sand to seal it in place. Before that dried I stippled it with differing amounts of neat Fleshwash to give it different shades. I will probably dry brush it with a light grey later. I used an almost white stoney sand for the branch-line ballast to show up the sleepers. I have still got to do the slag heap. And bits: I did another coat of wood dye on the timbers as they needed to be darker. I have added a shutter to stop stones falling back onto the rails. And I have started the platform to the rock steps, complete with a little staircase up to it by the river. So that's it for this board for a while but tomorrow I am going to start on the hills of board 2 and might show some of the the tools i use to do the intricate carving...

Great idea - makes sense, but... Now I'm sitting here writing this 'cos I gotta wait until they've dried before I can fix them on. Oh well, good time to put the kettle on! Cheers.

Hi Demonn Great board -and I like the ideas! I'd love to have full size boards but transporting them and storing them is always a problem. I have made a lot of themed boards for 40K but I make all the features on tapered edge hardboard or ply and paint a cloth for the pieces to sit on. This means that I can box everything (including the cloth) to take them to club nights or competitions. Jungle Board at WarpCon XX I wanted this board to be easy to carry about so the boards are very light (while still strong enough to take the knocks) and I will be making a carrybags (each holds two boards) specially for transporting and storage. The bags will reinforced and about 18.5" x 18.5" x 13 inches, with spaces for all the 'loose bits' and a pocket for the books etc. Mike will need to take at least two to Demos, and the crews so it needs to be manageable... and I can build other boards later to extend the set.

Panic induced adrenaline - that's the secret! Want to have two boards done before xmas - as they are a present. Also burning the candle at both ends - and sometimes in the middle as well.

Very true! I want to make the four boards completely different for gaming. The first board - The Mine - has a lot of height differences, there's 6" between the highest point and the ground and about 4 1/2" from the drop-ramp to the floor, but lots of long line-of-sights for shooting. The second board - The Beam Engine - has fewer levels but with things in the way for a mixed shooting and ambushing game. The third board - The Store Yard - has a lot of walls, buildings to go into and is nearly all one level, so the game movement and line of sight is restricted. The fourth board is all about fighting indoors - with the roofs and inside balconies removable to access all levels. I know that as i start building each board then i will get new ideas or find that some of the plans just won't work but that's what makes it interesting and fun. Thanks for the advice - I will think of you when I'm tearing my hair out! Cheers!

I have started painting the rocks and staining the timbers. I can't do any more of the features now until that is done as the platform and stairs will cover part of the stream. Staining the timbers: I have tried something new this time. I bought a tin of Light Teak Wood Dye. It is water based so cleaning the brush is easy. This worked really well and you can vary the darkness of the timbers by painting on more coats. One problem though - it doesn't cover PVA. The Rocks: First coat was a wet wash of artist's (cheap) Red Oxide acrylic paint. The second coat was a wash of cheap artist's Raw Sienna acrylic paint. The third coat was a heavy dry brush of (again) cheap artist's Neutral Gray. Next stage is to add rubble, slag and grass, and paint the river. But that will be another night...

Thanks! You were correct - i did link to the thumbnails! Been back and edited the posts so it's better now. Cheers.

Previously posted a link to Picasaweb but now fixed the problem. Thank you Cheers Chris.